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  • Phil Brennan
  • Posted on May 21, 2018
  • Posted in Phils Blog |

    They’ll be days like this

    Sometimes images can say more than words. This month’s blog is simply a collage of photos from our Caminos over the past few weeks along with a poem from one of our visitors. Hope you like them!

    Mahon Falls Trail
    Crough Woods Trail
    Waterford Greenway

    We’ve been blessed to have shared the Camino with many great people, each with their own unique story and personality. We’ve laughed and we’ve sang together as we walked onwards. One of them, Eileen Linehan, put pen to paper on her return to Carlow to reflect on her Camino experience with our small group of 7 people in Waterford. Your words Eileen say more than I ever could. Thank you!

    Camino Days – Waterford May ’18

    Mother and Father God,
    Creator of earth, sea and sky,
    we breathe and
    embrace your fullness
    with our every step.

    Smiling sunshine warms our waiting yearning hearts
    Strains of bird-song grace expectant ears.
    Bluebelled woodland paths lead us on our way
    Daisyed grasses brighten our trail
    Lace-like leafy branches arch a mantle above us
    Felled tree trunks lure us to sit awhile
    Majestic mountains raise us to new heights
    Cascading waters caress our dipped feet
    Crystal raindrops cleanse our every pore
    Perfumed gardens delight our senses
    Cliff edged jaunts challenge us to trust
    Passing clouds snatch any lingering gloom
    Myriad of coloured landscapes, hidden harbours,
    gorsed groves, smooth sands and rugged rock
    urge us to continue onwards and upwards.

    Swish of breeze
    flow of wave and
    rustle of leaf
    breathe your Spirit ever closer
    as we
    trek and trudge
    journey and joke
    gather and gaze
    commune and climb
    marvel and muse
    wander and wonder
    pause and ponder
    retreat and reflect
    in hollowed and hallowed places.

    Sacred chants of chapel alert us
    to the harmonious melodies
    God is composing with our lives.

    We are replenished now.
    Treasures around us
    reawaken us to
    the Treasure within.

    Blessed in our companioned journeying
    but not broken,
    we are
    rebirthed and reconfirmed.
    Last suppers together beckon us
    to relive and remember.

    (Eileen Linehan)

    Dunmore East Trail
    Boatstrand
    Dunmore East Trail

    This is the start of a very significant week for Elaine and myself as our wedding day fast approaches. It is an exciting time and one that makes us very aware of the people who have shared the journey with us over the years, some alongside, some close by in spirit.

    Want to leave this month’s blog with an excerpt from Emma Hannigan’s ‘Letters to my daughters’ before her untimely passing. Her lines inspire at the deepest of levels. ‘Til next month, we’ll leave the last word with Emma…

    “Life is so precious, we never know the day or the hour that it will be whipped away. So fill your days with as much happiness as you can muster.
    Stay away from the drains. We all know them. They’re the people who pull the good out of everything. The ones who suck beauty from things and change colour to black and white. Leave them fester. I think they secretly enjoy being grim.
    Instead, gravitate towards light and laughter – like a moth to a flame remembering not to get your pretty wings burnt. You’ll like it better there I promise.
    Until we meet again, may all that is good and decent be yours.”

    (Emma Hannigan, ‘Letters to my daughters’)

    Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens
    The Copper Coast
    Waterford Greenway, Ballyvoyle Tunnel

    Dr. Phil Brennan gives motivational talks to community groups across Ireland. He and his fiancée Elaine invite you to share in one of their specially tailored Caminos through Waterford County during 2018. The Waterford Camino experience blends walks/cycles, motivational talks and music.

    For further information, check out our website on www.waterfordcamino.com or email directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

    Tags: all ireland, Athenaeum House Hotel, Camino, Carlow, Comeragh, Cork, creedon lodge, Crough Woods, cycle touring, cycling, cycling holidays, Destinations Ireland, Dublin, dunmore east, failte ireland, Greenway, Hannigan, high hopes choir, hiking, Irelands Ancient East, Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens, leisure cycling, Mahon Falls, Mahon River, Peter McVerry Trust, reflexion, River Suir, spirit, strand inn, tourism ireland, tours, USA, Visit Waterford, walking, Waterford, Waterford Greenway, Waterford in your pocket, weekend, weekend cycling, wellness |
  • Phil Brennan
  • Posted on April 23, 2018
  • Posted in Phils Blog, Uncategorized |

    No road is long with good company.

    No road is long with good company.

    “Setting out is not covering miles of land or sea, or travelling faster than the speed of light. It is first and foremost opening ourselves to other people, trying to get to know them, going out to meet them… It is possible to travel alone, but the good traveler knows that the journey is human life and life needs company.” (Dom Helder Camara)

    Our recent Caminos to the far outposts of Waterford’s idyllic countryside have reminded us that sharing a journey with people you may never have known previously can be such an uplifting experience. Everyone has their own story, often buried deep within. On the Camino, the pace changes, and we who stand still at moments on our way lie suspended between what has gone before and what is yet to come. In the calm, we begin to see more clearly.   

    It’s good to take time to listen, to absorb the experiences of others, to soak in the wisdom they have gathered along their path in life. It is humbling to occupy this shared space with people we have come to know as friends. Chatting as we walk, we discover our common humanity.

    One traveller, Dennis, had a very gentle presence on our trails, always offering the encouraging word, and, with each new step, he became a guiding sage to those who walked alongside. Excerpts from a note he sent on his return to Dublin reveal just how much his Camino Experience meant to him.

    “We arrived at the Tower Hotel in Waterford shortly after 12:30 on a cool, blustery Wednesday afternoon and we set off on a walking tour of the Viking Triangle. We journeyed back in time through Waterford’s oldest city passing the Viking Longboat permanently sited next to Reginald’s Tower and the 85 foot long Viking sword magically sculptured from a fallen tree. The sword was stunning in both its scale and its detail. The Viking origins of this city were etched in wood before our eyes. Mesmerising!…

    “Our personalised guided tour with the captivating Donnchadh through Waterford Treasures museum was topped off by an Irish Tapas Experience in the 15th Century Mayors Wine Vault. The past and present merged in that moment. Maybe the wine helped. But the hushed tones of the music in this historic setting transported me to a new space. It is amazing to think that from this very building Mayor James Rice set sail to do the Camino de Santiago on 2 occasions in the late 1400s. Now, over half a millennium later, we had become the new wave of pilgrims…

    “We took our first steps on the Waterford Greenway and followed the old railway line to the Suir Estuary. Early morning sunrise, waters glimmering, birds chirping and cyclists passing… it stirred something in me. The reflective ‘compass points’ led by Phil brought solace to all of us seeking inner peace and enlightenment…

    “Then it was time to take a trail off the Greenway up the Comeraghs to a desolate reserve of stark natural beauty that I never knew existed. I couldn’t believe somewhere so barren could be so invigorating. As we gazed at the towering presence of the Mahon Falls and listened to the water cascading downstream, we stood still in awesome wonder. We paused to take it all in, surveyors of a mystical world that stretched out to the sea below.

    Wordsworth once described poetry as a spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion. My wife Anne’s recollection of Brightly Rand’s lyrics were just that!  “And you are so great, and I am so small, I tremble to think of you, World, at all; And yet when I said my prayers today, A whisper inside me seemed to say, ‘you are more than the earth, though such a dot: You can love and think, and the Earth cannot.”…

    “The heat from the fire and the cuppa at O’ Mahony’s Pub was just what the doctor ordered. We re-joined the Waterford Greenway and made our way to the ‘golden mile’. The haunting stillness of Durrow Tunnel spoke to each one of us in different ways. Step by step, we moved steadily from darkness to light. The abundant foliage that greeted us soothed our senses beyond belief. Echoes of the deeper kind tend to linger…

    “The next day’s trip to Dunmore East was equally memorable. The wind was very blustery but the rain stayed away as we huddled together under Dunmore East Lighthouse to hear Phil read a reflection before starting our walk which began on the 18 foot high wall that protects the harbour pier from the rolling seas. 

    We paused for a few moments by the ‘Lost at Sea Memorial Wall’. In silence, we remembered and prayed for the multitudes who were never to return home. The enchanting walk through the woods was something that came as a surprise. To have such a peaceful trail in the heart of the village is wonderfully peculiar to this quaint seaside village.

    At the start of the Cliff Walk, we surveyed the amazing panorama that opened up before our eyes. Again, the vastness of it all, matched by the roar of the raging seas, was a humbling reminder that we are part of something greater than ourselves. In that space, on that day, we felt privileged spectators to something beyond us played out before our eyes…

    “We enjoyed our sumptuous dinner together in the Tower Hotel on our return. A group hug in the foyer of the hotel afterwards signified the end to what had been a most satisfying and therapeutic experience for us all, the best of which was the friendship we had all created with one another.

    We came seeking a few days of enlightened relaxation in the company of experts. We were not disappointed. Dr. Phil and Elaine are unassumingly wise and alert to what really matters. They both love what they do and their enthusiasm is infectious. We are looking forward to joining them again next year.”

    No gratuities were passed on to Dennis for his kind words!! Joking apart, Dennis’ reflections sum up the enduring appeal of the Camino. There is a hunger out there for something different, for a temporary break from the treadmill of life to take time to re-charge. The ingredients are simple; beautiful trails, aesthetic vistas, stillness, reflective ‘compass points’, music and above all friendship. Mix these together and the magic happens. We do love what we do. At a significant time for both of us, it’s lovely to be open to what each new day brings.

    I’ll finish with a wee text message that I just received from someone who was on our latest Camino last week. Thanks to the people who have shared the Waterford Camino with us. Ye have instilled in us a belief that the road less travelled may well lead us to where we want to be. For now, we are loving the journey.

    “A huge heartfelt thanks to you both for the most enjoyable three day Waterford Camino experience last week. It was such excellent value but so much more than that; spiritual, connected with nature and with the rest of the group and so much fun. This 70 year old found the walks very ‘do-able’, returning home energetically uplifted beyond expectation. The sing song on the bus was great. You both put your whole heart and soul into it making it so successful. Wishing you all the luck in the world on your future Caminos in life and in business. Love and blessings. Rosemary.”

    Special thanks to Dennis and Anne Reynaud, Lucan, Co. Dublin and to Rosemary Smith, Longwood, Co. Meath for their contributions. Featured image, Capture Me Photography by David O’Sullivan, Ballinakill Shopping Centre, Waterford City.

    Dr. Phil Brennan and his fiancée Elaine invite you to share in one of their specially tailored Caminos through Waterford County during 2018. The Waterford Camino experience blends walks/cycles, motivational talks and music.

    For further information, check out our website on waterfordcamino.com or email directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

     

     

    Tags: all ireland, Athenaeum House Hotel, Aviva Stadium, bike hire, Bishops palace, Camino, Capture me photography, carvings, Comeragh, Comeragh Coaches, creedon lodge, Crough Woods, cycle touring, cycling, cycling holidays, David O'Sullivan, Destinations Ireland, Dublin, dunmore east, europe, failte ireland, Greenway, Greenway Man, Irelands Ancient East, Japanese Gardens, leisure cycling, Mahon Falls, Mahon River, mayor, Museum of Treasures, Neville Group Hotels, Peter McVerry Trust, reflexion, River Suir, Special Branch, strand inn, sword, The Vee Bistro, tourism ireland, tours, Tower Hotel, undercroft, USA, vault, Viking Triangle, Viking Trust, walking, Waterford, Waterford in your pocket, weekend, weekend cycling, wellbeing |
  • Phil Brennan
  • Posted on February 15, 2018
  • Posted in Phils Blog, Uncategorized |

    One step beyond…

    running-wallpaper-12-free-desktop

    One step beyond…

    “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” (Kahil Gibran)

    Very few people in life manage to cruise through unscathed. In an age of digital advancement when things can be micro managed to the minutest detail, there is a limit to what we can control. It is inevitable that we will face into the unforeseen and have to draw on inner reserves that cannot be programmed from the outside. Life can push us to the edge. These moments define who we are… and what we are to become.

    received_1359284054175952I’ve stared at darkened walls wondering would my captivity ever end. The twists and turns of our human adventure can lead us down paths we could never have imagined; some exciting, some crushing. In an instant everything can change. It takes courage to navigate through the storm and find the strength to keep going. Broken and bruised, we learn more about ourselves. We connect to something deeper… something within.

    received_1359227934181564

    I had the privilege of running the Dublin City Marathon a few years back with a guy who had his own unique way of dealing with adversity. Chris Moon had flown in from London to give a series of talks in the school I worked in and he added the marathon to his schedule last minute. He asked me to pace him through the run so that he would break the 5 hour mark. I wasn’t prepared for the rigours of the 26.2 miles but one look at him and it was hard to say no. He was very persuasive. I could sense his unflinching resolve to reach his latest goal. No matter what life threw at him, this man would endure.

