Feb 17 Fintan d. 603

Thom and Jack,
Good Morning, I love you
110205, 1146

First Saturday – remember to say the rosary.

Today’s the feast of St. Agatha, among other things the patron saint for the prevention of fire. That part of Msgr’s meandering homily got me to thinking about what to get Kelly for her graduation from firefighter’s school. St. Florian is the world wide patron saint of firefighters. Maybe a statue of Agatha and medal of Florian for a gift? Wouldn’t it be great if Kelly is perpetually prepared to fight fires for us and St Agatha arranges that she never has a fire to fight!

Any other suggested presents for her graduation?

[Sure, her graduation elicits feeloughts about yours. But that’s for a conversation not a posting.]


February 17

Fintan d. 603

Fintan was a disciple of St Columba. Know about Columba, one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Then search for a teacher for yourself with comparable qualities.

Fintan was a hermit in Clonenagh, Leix, Ireland. When disciples gathered around his hermitage he became their abbot. How did Fintan become their abbot – their mentor, their leader, their father confessor, their servant of God? How is it that people gathered around him to learn, to be his disciples? What is it that you do to draw others to you? And through you to Christ? Ah. That’s the secret. We are not in the business of drawing people to ourselves. But, through us, to Jesus. Like today’s epistle – we do not boast in ourselves but boast in God. Not a subtle difference.

A wonder worker, Fintan was known for clairvoyance, prophecies, and miracles.

So, work wonders. Do what is unexpected. Be righteous. Be committed to Jesus. Look into people’s hearts and find Jesus there; draw Him out; serve him.

Be a prophet – not the fortune teller kind but like an Old Testament guy, minding his own business, following the commandments, being pious, trying to live a holy life. And whamo! God calls. Go tell my people they’re screwing up and if they don’t straighten out, watch out. Your baptismal water, oil, blessing, grace, and vows call you to be God’s prophet.

Work miracles. Do good by doing right, that’s a miracle. Be loyal to faith and family, that’s a miracle, too. [Remember the song in Fiddler? Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles…. Sung by Motel, the tailor, the lowly tailor.]


Fintan also performed very austere penances. I suggest you start with ordinary penances. To do penance puts you in the right mindset – vis a vis God and self. An extra prayer – say, for your father. A brief fast – say, instead of eating lunch, say the rosary. Do a good deed, a random act of kindness, a duty not met, something you pass forward…


From brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com

Saints and Angels gives us the penny version. Undertheoak gives us the whole enchilada; well, much more to chew on. Saint Fintan of Clonenagh 17 February.

Fintan, the prayerful. Will you be remembered as ‘a prayerful person?’ The current News Herald has a blurb from the Pope about the essential importance of our prayer life. Daily prayer. Frequent prayer. In a saintly way, constant prayer. But first, routine prayer – morning prayer, evening prayer, grace at meals. From such dollops of prayer, a feast of saintliness is served.

We have this verse about Fintan:

Fiontain the generous
Never ate during his time
But bread of barley corn
And water of earthy clay.

Fintan, a man of austerity. A man of penance. How do you emulate this great saint?

A very ancient vellum book . . states that Fiontain of Cluain-eidhniach, chief of the monks of Erin, in his manners and life resembled Benedictus, head of the monks of Europe.

< To whom are you compared? Benedict? Who is the Benedict of your calling? Are you compared favorably to the very best person in your arena? Are you talked about as the one who brings the best of the best to your work? To your relationships? If not yet, how will you get there? Try one of Fintan’s strategies, starting with loving God with all your heart. >

Colgan styles him "Fintanus Stationarius de magno Cluaineadnach;" the epithet of stationarius being applied to him from his praying, like many others of our early saints, with his arms extended in the form of a cross.

< I did that for a while, praying with arms extended like a cross. That while being in my privacy during my pious stage in high school; and again, privately, in my room or in the chapel in the novitiate. It’s not easy. It’s a penance. It’s a reminder – if Jesus had His arms held out like this for Him, nailed into the wood of the cross, and it hurts me this much, how much more did He choose to suffer for me. Try it. In humility not to show off. >

St. Fintan received his early education from a holy priest by whom he was baptized. While yet a boy, he was visited by St. Columbkille, who, on that occasion, foretold St. Fintan's future distinguished career.

[St. Columbkille is Scotland’s most revered saint and, in Ireland, he is honored second only to St. Patrick. A missionary, St. Columbkille is credited with taking Christianity to Scotland. His memorial day is June 9. The correct pronunciation of Columbkille puts the accent on the first syllable. The pronunciation then becomes “column kill”. Born of royal bloodlines in northern Ireland on December 5, 521, his proper name was Colum MacFehlin MacFergus. The name Colum means dove. As a young boy he spent much time in church and soon the suffix “cille,” the Gaelic word for Church, was added to his name. He was called “Colum-cille”—Dove of the Church. Well educated, he was a man of great faith who could have become a king but instead chose a life of service to God. After ordination, he worked among the poor in his native Ireland and was famous for his works of charity. When he was 42 years old, he was exiled from Ireland and sent to the territory known as Scotland with 12 companions. There he spent the next 34 years establishing churches and schools, and staffing them with many disciples who were attracted by his ardent penance, fervent prayer, sincere preaching, and deep confidence in God.]

