The Spiritual Importance of the River Shannon

Lough Derg on the River Shannon from the 'Lookout', near Portroe 1 July2018
- a landscape of spiritual importance

Notes made in preparation for an interview with Anna Kavanagh on 10th November 2018 for the Athlone Community Radio series ' Taste the Pure Drop', to be broadcast in February 2019. Others interviewed with me were Donal Whelan (River Shannon Protection Alliance), Liam Minehan (Fight the Pipe Campaign) and Catriona Hilliard (Heritage Boat Association).

1.      I want to focus on the spiritual importance of the River Shannon, as a member of the Community of St Brendan the Navigator.

·         The river has had a spiritual importance from pagan times – it is named for the Celtic goddess Sionna.

·         For the early Celtic church, the Shannon was a great highway opening up the interior to the outside world. The saints travelled up and down it and founded monasteries along and close to it.

·         Among them are: St Brendan the Navigator’s first monastery of Ardfert, St Senan’s of Inis Cathaig (Scattery island), St Munchin’s of Limerick, St Molua’s (later St Flannan’s) of Killaloe, St Caimin’s of Inis Cealtra in Lough Derg, St Columba’s of Terryglass, St Ruadhan’s of Lorrha, St Brendan’s of Birr, St Brendan the Navigator’s last foundation at Clonfert, St Ciaran’s of Clonmacnoise, St Diarmuid’s of Inishcleraun in Lough Ree, etc.

·         Bord Failte are marketing the Shannon as ‘Ireland’s hidden heartlands’, but it should really be marketed as ‘The Saints' Way’, I think.

2.      For those like me who have been brought up close by, or live along it, and love it, the River Shannon is of great personal spiritual importance.

·         The part I know best is the stretch from Limerick City to Portumna including Lough Derg. I live in Dromineer on the Tipperary side of Lough Derg. I have known it all my life.

·         As a small boy I stayed for holidays in Meelick Cottage in Luska bay, reached only by boat. Later I brought my own children on holiday there, and they in their turn brought their children.

·         My mother’s family have an association with Lough Derg and sailing going back to my great-great-grandfather in the 1870s.

·         I have spent a lifetime looking out over the river and its lakes in all its moods, rowing and sailing on its waters, rambling along its banks, and being delighted by the plants and animals to be found there. For me and so many others it is a God-given gift. I feel as close to God as anywhere on earth when I am beside it. My heart echoes WBYates ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’:

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

3.      A key part of the Shannon’s spiritual importance is its unique and special natural heritage, which displays the amazing beauty and diversity of God’s creation.

·         The limestone shores of Lough Derg are unique ecosystem, like a rock garden supporting a wonderful flora, including Fly, Bee, Fragrant and Marsh helleborine orchids, Grass of Parnassus, Blue-eyed Grass and the Bloody Cranesbill, among a host of other more common species. One plant which grows on the banks of Lough Derg but nowhere else in the British Isles is the Willow-leaved Inula (Inula salicina) – I grow it in my garden, from a slip given me by the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, which collected it by the lake. Another unique ecosystem is the Shannon Callows which flood every winter, maintained by traditional agricultural practices.

·         Among the insects are Mayflies, which dance on the water and are imitated by anglers to catch trout by dapping on the wet fly. There are many species of dragon and demoiselle flies, as well as butterflies, including the rare Brown Hairstreak, Dingy Skipper and Marsh Fritillary.

·        Among the fish are trout, eels and salmon, all sadly reduced in numbers in recent years. The Pollan, an endangered endemic species, still holds on in the larger Shannon lakes, Allen, Ree and Derg.

·         Among birds, the Corncrake can still be heard in the Shannon Callows, but is in severe decline. The lakes are very important winter grounds for many migrating water birds, including Whooper swans. And it is wonderful to have White tailed eagles breeding again around Lough Derg, reintroduced after being extinct for 100 years.

4.      Of equal spiritual importance is the Shannon’s cultural heritage - the places, the buildings, the history, the stories and the people.

