Father gathered a quorum of 10 at Lisnabreeny Rath for our 2nd Dawn Chorus……..humans that is!
The moment we joined in with the bird song singing,
”The heaven’s declare the glory of God
The earth echoes back, ’His love spreads abroad.’ ”
The herd of (18) cows in the neighboring field all took note and with one accord began making their way toward us.
A similar sign accompanied us a few years previously when we struck up the same song in the shadow of Benbulbin in county Sligo, only on that occasion it was not cows, but donkeys, that made the trek the length of the field, to affirm their human spokesman!
The comparison was not lost on us. Donkeys represent the feast of Pentecost, cows the feast of Tabernacles.
We are indeed ’Crossing the Threshold’……….from one age to the next. The number 18 represents a beginning and a new beginning. It is the numerical value for the Hebrew word for ”life”
A reader sent me the following message from the heavens…..
This was of course the flyover celebrating a Queen’s Jubilee.
The number 70 speaks of Rest-oration, Adam having died at the age of 930, 70 years short of the glory (1000) This lost inheritance is what will begin to be restored through the last Adam, first to the first fruits at the first resurrection.
Pondering our last few days in Donegal I realized Hilary had made 2 gift purchases, both just happened to cost 70 euros, both just happened to be pink which can represent Rest-oration! (This was unusual as her anointing is usually for Charity shop bargins😊)
“Rest” did indeed characterize these “holy days”. As we travelled out from our room number 17 (victory) there was a sense of ‘peace’ that we were simply affirming what was now established.
Driving through the ”Bloody Foreland.” we discovered the name was not a reference to the ’bloody’ history of the region, but rather to the ‘red hue’ of the granite rocks at sunset. Nonetheless the ancient and more recent wounds were still visible in this Gaeltacht region
The song recently given rose up as we sang…….
“O the blood the blood of Jesus……….There is no wound that the blood will never mend.”
We had been gifted a stay at a favorite hotel. We discovered the ancient ”Weeping Elm” after which the restaurant had been named, had eventually been brought down because of the ’rot’, opening up a whole new vista to enjoy!
The restaurant has been renamed ”The Cook and Gardener” The results of the gardener and cook were superb as are the results of God our Father, the Master Cook and Gardener.
As a parting gift we presented Kathleen the Maitre d’ with “O Ireland”.
Someone once remarked how that song confounded Chesterton’s assertion about Ireland, that.’all her wars are merry and all her songs are sad.’……because it ended on a hopeful note!
As we entered the walled garden for a final stroll we were greeted by the rose whose name is PEACE
It seems a long time in the coming and far from an ’on the ground reality.’ but the witnesses on earth and heaven fill those who walk by faith and not by sight with hope, that the sun is setting on the old, and the new day is indeed dawning.