PassionistsGlasgow
  • Welcome To Saint Mungo's
  • Parish Newsletter
  • Parish Office / Visiting Saint Mungo's
  • Passionists Young Team
  • Universalis Mass Readings for Today
  • Website Links
  • St.Paul of the Cross
  • St. Paul of the Cross for Children
  • St.Charles of Mount Argus
  • St Mungo Patron Saint of Glasgow
  • St. Mungo's Parish
  • Photo Album
  • Safeguarding (Updated Oct 2022)
  • Archdiocese Privacy Notice
  • Father Franks Log
  • Fr Thomas Berry CP and the Environment
  • Synodal Path
  • Welcome To Saint Mungo's
  • Parish Newsletter
  • Parish Office / Visiting Saint Mungo's
  • Passionists Young Team
  • Universalis Mass Readings for Today
  • Website Links
  • St.Paul of the Cross
  • St. Paul of the Cross for Children
  • St.Charles of Mount Argus
  • St Mungo Patron Saint of Glasgow
  • St. Mungo's Parish
  • Photo Album
  • Safeguarding (Updated Oct 2022)
  • Archdiocese Privacy Notice
  • Father Franks Log
  • Fr Thomas Berry CP and the Environment
  • Synodal Path
  PassionistsGlasgow

Father Frank's Log...

26/3/2020

9 Comments

 
FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 22nd – 29th MARCH 2020
To anyone who reads this, I hope you are keeping safe and well, and adhering to the advice we have received on how to keep the coronavirus at bay. Each of us will find the way to do this appropriate to our own personal circumstances. We can’t take chances as we seek to express our solidarity with each other, to protect ourselves, to protect our loved ones, to protect other people, and, as Pope Francis once said, to protect Christ in our lives.
 
As far as my own personal circumstances are concerned, I am living in a kind of semi-isolation. I come into the church from Bishopbriggs each day, completely empty except for the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle. I celebrate Mass, placing all of you on the altar, and maintain a watchful check on the place. I am reminded of when I used to sit in the empty church as a child, this was in St. Simon’s in Partick, while my father did some maintenance work in the boiler house. I was always fascinated by the sanctuary lamp and by what it signified, that Christ was present in the Blessed Sacrament. I would look at the tabernacle and imagine that this must be what my soul looked like inside of me, because I believed Christ was present there too. It was only my child-like imagination, but it was very real to me.
 
After making sure I have kept any essential administration up to date, I then leave to go and cook and clean for my younger brother. I am allowed to do this as he is a vulnerable person and I am his primary carer. The other carers who were coming called me to cancel for the foreseeable future as they were only doing life and limb care, as they expressed it, and so they asked if I could compensate for their absence, and I will do everything I can to sustain that.
 
I have only had to do one shopping for my brother so far as his needs are very simple, taking care to keep a safe distance from other shoppers as advised. I haven’t had any problem getting the things I need for him, no need for panic buying, and I even managed to get four toilet rolls. While his medication is delivered, I did have to go and collect some repeat medication for myself, forming part of an orderly and well spaced-out queue on the main street in Bishopbriggs, while only two or three people at a time were let in to the pharmacy. It was all done in a good spirit, and I think I am well stocked now for the next couple of months. I also had some minor surgery cancelled which I have to confess did not upset me one bit as I wasn’t looking forward, either to the procedure itself, or to what I was meant to do to prepare for it – I will leave it up to your own imagination to guess what it was.
 
I have also had to make preparations for Father Lawrence’s funeral, choosing the coffin, selecting the grave to be opened in our Passionist plot in St. Kentigern’s, and putting together whatever kind of service it is possible to have for the small number of blood family and Passionist family who are able to gather. Sometime in the future, when this crisis is over, we will have a memorial Mass for Father Lawrence as there are so many people who are saddened by his death, a sadness heightened by not being able to say a proper farewell.
 
Out at the house there are now just three of us; Fr Justinian, Fr Antony and myself. Fr Gareth managed to get away before the lockdown to be with his mum in Merthyr Tydfil, probably the best place for him to be at this time. We are practicing safe distancing within the house and finding new ways of being together, new ways of reaching out to the sick and housebound, and new ways of keeping the Passionist Young Team in contact with each other, one of whom organised a shared prayer time through a video conferencing site called Zoom. So, we are all doing whatever we can, and perhaps, instead of isolation, we can talk about solitude, a tried and tested practice in the Christian tradition that can draw us into a deep communion with God and with one another. Let us hold each other in prayer at this time.
 
God is preparing a treasure of graces and blessings for you in solitude (St. Paul of the Cross)

9 Comments

Father Frank's Log...

19/3/2020

6 Comments

 
FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 15th – 22nd MARCH 2020
​

On the same day I had to announce to people that all public Masses in Scotland were suspended until further notice, I also had to announce the death of Father Lawrence Byrne CP, a member of our Passionist community here at St. Mungo’s. It was a real double-whammy for people, like a double bereavement, the loss of not being able to gather for the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian lives, for God only knows how long; and the loss of a man who was a much loved preacher and confessor, and whose kind and gentle approach endeared him to so many folk who will grieve at the thought of never seeing or hearing him again. I don’t think he realized how much loved he was, perhaps people didn’t tell him enough, but they certainly told us.
 
Lawrence was born in Irvine during the 2nd World War. On his birth certificate his father is described as an explosives’ worker. Lawrence himself qualified as an electrician but then joined the Passionists in his early 20’s and made his 1st Religious Profession on 8th March 1964. He spent many years in Botswana as a Passionist Brother but in the mid-1970’s he decided to return home and study for priesthood. That meant we were students together in Dublin and during that time Lawrence was persuaded by his confreres to come out of sporting retirement to take up his position as a goalkeeper when we were struggling to put a team together for the Seminary League, and a fine goalkeeper he was too. He was the original Holy Goalie. Lawrence loved his football and especially he loved Glasgow Celtic. Before he joined the Passionists he had attended Celtic’s famous 7-1 victory over Rangers in the 1957 League Cup Final, and his account of that day was submitted and included in Pat Woods’ book recalling that memorable event, “Oh! Hampden in the Sun”.
 
