Historical Setting: The Great Skellig in an unknown time 924 C.E.
Speaking to the present abbot of the monastery at the Great Skellig, “My unique gift (if it is a gift and not a curse) leaves me wandering strange new times with only an infant’s knowledge of the now. So, I ask you my first most haunting question — what is this year and this century?”
The abbot answers, “The year is 924 as years have been numbered since the time of Pope Gregory the Great.”
“Most recently, for me then, in Lindisfarne and Jarrow, more than a century ago, people still feared the Vikings.”
“It is very much a scourge in these times. What do you know of it?”
“After Lindisfarne, the rumors at Jarrow of the raid at the peaceful monastery of St. Cuthbert terrified laity and holy men alike. The secular powers of Engla land, ravaged the peace with fear and cluttered the land with weapons and snags.”
“So, you saw fit to get on a boat set for Iona?”
“That was my destination.”
“Why, when you had found a place that was protecting itself against the raids, would you want to go to an island community of Iona as vulnerable as Lindisfarne?”
“St. Paul at Jarrow follows the Benedictine Rule which puts so much emphasis on a pope’s earthly power and I find my longing for God is better met in the Spiritual presence — the thin places, maybe still found in Éire. That peace is what I find here.”
The abbot smiles knowingly and nods.
I go on. “I knew nothing of this place but I wanted to see Iona because I was seeking a community like this, right on the edge of Creation — the source of all beauty.”
“I have to tell you, in your lost century much sadness has come to Iona. Iona was attacked many times over and most of the community there moved inland to Kells. They still have their beautiful book, but the reliquary was stolen, and so much of their earthly wealth that had accumulated there was lost.”
“Iona had earthly riches?”
“Iona’s St. Colmcille, known as the dove of the church, seemed an easy target. There is no one to fight when the sainted abbot is a dove.”
“How well I know. Saints named for doves aren’t known for their bloodied swords.”
He goes on, “I’ve been listening to the tales, and keeping our own vulnerabilities in my asking prayers.”
(Continues tomorrow)
