Michael Harding

I always think of him at this time and that he left an album behind called, You want it Darker. But yet there is nothing dark in his music. His ability was to layer the shadows with lyrics of power and hope and Alleluja. And I went walking to the beautiful graveyard of Tarmon, where the old monastery ruins are beside Lough Allen this week. And I stood at the graves of a few neighbours and thought about the same amazing mystery of life, and the gift it is to be alive in this present moment. Take comfort in your own being, in the wonder and mystery and beauty of who you are, for this short time. And believe that beyond what is you, lies the vast possibilities of love and that even in these shadows you are held and cherished and will be so forever. No background music this week. let me know what you think in the comments; should I keep the background flute or not. Thanks.

Community makes you human. Joy is found in other people. So how is it that sometimes when the church is completely empty or when we are alone in the house we experience such peace and serenity. Who is there? Who is calling? Enjoy.

There's something about the trick or treat and the horror film and the ghouls that stalk the shopping malls that reflect a strange satire on the medieval fear that people had of death. This does go back to Samhain, the Celtic festival,, when it was believed people returned from the dead, in disguise sometimes to demand offerings, and so the children wandering around the doors looking for sweeties and money as they stand and play tin whistles in masks resembling demons, is certainly a touch of nostalgia for that long ago Celtic Festival. And the lighting of ritual fires and the the games in the houses were all similar remnants of ancient days. But that was a time when people believed in many gods, and feared that gods were not just multifarious but capricious and often not the best company for humans. it was a time when people didn't know what caused the storms and the changes in weather, the weakening sun in the winter sky or the death of children from disease they as yet did not understand. But what I like about the Christian input into this festival is the sense that we are reassured that the universe is a singularity and that the ground of all being is a personal presence, a mysterious otherness that knows the hairs of our head before we were born and loves us. That the universe loves us is a wisdom that gathers not just us but those who have passed beyond this life into the shadow of death and allows us to hope in a place of refuge deep beyond this visible reality, a place where we and our loved ones are even now united in God's presence. That's a big hopeful idea underneath the darkness of winter. So for me this November is a time of sheltering. A time of hibernation and stillness. A time of paying attention to the peace that underpins all reality. my memory is of my mother in the kitchen on the eve of All Souls Day more usually, acting out a ritual of love and connection with her ancestors.

Here I go with the final deep dive into the strange figure of Nicodemos in the Gospels. A man so like us in modernity that sometimes I feel it is me there in the moment where he stands. He opens a door for me. As if the story was a place I could live. This is sometimes like Lectio Divino a way of reading into the Gospels and pondering something single thing until it feels like someone is speaking to you. And I will round off the month of October next week with some fun reflections on Halloween in the long ago when I was young. 

For fun I am spelling his name like I imagine it sounds. and you might find this fellow in the gospel, or someone very like him. But there are characters like this, ghosts in my heart who have originated in the gospels but who now live inside me. And I can measure myself against them; against their successes or failures in the struggle to be human. So I think there is more to the gospels than people imagine; it's peppered with characters who are like vectors, compasses for our own life. And as I say; they are like ghosts inside me, fragments of my own psyche.In fact I was going to call this episode Alone; With Christ Alone. But the reason for that will become clear in the second half of the episode.

I am involved in a beautiful project involving arts centres in Thurles, Longford and Roscommon. The process is that we exchange letters. I write to the group and they reply to me. Because it's personal and private I thought I'd share the first letter with my patreon supporters. And like every other time I sit down with an intention to explore a single topic, I find myself drifting, riffing, and meditating on other jewels of meaning that surface in my mind as I find calm abiding. Finding calm abiding, in stillness is one of the great secrets of the podcast. it's not that I'm sharing anything important with you in terms of content, whether it be about Buddha or Christ. I'm sharing a process, a way of being in the world where your heart opens to mystery. it's just that for me meditation is somethings becoming familiar with a subject by simply talking about it, reflecting on it. So there you go. We are here, we are present, which in itself is a mystery. But we know we are here and can feel the love as the universe envelops us; that's when we enter into the mystery and enter into love. Have a great weekend.