There have been a large number of enquiries about the location of John's funeral service and about his gravesite. The church where John's funeral took place is in Fanore, about 12 miles from Ballyvaughan on the coast road south. During winter months it is likely only to be open at weekends for Mass.
John is buried in Creggagh graveyard, about two miles further south along the coast road, just beyond O'Donoghue's pub on the left hand side of the road.
All of John's friends hope that respect will be shown to the grave site and to the environment that John loved so well.
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This is great, thank you. It helps to see his beautiful resting place and to know that he is home now body and soul.
ReplyDeleteI miss John's physical presence in the world but is it just me or does his soul seem to linger like a celtic dawn awakening us to our own deeper selves.
Slan abhaile John. Thanks.
deirdre
An aspect of life profound in the simplicity, is that if we slow, if we rest in the posture of silent waiting, if we center in the quiet, the universe that we experience takes on a new light, revealing the eternal loops of sustenance, of warmth, of the inescapability and beauty of chance.
ReplyDeleteI’m an ordinary gal, living an out of the ordinary life. One way that I know this to be true is that life brought me to the soulfulness of John O’Donohue. I spent many an early dawn hour reading, absorbing Anam Cara.,which led me to Beauty which led me to Eternal Echoes which will lead me as well to Benedictus. Calm compassion, depth of wisdom, unique strings of words that led me to another place, the mind, the heart, the soul of Brother John.
Late December found me writing to a young friend who had asked which books I might recommend. The first to come to mind was Anam Cara. I had counted the hours spent with those beautiful words to be some of my most memorable and was honored to be asked to share. Then, while traveling in early January, I chanced to read the announcement in the local paper of a memorial service for John O’Donohue. He had died during the night of my birthday. How could this be, this juxtaposition of actions, of remembrances, of serendipity.
I chose to visit the bookstore at the hour of the service. The jumble of color, of people both child and adult, the warm smell of coffees and pastries, this had been my door into the world of Mr. O’Donohue and it was the room from which I saluted his beautiful soul.
Journey on Mr. O’Donohue. May your preparations and impact here also prepare those of us who are listening with quiet hearts, of the wonders to come.
glendamay, a soul friend
I never had the pleasure to meet John O'Donohue but I loved his books and his lectures that I was able to hear on tapes or CD. No one has ever inspired me more or was able to use language that reached me as deeply in the soul and opened my eyes to the beauty that always surrounds us. I am deeply saddened by his death and offer my deepest heartfelt sympathy to all who knew and loved him. What a gift he was to our modern world that seems to have lost its ability to talk about what is truly most important until John O'Donohue came along. His voice will remain within us and will never be silenced. David A. Crenshaw, Rhinebeck, NY.
ReplyDeleteHi Cathy from Ireland
ReplyDeleteThe death of John O'Donohue is still difficult to grasp. I always loved his books. But a life changing event happened to my in Nov. 2007, I discovered I had breast cancer. It was such a shock. A friend of mine gave me Benedictus and I can hardly put into words the effect this book has had on my life. They say when the pupil is ready the teacher arrives, well this is the book I needed just at this time in life. It has been a huge source of inspiration. I now believe that John is one of my angels. He is such a loss. I have passed this book on to so many people. What more can I say. I miss you John. Love Cathy
1/7/08 A Tribute to John and his Family. I was fortunate enough to travel from northern California to attend John's Memorial Mass in Galway and visit his sacred grave site which was an area of Co. Clare that I often visited in previous years.
ReplyDeleteWe all feel a deep rupture within our psyche and hearts with your passing John. The ripple affect of the loss of John's loud and robust laughter that would fill up every corner in a room will be the music that will live on in my memory. John was a long ago friend of mine. I met John in 1998 shortly after his release of Anam Cara. I had the privilege to organize and lead with John a number of 12-day journeys in his own homeland. Just convincing John to travel with me and the 30 plus travellers on a coach for 12 days was no small feat! Like - caging a wild boar! On one journey we experienced a near-death accident attempting to get over to Skellig Michael during a storm. Needless to say those journeys with John and the many other fine Irish people involved were life-changing for all. Those journeys with John left a hugh imprint on my life. John allowed me the honor to see, hear and feel the soul of Ireland back then. He taught so many of us to let landscape speak...and how to welcome silence, which is so absent in our ordinary-busy lives. I have traveled back and forth to Ireland every year since 1998 leading my own journeys and always feeling his presence on the land and now and again speaking with him or attending a workshop. One did not need to know John that well to have this man deeply touch your soul. Even if you never met John, just reading one of his books could lead you quickly down a path of pleasant contemplation.
My Irish native husband is also an ordained catholic priest and John and he shared the same path in their deep connection to God and Faith. I often wondered if God sent John to me so that I would have a deeper understanding of my own choosing to marry an Irish Catholic priest and how they were so very much alike. I truly cannot quite remember how we were introduced other than one day we all just met. I will forever be grateful to have had those early years knowing John and watching from afar as he grew in his work and commitment to us 'humanoids' as he called us, and our individual struggles. Like many of us - we are grieving deeply for this sudden loss and for the grieving of his family.
All of us connected around the globe are struggling to accept that we will no longer see him. I will choose to leave the doorway open - allowing John to visit me with his laughter. I cannot imagine that John had chosen this time for him to go…. He was only beginning.
John often referred to us as his 'wandering pilgrims' - but if we listen closely in his passing... he might be saying: 'There's a lot of your SELF waiting for yourself to GET ON WITH IT! And he also said, "at the end of your life...it is not what you have accomplished - but rather what you attempted and imagined."
Thank you John for your inspiration and teaching me about the spaces in between all the words we use to clutter the beauty of solitude. May I continue to learn the task of the spiritual journey from consciousness to BEING. I believe your work is much larger now as we are all listening and watching for you.....
With deep gratitude,
Margarita Ramirez-Dalton
Traveling Matters