FIREWORKS AT FIFTY FOUR

BIRTHDAY BASH

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Last evening the Limerick skyline was lit up by a spectacular fireworks display under the walls of King Johns Castle. The illuminations were laid on courtesy of the National Lottery and kicked off the St Patrick's week festival on Shannonside. I watched the colourful spectacle from the domestic comfort of an upstairs window, tuning in periodically to the live TV broadcast just in case I’d miss anything !

And to tie in with the general celebratory atmosphere I am hoping to celebrate my 54 th birthday next Thursday (March 18) at Foleys (by the river) at 10 pm followed by a live performance by Yvonne Mc Carthy at the Brazen Head.

All Dew readers who find themselves at a loose end on the night are welcome to attend, you’d never know even the notorious Anonymous might show ! No presents required just your presence…

RUGBY DILEMNA

Locked in battle on and off the field

GOOD FRIDAY ROW

While the national religion in Ireland may be Catholic the local religion here in Limerick is decidedly Rugby and now the two are locked together in mortal combat over the opening of public houses on the forthcoming Good Friday. The RUI (Rugby Union of Ireland) have scheduled a Munster-Leinster match to be played on the ‘holy day’ when by law no pubs are allowed to open. Over 40,000 rugby fans are expected to fill the venue on the day and the local hard-pressed Vintners are piqued that they will be unable to slake this collective thirst and take in some badly needed revenue. So the Vintners Association are making a legal challenge to the traditional ban on pub opening on Good Friday, and the issue has divided people into two camps, the traditionalists who do not want any change in the current status quo and the rugby aficionados who understandably want to enjoy a good day out.

Munster fan anticipates Good Friday pub closures

My position on this may surprise some readers, there are just two days in the year when this country’s love-affair with alcohol is curtailed- Good Friday and Christmas Day and I can’t see any good reason to change this. I don’t think there is any religious argument to maintain the ‘sanctity’ of Good Friday as this is just another man-made concoction to annually commemorate what in truth should be a daily consideration for a follower of Jesus. Socially however I think it’s a sad day for our state if we are unable to function for two days in the year without the sale of alcohol. Why not have the RUI change the date for the game rather than railroad the courts to provide refreshments for the rugby crowd, last time I checked it is a game of sport not a life choice ! One of the Franciscan Friar Community based in Moyross has gone too far when he has condemned the playing of rugby on the day as a threat to our ‘Christian civilisation’ Last time I checked there wasn’t much of Christian civilisation’ in evidence around town, and whether or not Munster fields a team is not likely to affect the situation one way or another. But let the pubs stay shut I say and let the rugby officials come to some other arrangement to keep their fans happy, I’m for the Good Friday pint ban.
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Gerard O'Shea

ROOM FOR US

WE ARE LIVING

What is this room
But the moments we have lived in it?
When all due has been paid
To gods of wood and stone
And recognition has been made
Of those who'll breathe here when we are gone
Does it not takes its worth from us
Who made it because we were here?

Your words are the only furniture I can remember
Your body the book that told me most.
If this room has a ghost
It will be your laughter in the frank dark
Revealing the world as a room
Loved only for those moment when
We touched the purely human.

I could give water now to thirsty plants,
Dig up the floorboards, the foundation,
Study the worm's confidence,
Challenge his omnipotence
Because my blind eyes have seen through walls
That make safe prisons of the days.

We are living
In ceiling, floor and windows,
We are given to where we have been.
This white door will always open
On what our hands have touched,
Our eyes have seen.
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Brendan Kennelly

SPEAKING TO BE CHEERFUL

The traditional chatting place, over the garden fence

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TALK DEEP - TALK OFTEN

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There are so many reasons why you might be reading the Dew of Hermon blog, you might have ‘googled’ across it, or maybe an enlightened friend put you wise to it, or perhaps you found a ‘Dew’ card in a restaurant or pub and curious about ‘ a blog you can believe in’ you logged on. Or perhaps you know me and you've logged on out of idle curiosity or maybe you are part of that elite group that recognise the ‘Dew; for the cultural and cutting edge watering-hole that it is and you realise that to miss a post would be tantamount to an act of intellectual and cultural vandalism ! Now there is yet another reason to regularly dip into the ‘Dew of Hermon’ well, a recent study has concluded that while idle everyday chit-chat will drain your psyche and addle your brain, deep and meaningful discussions are much more likely to make the participants experience feelings of happiness and fulfilment.

Could he be on facebook ?

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Scientists have found that a person’s well-being is directly related to the incidence of profound discussions they have. So while others are twittering and face booking inanities about hobbies, favourite TV programs and pop star heroes we here on Hermon mountain are deliberating on the meaning of life and the stuff of a satisfied mind like poetry and metaphysical meanderings, and like the cod-liver oil of childhood it may not always be too pleasant to take but now you know it will be good for you in the end ! I learned this lesson during my Secondary school-days when with three friends we would gather against the wall of the Ardhu Hotel on Roses Avenue to discuss those big questions about God and life and meaning. So while our peers dashed off to hurling matches and rugby games to get a cheap adrenaline rush, me and my scholastic buddies ruminated over the great philosophical conundrums of life and left the gathering all the better for the experience. I recall those meetings, especially the Friday one which continued a bit longer in light of the Saturday morning sleep-in, with great fondness and indeed gratitude as they set me off asking the questions that in time brought me face to face with the ultimate Answer (but that’s a story for another blog !)

Blissfully logged on to 'Dew of Hermon'

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The prestigious Psychological Science journal found that those who spent more time with others rather than alone experienced the highest levels of well-being but they were more surprised to find that the content of conversations dramatically affected how happy the volunteers were. Those with the widest grins had twice as many deep and meaningful conversations as the least happy. The inference for ‘Dew’readers is clear, while merely reading the blogs will increase your ‘happy’ feelings , if you leave a comment and enter into dialogue with fellow Hermonites the results may border on the ecstatic ! The co-author of the study Matthias Mehl an assistant professor at the University of Arizona concludes, “These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial ”.
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Gerard O'Shea

A MAN APART

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THE HERMIT
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Darkness is falling through darkness
Falling from ledge
To ledge.
There is a man whose body is perfectly whole.
He stands the storm behind him
And the grass blades are leaping in the wind.
Darkness is gathered in folds
About his feet.
He is no one. When we see
Him we grow calm
And sail on into the tunnels of joyful death.
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Robert Bly

STREET SIGN

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TROUBLED TIMES

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I spotted this sandwich board outside a pub in Patrick Street, Limerick this morning as I was on my way to the Market. I can see the humorous intent but it’s a pity that those words from the Masters own lips are debased for a cheap laugh. Such is the general apathy and cynicism to all things religious at present I doubt if too many eyebrows will be raised by this pavement display. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to see this type of jibe banned, I believe in freedom of speech, but it just struck me as yet another sign of these unsettled times. ~GOSh.~

ANCIENT TESTIMONY

The following words were written at the end of a long and fruitful
life by a man who had completed the task set him by God. I will
reveal his name in twelve days time, meanwhile the visual clue
above might be of help !
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I CANNOT BE SILENT
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And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance…
Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity.
For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead…
And I know in part why I did not lead a perfect life like other believers, but I confess to my Lord and do not blush in his sight, because I am not lying; from the time when I came to know him in my youth, the love of God and fear of him increased in me, and right up until now, by God's favour, I have kept the faith…
What is more, let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord many years before they happened, who knew everything, even before the beginning of time…
For the sun we see rises each day for us at [his] command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendour last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen.