The Reverend Doctor Cynthia Bourgeault came to Ireland recently for the second time. She is an Episcopal priest, a prolific writer and an excellent speaker. The occasion for her coming this time was a contemplative retreat, held in the Emmaus Retreat Centre in Swords, Co Dublin.
This was part of the beautiful decor, prepared by Geraldine Holton
The retreat centred on the voyage across the Atlantic of the sixth century Saint Brendan. It was a journey that stirred the hearts of the monastic community at the time, as his manuscript was copied by hand and circulated as far away as Germany – a medieval blockbuster! The islands described in it can correspond to those from the Hebrides to Newfoundland and, in a spiritual reading, can mirror a journey through a spiritual wilderness. Through the passage of inner purification, we can recognise The Land Promised to the Saints as our own.
“We are living at a cusp time; the future of our planet depends on our arrival in a critical mass,” was one of the sayings of Cynthia, that made us sit up and pay attention. This weekend gave food for this critical journey. Tools along the journey are the Psalmody, the life blood of the Christian, Judeo and monastic tradition; and Lectio Divina, the slow reading of a scripture passage, engagement with it, until it brings us to the stage of resting in God.
The following short video clip shows Cynthia speaking about what we can do to develop a new way of being. It begins with some singing by Carmel Boyle. To enjoy it, just ensure your speakers are turned on and click on the following link:
https://youtu.be/daYBZQonBAg
Brendan’s Navagatio begins with the story of a monk, Mernoc, who travelled to The Land Promised to the Saints, in an hour. This is said to have been the inspiration for Brendan. However, his trip was to take seven years, due to his need for purification along the difficult route. The voyage, for example, called on Brendan to renounce his harp, on which he was most proficient. He said that, having heard celestial music, he knew he could no longer aspire to imitate it. One feature of the voyage that gave Brendan courage to continue was their affinity with the wildlife they met along the way. A whale allowed them to land on its back for a time and birds even joined them in their chanting of the Divine Office.
Carmel Boyle, who led the ritual for the weekend, sets up her music
Saint Brendan’s voyage was tried by the explorer, Tim Severin. He followed all the boat building instructions given by Brendan, even though it meant making a leather-bound boat for the journey across the broad Atlantic. In the 1970’s, Tim Severin did indeed encounter islands that correspond to Brendan’s description. For example, the island of Sheep may have been the Hebrides, the island of Birds may have been Greenland and the island of Smiths could have been Iceland undergoing a volcano. Brendan’s description of an iceberg has also been verified as being most accurate. However, one instruction that Tim did not follow was adherence to a regime of praying the psalms. While he did reach Newfoundland, Cynthia posed an interesting question: had he and his crew adhered to this prayer practice, might they not have reached The Island Promised to the Saints?
More of the detail in the scene
Another unexpected indication of Brendan’s voyage was discovered in 1982 by Doctor Robert Pyle. He found an Ogham rock inscription on a cliff edge in West Virginia with an estimated date of between 500 and 600 AD. Ogham was a form of writing on stone devised by the medieval Irish. The writing was translated to indicate that the sun would shine on a particular part of the rock, at the winter solstice: “A ray will graze the notch on the left side, at the time of sunrise on Christmas Day, the first season of the year, the season of the blessed advent of the savior Lord Christ, be-hold he is born of Mary, a woman.” Sure enough, on December 21st that year, the first shaft of sunlight illuminated a symbol of the sun on the stone, through a previously unnoticed part of the cliff. For more on this, click here.
Cynthia presented reflection on time, on the one hand linear time, while, on the other, the concept of the fullness of time, or eternity. She sees the intersection of the timeless and time to be the work of the saint. We have devalued the normal sphere of time but Cynthia reminded us that, “God so loved the world…” In her perspective, there is something precious in the subset of the eternal when it is bound by time. “Here, a rare quality of Eucharistic love emerges, shining brightly in infinitas.”This is when she spoke of the “Imaginal Realm,” where the Reign of God can actually happen, as more and more of the small self gets out of the way. When we reach the Unitive level, a sign identified by John Cassian, is when “we chant the psalms as if composing them.” “Our great sickness,” Cynthia shared, is to have lost the capacity, with regard to time, to, “read the horizontal in the light of the vertical.”
Lily Sexton, Anna Haughian and Liz Fletcher enjoy the input
Sunday morning began with Cynthia’s expression of her profound thanks for the previous evening’s dramatisation of her play. Two weeks before the event, she had sent a copy of her own rendition of Brendan’s voyage to Carmel Boyle, who led us in ritual throughout. During these two weeks, Carmel had composed music, worked on video and adapted Cynthia’s vision into what was a deeply moving interpretation. It brought Brendan’s struggles to life, as he needed to reconcile the seeming one-hour journey that his companion Mernoc had experienced, with the seven-year travail he had to face.
The last part of Cynthia’s input was a deeper reflection on the experience of Saint Brendan, in the light of later spiritual writings. She noted that Brendan does not appear to change on the surface but recommended a reading of what was actually occurring below the surface. Brendan’s encounter with Judas, for example, demonstrates a clear affinity with his alienated self. Brendan becomes more a protector through this episode. Other significant encounters are with Paul the Hermit and with Saint Patrick, who now lives only on what comes from Heaven.
An open book guides the voyage
Cynthia shone a light on the Brendan story through the perspective of Saint John of the Cross and the Dark Night Night of the Soul. This happens when, “consolation drops out.” Brendan’s prayer when he says, “I am your servant; let the oars go,” shows his developing, inner freedom. But he still needs deeper purification in the Dark Night of Spirit, when God does not show approval or give mystical experiences. Finally, Brendan, because of disorientation, moves to a new realm of consciousness allowing him to begin the illuminative stage of his journey; now, he can make his way through the wall of fog. Thus, he arrives at The Land Promised to the Saints.
We got a clear invitation through the weekend to make our own voyage, to “kick away the boat that has carried us this far.” Now is the time to leap forward to sustain a capacity to live from the mystical body of Christ. Cynthia concluded with reference to a contemporary Carmelite nun, Sister Connie Fitzgerald, who speaks of the emergence of a new, deep, morphic consciousness which can be unabashedly prophetic of the future. She believes that, just now, we are simply not evolved enough but the way forward is the future, from where God comes to us.
You can order the CD recorded at the retreat here
Suzanne Ryder rsm
Western Province
