OF YOU MY HEART HAS SPOKEN

My body aches For the finite touch Of another Infinite touch Of The Other Totally fulfilling Eternally thrilling I gasp for air

See how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in harmony!  It is like fine scented oil...  (Psalm 133:1-2) Chelva, Spain - August  2017 I left Mervue at two in the morning, driving to Dublin for my flight to Spain and a beautiful drive it was with a crescent moon low on the horizon for most of the journey. It’s been a month of moons and awesome skies, those of Inis Mor in Aran being among the most beautiful. There the sight of the moon brought me to my feet, causing me to say out loud “Oh my God!” A true prayer of wonder. I'm surprised by how lovely and clean everything is in Madrid - airport, trains, Atocha station. It's the day after the Barcelona terror attack but the atmosphere is relaxed with remarkably few armed soldiers in evidence. The flag over the station flies at half mast. I think about the dead, the injured - and pray.

The silence of flowers in a wild patch of garden, the graceful way of nature giving birth to what was not. Newly sprung forth on the Feast of the one who was sprung forth from earth into heaven, drawing our gaze upwards to the fullness of grace, earth into heaven, body into soul. The Assumption of Our Lady.  The passage of all things is on my mind, all that I treasure in this world. I am passing through. Gifts of Nature fading away, Grace remaining. Word of God enduring. 

'Wild at Heart' is the book I came upon in the sitting room at home. Wild is the unmanaged beauty of Ballyloughán, the beach where we swam and played as children, getting roasted by the sun. A brooding beauty. The sombre grey of the sea beneath a vibrant Western sky.  Dark and pale blue, brown and orange with a blazing white setting sun at its centre. The song of curlews echoing. I have gone there every day of my quarantine. Mostly in the early morning. 

I’m going home tomorrow. This is the longest I’ve been away from my family in 34 years. Seven months now! And there’s an excitement growing in me at the thought of it. It’s like a childhood summertime feeling. I will quarantine alone for the first two weeks and then have time to see family and friends, maybe even be in a bubble where hugs are allowed.