    Chris lived life in the fast lane. From his days as a soldier in the British Army, he knew the importance of meeting challenges head on and overcoming them. There were no boundaries. With the right spirit, no hurdle was insurmountable. Body and mind in perfect symmetry! His time in Cambodia would test him in ways he could never have anticipated. Here he came face to face with the unknown.

    Chris had witnessed the horrors of war and the residual threat to a besieged people weighed heavily on him. The enemy remained, hidden, in furtive disguise below the rugged landscape. Retreating soldiers had desecrated the land with landmines to ensure that the spoils of war would be felt long after the fighting had ended. These explosives wrecked havoc on the lives of ordinary people. Danger lurked just one wrong step away.

    Landmine-ClearanceChris joined H.A.L.O. (Hazardous Areas Life-support Organisation) to supervise former Cambodian soldiers in the perilous task of mine clearance. Once his mission there was complete, he assumed control of large-scale clearing operation in Mozambique.

    One day, walking across a safe zone, Chris trod on a landmine buried just beyond the reach of those who had cleared it before him. He lost his lower right leg and right hand. Everything was a blur. His hopes dropped slowly in suspended animation like shrapnel from the searing explosive dimming a future that ‘til then was well within his radar. All that he had once visualised seemed beyond him. He could be forgiven for wallowing in self-pity, for conceding to the magnitude of it all. Yet, somehow, his resilience clicked into another gear. He would not be defeated!

    Chris had hisreceived_1359227887514902 prosthesis fitted, learned to walk again and within a year of leaving hospital completed the London Marathon. 2 years later, he became the first amputee to complete the Marathon de Sables; running through the Sahara Desert in scorching heat with a haversack on his back to hold his personal belongings and water supply. He regularly takes on ‘ultra-marathons’ most notably when he re-visited Cambodia to run the 700km. trek across the county to draw attention to the lingering scourge of landmines. In Chris’ new world, there are no limits.

    “The biggest limits in life are those which we impose upon ourselves. It is important that we think in a way that challenges our own concept of limitation and go beyond it.” (Chris Moon)

    Chris completed the Dublin marathon 2 minutes under the 5 hour mark he had set for himself. It was a run like no other. I was a privileged spectator to his raw, primordial courage. He felt the pain from the first mile, sweating feverishly early on as if every sinew of his being was compensating for the limbs he had lost. He dug deep. At the 13 mile mark, Chris detached the prosthesis from his thigh and proceeded to apply some vaseline to sooth the adjoining skin. A man out for his morning stroll couldn’t help but notice. Not sure who looked more startled – him or his dog!

    When he got to the finish line, Chris embraced me as if I was a long lost friend. This moment was another milestone on his own personal journey and he was going to soak it up as if it was his last. He had scaled another mountain and loved the view from the top.

    Whatever it was that propelled him forward, I wanted to tap into. His indomitable spirit stirred something in me. When my own path became obscure, his light showed me the way. It’s as though he has unravelled the layers of life and figured out what it’s all about.

    “I learned the importance of having a dream and never, ever giving up. There is a saying ‘God made the desert so that man might find his soul’…
    I believe that if we have a reason to do something that is more important than we are, then the human spirit can tolerate anything… we can all go one step beyond our limits.” (Chris Moon)man-on-mountain-top-300x221

    There is a spark within each of us that can sustain us on our journey. Where we go will ultimately be determined by our outlook. We cannot allow our deepest fears and misgivings sabotage our future. It’s so much easier to drift into the slipstream of doubt than to take decisive steps towards where you want to go in life. Only you can set your goals. Trust your inner compass then have the courage to take the first step forward. When the going gets tough, dig deep, maybe re-assess, then find a way.

    1_skqDrcziVxXh9RJ_YVXQCAOne final thought. Always leave room for providence. Hold onto your dreams and hopes with a very loose grip. Abandon the illusion of control. Do your best. Let life do the rest. Often the universe will speak to you in ways you least expect. We are a tiny yet significant chapter in an all-embracing story. The next page is for you to write. When you fight for a cause greater than yourself, you find yourself and know who you are. It is then the pieces fall into place.

    “Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference.” (Steve Jobs)

    Dr. Phil Brennan gives motivational talks to community groups across Ireland. He and his fiancée Elaine invite you to share in one of their specially tailored Caminos through Waterford County during 2018. The Waterford Camino experience blends walks/cycles, motivational talks and music.

