Our annual day of contemplation will take place on Saturday, 23 September 2023 with Father Donagh O’Shea. The theme for the day will be Rediscovering a Contemplative Church.
We have changed the format of the day so it will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 1:30 p.m. with no lunch provided. There will be refreshment break from 11:30 to 12 noon with tea, coffee and biscuits provided for all. Rather than charge for the event we are asking for a voluntary donation of as much as you can afford, with a recommended donation of €20 which will go towards our running costs of events and activities throughout the year.
All events run by Christian Meditation Ireland must be booked through Eventbrite, even where there is no charge or where we ask for a voluntary donation.. This is to help us determine in advance how many seats to set out and to know how many we will need to cater for in terms of refreshments (and lunch if that is also provided). To book now, click on the image or here.
If you haven’t booked you can still attend on the day, but please help us by booking in advance.
This month we say a huge THANK YOU to Stella Gannon from Castleknock/Blanchardstown who recently stepped down from the Board after many years of service. Many of you will know Stella because she was, along with Maria Gavin, the main point of contact with so many of our weekly groups in Dublin and around the country.
We want to record our very sincere thanks to Stella for her dedication, commitment, kindness, wisdom and her deeply personal, gentle approach to all she encountered over the years.
Thanks too to Bernie Baker who joined the Board last year but who, for personal reasons, is unable to continue at this time.
If you think you might be able to help email mnkeating@gmail.com for more information or call Noel Keating on 087 2251183 to find out more.
Weare currently looking for volunteers to assist with our work. Can you volunteer 2-3 hours a month for about 8 months of the year? Might you be able to help us?
Although we spend and receive very little, we still need someone to keep a record of payments and receipts for us and keep an eye on our bank balance. We need another person to help keep our website updated and finally we need someone who can help us make sure we comply with the requirements of a limited company with charitable status. Perhaps you or someone you know can give a few hours a month to help us keep our meditation community animated and vibrant.
Despite a smaller than expected turnout, we had a very succesful Annual Forum on Saturday 13 May 2023. Noel Keating gave a talk on the theme Metanoia: A Contemplative Pathway which was well received and which is available on our reflections page – click the image on the right to access it. Those present engaged with the reflection and this was followed by a 20 minute silent meditation.
Each of the directors present gave an account of how they had fulfilled their role over the previous twelve months in light of our aim to animate our Irish meditation community and promote the practice of meditation across Irish society. The Forum was followed by the AGM of the company at which the accounts for the previous twelve months were presented and agreed and those directors who had retired by rotation or had joined the Board in the previous year were all reappointed by the members.
Lunch was provided to all present – our sincere thanks to Alice, Brenda, David and Paul and to Brendan Conroy for their wonderful support and service.
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Pretty Ugly’ by Abdullah Shoaib
I’m very ugly
So don’t try to convince me that
I am a very beautiful person
Because at the end of the day
I hate myself in every single way
And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying
There is beauty inside of me that matters
So rest assured I will remind myself
That I am a worthless, terrible person
And nothing you say will make me believe
I still deserve love
Because no matter what
I am not good enough to be loved
And I am in no position to believe that
Beauty does exist within me
Because whenever I look in the mirror
I always think ‘Am I as ugly as people say?’
(Now read upwards from the last line)
Noel Keating Reflects:
This is a clever poem that addresses a speaker’s self-worth from two very different perspectives, one positive and one negative. If read from top to bottom this piece expresses a speaker’s belief that they are too ugly to find love or happiness. They don’t believe that any beauty inside of them is worth anything. If read from bottom to top, the exact opposite is true. The speaker knows they are beautiful and no one can tell them anything different.
The capacity to reframe things is a vital human attribute. Knowing that you can change how you see the world – or any given situation – is liberating. What a discovery it is to realise that if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!
Meditation broadens our perspective – our daily practice teaches us who we are at the depths of our being and trains us to see everything from that perspective. And that changes everything.
Meditation enhances our capacity for reframing because we come to know with every fibre of our being that we are loved and that our destiny is theosis – intimate relationship with the Divine in timelessness.
The young people’s programme of WCCM has decided to participate in the World Youth Day 2023 which will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 01 – 06 August 2023. The focus of World Youth Day is to bring together young people (up to 40 years old). Our aim is to share meditation as a way of faith to help young people continue to grow into adulthood with an ever-maturing spiritual life.
WCCM will also share its vision of an ecumenical, inclusive contemplative community with them.
If you are in this age group or know someone who might be interested, please forward this Newsletter to a friend.
Click here to find out more or Click here to register.
Please add these dates to your diary!
- Balally Parish has arranged talks by Carl McColman on Mon 18 and Tues 19 September 2023 from 7-9 pm
- Our annual retreat day will take place on Saturday, 23 September 2023 in Balally from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. See above to book.
- Our next Dublin & Environs Meet-Up will take place on Saturday, 21 October 2023 in Balally Parish Centre (10:30 am-12:30 pm)
- Our next Regional Coordinators’ Meeting will take place ONLINE on Saturday 11 November 2023 from 11 a.m. to 12:45 pm
- Balally Parish has arranged a series of talks on Thomas Merton by theologian Michael Downey from 10-12 December 2023
