Anam Cara

“There are limitless possibilities within each one of us and, if we give ourselves any chance at all, it is unknown what we are capable of.”

In the early 1990s John initiated the idea of a Dawn Mass on Easter Sunday—a practice that has since grown in popularity across the country. He chose a very special and sacred site—the magnificent ruined abbey of Corcomroe in the heart of the Burren, Co. Clare. The abbey was built by the Cistercians in the eleventh/twelfth centuries. It was quite an extraordinary sight to see a procession of cars snaking along Burren roads to the abbey in the dark of the night (around 5 a.m.). The Dawn Mass was very much a community effort, as the local parishioners prepared an altar in the cemetery surrounding the abbey with a huge paschal fire nearby. They marshaled the traffic. Local musicians provided traditional airs throughout the ceremony. And there were tea and buns for everyone at the end of Mass. Hundreds of people have converged on the abbey. What follows is taken from a recording made on Easter Sunday, April 15, 1992. The light of the paschal fire pierces the dark and the first twitterings of the dawn chorus are heard as John begins…

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I would like to welcome you all to Corcomroe to celebrate the Resurrection.

First of all, I would remind you that we are in a very sacred place—a Cistercian monastery going back to the eleventh/twelfth century—and we are here not to disturb those who are buried here nor the spirits of those who lived and prayed here for centuries. We are here to bring the light of the Resurrection and of the dawn. We begin in the darkness of night, with the beautiful light of the Burren moon gradually bringing the shapes of the mountains into view. So just for a few minutes we’ll have a slow air to concentrate our attention and focus on what we are here to do.

Music

At the beginning of the Eucharist, let us realize that there is a special gift of light and healing in this holy place for each of us on this Easter morning. For a moment in silence, let us call to mind the areas of our lives where we particularly need Easter light and healing and hope…

Silence

And let us ask first of all for healing for our sins of fear, for the areas where we are afraid in our hearts and spirits and where we haven’t the courage to enter fully the lives that God has so generously given us—

Lord have mercy.

People: Lord have mercy

And let us ask forgiveness for any sins of blindness that we have—blindness to the opportunities that we have to grow and be creative and that we indirectly reject—

Christ have mercy.

People: Christ have mercy

Let us ask forgiveness for any sins of resentment or bitterness, which put our lives out of joint and take the peace and natural courage that we are supposed to have—

Lord have mercy.

People: Lord have mercy

Let us ask forgiveness for any wrong we have done to anyone, directly in word or deed or indirectly through bad mind or any kind of negativity—

Lord have mercy.

People: Lord have mercy

Let us ask on this Easter morning that all the frailty of our minds and spirits may be healed and that we be given the healing and courage for a new beginning on our journey through life—

Lord have mercy.

People: Lord have mercy

Dawn Mass

And now as the dawn light approaches, we have an old Irish air as a Gloria celebration.

Music

Let us pray.

Lord, you have given us the gift of this new dawn, the dawn on which Jesus rose from the dead and broke, finally and forever, the chains of darkness and blindness. We ask that streams of Easter light might flow into the intimacy and privacy of our hearts this morning, to heal us and encourage us and enable each of us to make again a new beginning. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

People: Amen.

First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (10:37–43)

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Second Reading from First Letter of St. Paul

to the Corinthians (5:6–8)

Gospel from St. John (20:1–9)

Music

HOMILY