Remembering John O Donohue.
I was in Bloomingdales in Chicago USA today 2008.
MrsBeautiful and me had been to a glorious wedding
of Jenika and Richard in Portland Organ
followed by treat of staying with Gretchen and Denis Carnaby in their hillside home.
An email dinged on my iPhone as I hung about as MrsBeautiful shopped.
The mail was from a stranger wanting to contact my friend Martin quickly about John O Donohue.
I forwarded the email to him and thought no more.
We flew home the next day from Chicago
John was on holiday in France with the family of Kristine,
a wonderful woman he met at Greenbelt in August that very year.
I was there when Kristine and John met.
I snapped a series of pictures and delighted in that first contact for them
I am bereaved.
It hit many of us - the Greenbelt family, his friends, appreciative and respectful followers worldwide.
Poet, priest and philosopher, John was a one-off,
the warmest, funniest, wisest person you could hope to meet.
His last book, 'Benedictus', was published
just before Christmas as we flew away.
It is a book of blessings and this is an extract from one.
*
'May there be some beautiful surprise
Waiting for you inside death
Something you never knew or felt,
Which with one simple touch
Absolves you of all loneliness and loss,
As you quicken within the embrace
For which your soul was eternally made.
*
'May your heart be speechless
At the sight of the truth
Of all your belief had hoped,
Your heart breathlessIn the light and lightness
Where each and every thingIs at last its true self
Within that serene belonging
That dwells beside us
On the other side
Of what we see.'
*
I feel a bit of a cheat saying he was a friend.
I guess everyone who met him now calls him 'friend'.
smoked a cigar together
sipped a pint of beer
talked until late.
I drove him around in a hosting role at Greenbelt,
I had his umbrella in my car for two years - a constant reminder.
We laughed and shared
although .......... on the last night when we met
I didn't go and sit with him that late at his last at Greenbelt.
I was to be the last time we met - but rightly I
I felt I needed to be with the people I was with
and thinking I would see John later.
If anyone can be my representative in the eternal place
I would count on him.
My heart is with Kristine who he loved
two way love
working well
cut so so short.
We will remember him
and I will on this day forever.
Quotes ::
"May you recognise in your lifethe presence, power and light of your soul.
May you realise that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging connects you
intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.
May you realise that the shape of your soul is unique
that you have a special destiny here that behind the facade of your life
there is something beautiful, good and eternal happening.
May you learn to see your self with the same delight,pride and
expectation with which God sees you in every moment."
John O´Donohue
"When your soul awakens,
you begin to truly inherit your life.
You leave the kingdom of fake, surfaces,
repetitive talk and weary roles
and slip deeper into the true adventure
of who you are and who you are called to become.
The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown."
John O'Donohue
"Spirituality is a wonderfully beautiful music
that moves just below the surface of life.
People may tap into it differently,
but it is the same source of spirit for which we yearn."
John O'Donohue
"It is very difficult to be natural.
To be natural is to be at home with your own nature.
If you are outside yourself, always reaching beyond yourself,
you avoid the call of your own mystery.
When you acknowledge the integrity of your solitude and settle into its mystery,
your relationships with others take on a new warmth, adventure, and wonder."
John O'Donohue
"Everything depends on the lens you use.
Make your gaze beautiful. "
John O'Donohue