BACK FROM IRELAND

I got back home this past Saturday from the better part of two weeks in Ireland. One of the features of this trip was visiting churches in the cities I stayed at. Before I tell you of this particular highlight of my trip, I must tell you that I am very, very Irish and have been in the church in Dublin where my great-great grandfather was baptized and have touched the baptismal font where his little head would have been sprinkled with water. I even was able to obtain his baptismal certificate dated May 28, 1809.

On Sunday, May 22, I attended the 9:00 mass in the Galway Cathedral that was conducted in Gaeilge – the Celtic of my ancestors from 1,800 years back, called Irish today. The priest gave the liturgy in Irish, read from a Bible written in Irish, and gave his sermon in Irish. I, of course, understood not a word, but the spirit of my ancestors and the thread of the Christian advance in Ireland, which went back to when St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th Century, swept over me as the Holy Spirit stirred my soul.

This was a once in a lifetime moment, for I will not come this way again. Oh, Lord, You have been faithful through the ages and You have been faithful to me. I praise You, I worship You, and I abide in You as the Irish saints through the ages experienced You as branches on the true Vine.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2022 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Discoveries, My Life with Christ, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.