Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Nothing like a Kavanagh poem to set the Leaving Certificate flashbacks in motion.   Advent We have tested and tasted too much, lover- ... Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder. But here in the Advent-darkened room Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea Of penance will charm back the luxury Of a child's soul, we'll return to Doom The knowledge we stole but could not use. And the newness that was in every stale thing When we looked at it as children: the spirit-shocking Wonder in a black slanting Ulster hill Or the prophetic astonishment in the tedious talking Of an old fool will awake for us and bring You and me to the yard gate to watch the whins And the bog-holes, cart-tracks, old stables where Time begins. O after Christmas we'll have no need to go searching For the difference that sets an old phrase burning- We'll hear it in the whispered argument of a churning Or in the streets where the village boys are lurching. And we...

The fourth week of Advent functions as a Grand Pause and allows us to return to the early days of Mary’s pregnancy. The altered time sequence moves us back, in the closing days of this season, to a more contemplative way of being, to roots, to silence, to mystery–all of which have a way of getting sidetracked in the frenzy of preparations for the celebration. The fourth Sunday says again and more emphatically: “Be still. Let what is about to happen sink in.” Last Sunday, as Church, we celebrated what is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of Joy. We were invited to rejoice for the Lord is in our midst. In today’s liturgy, we see in concrete terms the manifestation of that joy which comes from the presence of the Lord. It is a joy which is first prophesied by Micah in the First Reading. In the Gospel, we see how Mary accepts the message of joy and hurries with haste to her cousin Elizabeth. As I reflect, I think of Mary’s urgency which was the fruit of God’s plan and co...