During one of our Seminary League games in the late 1970’s, when Lawrence was in goals and I was playing Right Back, I took a knock on the leg making a pass-back and I shouted to him not to throw the ball back out to me. Unfortunately, he did, and I made a poor clearance from which the opposition scored. He was not a happy goalie. Forty years later I was driving from Bishopbriggs to St. Mungo’s with Lawrence in the passenger seat and, believe me, he was not a good passenger. Turning into Baird Street I made a manoeuvre which Lawrence didn’t appreciate. He turned to me with a glare and said to me through gritted teeth; “You’re as bad a driver as you were a Right Back” – some things are never forgotten. Of course, Lawrence himself was a notoriously slow driver. When Father Pat Rogers was in St. Mungo’s preaching the Novena of Hope in September 2017, Lawrence gave him a lift to the Passionist Retreat Centre at Minsteracres in County Durham where Pat was due to give a seminar. As Pat describes it; “It was a long, slow journey, for Larry was reluctant to bypass any other vehicle no matter how slowly it was travelling. It took me about six minutes to persuade him to pass a tractor, on a long, straight stretch of road, 30 miles East of Carlisle”.
Lawrence was diagnosed with an aggressive Cancer a few months after that, in December 2017. The next two years and more were an extraordinary journey of courage and determination. Time and again, just when you thought he had reached the end, he would somehow rally and say that he was fit for a Public Mass and could help with Confessions. He loved ministry because he loved people and he just wanted to keep getting back to it for as long as he was able, and the people were always delighted to see him reappear. His last appearances in St. Mungo’s were for Father Antony’s ordination and to concelebrate at one of Antony’s first Masses. In truth, he wasn’t able, but he was so determined to be there. His last outing was when Antony drove him down to Irvine to see his ailing sister, a much more mellow passenger at this stage. He saw her and came home, and his sister, Catherine, died the very next day, as if she had waited to see him before she let go. As I write, Catherine is still awaiting burial, and on Wednesday Lawrence passed away in the Marie Curie Hospice. RIP.

.
6 Comments

father frank's log...

7/3/2020

0 Comments

 
FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 1st – 8th MARCH 2020
​
Following on from last week’s desert experiences, I was remembering this week, with Transfiguration Sunday approaching, a few of my mountaintop experiences. I used to be a keen hillwalker, not so much a mountain climber. I haven’t done much in recently, but I have certainly appreciated, down through the years, that sense of awe and wonder, and that bigger, more wholesome perspective, when things are viewed from above, rather than from below. You can get too close to stuff sometimes, and it’s good to find a way of rising upwards, physically or metaphorically, to be able to see more clearly.
Of course, on my one and only pilgrimage to the Holy Land that I mentioned last week, almost 30 years ago, there were some profound mountaintop experiences. We did, in fact, go to Mount Tabor, the scene of the Transfiguration; we also went to the Mount of Olives from where Jesus ascended, and also from where Jesus, very movingly, wept over Jerusalem. We celebrated Mass on the Mountain of the Beatitudes on which Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount and multiplied the loaves and fishes. And, of course, we stood on the hill of Calvary on which Jesus was crucified, even if it is now covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Whether or not any of these were the exact spots where these events took place didn’t really matter, there was no doubting the deeply spiritual effect they had on me.
During my trip to Botswana, where I had my Kalahari Desert experience. I also climbed the Hill of Kgale, the highest point in the country, which wasn’t too far from our novitiate house. The path up the hill was fairly non-descript and would have been very difficult to follow, except that every now and again helpful arrows had been painted on to rocks or tree stumps to guide would be climbers. Most of the ascent was through heavy growth and only at the top did the terrain open out into a beautiful vista of the surrounding land, which was as flat as a pancake save for this Hill of Kgale. I spent some time at the top of the hill, thinking and praying. There wasn’t another soul around. Like Tabor, it was good to be there. Eventually I decided to make my way back down again. By now it was about 4.00pm and I knew that at 6.00pm it would get dark and the baboons, having made their way down the hill at sunrise, would be streaming back up again at sunset. I had often watched them do this, and listened to the strange, and almost fearsome barking sound of them from a safe distance.
At some point in my descent I realised I had lost the path. At first, I didn’t panic, but when my attempts to find it again kept bringing me to dead ends, my anxiety level began to rise. I had heard that when you got lost on a mountain the best way to go is up, and so I began to create my own path towards the top again. Insects didn’t bother me, but when a few grass snakes slithered across my path I began to fear encountering something bigger and more deadly. Still I kept climbing. I then saw some weird creatures I had never come across before. They were about the size of a small dog with thick, tight, brown fur. Thankfully they scampered away from me, rather than towards me. I later discovered they were rock rabbits. At the back of my mind I’m thinking of meeting these baboons coming home for the night, and how they would take to meeting me in their path. All the unheeded warnings I’d received about how stupid it was to go climbing on my own came flooding back to me. The prayer to my guardian angel popped into mind and I prayed it fervently. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, I caught sight of a white arrow. Somehow, by coincidence or providence, I had stumbled across the path again. My heart leapt with sheer relief. I took a deep breath, whispered a prayer of thanks, and painstakingly began to follow the arrows in reverse towards the bottom. Much as it was good to rise above the earth, I was never so glad to reach level ground again.
The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.            (John 3:31)

0 Comments
    Picture

    FATHER FRANK KEEVINS C.P.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed