Mt Brendan- mountain top experiences

Our pilgrimage wound to a close yesterday with a hike up Mt Brendan. 

Con warned us before leaving about how hard this trek would be. We were going to ascend in the morning and make it down in time for some evening activities. 

According to Con, (and he said this about so many places), Mt Brendan is one of "the most special places in all of Ireland." 

The saint Brendan sat atop of this mountain hundreds of years ago and fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights in preparation for his voyages. 

Around the bottom of the mountain, all of us picked up rocks that we called our "burdens" and we carried them up the mountain and placed them at the foot of the cross that sits at the summit.

All of us struggled as we made it up Brendan's mountain, alternating between contemplative silences and others enforced by our exertion. 

We all also prayed for people as we climbed. Some prayed for those who were sick- some prayed for family and friends we left at home. As we made it to our final stopping place before the summit, we walked up through a cloud and found ourselves above the clouds.

How fitting it was that we read Genesis 1 and John 1 at this place. We were in the midst of "supremely good" beauty and witness to "the word made flesh" in the community that surrounded us- both from our pilgrim group and the greater community of saints who had shared this place with us.

May we find peace in our memory of this place and the burdens we left behind. Thanks be to God for all of you and for your prayers this week.