FRANK PHILLIPS - 3 rd ANNIVERSARY

Frank on the 'London Eye'

RICH MEMORIES

Three years ago today my uncle, Frank Phillips died at age 86 , though his memory is still vivid for those of us who knew and loved him. We shall not forget his forensic memory for tales and places of long ago, his love of English and the repository of poetry he kept in his head from his schooldays. He is also remembered for his sense of mischief and how he delighted in ‘rising’ people to the limit and sometimes beyond ! He was trenchant in his views from immigrants to people with an intellectual disability (a term he never used !) and he seldom gave any ground in an argument.

With sister, Bridie

What I miss most about Frank on this his third Anniversary is his huge sense of nostalgia for the past and his detailed accounts of growing up in rural Ireland in the lean years of the 1930’s. The fields he ploughed, the potatoes he planted, the horse and cart he drove, all recalled by him with an intensity of emotion that brought them back to life in the telling. He came from a generation where life was hard and everything was earned by laborious toil and many became so caught up in the tough business of ‘living’ that not much thought was given to anything else.

Always on the ball !

Frank though was always one to reflect on the bigger issues of life and informed by his wide selection of reading reached conclusions that didn’t always square up with the prevailing norms in the society around him. He maintained this ‘maverick’ streak right up to the end of his life and inspired me, especially as a younger man to plough my own furrow and think for myself. Thank you Frank for the richness of your legacy and those precious memories of your life which are very present with us today as we commemorate your passing.

Gerard O'Shea

Taking the sun in Villiers Square

THE PROMISE

NOTICE BOX !

COMICAL CHURCH SIGNS

DIET FOR LIFE

COME TO ME

“I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.
Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.
However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.
For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life.
I will raise them up at the last day.” ~ Jesus ~

John 6:35~40

GRACIOUS RANT

SO TRUE

JUST MARRIED

WEDDING DRESS CODE !

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?"
"Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life."
The child thought about this for a moment, then said "So why is the groom wearing black?"

FIELD OF DREAMS

Shane Geoghegan 1980~2008

PITCH FOR SHANE

I was down at City Hall today seeing to one of the economic mundanities of life, taxing the car when my attention was diverted by the ‘Pitch for Shane Exhibition ‘ presently showing in the Istabraq Hall. Shane Geoghegan was coldly gunned down in a case of mistaken identity in a gang related shooting in November 2008. The public outcry of revulsion at the time prompted some people to get together to remember and celebrate Shane’s life and the idea or the ‘Pitch for Shane’ was born.

A group of volunteers have spent the last several months down at the City Market encouraging people to make tiny clay figures to field a team for Shane’s rugby pitch. The notional pitch now at the gallery eventually fielded 20,000 clay figurines each one an expression of individual disdain for the horrific manner of Shane’s killing and a pledge that this young mans life will not be forgotten.

The effect of seeing the figures arrayed on the floor of the gallery is really quite breathtaking, looking like an immense army prepared for battle. This project is an unusual marriage of artistic expression and public concern which seems to me to be a powerful use of ‘art’ to reflect life. And by virtue of its widespread public involvement tears down the walls of elitism which sometimes enshrines the works of our artistic community. I was caused to stop and reflect on the death of a man cut down in his prime but also pausing to consider how the goodness of ordinary people can help to at least put senseless evil into a fuller context. A cynical voice might say ‘what difference does any of this make, Shane is dead and this doesn’t change that’ but I would say that how we react as a society to evil such as this determines how we can hope for a changed future

The clay team have lined out not just for Shane Geoghegan but for every man, woman and child who longs for a time when such deeds will be no more. Is there not within each of us a sense of hope in the Biblical promise that there’s a day coming when the lion will lye down with the lamb and humankind will beat their swords into ploughshares ! May each one of us work and pray for that great day when God’s Kingdom will come in all its fullness to this tired old earth.

Gerard O'Shea