Welcome to our October 2022 Newsletter. We hope you are enjoying the new format and our updated website!
The pandemic disrupted all of our in-person activity over the past two years. We had no national gathering over that period and our weekly meeting groups came to an abrupt halt. It has been difficult trying to determine when was the time right for renewing in-person meetings but on his visit with us Fr Laurence asked us to consider the benefits of beginning to meet again in person.
And so, with great sensitivity to individual needs, we encourage all of our groups to consider returning to in-person meetings on a full-time basis as things were before the pandemic.
We acknowledge that things may have changed for group leaders over that time and that it will not be possible for all groups to resume. But we urge group leaders (or other members where the former group leader is no longer available) to make contact with group members to explore what may be possible. We know that some of the information on our website is not up to date and we will be very appreciative if you can let us know where a group has ceased. Between now and Christmas Stella Gannon, Maria Gavin or Mannix Lynch may be in touch by phone or email to make enquiries.
Regional Coordinators' Meeting
We considered holding a meeting of our Regional Coordinators this term but will do so early in 2023 instead.
In the meantime, Mannix Lynch will make contact with each of our current Regional Coordinators about their willingness to continue to act in that important role.
Dublin & Environs Meet-Up
The Board has decided to organise the first post-pandemic Dublin & Environs Meet-Up! It will take place in Balally Parish Centre on Saturday 26 November from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. with a cuppa available from 10:45. Fr Dermot Lane will be our guest speaker. Please come and bring a friend. Click here for directions by car and Luas
The annual John Main Seminar for 2022 will take place from Thursday 17 to Sun 20 November 2022 – in-person at Bonnevaux and online. The theme of this year’s conference is highly relevant to the crisis of our times. Entitled The Challenge TO Democracy: The Challenge OF Democracy, it will be led by the renowned European politician and contemplative, Herman Van Rompuy, who has devoted his working life to democracy.
Because he believes that ‘conversation is the life-blood of democracy’ Herman will lead the Seminar in a responsive conversation with other meditators representing different ages and cultures in our community who share a conviction that meditation does make a difference to individual and communal flourishing. This group will include young meditators also – the future of WCCM.
The seminar is always preceded by a silent retreat which this year will start on late evening (19:45 CET) of Monday 14 November and finish at noon (CET) on Thursday 17 November. The John Main retreat will begin at 19:45 on Thursday evening and will finish with a contemplative Eucharist at noon (CET) on Sunday, 20 November. Participants have the option of registering for the seminar only or for the seminar and the retreat.
While traditionally the John Main Seminar was an in-person event only, one of the silver clouds of the pandemic and of modern technology, has been the development of online platforms such as Zoom which enable a much wider audience. If you are interested in attending in-person at Bonnevaux you can register by clicking here. If, on the other hand, you wish to do so online, you can register by clicking here; there is a special concessionary online rate available for both the retreat and the seminar. The schedules for the retreat and seminar are here (scroll up and down).
Online Meditation at 7:30 p.m. on every Thursday & Sunday evening, Irish time.
The inaugural Desert Day at Balally Parish was a great success. These contemplative Desert Days will continue every Tuesday, and all who seek to live a contemplative lifestyle are invited to participate. There is no need to book, just come along as suits you. If you are unable to attend in person, the morning prayer and meditation will be available on the parish webcam here. The day begins at 10 a.m.; meditation starts at 10:30 a.m. Caroline Stratton will give an introductory talk on meditation at the end of the Contemplative Mass.
Desert Days at Balally Parish
Irish theologian Dermot Lane, PP Emeritus at Balally Parish, has written a reflection on the relationship between the God of creation, the God of history and the God we worship in Sunday liturgies. His latest book, which presents the outlines of a new theology of nature praising God, offers lessons for the way we worship God in our churches today.
The book will be launched by Minister Catherine Martin T.D of the Green Party at 7 p.m. on Thursday next in the Church of the Ascension, Balally, Dublin 16. All are welcome.
On Saturday, 22 October 2022, the evening Mass at 6 p.m. will be celebrated by Bishop Eamon Walsh to celebrate the launch of the parish vision 'Building Hope by Meditation and Service.'
Things that Turn by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
A new leaf,
a blind eye,
a disco ball,
the corner,
a key,
a page,
the hands of a clock,
the other cheek,
the milk,
a wrench,
a phrase,
the tables,
a turbine,
a deaf ear,
a trick,
your back,
the tide,
a screw,
heads, of course,
the earth itself,
and ever my thoughts
toward You
Noel Keating reflects on this very contemplative poem
I must confess it was I who added the capital Y to the word You. It wasn’t so in the original. But that is what the poem means to me , perhaps to all contemplatives. This is what we do in meditation and it is what meditation teaches us. There is one other change I would make to the poem. In the second last line, I would change ‘thoughts’ to ‘attention’. Our intention in meditation is to let go of all thoughts, even thoughts of God. Our intention when we sit to meditate is to be present to Reality, to the ground of all being, to that which sustains us and the entire universe. We turn away from our egoic distractions and preoccupations and as we repeat our mantra – and as we repeat our practice day by day – our attachment to the desires of the ego for power, prestige and possessions is diminished. We become less wilful and more willing.
Our capacity for turning is increased as we learn to discern the bigger picture of which we are merely a small part. We become aware of a spaciousness within us which accepts all the seeming opposites in life – masculine and feminine, unity and difference, us and them. We come to appreciate, as Richard Rohr writes that ‘spiritual growth is not so much learning as it is unlearning, a radical openness to the truth no matter what the consequences or where it leads.’ Meditation teaches us that we do not so much grasp the truth as let go of our egos, which are very often obstacles to the truth. Meditation is a pathway to our deepest sense of self at the very centre of our being. We discern the divine spark at the centre of our being and recognise it in all others too. Every time we meditate we re-turn our attention again and again to our mantra, to the Real Presence that dwells within, so that it becomes the reality, the guiding light, that informs how we live our lives.
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