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Letters to Biddy

~ a weekly reflection as a letter to Biddy Early, 19th Century Irish healer from Ennis, County Clare

Letters to Biddy

Tag Archives: Good Friday

Lighting Up

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Moira Were AM in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Adelaide Town Hall, Biddy Early, Good Friday, Mary McAleese, peace, UniSA

Dear Biddy,

Former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese visited my town this week and my heart sung! She unfolded stories from her life as a child in the kitchen, as a mother coaxing a child out of bed, as a negotiator around the Good Friday Peace Agreement table and as a loved and loving wife to a lifelong partner and an icing on the cake tale telling the Vatican it is bonkers. Music to my ears in message and lilt. It was one of those nights when I fell in love with my city. The Adelaide Town Hall was tightly stacked and plenty of people left to hear the podcast and live stream as there was literally not a spare seat.

Mary’s tales were of partnerships, friendships, conversations and the power of tea and buns. Nothing can be built without respect and no respect can be offered without the simple truth of recognising we are all walking the same journey and have a yearning for justice and peace … even though we might separate on how that might be achieved.

Terrorism once invisible and hidden in the shadows is now publicly displayed on every media platform available. The brutality and horror is front and centre. The sophistication of technologically charged drones that are managed by gamers recruited from online game parks are matched against the disenchanted and disenfranchised youth seeking adventure and martyrdom for their cause. What is hidden behind screens and balaclavas are not much different to each other. Mary McAleese insisted her suitors in the peace process come in the front door for all the world to see, no back rooms, no balaclavas.

When there is no light, all it takes is for a candle to be lit and sitting in the Adelaide Town Hall this week I thought of all the candles that would have been lit in prayer and with hope to bring about the peace process in Northern Ireland. I thought of all the candles I have lit to give me a boost and to remind me that it is in the light that I can see more clearly. I thought of all the candles that might be needed to bring about the peace in our world in all the places where darkness is making its home.

Coming into the light, and beckoning others to do the same, so that together you can all clearly see more of what can be done together will bring clarity and peace.

I’m a little over leaning in and think that lighting up is the way to go.

Nelson Mandela Lecture 2014 UniSA, Adelaide Town Hall

Nelson Mandela Lecture 2014 UniSA, Adelaide Town Hall

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Kintsukuroi

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Moira Were AM in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Biddy Early, Easter, gold, Good Friday, Kintsukuroi, Leonard Cohen

Dear Biddy,

I have been introduced to a beautiful Japanese parable and image today on Good Friday, it is called kintsukuroi.  It is the concept of a broken ceramic being repaired by gold or silver, making the bowl even more beautiful because of the repair.  In the original fable the source of the gold is from the incoming monarch’s crown thus making the crown simpler and stronger in the process too.  What a beautiful metaphor for this Good Friday.  I have always loved the Leonard Cohen song Anthem that contains the lyric:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

The interplay between light and shade that is offered by both the crack and alchemy of healing the bowl with a precious metal brings together all the elements.

The Christian story of Good Friday has all these elements too although the promise of healing and wholeness is not fully realised on this day but with the dawn of Easter Sunday.  The broken body, betrayal and humiliation that comes with the day by the founder of the firm (as Fr Bob Maguire refers to Jesus) is played out time and time again in history by the prophets. Those who stand up for those with the least often go the same way as Jesus and indeed it is the mark of many a successful prophet, even those who do not espouse to follow Jesus of Nazareth.  The idea of being broken is one thing, and then patching up the broken-ness with a golden (or silver thread) opens me up to deeper meaning of renewal and restoration.  The light that gets reflected through the crack and then when it has been closed by metal that has been subject to heat and a crucible seems to me to be an incredibly relevant metaphor for Good Friday.

The word crucible comes from the Latin word for cross (crux / cruc).  I love this idea that the cross itself is the vessel holding the molten precious metal corresponds for me to the blood of Christ flowing in the Passion and through the process humanity is made new again – the cracks repaired and we are all more beautiful because of the repairs that are applied by the Divine in the rays of Easter morn.

A Good Friday Poem (c) Moira Deslandes

The wooden crucible holds the body

And the blood.

The transfusion of molten red liquid flows in Divine

And human veins.

Expired sigh.

Inspired – the cosmic breath is received.

The night comes,

The night goes,

The dawn comes.

Arrayed in golden light

Slithers of threads fusing,

Restoring, creating.

Forming magma to apply to the cracks.

Divine mortal unification.

Kintsukuroi.

More beautiful

Because first broken.

Kintsukuroi

Kintsukuroi

 

 

 

 

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