One Foot Forward...
David Edwards opens up about a recent difficult period in his life, Rory Lamb begins his first of a series on Scottish Cathedrals, St Ronan gives us the run around and we begin lenten prep! Welcome.
I have the very good fortune to live just outside Tomich, near Cannich, The stunning Glen Affric is just over the hill from me and Plodda Falls is just a mile or so up the road. This morning I was out walking my dog at 6:30am, as is normal for a weekday. This time of year, as you all well know, it's still very dark out there at that time, so I'm out there with my hi-vis jacket and head torch! I walked up the road towards Plodda Falls and then turned on to a forest track which loops round to give me a circular walk. We've had a lot of snow here, and, because there have been no forestry vehicles along this forest track, the snow is still 6-8 inches deep and really hard work to walk on.
I use my morning dog walk as an opportunity for prayer. Prayer is difficult and dry for me right now. I have suffered with anxiety and depression on and off for 20 years. My latest episode has been particularly difficult over the last couple of months. The anxiety was quite acute when I went out this morning (the anxiety is always worst first thing in the morning). As I struggled through the thick snow with my head torch lighting the way I reflected on how this was akin to my current mental and spiritual struggles. What, under normal circumstances, is easy and done without really thinking about it, like putting one foot in front of the other, when going through a depressive episode, is hard, like walking in 8 inches of snow. However, I have the light of my faith in God to guide me through this, like my head torch enabled me to see my way in the pre-dawn darkness. Does the light make the walking easier? No, but it does make it possible.
David Edwards | Tomich
Part One
This is the first of a series of articles about the histories of Catholic cathedrals in Scotland. My intention here is to juxtapose the stories of the cathedrals in which we worship today with the medieval Catholic heritage of our country to encourage reflection on the presence and impact of the Church in our country’s past. Survivals of our medieval heritage in Scotland are rich and yet I feel often overlooked by Scottish Catholics. Our connection to medieval churches is certainly dulled by the fact we no longer occupy them as worshippers, but they remain a built testament to the life of the faith in our country which we should cherish. This first entry provides some introductory context.
No doubt your inbox is filling up with people banging on about lent. You may also be thinking that this last year was lent enough! It is easy to see why we might think that, for after all isn’t lent about depriving oneself? How much of our normal life this past year has been a deprivation! The problem with thinking about lent in this way is that it misses the point. In lent we fast but the point of lent is not the fast, it is the spiritual growth such fasts bring. It is about dealing with the ‘old man’ and the sins that so easily ensnare us, bringing our life and loves ever closer to God. As the Prophet Micah spoke in 8th Century BC Judah:
With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
God speaking through the Prophet Micah was challenging the ‘easy’ external acts of worship and penance that did little to affect how people treated each other and there reverence to God. Lent can become like this as well if all we focus on is what we are giving up, not who we are wanting to become. Who is that? A Saint, a holy son or daughter of Christ, a follower of Jesus, a lover of God and people.
Finally St Phillip Neri gives us some great advice to those seeking spiritual direction in regards exercises and discipline for our upcoming lenten season, he said:
It is not a good thing to load ourselves with many spiritual exercises; it is better to undertake a little and go on with it: for if the devil can persuade us to omit an exercise once, he will easily get us to omit it the second time, and the third, until at last all our pious practices melt away.
Lent is a special season in which the Church gives us the chance to focus on who we can become through inner conversion and the renewal of our baptismal commitments. Focus on this before you think of what to give up.
Eric Hanna | Nairn
Saint Ronan, Feast Day 7th February
St Ronan has wells, Churches and Isles that have been given his name from Peebles to Perthshire, Dumbartonshire, Bute, Lismore, Iona and Lewis. On Lewis there was a tradition at the Church of St Moluag - that to be healed, you marched around the building seven times then water from St Ronan’s well was sprinkled on you.
The most entertaining story and modern, is near Peebles in a place called Innerleithen. It has a well, mill, lodge and a famous book named after him. Innerleithen was popularised by Sir Walter Scott in his book; Saint Ronans Well, a part of his Waverley novels. It seems to have spawned the Cleikum Festival that celebrates the ancient story of when St Ronan arrived in the Innerleithen valley and faced the Deil (Devil) ‘cleikin im’ from the land. Cleikum describes a shepherds crook catching something by the hind leg. Another famous Scot - poet James Hogg, initated St Ronan’s Games in 1827 (Scotts novel was published in 1823) that eventually lead to a full on festival and re-enactment of the Saints dealing with the Deil in 1901 and is still celebrated today.
In addition to all this we have a famous Irish St Ronan involved in the controversy surrounding the date of Easter, a St Ronan on the Isle of Man and another famous St Ronan of Irish origin who was known as St Ronan the Silent. Although silent his example helped spread the faith in Devon, Cornwall and then Brittany in the 6th Century.
There seem a lot of St Ronan’s around and I think we can safely suggest we are dealing with more than one Saint and with some mixing up of Saints along the way. What is interesting is how many of these sites suggest solitude and an escape from the world. Is it possible this points to one of the attributes of the real St Ronan, at least in the Western Isles? It should also be noted that, as in many other cases, a place that venerates a Saint through naming does not necessarily mean the Saint was there; but it shows the people in that place felt their lives were impacted by this person. It is a lesson in the Communion of the Saints. Finally, regardless of the origins of the festival at Innerleithen, it is wonderful to see a town celebrating our Christian past acting as a witness to the reality of a God who is active and present in our world.
If you have missed any past Coracles you can click here. Most of our past articles are on the roughbounds website as well as talks from Bishop Hugh Gilbert and the Highland Mens Conference.
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God Bless from Eric and Team