Corcomroe Abbey

Doris Lessing is quoted as saying, “Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.” I have the tendency to want to get all my chores done, everything crossed off my to do list, and my calendar freed up before I do anything creative. It’s a futile enterprise, because my chores, my to do list, and my calendar are never completely clear. There’s always something that needs my attention. The conditions, as Lessing says, are always impossible.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I count down my last five days of work this coming week and head into retirement. I’ve heard all the things retired people have told me: “I’ve never been so busy;” “You won’t believe where the time goes;” “Whole weeks will pass with you realizing it.” I tell myself that I will be different while at the same time knowing I won’t be.

That why the gentle reprieve I had a Corcomroe Abbey just a short while ago is so lovely to call to mind. The abbey, which dates back to c. 1182, still stands in County Clare, Ireland.

We arrived at the Abbey with our cameras, prepared to capture some interesting shots of this beautiful building. We agreed to proceed in silence.

The intricate angles, nooks and crannies, and doorways and pathways gave a mystical feeling to the place.

Despite all the stone, nature persists with leaves, flowers, and moss.

Our guide, a local Ballyvaughan man, told us about attending Easter Sunrise Mass here some years ago. The mass was led by John O’Donohue who was filling in as their priest. (Our guide jokingly said that everyone in County Clare has a John O’Donohue story and that some of them are even true. He assured us his story actually happened.) I can only imagine entering this space in candlelight, then watching the sun rise through the open windows.

Our guide said all graves faced east except for the graves of priests. Those graves faced west, as if facing the congregation, just as the priests did in life.

This beautiful place, surrounded by cows and the haunting landscape of The Burren, richly communicates what it means to be connected to a community of faith. The cloud of witnesses here at Corcomroe, spanning centuries of faithfulness, compressed time into a single, shining glimpse into eternity.