    For further information, check out our website on waterfordcamino.com or email directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

    (Chris Moon, ‘One Step Beyond’, 1999)
    (Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech, 2005)

    Tags: active retirement Ireland, all ireland, Athenaeum House Hotel, Aviva Stadium, Camino, Comeragh, Cork, creacon lodge, creedon lodge, Crough Woods, cycle touring, cycling, cycling holidays, Destinations Ireland, Dublin, dunmore east, edmund rice, failte ireland, GB, Greenway, high hopes choir, Irelands Ancient East, Joe Walsh Tours, leisure cycling, Mahon Falls, Mahon River, New Ross, Peter McVerry Trust, reflexion, River Suir, strand inn, The Destinations Company, tourism ireland, tours, USA, viking hotel, walking, Waterford, weekend, weekend cycling, wellbeing |
  • Phil Brennan
  • Posted on January 22, 2018
  • Posted in Phils Blog, Uncategorized |

    ‘Where words fail, music speaks’

    ‘Where words fail, music speaks’

    We make the road by walking it. Some pathways lead to places that leave their mark long after the journey has passed. This place was altogether different. There was something surreal about it, something intangible… beyond words.

    Travelling toHoly Cross Cistercian Abbey_Krakow(2) Auschwitz with ‘The Island of Ireland Peace Choir’ was memorable on many levels. I’ve stalled from writing my reflections ‘til now as I simply could not find the words. It has left me numb, aghast at the incomprehensible scale of what happened and sickened by the depravity of it all. We paid homage to the fallen in song. Faint notes soared tremulously into the darkened sky.

    Normality on return provides its own sanctuary. Life moves on, but, somehow, all is not the same. The residual tremors echo in broken strains within the inner vault. The unfathomable lingers; vivid, compelling… incomplete. This is my feeble attempt to make sense of it all.

    We passed through the gates of Auschwitz fearful of what awaited us on the other Auschwitz Gatesside. The sun-soaked pavements lulled us unknowingly back in time. Just for that one fleeting moment, the rhythmic cadence of our steps merged in melodic symmetry with those who had gone before us. We were entering a sacred space, a resting place for all too many. Of the 1.3million Jews who had passed through Auschwitz-Birkenau only 200,000 made the return journey. Above us, emblazoned over the steal gates, the hauntingly ironic words “Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work makes you free’).

    Over the next few hours, the horrors of the past would flash before our eyes like splintered reels on an old film – clear lines of red bricked buildings once used as a Polish military barracks, vacant eyes on the many portraits speckled across walls, the shoes, the hair, the cases, emaciated bodies… the sombre emptiness of the gas chambers. There was nowhere to turn!

    Our guide pointed to the open air auditorium where a band once entertained the inmates as they passed in and out each day – the starkest backdrop surely to a musical ensemble. The cathartic pull between spectator and performer was palpable even now over 70 years later.Auschwitz Orchestra

    The main task of the orchestra was to play during forced labour or during the march back to the camp. After their recitals, they were required to work with the other prisoners. Musicians had the advantage of being hired as on-site workers which allowed them to assemble quickly once the command came. They had no choice but to acquiesce to the cold dictates of their masters.

    Helen Niwinska, violinist in the ‘Auschwitz-Birkenau Women’s Orchestra’ recalls in her memoirs:

    “The view from the entrance of the gate was the most depressing. Though we tried to focus on playing, we could not avoid seeing and hearing what was going on. Exhausted by long hours, the working prisoners were brought in, or dragged on the ground for those who could not survive another day of their ordeal.”

    The first concert took place in January 1941, with seven prisoner musicians. By May 1942, the brass band had over 100 members and the symphonic another 71, an eclectic mix of Europe’s finest musicians, all Jewish… all playing for their lives. From deep within, they mustered the strength. Their ethereal sounds rose from the mire. 3 years later, these same musicians were still playing on the train platform in Birkenau as passengers heaved their way to an unknown fate.

    One of the hardest things for me to grasp was the weird juxtaposition between life and death, crescendo and denouement, mellowed tones and piercing cries – a strange confluence of opposites. In an odd way, the camps were beautiful; impeccable landscaping, lush greenery everywhere, blue skies, perfect reflections of sunlight, birds chirping. There was a sense of calmness, of holiness even. We were in a hallowed sanctuary and their spirit remained close by. Here, amidst the vestiges of a bygone time, you sensed you were not alone. The hushed whisperings of their mystical airs could still be heard.

    The ‘final solution’ did not just happen by chance. There was a plan, a grand disguise. The shroud of subterfuge was carefully crafted. Men, women and children no longer of value to their Nazi governors were ordered to leave their possessions in carefully delineated open bays and told to remember the number assigned to them. After their shower, they were to be repatriated up the country with their own home and land. The reality; carbon monoxide poisoning on a massive scale. Young and old alike ensnared in a web they knew nothing about.

    Auschwitz arrivalThe trains arrived into Birkenau with military precision every day. An endless chain of carriages crept eerily through the misted wood and ground to a chilling halt. Human cargo, crushed with suffocating contempt, emerged bemused and broken. Up to 5,000 people spewed on to the platform in 2 daily cycles. Mothers clasped their children tightly with unswerving love. And still the band played – their faint strains barely audible amidst the mayhem. Elie Weisel recalls: 

    “It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.”

    Work was assigned to Jewish prisoners strong enough to withstand what was asked of them. It was their only hope of survival. The ‘Sonderkommandos’ oversaw the task of retrieving the bodies from the chambers and burning them in the adjoining ovens or in open air. Sunken heads, bowed and forlorn, doing the impossible. Incense lifted through the veil to somewhere beyond. We paused, then sang our prayer in solidarity with the persecuted:

    “Sleep, sleep tonight, and may your dreams be realised. If the thunder cloud passes rain so let it rain, rain down on him… so let it be.” (‘M.L.K.’, U2)

    We passed at pace from one barracks to the next, passive observers to an unspeakable truth – no words just silent sighs. Etched onto a shaded doorway, George Santayana’s one sentence said everything:

    “The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.”

    The world must talk, must continue to acknowledge the pain, the obliteration, the misguided ideologies – if we don’t we’re condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past. We need to honour not just the millions who died but the stoic courage of so many who persevered against the odds.

    Girl in red dress Schindlers ListI always remember the powerful image of the girl in the red dress in Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”. The vast kaleidoscope of human displacement narrowed right down to one girl’s final odyssey. Statistics overwhelm. The human story hits home. Viktor Frankl was a Jewish doctor moved to Auschwitz with his wife Tilly in 1944. His job was to build the railway lines along with hundreds of other inmates. Each morning they’d trudge through the snow bare footed, punctuated by the piercing shudder of rifle butts when least expected. Frankl stared adversity in the face and somehow made sense of it all. In his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ he recalls:

    “We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbour’s arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: ‘If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us.’

    That brought thought of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds.

    But my mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise. A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers… The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which we humans can aspire.”

    In March 1945, Viktor was offered a move to the so-called rest camp, Turkheim where he worked as a physician until the 27th of April 1945 when the camp was liberated by American soldiers. He survived. His wife Tilly was moved to Bergen-Belsen from where she was never to return. Frankl’s mother Elsa and brother Walter died at Auschwitz. Years later, Frankl reflected:

    “They could torture me but could not take away my power to choose. Everything can be taken away except ONE – to choose one’s attitude, one’s own way”.

    We live in this twilight time, between darkness and light. Our story ebbs and flows as a series of melodic movements in the symphony of the universe. The search for meaning is the search for the lost chord. Its discovery changes everything. Only then will discord cease and the melodic balance of the universe be restored. There is a life force out there strong enough to subdue, to liberate. It resides within each of us.

    On the walls of the ‘Room of Choices’ in the Oscar Schindler Museum, we were reminded of the poignant power of music to attune us to this new frequency:

    “We were terrified. All of a sudden he began to sing. We all joined him after a while. When we were singing, we forgot the fear.”

    Man with arms in the airNow, 6 months on, I’m beginning to see more clearly. Auschwitz-Birkenau has awoken me from my reverie. My living is determined not so much by what life brings to me as by the attitude I bring to life; not so much by what happens to all of us as by the way our minds look at what happens. We all have a song to sing. You must choose yours carefully and direct your energies into it. Stay close to what is genuine and true. Love can overcome all that diminishes life. Love sustains us on our way.

    “Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile and whisper among themselves” (Tagore)

     

    Dr. Phil Brennan is the founder and Musical Director of the Island of Ireland Peace Choir. The choir’s trip to Krakow will feature on Nationwide Friday 26th, January, RTE 1 at 7pm, the evening before ‘World Holocaust Remembrance Day’.

    Special thanks to the following for all their help and support in making this trip memorable; Members of the Island of Ireland Peace Choir, The Edmund Rice Brothers, Mount Sion, The Packaging Hub, Causeway Properties, Harvey Travel, Cracovia Travel (Krakow), Comeragh Coaches, Hi-lite Television Productions, Damien Tiernan (RTE)

    Title: Hans Christian Andersen.

    Photo: Girl in Red Dress by David James for Universal Pictures.

    Tags: all ireland, Athenaeum House Hotel, Auschwitz, Aviva Stadium, Birkenau, Camino, Comeragh, Cork, Crough Woods, cycle touring, cycling, cycling holidays, Destinations Ireland, Dublin, dunmore east, edmund rice, europe, failte ireland, fishing, GB, ghetto, Greenway, Irelands Ancient East, Jews, Krakow, leisure cycling, museum, Peace Choir, Peter McVerry Trust, Poland, Polish, reflexion, River Suir, Schindler's List, strand inn, The Destinations Company, tourism ireland, tours, U2, USA, viking hotel, walking, Waterford, weekend, weekend cycling, wellbeing, yoga |
  • Phil Brennan
  • Posted on December 19, 2017
  • Posted in Phils Blog, Uncategorized |

    ‘Silent Night’ – the hidden Christmas

    “My father played the melodeon
    Outside at our gate;
    There were stars in the morning east
    And they danced to his music”
    (‘A Christmas Childhood’, Patrick Kavanagh)

    Silent Night wordsChristmas carols have the power to trigger memories buried in the archives of our past. The simplest of carols can stir something deep within. I’ve seen an elderly woman in a coma in a nursing home momentarily re-awaken and join us in song, noticed hardened men drawn to a space they thought they had left behind, viewed children transported on a musical odyssey back to the manger in Bethlehem, watched a homeless woman cradle the infant child drawing strength from within even in the bleak mid-winter.

    Christmas time has its own magical allure. The lights, the gifts, the music, the myriad of sporting spectacles beamed live to our sitting rooms, the gatherings among family and friends, the scent of the turkey roasting in the oven, the frenzied shopping, the carnival atmosphere in town; all combine to create something wonderfully festive that eases us almost unknowingly through the dreariness of the Irish winter.

    Beneath the layers of tinsel and chimes, lies the age-old story that gives meaning to it all. The star still shines, oft’ hidden and unnoticed, mystical, enduring, casting its unique aura across the universe, its glow only observable to the curious eye. The glimmering light draws us back to source, to where it all began.

    Christmas without ‘Silent Night’ would feel incomplete. The poignant lilt of the harmonies woven through the haunting simplicity of the melody carries us on the deepest of journeys to a space within. It lingers long after the last note is sung. We awaken to the aching realisation that we are not alone… that our story is part of something timeless. In the moment, we are nudged into the mystery of it all.

    The origin of ‘Silent Night’ is worth remembering. In 1818, a roving band of actors was performing in towns throughout the Austrian Alps. On December 23rd, they arrived at Oberndorf, a village near Salzburg, where they were to re-enact the story of Christ’s birth in the small Church of St. Nicholas. Given that the church organ was out of commission and would not be repaired before Christmas, the actors decided to present their version of the Christmas story in a private home.

    One of audience, assistant pastor Josef Mohr, was inspired to reflect anew on the meaning of Christmas. Winter ChurchInstead of walking straight to his house that night, Mohr took a longer way home. His fateful Camino took him up over a hill overlooking the village. He stopped to survey the peaceful, snow-drenched citadel of light below. Reveling in the majestic silence of the wintry night, Mohr gazed down at the glowing Christmas card-like scene. Time past and present froze in creative fusion. He intuitively adapted a poem he had written years previously to the play he had just seen.

    Mohr enlisted the help of his friend, church organist Franz Xaver Gruber, to compose a musical setting for the poem that could sound well even without the church organ. Within hours they both sung ‘Stille Nacht’ at their Christmas Eve service before the small congregation in Oberndorf with the accompaniment of a guitar. It was beautifully understated, magical.

    Christmas 1914 on the battlefields of Messines brings us face to face with the power of this simple carol. Picture the scene. Young men and boys sunk in the blemished mud of Flemish and French trenches, ears reverberating to the terrifying sounds of shells exploding before them with a deafening defiance – scarcely imaginable to spectators from afar. Germans on one side; the French, British and Irish on the other. Between them, ‘no man’s land’ littered with the spoils of war, a sordid premonition of the fate in store for up to 13,000 soldiers a day.

    Yet, amidst the chaos, hope simmered fleetingly on the horizon. The German soldiers were sent Christmas trees from home and placed them above their trenches, numbing the oppressive doom that enveloped them. A strange confluence of dark and light rose from the shadowy mire. The luminous trail extended for miles, a seamless halo from afar that transfigured the wretched landscape. The soldiers were moved. They remembered their loved ones back home.Soldiers handshake

    They momentarily forgot where they were. And then the German tenor sang ‘Stille Nacht’. Soldiers from both sides fearlessly opted to leave the relative sanctuary of the trenches and embraced their ‘foe’ as their own. Stories were told, cigarettes smoked, brandy consumed, even a football match was played. Once hostile voices merged as one in common humanity.

    A young British soldier, Albert Moren, near La Chapelle D’Armentieres, France, recalled: “It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere; and… there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and then there were those lights – I don’t know what they were. And then they sang ‘Stille Nacht’ – ‘Silent Night’. I shall never forget it. It was one of the highlights of my life.”WWI soldiers sharing

    Against the bleakest of backdrops, a spark was lit and the shroud lifted. Humanity had become participants in the nativity story 1914 years on revealing the face of the infant Jesus to the world. Their song lingers on in the stillness of a darkened night. Hidden in the silhouette, their hushed murmurings can still be heard. The men of 1914 did not just remember the first Christmas; they lived out its meaning.

    British historian, Piers Brendon, described the miracle of the Christmas Truce as “the most extraordinary celebration of Christmas since those notable goings-on in Bethlehem – a moment of humanity in the midst of carnage.”

    Winter Graveyard CrossI was privileged to travel to Messines in December 2014 with ‘The Island of Ireland Peace Choir’ to pay homage in song to the young men of the Christmas Truce on the 100th anniversary. It was deeply humbling to see the graves of two Irishmen side by side in one of the tiny cemeteries scattered across the furrowed fields. On one headstone: 24th of December 1914, Private Delaney; on the other, 29th of December 1914, Private Murphy. In between… the Christmas Truce. We remembered in silence and in song.Maya Angelou image

    One person made a deep impression on all of us privileged to meet her. Marie -Therese’s home overlooks the site of the Christmas Truce and for the previous 80 plus years of her life has welcomed visitors with tea and cakes as a token of her appreciation of the journeys they had made. She knew the significance of all that had happened on this hallowed land not too many years before she was born and understood the need to remember. Marie-Therese beamed with delight when we sang ‘Danny Boy’ for her on a pathway alongside her home. Her smile touched us all. She radiated warmth of a precious kind. Their spirit lives on through her.

    At the end of our concert that evening, we chose to give our Waterford Crystal vase to Marie-Therese, and not to the local dignitaries, much to the delight of almost everyone in the audience. We could see in her beautiful simplicity, in her resilient smile, in her resolute kindness proof of the power of human goodness to triumph even in those very situations that threaten its existence. Maybe, therein lies the message of Christmas.

    Island of Ireland choir in DublinThe “Island of Ireland Peace Choir” recently performed in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin for “The Peter McVerry Trust”. We’ve attached a short, unpolished recording of ‘Stille Nacht’ from the evening. Through our music, Elaine and I would like to wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and everything you hope for in 2018.

    “And the light shining from that star will show you who you are
    And His light, shining with its might, will lead you through your darkest night.”
    (‘The Star’, Kathy Mattea)

    Dr. Phil Brennan is Founder and Musical Director of the “Island of Ireland Peace Choir”. Phil and Elaine invite you to share in one of their specially tailored Caminos through Waterford County during 2018. The Waterford Camino experience blends walks/cycles, spiritual reflection and music.

    A video of the “Island of Ireland Peace Choir” performing in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, can be found by CLICKING THE VIDEO LINK BELOW. 

    https://waterfordcamino.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Christmas-Carol-Concert.mp4

    For further information, check out our website on waterfordcamino.com or email directly at philbrennanjnr@googlemail.com

    Thank you to Brendan Butler and Glenn Alexander for their input. 

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