Happy Patrick's Day.

Happy St Patrick's Day, all of you.!

     Some of you might be feeling blue, with the usual fun and games subdued, many of us deprived of our usual supports, and even the weather conspiring with its lowering grey sky and driven mist; but let us bear in mind the great mystery of Spring, with life upwelling in the spare and blasted trees. 

     This pandemic has taken us all by surprise, yet in a way it should not have done, and I want to suggest that the way to hope and joy is not a matter of trying to ignore the miseries that come our way. Personally, I have had a sense of forboding, not to say dread, ever since I started to think - about 55 years ago. Living with it has often been difficult, but happily it has left Fiona and I in a good place right now, so far virtually unaffected in our beautiful island home.

     For myself, the Dread started with fear of nuclear holocast, the Cuban missile crisis being seminal, followed by the assassination of, in particular, President Kennedy, who held out hopes of finding a better way. There seem to be grounds for believing that he was killed because of his decision to pull out of Vietnam. Whatever about that, that war caused the likes of myself to finally lose faith in what is loosely called 'Western Imperialism'. Bob Dylan was there to tell the oldies to get out of the way, while we built a new world. Pity it didn't work out too well! Has the Ducky to stand as the ultimate representative of our generation?

     I have to say that I have been in some ways agreeably surprised at how resilient our civilisation has proved to be, while at the same time revolted by the determination on so many sides not to admit and face up to the very many signs that we have been on an unsustainable course. Must I mention the usual suspects - global warming, ocean acidification, horrendous pollution, bio-diversity loss, 'insect Armageddon'? This is before one comes to such matters as the explosion of debt, the vast expenditure on weapons of mass destruction, the extreme disparities of wealth, the refugee crisis, the difficulties of finding good and honest work or even a sense of truth, and the breakdown of religion, marriage and family.

     You may be asking, why bother with this litany of woes, darkening our minds with the thought of them, and anyway why should we associate all these  woes with each other, and with the coronavirus? There is no easy answer to this question,  but might we not agree that any solutions to any of them individually will have much in common with the rest? While we have based our society on the attempt to divide things up into relatively manageable compartments, wisdom comes of tuning into the underlying unity and coherence of it all. Evils are legion; their answer is One.

     I found that both sailing and fishing helped me to live with fear and the sense of dread, being such elemental exemplars of the wondrous combination of peril and opportunity that is on offer. Art and literature may also help, but what is indispensable in the end is a relationship with God, which alone can pull reality together for us. Indeed such a relationship consists precisely of this pulling together. What's more, God is active and indeed relentless in promoting it, and here lies our fullfilment and salvation.

     This is a great opportunity to rediscover the Great

Aileen by Fionnuala

Pullertogether, so that in our response to the pandemic, hopefully we will discover a whole new solidarity, a new willingness and ability and urgency in addressing all those other evils that beset us, and more especially our grandchildren, in the hope of 'a new Heaven and a new Earth'. Yes, it will come. It's even surer than Spring! St Patrick, father of Spring, keep praying for us.