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Showing posts from May, 2020

Why do you stand looking up towards heaven?

Lightenings viii The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise Were all at prayers inside the oratory A ship appeared above them in the air. The anchor dragged along behind so deep It hooked itself into the altar rails And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill, A crewman shinned and grappled down the rope And struggled to release it. But in vain. ‘This man can’t bear our life here and will drown,’ The abbot said, ‘unless we help him.’ So They did, the freed ship sailed, and the man climbed back Out of the marvellous as he had known it. Seamus Heaney – Selected Poems by  Seamus Heaney From “Seeing Things”, 1991 © Seamus Heaney To cite this section MLA style: Poetry. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020.  Fri. 22 May 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1995/8424-poetry-1995-2/> Seamus Heaney's poem  turns the story of the Ascension, for me, upside down.  I like that because it makes me think differently, a bit as

Living Stones

The Cross on the East Wall, Bradwell Chapel Taken by the author I’m holding a large, heavy stone in my hand as I reflect this week. Just noticing its weight, its solidity, its integral strength, and its smoothness. Stones and rocks are a constant theme in our set readings for Easter 5 (Acts 7.55-60, Psam 31.1-5, 15-16, 1 Peter 2.2-10, John 14.1-14). Stones are a sign of durability, something you can rely on. In Psalm 31, the Lord is referred to as a refuge, a strong rock, crag, castle and tower; the writer wants the Lord to protect them and keep them safe. Large stones seem to have fascinated humans and had spiritual significance since the earliest times – think of all the ancient sites of standing stones. As humans we are subject to change and decay, so stones become to us signs of eternity. In the first Letter to Peter, the Christian followers are called to be ‘living stones’, which is a very striking metaphor. Humans are not stone; we are flesh and blood and we die. But,