Fr Paddy Byrne: Peace of mind a wonderful thing on long summer days
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THE cuckoo is an extraordinary bird. It's first soundings are warmly greeted as its song reminds us that winter has passed and much brighter days are ahead. Here in Abbeyleix local bog walk, the cuckoo's presence brings comfort and healing. Yet, the cuckoo itself is painfully unaware of how valued and loved its beautiful life is. A solitary bird, the cuckoo lives alone without intimacy and friendship and even a nest. I am reminded about the cuckoo following recent tragic deaths because of mental illness. Our minds, like the cuckoo’s, are unaware of the love and affection we are surrounded by. We all know the importance of minding our minds. Peace of mind is a wonderful gift on these long summer days, offering opportunity to nourish our mental health.
Sometimes, it seems as if God is more absent than present. If God is there at all, he seems distant and remote, so far removed from us that there is no contact. Where is God in today’s secularised world, preoccupied as it is with power, position and possessions?
Perhaps we can find God first of all in the ordinary events of human life as, for example, when we experience hope in the face of hopelessness, fidelity to promises, holding firmly to values, trust instead of cynicism, enduring in struggle, rising after falling, acting above selfishness, being a fool for moral reasons, avoiding power struggles, loving without a sure reason, acting on conscience and accepting death serenely. Isn’t there also something of God in a baby’s smile, the enjoyment of a good meal with friends, the majesty of a red sunset, the feeling of being clean and fresh after a shower or of being rested after a good night’s sleep?
It’s worth mentioning in passing that the Jewish book the Mishna says that God will call us to account for every pleasure which we did not enjoy.
In the Gospel, Jesus very often tells his disciples to wake up, to watch, to look, to see. He complained about their inability to see what was in front of them. When they did see something, they usually failed to see its significance. They would not have noticed that a vineyard is not just a garden with vines in it but a place where the miracle of water being turned into wine goes on all the time.
And God is also present in other situations: wherever two or three gather in his name; in the quiet but insistent voice of conscience speaking from the sanctuary of the soul; in the beauty and grandeur of creation which can lead to contemplation of the creator; in the Bible which is the word of the Lord; in the silence of quiet personal prayer without words, thoughts or ideas, but only love; in the sacraments which are unique moments of God’s presence in humanity; in the church, the community of the disciples of Jesus, vulnerable and struggling; and especially in the Eucharist when Jesus in his totality is present to the one who receives in faith.
The English poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that:
