After work was completed at our FCJ Spirituality House – Teach Spioradálta in the beautiful Spanish Point, County Clare in Ireland, participants have been welcomed for residential retreats again. The full list of retreats and workshops for 2023 is on their website. Here is the latest newsletter.
Across the Waves
A chara,
Welcome to the June 2023 newsletter of FCJ Spirituality House – Teach Spioradálta.
May was a lovely month, culminating with our first eight day retreat here in Spanish Point since lockdown. June will be a busy month with 4 groups staying here on weekends – 2 private groups and 2 retreats open to all.
At the end of June we will move into Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, and the FCJ sisters host an open house for the week here. All are welcome to call.
There are just one or two places remaining on the June retreats (Lectio and Ashram – see website) and Sr Geraldine has a few places available also on the preached retreat in August (Aug 8 – 15th, with Fr Hugh O Donnell).
Full details on all events are, as always, at fcjspiritualityhouse.ie or you can call me on 087 447 9115. Thanks again for all the prayers, notes and support – all very much appreciated.
Please do keep in touch
God bless
Nóirin Lynch
Director
News from Spanish Point
In June, by Matilda Hughes
A quiet hour beneath the trees;
A little, whispering, lazy breeze;
A perfect sky,
Where, now and then, an idle cloud
Strayed from its mates to wander by,
And near the border of the wood
A thrush that sang, serene and strong,
The flute notes of the perfect song
We almost understood;
Then eventide—and in the light
The mystery that preludes the night.
The summer we had been hoping for has arrived in all its glory and heat. Wherever you are, I hope you are well, cool and comfortable as we soak in our vitamin D and listen to the beautiful birds, nesting and hatching, singing and calling.
After a few weeks of calm to catch up, we entered into an 8 day directed retreat in mid May, with a full house of 12 retreatants. Our cooks and cleaners were wonderful, the weather allowed us plenty of time out of doors, and our lovely Manresa directors – Fr Ashley and Eileen – were a real blessing for us all.
Now our thoughts turn to 4 weekend events – two of them retreats booked out with visitors from across the island – and our FCJ open house for Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. Then in the summer our FCJ family will be here for summer holidays and retreats. May they who blessed us with this beautiful place, be twice blessed here.
Featured: Turas Cosmaí – A Cosmic Path
Creating an accessible outdoor reflection walk for retreatants, visitors and the local community.
FCJ Teach Spioradálta is a beautiful, quiet space that offers amazing views out across the Atlantic and along the west coast of Ireland. As such it often brings to mind lines from Laudato Si’ or scripture as we walk or listen to the land „Standing awestruck before a mountain, (we) cannot separate this experience from God” (L Si 234)
In line with many other retreat centres across the island, as we have explored Laudato Si; we feel called to create an outdoor prayer and reflection space where retreatants, locals and visitors alike can gently explore the New Universe story, or the story of how the whole of creation came to be – from the Big Bang to the present
In Autumn 2022, Noirin met with two local artists and a project began to create a Cosmic path in the field behind the Lodge, adjacent to the house. This would be accessible to most, not impacting on the view and discrete for prayer and reflection by groups or individuals.
In Summer 2023, the group of artists grew to four as we discovered great passion and energy for this collaboration on this theme. With help, we have cut a path through the tall grasses of summer and planned 14 plaques to offer insight into the story of our world, which we hope to lay in early July. The simplicity of the space is purposeful, so it can be adapted to weather and seasons. Over the next few months, there will be a matching reflection piece accessible via the website so visitors can listen, learn and pray here. We hope to formally launch the space at the end of the summer.
We will be hosting a mosaic workshop in the last week of June to create the 14 pieces – if you’d like to be involved (its a full week day), please drop us an email and we will send you details. (info @ fcjspiritualityhouse.ie).
We stand on rocks up to 350 million years old here in Spanish Point, and gather on a site blessed by generations of women and men praying and reflecting in stillness here. May the wisdom of all that life, living and reflecting, be a blessing for all who come to join us on an Turas Cosmaí.
The FCJ Spirituality House, Teach Spiorodálta, is a home and spiritual haven of the FCJ Sisters, who have come to Spanish Point for generations for spiritual nourishment and refreshment. Now we would like to share our home with the wider community through spiritual moments, enjoyment of the natural beauty of creation, and the lifting of spirits with music, art and poetry.
Please see the events page for current listings. You can contact the House at info @ fcjspiritualityhouse.ie or by phone at +353 87 447 9115 with any questions.
