Join with us online on 26 Nov 2-4 p.m.
Because of the mystery of oneness revealed in suffering, Laurence invites all who can do so to join him online on Sunday 26 November, from 2-4 p.m. Irish time. Click the image to join any time after 2 p.m.
The aim is to convene a community of love in solidarity with those desperately struggling in Ukraine and Gaza and other parts of the world and also with those in extreme loneliness on the streets of our cities, in hospitals and prisons.
Fr Laurence Freeman has confirmed that he is making good progress after his recent operation and he will be present with us in Balally Parish on Cedar Road, Balally, Dublin, D16 E032 next weekend. He will give two talks on Saturday morning, 02 December 2023 each followed by Q&A and a period of silent meditation. The talks will be recorded by Paul Daly of Éist and will be available for purchase afterwards and online following the event. This is a unique opportunity to hear Fr Laurence in person. The event will start at 10 a.m. and conclude at 1:30 p.m. and there will be a half-hour coffee break at 11:30
Directions and Parking: See maps below. By Car from outside of Dublin: Follow the M50 and take Exit 13 for Sandyford/ Dundrum. At the first roundabout take the third exit for Sandyford. Keep in the left lane and after 1.5 km swing left – this will take you on to Drummartin Link Road. Stay in the far left lane and at the next traffic lights turn left onto Blackthorn Drive and after 200m take a right onto Cedar Road. After 100m or so as the road swerves to the right, the church will be on your left. By LUAS: Get off at KIlmacud Luas stop and follow the directions shown on the two maps, crossing over Drummartin Link Road and taking the laneway to the Church.
Directions to Balally
Parish Centre
Cork Retreat: Our Cork Region organsied a wonderful day with Fr Donagh O’Shea on Saturday, 18 November 2023. There were over 70 in attendance and, as always, Fr Donagh held the gathering in the palm of his hand as he spoke simply, yet profoundly, about the practice of meditation and its fruits in our lives..
He began by reminding us that we should approach the practice without presumption – in other words without calculation or expectation of a particular outcome. The practice will become its own reward in time. Through it we learn that while God cannot be seen, he can be found in all creation and in every fibre of our being. We should always strive to live in the present moment – when we do we discover that we have, in fact, everything we need for the that moment.
Donagh noted that it is not uncommon, for beginners especially, to conclude initially that ‘Meditation is boring’. In today’s world people are surrounded by distractions and aren’t used to silence. Because of this we may feel in meditation that we ought to be ‘doing ‘ something. But if we persist we learn that we really do need quiet times and blank spaces – just to be, instead of endless doing. Experience is the teacher – it is through the steady practice of meditation, by persevering, that we discover its fruits for ourselves.
Ger McDonnell, who leads a meditation group in Rush, Co Dublin will faciliate an introduction to ‘Meditation, Growth and The Aramaic Our Father‘ on Saturday, 16 December 2023 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Galilee House of Studies, Galilee House, Cardington, Athy, Co. Kildare, R14 HV57
Galilee House has kindly given permission to use their facility for the day in question. Soup & Sandwiches will be provided. Kitchen facilities may be used should you want to make your own lunch. The venue is relatively small with a dedicated Meditation Room, therefore numbers are limited. There is no charge for the day. Should you wish to consider participating, Ger asks that you contact him by text on 087 6159403 – he will call you back in due course to provide any further information you might need regarding the day.
Meditation, Growth & The Aramaic Our Father
Into the Questions by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
I needed today the soft voice of the man
from Bethlehem saying,
Put yourself in the pain of others.
Not in their shoes, but in their pain.
I needed to see his eyes
when he said it is olive picking season
and the families are too afraid
to go to the orchards.
I needed to hear it is the hardest
his life has ever been,
needed to hear his fear, his anger,
his willingness to wonder
again and again,
What does it mean to love your enemy?
I needed to see the open face
of the man in Israel as he listened,
needed to hear his gentle tone
as he rejected the phrase us vs. them.
Needed to hear the resolve in his voice
as he called for creating an us together.
And because in the arms of terror
these two men find ways to love,
I invite a war into my heart
and imagine myself on both sides,
imagine the ache that fuels the rage.
I don’t have to imagine fear, distrust.
It is in all of us, this war,
not somewhere far away.
It is for all of us to ask in every interface,
How do I love my enemy?
How do we become an us?
Noel Keating reflects on the poem:
This poem was written early in the Israeli-Hammas war when the poet saw an online conversation between a person from Gaza and another from Israel where each sought to be receptive and open to the other. We find ourselves in the midst of many wars of different kinds that are raging all around the world. Most obviously in the news, the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East. But there are other kinds of ongoing conflict that don’t involve weapons such as the war against democracy in the United States, Hungary and other countries. And, of course, the war of humankind against Mother Earth and all Earth’s creatures, including ourselves, that we call ‘Climate Change’. That might even be described as a war against the future.
In our poem today the poet is asking if humanity can grow up and outgrow war? The opening lines of the poem had me thinking the poet was referring to Jesus when she said she needed to hear the soft voice of the man from Bethlehem saying, ‘Put yourself in the pain of others. Not in their shoes, but in their pain.’ Isn’t that the Gospel message of Jesus, a message he lived out even unto death. And the message of others like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela – all who showed us the way of non-violence, an alternative way to deal with conflict and moral outrage?
The poet speaks of needing to see his eyes when he said it is olive picking season and the families are too afraid to go to the orchards; of needing to hear his fear, his anger, his willingness to wonder again and again, ‘What does it mean to love your enemy?’ And to see the open face of the man in Israel as he listened, needed to hear his gentle tone as he rejected the phrase us vs. them.
The poem concludes by reminding us that it is in all of us, this war, not somewhere far away. It is for all of us to ask in every interface, ‘How do I love my enemy? How do we become an us?’ How can we, each one of us, contribute to making compassion – that core Gospel value – how can we help to bring compassion into our world, to help ensure compassion becomes the next step of human evolution?
I have no doubt that meditation is part of the answer. Meditation deepens our awareness of who we truly are, interconnected to all of humanity through the Divine, through the Spirit of God in whom we live and move and have our being. And when we really know this, not just as an appealing mental concept, but as a profound truth, that changes our way of seeing and being in the world and gives birth to compassion not just within us but mysteriously far and wide. May our daily practice of meditation contribute not just to our own inner harmony but to harmony in our world.
Meditation Groups - in person & online
Meditators from Christian Meditation Ireland facilitate weekly groups in cities and towns all over Ireland. You can find a group near you by clicking on the image to the left.
We also facilitate a number of online meditation groups so that you can join in meditation with like-minded people at a range of times throughout the week. To see the list of online groupos, click on the image to the right.
