On a small island on the edge of Europe about 1500 years ago, the inhabitants, warring Celtic tribes with some sense of druidic mysticism, embraced a new philosophy. Its spirit spoke of love and care and looking out for one another. The Irish became a Christian nation, and Christianity became Irish. A culture of learning, art and enlightenment followed, and for 500 years this culture thrived.
Meanwhile in another part of the world Christianity was being incorporated into the Roman Empire and a new super power was born. These two versions of the same philosophy were on a collision course, one a practice in simplicity and learning, the other a practice in accumulation of power and wealth. With the collusion of mighty Kings the Celtic mystical way was crushed and the Roman version ruled. The land was seized and occupied.
Eight hundred years later “liberty” was finally gained from the secular forces but the might of Rome took an even firmer hold on the embryonic state. From the Eucharistic congress of 1932 the church of Rome took a stranglehold grip of our young nation and abused that power to such an extent that sexual and physical abuse was common place and the Church itself covered up these evils. Latterly we embraced free market capitalist materialism and behaved like kids rampant in a sweet shop. The bubbles have burst.
We are now in a vacuum.Maybe we can learn a lesson from these mistakes and rediscover our true spirit, a wise and simple understanding of our humanity. We have seen our freedom usurped by power and control, by a greed that sees short term profit as the holy grail. We were close before, where people mattered, where we genuinely cared for each other. True freedom comes from loving the Good.