Courtney McGrailPilgrims& Prophets: Biblical and Celtic Spirituality
by Edmond Cullinan
(Veritas, €14.99 / £11.99)
Currently the parish priest of Carrick-on-Suir, Canon Edmond Cullinan formerly lectured on theology at St John’s College. So his new book is the outcome of many years thought on the nature of spirituality and the continuity between past and present in the life of Church.
He begins his book with a consideration of what spirituality is. He then recounts the spirituality of the early church in Ireland, the spiritual ideas of which were dominated by the theme of pilgrimage, exile (“white matrydom” as it was called) and a sense of mission.
He then moves on to the tradition of wisdom in Irish native lore as recorded in sayings and local customs.
But these elements in the Irish Church were rooted in the Biblical tradition of prophecy and in the teachings of the early apostles and fathers. He illustrates this with a chapter on the spirituality displayed in St John’s gospel which was so important in the early Irish church.
However, looking back over these centuries, it is worth recalling that with many people quite illiterate, the teachings of the church had to be passed by preaching and by example. Hence the importance of those religious traditions and customs, such as St Patrick’s Purgatory perhaps.
But what a contrast this presents to us today. Today a reader has access to the accumulated wisdom of the Church in a way impossible in past centuries. A reader can, for instance have access to the vast range of writings of the Fathers of the Church by simply calling into such a place as the Central Catholic Library and taking the books down from the shelves. This was not possible or the ordinary Christian even two centuries ago.
With all these resources available we ought to be living in an age of true spirituality. And yet this is not so. For it seems that only a minority care to apply themselves and to learn to befit and grow with their explorations of their interior life and its relationship with the world.
However a book such as this will prove an aid in overcoming this strange anomaly of our times. As Edward Cullinan emphasises, we can all learn from the past lessons to help us built a future life.