·         These include the surviving medieval churches and castles, the Georgian and Victorian buildings in river side towns, the 18^th and 19^th century navigations, and the early 20^th century Shannon scheme.

·         We must honour the people for whom the Shannon has been a passion, and those who have created the communities along it, among them Syd Shine, a founder member of the IWAI who lived on a barge called the Fox, and Rick Boelens of the Lough Derg Science Group.

·         People like me who identify with the river have a real sense of belonging to it, memories of a home even when we are far from home. Such stable roots are vital to spiritual stability in our ever-changing world.

5.      For me it is a spiritual duty to preserve the heritage of the Shannon. So how should we do it?

·         Thank God, much of the Shannon is now protected as Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas. But the river remains under threat in so many ways. We need to take very seriously the spiritual duty of protecting it and all its creatures, including ourselves.

·         We cannot try to wrap the Shannon up in a cocoon and keep it unchanged, because the river is always changing, and will always change. I know a sandy bay where I used to paddle and wade as a boy, but which has now turned into a marsh – this is a natural process.

·         The communities along the river too will always change. It is the people who live around the Shannon who carry with them the spiritual importance of the Shannon. They must continue to live and thrive in the environment, with good jobs which allow them to live prosperous lives, while enjoying, protecting and enhancing their natural and cultural environment.

·         Proposals have been put forward to pump water from the middle or lower Shannon to Dublin. Earlier proposals to pump from Lough Ree or the upper reaches of Lough Derg could have been disastrous for ecosystems, but happily the worst of them have been averted, in part because of the efforts of the River Shannon Protection Alliance. The latest plans are much more benign, though I do not think they are the best way to meet Dublin’s real needs.

·         I believe the best way forward will be to manage the entire Shannon corridor as an IUCN Category 5 protected landscape, with state-owned land (ESB, Coillte & Bord na Mona) designated as a National Park at its heart. This was proposed for the lower Shannon by the Waterways Corridor Study 2006, but so far as I am aware this never been progressed following the great crash.

·         It should be a key objective to resurrect this proposal. The focus should be to combine protection of sensitive ecosystems with support for development of sustainable spiritual tourism and eco-tourism, alongside sustainable added value farming through schemes akin to Burrenbeo, and sustainable development of industries in Shannon-side towns and villages.

Pilgrim walk at Ardfert with the Community of Brendan the Navigator

On Saturday 6th October thirteen of us gathered in the nave of the ruined Cathedral of St Brendan the Navigator, Ardfert for a pilgrim walk organised by the Community of Brendan the Navigator, led by Archdeacon Simon Lumby with the assistance of Sylvia Thompson of the Tralee International Resource Centre. The cathedral dates from the 12th century, but it is on the site of the monastery established by Brendan the Navigator in the 6th century. From there we walked to Tobar na Molt (Wethers’ Well), the reputed site of Brendan’s baptism by St Erc, about 10km there and back.

Pilgrims in the nave of the Cathedral of St Brendan, Ardfert

Simon and Sylvia led us in prayer in the cathedral before we set out. We also sang the hymn ‘This day God gives me’ unaccompanied - we did pretty well, I think! Then we set out on the road through the charming village and out into the country, walking two by two and chatting, getting to know each other.

About half way to the well we stopped to gather our thoughts. Simon reflected on a cottage overgrown with briers, and Sylvia read to us from Mary Shanahan’s book ‘In honour of nature’.

The hermit and his blackbird

I need to watch the sun, 

to calculate the hours that I should pray to God. 

But the blackbird who nests in the roof of my hut 

makes no such calculations: 

he sings God’s praises all day long.

I need books to read, 

to learn the hidden truths of God. 

But the blackbird who shares my simple meals 

needs no written texts: 

he can read the love of God in every leaf and flower.

I need to beg forgiveness, 

to make myself pure and fit for God. 

But the blackbird who drinks with me from the stream 

sheds no tears of contrition: 

he is as God made him, with no stain of sin.

A break to gather our thoughts on the way to Wethers' Well

Leaving the road, the green path to the Well is beautifully mown, as is the sacred enclosure around the well – it is clear that the place is much loved and regularly visited by pilgrims.

The Well itself was dry – no doubt a result of the summer drought, but as winter rains fall and the water table rises we know that it will be filled again. There are stone steps down into it, and the stone walls are covered with moss up to the level it fills to, with projecting stones upon which a pilgrim immersed in the water can rest.

Wethers' Well was dry on the day of our visit

Simon led is to reflect on the symbolism behind springs and wells reaching back to pre-Christian times – the water springing from the earth is a portal to another domain.

The legends of the site are that St Ita is buried in a grave here; the well sprang up in answer to her prayers; St Erc baptised St Brendan here, his fee was three wethers which sprang miraculously out of the well; mass was said on the altar in penal times – a priest saying mass there was surprised by soldiers with bloodhounds, but three wethers sprang out of the well and led the chase away, leaving the priest to finish the mass.

Medieval carved figures on the penal era altar at Wethers' Well,
said to be (l-r) St Erc, St Brendan, St Ita

I spoke briefly about my own back-to-front pilgrimage. Exactly a week before, I had been at St Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert – once the site of another monastery founded by Brendan, the place where he died, or as the early Irish monks would have called it, the place of his resurrection. A large stone outside the great hiberno-romanesque entrance is reputed to mark his grave. After his Christian birth in baptism at Wethers’ Well, Brendan’s travels were guided by God to his place of resurrection at Clonfert. I had travelled his path in reverse over a single week.

We returned from Wethers’ Well to the cathedral the same way that we had come. After a brief time of prayer in the cathedral, we finished the day with tea or coffee and packed lunches in the Community Centre opposite, where all agreed that it had been a most worthwhile and spiritual day out.

On the Island of Birds

The Navigatio or Voyage of St Brendan is filled with fabulous tales which cannot be taken as history. This extract from chapter 11 beautifully illustrates the spirituality of the people Brendan inspired. Notice their attention to creation, which they relate to scripture, in this case the familiar psalms which they would chant every day - the words the birds chant are verses from different psalms.

On the approach of the hour of vespers, all the birds, in unison, clapping their wings, began to sing ‘A hymn, O Lord, becometh Thee in Sion, and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem’ (Ps 65:1); and they alternately chanted the same psalm for an hour; and the melody of their warbling and the accompanying clapping of their wings, sounded like unto a delightful harmony of great sweetness. When supper was ended, and the divine office discharged, Brendan and his companions retired to rest until the third watch of the night, when he aroused them all from sleep, chanting the verse: ‘Thou, O Lord, wilt open my lips’ (Ps 51:16), whereupon all the birds, with voice and wing, warbled in response: ‘Praise the Lord, all His angels, praise Him all His virtues’ (Ps 103:21). Thus they sang for an hour every night; and when morning dawned, they chanted: ‘May the splendour of the Lord God be upon us’ (Ps 90:17) in the same melody and rhythm as their matins praises of God. Again, at tierce, they sang the verse: ‘Sing to our God, sing; sing to our King, sing wisely’ (Ps 47:6); at sext: ‘The Lord hath caused the light of His countenance to shine upon us, and may He have mercy on us’ (Ps 67:1); and at nones they sang ‘Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity’ (Ps 133:1). Thus day and night those birds gave praise to God. St Brendan, seeing all this, made thanksgiving to the Lord for all His wonderful works; and the brethren were thus regaled with such spiritual viands until the octave of the Easter festival.

Our God-given world is full of real life wonders too - watch this amazing video of a murmuration of starlings on Lough Derg, just a few miles up the lake from my home.

Weather & Climate

This editorial appeared in the September 2018 issue of Newslink, the diocesan magazine for the United Dioceses of Limerick & Killaloe.

What extraordinary summer weather we’ve been having. Many will have enjoyed the hot, dry, almost Mediterranean conditions, even though it brought hose-pipe bans. But farmers are in despair: grass has stopped growing, and crops have withered in the fields.

Those with animals have been feeding fodder intended for next winter, since the pastures are bare and the late, wet spring depleted reserves. They fear that without a good autumn grass crop they will not have enough fodder for the winter. High prices for scarce bought-in fodder threaten losses that could bankrupt them, and I hear tales of farmers selling stock at low prices.

Will there be enough fodder for the winter?

Some tillage farmers have been selling poor standing crops for silage. Yields are down, though a neighbour says he is compensated by a high price for his barley straw to use as feed.

Is this all down to climate change? Climate is about statistics - a single hot, dry summer doesn’t prove anything. But it is consistent with what the climate modelers are telling us is the likely future here in Ireland – more frequent hotter, dryer summers and wetter winters.

One canny retired farmer tells me he thinks this year will cause farmers to change their behaviour to reduce the business risks posed by climate change. He suggests the higher stocking levels promoted by Government policy such as Food Harvest 2020 are unsustainable – the probabilities of long, wet winters and hot, dry summers in a warming world causing fodder shortages are just too high. We can expect to see many farmers go to the wall, he says, as lower stocking levels will not provide the income they need to service the loans they took out to intensify their businesses.

Farmers need our prayers at this time of crisis. Let us pray that they may receive a fair return for their labour, and that in the providence of God the sun will shine, the rain will fall, the grass will grow, and all God’s creatures will be fed.

God bless, Joc Sanders

Animals in the 2018 Summer Garden

The 1st of September is the first day of autumn for me, so this is the last day of summer. It is a good day to look back and reflect on what summer 2018 has been like in the garden I share with Marty.

The trees and shrubs and herbs which we tend are the ever-changing backdrop of the garden, but the forground is animated by the animals we share it with, and that includes the people who have visited it - everyone made in the divine image.

My garden highlight this year is the visit of two daughters and three grandsons. What joy it was in early August to see my daughter Ellie's three boys, Jonah, Cormac & Soren racing around Marty's Labyrinth garden, and to play 'Grandpa's Footsteps' with them and their Aunt Amy - their energy made me tired just to watch them!

Cormac, Ellie, Jonah, Soren & Amy at the entrance to the Labyrinth

Soren, Amy, Cormac, Jonah and Grandpa played 'Grandpa's Footsteps' - Ellie took the photo

We did so much else in God's wider garden too of course - swimming and paddling in Lough Derg at the swings below Coolbawn, meeting cousins at the Nenagh Show, rowing to Meelick in Luska Bay, cruising with my brother Tom from Portumna Bridge to Dromineer...

And then there was a lovely Waller family barbecue in July on the patio, all descendents of William Thomas Waller of Prior Park (my Great-great-grandfather) and their spouses.

Descendents of William Thomas Waller of Prior Park and spouses

I saw few other mammals in the garden this year, except for the feral cats, but I saw traces of the the badger, and I suspect woodmice took a lot of Marty's pea and bean seeds.

Of the birds, I was delighted to have a calling yellowhammer in the hedge (a little bit of bread and nooo cheese), as we missed him last year, and I saw my first swift, no doubt one of those that nest in St Mary's of the Rosary in Nenagh, passing through.

It was a mixed year for butterflies in the garden - no holly-blues this year, but plenty of speckled-woods, ringlets and meadow-browns. I was pleased to see a single small-copper, and also a couple of fritilleries, probably silver washed. I was very worried by the absence of vanessids until the last fortnight, but now we have small-tortoiseshells, red-admirals, peacocks and even a painted-lady.

That is enough for this post I think, but I shall post again about the plants of Summer 2018.

Prayer and Reflection at St Senan's Church, Iniscarra

As a small spiritual discipline, part of my commitment to the Community of St Brendan, I made a vow to make a post to this blog at least once every week, but I see that it is a month since my last post - Miserere mei, Deus!

St Senan's Church, Iniscarra - set among beautiful trees

Yesterday 26th August, with 18 others, I attended an afternoon of prayer and reflection in St Senan's Church, Iniscarra, facilitated by Robert Ferris, Associate Minister of the Carrigrohane Union of Parishes and founding member of the Community of St Brendan. 