< Is it chance that holy men cross our paths? And how do you respond to the chance? Do you even recognize them as holy? It is your prayer, it is your study of the saints that will help you see the saintliness of the people who come into your lives. It is this foundation that will help you discern whom to follow. The more you ‘see’ the sanctity of our saints and holy men and women, the better you will see past the clothes, the station, the hype and find the presence of Christ in their hearts – or His absence. >

Fintan later entered the Monastery of Tir-da-glass (now Terryglass, Co. Tipperary), where St. Columba then presided over a famous school. St Columba again. Know the man. And know his followers. More importantly, learn how his disciples, those who sought him out to learn – and what they sought to learn, how his disciples found him.

Fintan served a novitiate here. Then he and a few, two, some say three, companions, being anxious to find a retired place where they might devote themselves to the service of God, consulted St. Columba, and, accompanied by him, they came to Clonenagh.

< First, be humble and serve your novitiate. Put your lives in the hands of a Columba. Then, when you have properly discerned your vocation, the next step on your path to God, Consult your spiritual director and the other people God has given you to consult – e.g., father, grandfather, uncle. Do not be surprised if those sent to you also accompany you on your journey – actually and spiritually. The more the merrier; the more the better. >

At Clonenagh, St. Fintan and his companions passed a year, but, finding their solitude greatly broken in upon, they determined to abandon the place, and directed their course to the Slieve Bloom mountains, again accompanied by St. Columba.

< Be persistent in your pursuit of your vocation. Fintan discerned that his service to God was to be a hermit. Apparently, he did this so well that people heard about him and sought Fintan out to learn from him. The law of unintended consequences? You become very good at what you seek to be your life’s vocation and lo and behold God sends people to you. Now what? Do you stay and take on this new calling? Is it truly God’s will or a distraction, a play to your pride by the devil? How do you know? >

Fintan, looking back upon Clonenagh, saw a multitude of angels hovering over it. His disciples seeing him sorrowful, asked the cause. Fintan replied: "Because I see the place we have left filled with the angels of God, and these angels unceasingly minister between it and heaven". "One of us", Fintan added, "should return and abide there for the future".

< Do you constantly look for signs of God’s calling you? Especially when you are sure you have it right and you are off on the way, accompanied by your mentor, encouraged by those who love you. Do you look to God constantly and pray, Not my will but yours be done? Then, are you prepared to do God’s will. To surrender yourself to someone Greater than you? To give of yourself in a way God says is uniquely your duty? >

Whereupon Fintan said: "Whomsoever, O Father, you direct to return, he will instantly obey". Columba replied: "Go you in peace to that spot, O holy youth, and the Lord be with you. It has been divinely revealed that for you it shall be the place of your resurrection."

< Not my will, but yours. Plus, Fintan listened to Columba. Look around in your life. Who is your Columba? If you do not have someone in his place in your life, go quickly and find one. >

St. Fintan accordingly retraced his steps to Clonenagh and established himself there. This was about the year 548.

Great numbers flocked to this place to serve God under the guidance of St Fintan, amongst whom was St. Comgall, afterwards the founder of the famous Monastery of Bangor, who passed some years under his direction.

< You are known by those who come to you. How are you prepared to serve those God sends to you? It is impossible to know who your Comgall will be. You can be sure that you will have the responsibility for more than one other person in your life. Treat them all as future Comgalls. >

< This morning, Saturday, first Saturday, Feb 5, 2011, I was at mass at SPX and remembered a Saturday morning at St Henry’s. We had come to the first Saturday Mass, contrary to your ‘let me sleep in preferences. (and no small bit of weekly whining, reinforced, unfortunately by your mother’s questioning me in front of you, why do you make them do this?) We were in the back of the Church, a pew picked by Jack. Nothing memorable about the Mass. After the Mass was over. A man, sitting a couple of pews behind us. Someone I had not noticed. A man none of us knew; had never seen before; and I never saw again. After I genuflected to say good-bye to God, the man tapped me on the shoulders. “Your sons will never forget what you’re doing for them.” (I thought – yeh, they’re so happy with this weekly piety! A memorable piece of their childhood.) The man also said something about not having a father when he grew up. Then he repeated, “your sons will never forget what you’re doing for them.” I hope you haven’t forgotten. Ora pro nobis. >

The discipline observed at Clonenagh was very rigorous; the fasting and abstinence were so severe that St. Canice [Kenneth, another of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland] of Aghaboe and other holy men remonstrated with St. Fintan on the subject. Yielding to their representations, he relaxed the rigor of his rule in favor of his community. But, Fintan, himself, adhered to his former mode of life.

< This turn of events is not uncommon with our saints. We draw people to us by our purity, our extreme if you will. Be perfect as My Father is perfect. That’s what Jesus expects of us. [no matter what your mother says about the impossibility and unreasonableness of expecting and pursuing perfection.] So, Fintan had the grace to find a path to perfection – and perfection is extreme. You do not become the best by pursuing less than the best. You do not fulfill your purpose without setting your eyes on God – not higher aspiration, ya think? And Fintan listened. Fintan learned that expecting others pursue perfection on his road did not work for everyone. He listened to Kenneth and his other holiest of disciples and friends. Fintan modified his rule for others – not the goal of their perfection but the path to follow in their pursuit. No half measures. Just not Fintan’s necessarily. >

Fintan also had a saintly brother, Finlugh. Like them, I hope you remain the worlds’ best brothers.

I love you,
Dad
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