Moments of Grace at the World Meeting of Families
OVER the days of the WMOF in August in the RDS I spent most of my time inviting people to spend a few minutes, silent and alone, in a little Beehive Cell. This allowed me only a worm’s-eye view of the whole event, but I can pick two moments of grace that came my way over the days and have nourished me since. Sometimes when relaxing after a task you become aware that something important has happened - that something good had been going on, which at the time you had been too preoccupied to savour. Thomas Merton says: “Every moment and every event in every person’s life plants seeds of spiritual vitality in their souls.” This assertion certainly spreads wide the net of possibility! While I miss most such seeds, I am grateful to notice one coming my way and to give it a home. One such was my vigil at The Beehive Meditation Cell. Sculptor Imogen Stuart spent 10 years creating it, inspired by the stone cells built by hardy monks on Skellig Micheal, which they inhabited between the 6th and the 13th century. So this Cell is steeped in a rich tradition. The Cell is made of red cedar-wood, six foot six in diameter and eight feet high, with a tiny table and chair; its sliding door lets you close off the world for a few moments to experience solitude and peace.
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Brian Grogan SJ
is a prolific writer and speaker on Ignatian spirituality and creation and a former president of the Milltown Institute.