Historical Setting: The Great Skellig in an unknown time
Apparently, it is assumed I will be leaving when a boat can land here safely; and Brother Lugh has chosen to leave also?
Lugh explains, “I sat with the spirit of my own father who is now at one with the universal heavenly Spirit, and he told me what I can do to help others. I told the abbot that I was called to feed the poor and hungry. When I was walking with Sister Brigid, delivering the goat’s gift I knew what I was called to do. There was something very joyful in providing food for the hungry. I realized, God doesn’t just use written pages to call only an elite chosen few. God uses our sorrows and our deepest joys to call any one of us to service. And sometimes God whispers through grief. A call is not always great pronouncements from heaven.”
“I know. At times, I’ve felt God’s call to me. Sometimes it is clear and undeniable. Other times it is just a thoughtful wonder. And sometimes, the fulness of indescribable beauty binds together the things we know in spirit and the things we reach for on earth, and that is a calling.”
He says, “My calling is to carry the goat’s milk every day, but in all kinds of ways — God called me to feed the hungry. I am not called, just to go off and to pray alone with God, but to care for all the people on the mainland. You know, you yourself told me who they are: the merchants who crash their ships, the military guards who saved Jarrow, and all the people of the all the lands, God loving, and pagan alike. I am called to actually go into the places you talk about. So, I will leave when they come for you.”
“But I’ve never been to this mainland. And usually, when I am lost, I try to find a monastery. So here, I’ve already found that holy place.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll show you my homeland. You won’t be lost there.”
I ask, “So, the abbot said I have to leave here when the boat comes?”
“That’s how it is. My father knew he was leaving me alone, and he wanted me to have brothers when he was gone, so he sent me here to be safe, but now, with you going back to my homeland with me, I won’t be alone.”
“You believe God called you to return to your homeland, despite your father’s plan?”
“To fulfill my father’s plan.”
(Continues tomorrow)