Robert Ferris

Robert led us to reflect on how different spiritual disciplines can help us to grow as Christians. He used the framework of the seasons to illustrate how our need for a discipline changes in response to the cycles of our lives. And he introduced us to the spiritual growth planner devised by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in her 'Spiritual Disciplines Handbook' (paperback, Inter-Varsity Press, 2015 - available on Amazon for £18.99). It is designed to encourage readers to reflect on their individual needs for spiritual discipline, and to select something appropriate.

One strong finding for myself is the difficulty I have following disciplines I would like to establish regularly - when something more pressing or exciting comes up, all my good intentions go out the window! I was asked to say a few words about my experience with spiritual disciplines. I spoke about my use of daily prayer following the form in the Church of Ireland Book of Common Prayer (now available as a smartphone app). And I spoke about this blog, God in the Garden. It is hard, I confessed, to establish regularity - but the fact that something is hard is not a good reason not to persist at it. God is merciful and our lapses will be forgiven.

As we met I was very aware that Pope Francis was presiding at the Mass in Phoenix Park attended by hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ. At the end of the afternoon, I led our group in praying for all Christian leaders, especially Pope Francis, and in praying his prayer for our earth, taken from his encyclical Laudato 'Si, that great gift he has given to Christians of all traditions.

A prayer for Christian leaders

Hear us, O Lord, as we lift up before you 

all who bear the bewildering responsibility 

of Christian leadership among the churches of the world.  

Especially at this time we pray 

for Pope Francis and his visit to Ireland, 

for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury 

and for His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch.

Give them wisdom beyond their own, 

integrity in all their dealings, 

and a resolve to seek first your kingdom 

and your righteousness for all humankind.

We ask it in your name. Amen

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live 

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, 

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace. Amen

I am glad I attended the day, even though it meant a 2 hour drive there and back. If I have one small criticism it is that we did not have introductions, nor any time to get to know each other - we left as strangers to those we did not already know. I hope that time will be allowed for this in future Community events.

The drought is broken, thanks be to God!

What a hot, dry summer we have been having, with barely a drop of rain since early June. Parts of the lawn are completely brown - except for the long rooted weeds such as dandelions (now would be a good time to get rid of them). Many garden plants are visibly suffering, and I expect we will lose some, as with the hosepipe ban we are watering only the most precious. Marty is keen to avoid wasting as much precious water as possible, so I bought a large plastic tray to put under the shower - the kind you keep under the bed for shoes and such. Since it is too heavy and awkward to pick up full of water, we have to bail it into a bucket and carry the water outside to where it is needed.

Our farming neighbours are finding it much worse. Those with animals are struggling to keep them watered, and since the grass is not growing they have had to feed them reserves intended for the winter. I talked to a young farmer over my hedge who says that he has had to let the beasts down to water in a drain, that he is feeding them meal and sillage, and that the coming winter will be a real crisis. He was spreading artificial fertiliser on a field grazed to the bone in order to encourage grass growth, hoping to graze it again in 6 weeks time.

Another neighbour has just finished harvesting barley and wheat. I suspect yields have been poor enough, but that will be partially compensated by higher prices, and I hear the price of barley straw has soared, since it can be fed to animals.We were blessed yesterday to see a good sized flock of geese grazing in his stubble, fattening up for the winter on the fallen grain. I'm not sure what species they were, but they are probably feral Greylag (Anser anser) which stay in Ireland year round, unlike their cousins from Iceland who come only for the winter.

Geese grazing on my neighbours field on 27th July 2018

We have been praying for rain for weeks, and our prayers have been answered. We have had good rain over the last two days and the waterbutts are full again - I see that our nearest Met Éireann weather station at Gurteen has recorded a total of 12.4mm of rain over the last two days of intermittent showers. But I expect we will be back to hot and dry conditions by this time next week. So we must keep on praying.

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of the sheep,

we pray for those who give their lives to the care of animals

and whose livelihood depends on the well-being of creatures in their care.

At this time of crisis in the farming community,

we pray that in the providence of God

the sun will shine, the rain will fall, the grass will grow,

and God’s creatures will be fed.

We give thanks for the sense of local community support,

the willingness to offer practical help

and the attentiveness of neighbour to neighbour.

This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen