Mysteries To Be Revealed

Dear Friend,

To the sound of chirping sparrows, I peruse a story told by the poet Malcolm Guite. I’ll recount it here, editing for space.

“When I was 19,” he writes, “and moving from atheism towards a greater spiritual openness, but by no means yet a Christian, I went for a long slow walk round Ireland.” (Adhering strictly to the practice of Zen, he walks without a map!)  

One evening toward the end of his journey he enters the west coast in Donegal and spots fires being lit for St. John’s eve. There’s a fiddle playing and dancing around the fires. “What’s your name?” the locals ask. “Malcolm,” he tells them. “Ah, that is why you have come, because he has called you.” “Who?” he asks. “Colm” they tell him. “Colm has called you, Malcolm, for this is the place he gathered his disciples.” They were speaking of St. Columba. From this very place the saint had begun his missionary quest, leaving behind all things for the sake of Christ. “Malcolm,” he’s told, “your name in Gaelic, means ‘servant of Colm’ which is Columba.”

Slowly, Malcolm remembers his childhood, how he was named, told stories about this saint, and how his grandmother had sung him her lullaby for the infant Columba. He thinks to himself “I’m not a Christian, and I don’t see how I could ever become one, but if I ever become one, I’ll remember St. Columba and I’ll go to Iona and thank him.”  

Comes the punchline: “Which I did, and I did.” 

This weekend we hear Jesus say: “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed.” How many mysteries of our own lives have yet to be remembered and revealed! Saint Columba - and Saint Francis - pray for us!  

Gratefully,

Father Dan

P.S. God bless you, Malcolm, Tim, and Jerry!