THE RECTOR'S REFLECTIONS, July 2006

As I write this month's Beacon article Carol and I are in the process of getting ready to travel to Northern Ireland where I will be supplying in two churches in the area around Banbridge, County Down . It's been about 4 years since my last visit when Carol and traveled to the same area. Our son, Jeremiah, will be meeting us for a week. He's flying in from New York City where he lives as an actor and playwright. He has a play he has written being produced for the New York Fringe Festival so his visit will be a bit short. This will allow us, for the very first time as a family, to travel to the Republic of Ireland to meet relatives Carol and Jeremiah have never met.

This will be truly be a homecoming for all of us. For you see when I was growing up as a first generation American, my mother having emigrated from Ireland in 1916, going to Ireland was always referred to as “going home”. You never just traveled to Ireland . You never just went back to Ireland . No matter how long you lived in America Ireland was always home to my mother and aunt.

My mother's mother had died in childbirth. There were six children and my grandfather couldn't raise a family on his own. So my mother and a sister were sent to live with family in the states. Where my family comes from, County Leitrim , was until recently the poorest county in Ireland . Thanks to some fishing tourism which takes advantage of the numerous lakes the area is now the second poorest.

My family has done pretty well over the years. The family farm is still a going concern. One of my mother's sisters, Jody, still lives there with one of her sons and his family living on the property and taking care of the farm. Talk to my Aunt Jody and you will still hear stories of earlier family struggles in the famine of 1845-1850 which saw 1 million Irish die and another 1 million emigrate.

It's a family devout in its faith. Sit around the turf fire and listen to stories of priests and nuns that have come from the family. Two Jesuits, one Franciscan, one Episcopal Priest. And that's just on my mother's side. There's at least one diocesan priest and a Dominican nun on my father's side.

I don't know much about my father's family including grandparents. But I do know his parents emigrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia and eventually to New Haven , CT where I grew up.

I tell you all this because so much of this history comes from sitting around a fire in an Irish farm and hearing stories. Stories that fill gaps in the puzzles of life and bring new meaning to one's personal history. Facts get set straight. New facts arise. And you leave the story teller richer for the experience.

I first heard a lot of these stories a few years ago at the farm. Jeremiah and Carol will hear them and I venture new ones as well. Carol is actually looking forward to milking cows as she grew up on a farm in Vermont .

Jesus told stories and enriched our lives. He changed the world by story telling. Sitting with family and sitting with Jesus to hear stories is a transforming experience.

Listen carefully to stories of family and friends this summer. Listen carefully to the stories of Jesus. Allow your lives to be transformed. And then tell stories to those you meet on the road. May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. And may God always hold you in the palm of his hand.

Peace
Fr. Richard

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© 2006 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico