Mags GarganMags Gargan offers thoughts from a recent visit to Glenstal Abbey
“Women are the worst,” is how Br Padraig started off his talk. He was a brave man saying this to a gathering of about 80 women, from mainly all over the Munster region, who had come to the annual Ladies Retreat in Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick.
But he pulls us back before losing the room, when he explains that he means that women are the slowest to gift themselves.
I feel like an interloper at this point because I’m pretty good to myself, but there are a lot of mothers, and grandmothers, in the room, and everyone knows that Irish Mammies tend to take care of everyone else before themselves. So today was a day to gift to ourselves, to look to our own needs and to leave our worries at the door.
Most of the women I spoke to weren’t able to articulate why exactly they had come to the retreat. Many had been attracted by the beauty of Glenstal Abbey itself, and the peaceful atmosphere that surrounds it. Some came to spend quality time with female friends and family members, others made it an annual excursion. It was an eclectic collection, from the younger participants in jeans or shorts, to the older ladies wearing their best summer dresses and suits. But we all had the same craving, to take a step out from our ordinary lives.
The theme of the retreat was ‘Escape the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary’. However, Br Padraig put this on its head, when he explained that it is in the ordinary that we experience the extraordinary. We all share the same routine of getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to work etc, but it is the fact that we all share this experience that makes it so extraordinary.
It is the same everyday life that Jesus experienced in between the miracles. For us the extraordinary events are the little moments we share with others, the meaningful gestures, the few simple words, the feeling of being loved and to love. These are the fireworks in the ‘mundane’ of ordinary life.
So, ironically, after coming on retreat to break the routine of everyday living, I went away with a new appreciation for it.
Icon chapel
In the crypt of the church in Glenstal Abbey is a Russo-Byzantine chapel which houses the community’s collection of Russian and Greek icons. It takes the shape of a cross in a square with a central circle surmounted by a dome. Beneath the dome, in painted glass, are the mythical beasts symbolising the four Evangelists. It is a unique sacred space, specially created to give the collection a suitable home, and a must see for any visitor to the Abbey.
The icons, depicting Christ, his Mother, the feasts of the Church and the saints, have been cherished by generations. They are more than just pictures, as a family photo means more than a picture of strangers. They have been held, prayed with and wept over. The emotion behind them is palpable and when standing in front of the Healing Icon of Christ it feels like Christ’s sad eyes are looking through you and seeing all the troubles that you are carrying. “Leave some of your baggage here – that is your gift to this place,” Br Padraig says, and heading back up to the sunlight is does seem like people are walking with a lighter step.
Choral music as Gaeilge
In neighbouring Co. Clare the 42nd Willie Clancy Summer School came to a close in Miltown Malbay on Sunday. This is one of the biggest traditional music and set dance festivals in Ireland and commemorates the townís best-known uilleann piper, Willie Clancy.
This year the Summer School held a special tribute event for CÛr Ch˙il Aodha (Coolea Choir) presented by Muireann NÌ Dhuigne·in in St Josephís Church, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The choir brings the week-long event to a close every year with the Se·n ” Riada Mass at St Josephís Church on the final Sunday.
The composer Se·n ” Riada was perhaps the single most influential figure in the revival of Irish traditional music during the 1960s.
He lived in a Gaeltacht area of Cork, between Coolea village and Ballyvourney, until his death, and his son Peadar is currently conducting CÛr Ch˙l Aodha.
Fans of choral music should not miss a chance of hearing the Irish Mass when performed by this choir, and they can usually be heard at Sunday morning Mass in Coolea.