In this "All Saints Day" episode, we explore the similarities between St. Brendan of Clonfert and Bilbo Baggins.
St. Brendan is known to have sailed west discovering the "new world" long before the vikings and Columbus did. At the end of this episode I mention what proof there is to show that the Celtic monks indeed visited what we know as America.
Bilbo Baggins was created by the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien in the mid 1900's. He is from a family of home bodies, who rarely do anything daring, but Bilbo does go on an adventure for all time. This story of this adventure is told in the book, The Hobbit.
Both these men are like Abraham, who leaves the comfort of their own homes to go on an "Unexpected Journey."
"I believe adventure is what happens when you are going after your destiny in faith"
"As spiritual fathers and mothers we need to tell our stories of miracles, signs and wonders that we have seen, our stories of adventurous faith with the next generation."
"May we live inspired lives of faith, punctuated by risk and adventure. help us Lord to learn from the example of Brendan to listen for your voice and partner with you in exploring the new, the unfamiliar, and uncharted!"
Here are a few tidbits related to this episode: Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven, and somehow, make my obedience count for You.
Tolkien's Poem, Imram, 1955 re: St. Brendan's Voyage:
Upreared from sea to cloud then sheer
a shoreless mountain stood;
its sides were black from the sullen tide
to the red lining of its hood.
No cloak of cloud, no lowering smoke,
no looming storm of thunder
in the world of men saw I ever unfurled
like the pall that we passed under.
We turned away, and we left astern
the rumbling and the gloom;
then the smoking cloud asunder broke,
and we saw the Tower of Doom
How the Abbot Barinthus described the island in the west as He shared with Brendan
In answer to this request Barinthus started to tell them about an island he had visited . . . ‘Clouds came down and covered us on all sides, so completely that we could scarcely make out the prow or stern of the vessel, but after we had sailed for an hour or two a brilliant light shone around us and a country appeared before us, spacious and green, and exceedingly fruitful. The ship put into land and we disembarked to make a tour of the island. We walked for fifteen days and still did not reach the farther shore. All the plants we saw were flowering plants and every tree was a fruit tree; the very stones beneath our feet were precious.'
David Adam, A Desert in the Ocean, p. 18, 32-33
Blog, An Unexpected Journal, Ted Wright, Spring 2022
