Day 11 – Sunday in Tullow

We had a sleep in and relaxed start before heading to Mass at 11am. The choir surprised us with Hymn to Brigid (which I have never heard but other schools sing as their school song). It was harvest Sunday so the altar was decorated with a plentiful bounty. 

The church is where Daniel Delaney is buried and there is also a chapel to St Brigid.

After lunch we prepared for this evenings Liturgy with our small groups.  Each group was in charge of a period of the Celtic Calendar. My group was assigned Winter which encompasses the Winter Soltice and Christmas as part of the combined calendars. After a very serious brainstorm we settled on evoking the feeling of Christmas at the and time as reflecting on the blessings of winter as a time to retreat and nest and rest before Spring. After settling on the words we foraged for symbols – a real warming fire, holly and ivy, a medieval Christmas carol by Loreena McKennit and to really evoke the feeling, mulled wine.



The liturgy was held in a  circle under the 200 plus year old oak that Daniel planted from an acorn of Brigid’s tree in Kildare. 

After each group had evoked their season, we were led in a procession to the new oak that was planted in 2007 to commentate the bicentennial of the Brigidines. Daniels oak is dying and to preserve the line, a sapling was grown from his oak and planted. 

We gathered around this new oak and placed our candles and voiced what we are bringing to Kildare Ministries. 

It was a beautiful and evocative liturgy. Thank you Linda!