ThinPlaces
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The Parallel Path
Choosing life while letting go The rook lifts up its ancient crywhere morning stirs the land;it echoes Patrick’s travelling prayersstill guarding field and strand.The wren sings from the moss‑soft hedge,a spark of Brigid’s flame;its blessing like the Living Breadthat knows me by my name.The blackcap from the ash and thornpours song like holy wine;a draught… Continue reading
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From the Depths to the Dawn: A Reflection on Grief, Landscape, and Psalm 130
New on NeuroDivine: From the Depths to the Dawn — a hymn and reflection shaped by Psalm 130, grief, the landscapes of Antrim, and the slow movement from sorrow toward morning. Continue reading
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The Echolocation of Grace
After dialysis, the bats over the River Barrow became unexpected signs of grace. In this reflection, Br Michael explores the intersections of chronic illness, Benedictine stability, and neurodivergent faith in the quiet, liminal space of twilight exhaustion. Continue reading
AnglicanBenedictine, AutisticFaith, AutisticSpirituality, Benedictine, BenedictineMoments, BenedictineSpirituality, CelticChristianity, CelticSpirituality, ChronicIllness, ChurchOfIreland, Dialysis, IrishSpirituality, NeurodivergentFaith, NeuroDivine, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QuietMoments, RuleOfStBenedict, SacredRoutine, SacredSpaces, Spirituality, ThinPlaces -
The Cloister of the Chair: Stabilitas, Dialysis, and the Inheritance of Care
Before returning north to my dying father’s bedside, dialysis becomes its own vigil—a Benedictine reflection on chronic illness, stabilitas, love, and inherited care. Continue reading
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The Southward Track: A Liturgy of Woven Threads
I was writing the prayers my heart would need before my eyes even knew the shape of the mountain ahead. Continue reading
AccessibleTravel, AnglicanCommunion, AnglicanTradition, Autism, AutisticFaith, BenedictineRhythms, BenedictineSpirituality, CelticChristianity, Christianity, ChristInTheEveryday, ChronicIllness, ChronicIllnessCommunity, ChronicIllnessFaith, CompassionInCare, Contemplation, ContemplativeCare, ContemplativePrayer, DailyDevotion, Dialysis, DialysisJourney, DialysisLife, ExploringIreland, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithAndIllness, FaithInAction, FaithInTheEveryday, family, FindingConnection, FreeTravelPass, HealingPrayer, health, HeldInLove, HolyStillness, Hymns, HymnWriting, Ireland, IrelandTravel, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishLandscape, IrishRail, IrishRailJourneys, IrishReflection, IrishSpirituality, Kildare, LifeOnDialysis, LiturgicalReflection, LiveWithADisability, ModernMonasticism, NeurodivergentFaith, NeurodivergentTheology, NeuroDivine, PatientVoices, Pilgrimage, Poetry, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QueerIrishVoices, QuietCourage, QuietMoments, QuietWitness, ResillienceInIllness, Reverence, Routine, SacredRoutine, SacredSong, SacredSpaces, Sanctity, ScriptureAndStillness, SmallMercies, Spirituality, SpiritualJourney, SpiritualReflection, ThinPlaces, ThresholdOfGrace, Travel, TravelByTrain, TravelWithPurpose, Vigil, writing -
Keeping Vigil at the Veil
Beside death’s quiet veil, love keeps vigil beneath Christ’s gentle presence. Continue reading
CelticChristianity, CelticSpirituality, Christianity, DeepFeeling, EndOfLife, Faith, GriefAndLoss, HolyVigil, IrishLandscape, IrishSpirituality, LoveAndFaithfulness, NatureAsWitness, NeuroDivine, PoetryOfPlace, Portrush, QuietMoments, QuietPresence, SacredMaskingDropped, SacredPoetry, SacredPresence, SacredSpaces, SensoryGrounding, Slemish, Spirituality, ThinPlaces, UnmaskedGrief, Vigil, VulnerableFaith -
Where the Veil Wears Thin: Perpetua and Felicity – “Where earth and heaven brush as one” (Common Metre)
Perpetua and Felicity inspire with their courage and faith, embodying hope and trust in God despite adversity and suffering. Continue reading
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“At Evening, God Has Spoken”: A Vespers Hymn on Psalm 110 (76 76 D)
110 has long been one of the traditional psalms of Sunday Vespers. My new hymn, At Evening, God Has Spoken, reflects on that ancient text through the quiet landscapes of the Irish midlands—heathered hills, the Barrow’s waters, and the stillness of evening prayer—resting in Christ our High King through the night. Continue reading
AnglicanBenedictine, AnglicanTradition, Benedictine, BenedictineRhythm, BenedictineSpirituality, bible, CatholicChurch, CelticChristianity, Christianity, ChurchOfEngland, ChurchOfIreland, Contemplation, ContemplativePractice, ContemplativePrayer, DailyDevotion, DailyOffice, ExploringIreland, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, god, HeldInLove, HolyStillness, Hymnody, HymnWriting, Ireland, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHymnody, IrishLandscape, IrishReflection, IrishSpirituality, Kildare, LiturgicalLife, LiturgicalMeditation, LiturgicalReflection, LiturgicalRhythm, ModernMonasticism, NeurodivergentFaith, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, PilgrimageIreland, Poetry, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, Psalm110, QuietMoments, QuietWitness, Reverence, Routine, RuleOfLife, RuleOfStBenedict, SacredRoutine, SacredSong, SacredSpaces, Sanctity, ScriptureAndSilence, ScriptureAndStillness, Spirituality, SpiritualJourney, SpiritualReflection, SundayVespers, ThinPlaces, WalkingIreland, writing -
In the Thin Place of Forty Days
Rooted in the landscape, spirituality, and imaginative tradition of the Irish midlands, the text interweaves the great biblical “forty” journeys—the flood, the exodus, Sinai, the wilderness, and the risen Christ’s forty days—with the sacred geography of Kildare and its surrounding boglands. Drawing on Celtic Christian imagery and the rhythms of creation, it invites worshippers to… Continue reading
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Arrival
Arrival is a poem about coming home—not only to a place, but to a moment, a body, a ward, a riverbank, a sky clearing after rain. Set along the familiar paths of Monasterevin and Ballybrittas, the poem moves through train platforms, hospital rooms, shared umbrellas, and sudden shafts of light. What might appear ordinary becomes… Continue reading
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Cloak. Candle. Lily.
A folded note of grace, a candle lit early, a lily held without striving. Saturday invites us to rest in presence, not performance. Continue reading
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