Weekly Round-Up
A reminder of our retreat and online course plus the last two Saints of February.
St Moluag’s Coracle is part of a wider apostolate called Mary’s Well, a ministry formed to help Catholics in Scotland in particular grow in their faith. This year we have taken a new step by organising a retreat for May 5th and also an online course. They are not connected, as in you need to do both, but they both ask the same sort of question - what does God have for you? We need time to explore and discern and our hope is these two initiatives are a first step for those who participate.
The Visitation Retreat: Pluscarden Abbey 5th-7th May 2023
A weekend group retreat looking at what the visitation says about our place in God's plan for the world. The retreat is designed to help you begin to explore the path God has for you and how part of that is sharing your own journey of faith with others, just as Mary did with St Elizabeth. Using reflective practice, periods of silence, journaling, discussion and imaginative contemplation; alongside some basic teaching on this momentous snap shot in Mary's (and indeed Elizabeth's) life; we will delve into your gifting's and your very own snapshots that have lead you to where you are now and where you might go next.
The retreat is an initiative of Mary's Well, a Highland Catholic apostolate and will be run by two qualified Spiritual Accompaniers from the Ignation Spirituality Centre in Glasgow and is aimed at adult men and women.
Places are limited to book quickly!
Please go to the link in the button below for more details
Servant Leadership Programme 2023
Led by Dr Sue Price, Director of Pastoral Outreach, Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology and Eric Hanna, founder of Mary's Well and Editor of the online Scottish Catholic magazine; St Moluag's Coracle.
This is a mixed online and in-person course consisting of times of reflection and considering how the servant leadership model supports and develops parish ministries. It is one monthly session starting on the 19th April at 7pm and will last 1 hour, be reflective in its approach and will include some journaling homework.
There is a charge for the course, which is £8 per online session. This is an at cost level price for an excellent programme.
Please hit the button below for more details.
23rd February
St Boisil, AD664
St Boisil was a pupil of St Aidan, alongside St Eata who had been Abbot at Melrose Abbey when St Boisil was Prior. St Boisil was known for his great holiness, learning and desire to help all come to the faith. His example was such that a young St Cuthbert would divert from going to Lindisfarne and take orders under Boisil. St Boisil's affection toward God was evident in how often he would have the name of Jesus cross his lips with loving phrases such as, “How good a Jesus have we!”. His prophetic gift would not only show him his own death but how St Cuthbert would rise to become a servant of God and would not die of the plague going around that part of Scotland. St Boisil's final days were spent with Cuthbert taking seven days to read the Gospel of St John - not to debate but to grow in love. In fact, as St Bede narrated, St Johns Gospel was Boisil's favourite and would read a portion each day eventually coming up with a system that divided John into seven parts. This seemed to make an indelible impression on St Cuthbert who was buried with a Latin copy of this gospel. St Boisil was remembered for encouraging his students and disciples:
“That they would never cease giving thanks to God for the gift of their religious vocation; that they would always watch over themselves against self-love and all attachment to their own will and private judgment, as against their capital enemy; that they would converse assiduously with God by interior prayer, and labour continually to attain to the most perfect purity of heart, this being the true and short road to the perfection of Christian virtue.”
After his death he would eventually be translated to reside near to St Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral but dead or not, St Boisil was not done with this part of Northumbria for he appeared twice to one of his disciples assuring him of success in reaching the Germanic peoples for evangelisation.
24th February
St Cummin the Fair (White)
There are a few St Cummin's around, mostly seems to be of Irish descent - there is an association with him on Eigg, Ardclach in Nairnshire, Fort Augustus by the Tarff River, Glenelg and Iona. It appear's this Cummin was seventh Abbot of Iona who wrote a vita of St Columba which is said St Adomnan incorportated into his more famous 'Life'. He was also involved in the controversial Synod of Whitby. The town of Fort Augustus prior to the more recent naming was known as Cille Chuimein with a place near Tarff called 'Sui-Chuiman, or Cummins's resting-place'. This can also be translated 'return' instead of rest.