John O’Donohue, poet and philosopher, is being laid to rest in my home parish of Fanore in the Burren, County Clare today. John passed away suddenly last week while on holiday in France. I remember John as a friendly, kind and intelligent man, and I was lucky enough to attend some of his inspirational sermons when he visited Fanore church during his time as a priest. He received his PhD from Tubingen in 1990, was a renowned expert on the philosopher Hegels, and he wrote many influential books on Celtic spirituality. John was certainly the most important ambassador for the the Burren and Connemara that I can think of, and he also spoke Irish as his native language while living in County Galway. I know that many others will join with me in sending sincere thoughts to his family and friends at this time.
You can also read this tribute to John on the Huffington Post, and view some recent articles about John from the Galway Advertiser (1, 2). KLCS-TV, a PBS station in Los Angeles, will feature a special tribute to John at 8:00 PM tonight on the show “Between the Lines”. There will be a public memorial service for John in Galway on February 2nd. More information on John is available from his official website and (in German) from Wikipedia.de. You can also listen to interviews with John from NPR in 1999 and 2005.
All are invited to John’s Pacific Northwest’s Celtic Memorial in Seattle, Washington on Sat. Jan. 26 at 3pm. For more info please visit web.mac.com/seanthecelt/Johns_Memorial
Beannachtai,
Sean
http://www.seanpatrickoreilly.com
a voice is stilled
we thought would be forever teaching
and we always learning.
rest now, your journey begins
I loved John O’Donohue, though like thousands who loved him, I never met him in person. He spoke of the mountains in Ireland in a way that I understood, from my mountains in Southwest Virginia. It is a fact very like an O’Donohue statement that our mountains were once part of the same range, before the continents split apart.
May we all live in these important times as he did–bravely, with fierce love of our ancient landscapes, the trees and the wild that awaken our souls. In his honor, let’s keep the wild viable–in ourselves and in the landscape–and keeping our longing for connection alive in these alienating times. I feel sure that he will be helping us.
Liza from Wytheville, Virginia
I did not know John personally but have been touched by his verses.
I am a friend of Dan Siegal who kne John.
Every kindness to you.His poems touched me deeply.
My hert is with you and I will share with you one of mine written for a recenlydeparted friend.
My heart is with you .However I knwthe stillness is teh best I ca ay.
StephenUnder the bridge
there is a tiny rainbow
that no one sees
in each experience is the answer
to everything
live it live it now
and let it go
with tears if need be an anguish but let it go
let if fly over the fields
to the far corners of the earth
the desire to make an impact for good in the world
is what we need more of
underneath the bridge there is a tiny rainbow
hidden to the naked eye
It is the beauty in all things revealed
The beauty of a soul
The journey of a life
inspired by gentle rain drops upon the skin
the wind running through you across your face
the freshness
of being alive
and allowing life to be in you
Under the bridge there is a tiny rainbow.
Sjk
John was truly held together by a deep trust in a guiding, inner wisdom, and in his presence I felt at home before I even got to know him.
I met John before he became famous, when he was working on his Ph.D. in Tuebingen in 1986. We met in the student cafeteria and I was intrigued by his Gaelic accent and the warmth in his voice… and by his wild, furious laughter.
He helped me through some hard times, I proofread his German manuscripts. We had Irish whiskey together, moonshine he called it..
So many years later I discovered his books in a California bookstore. I have kept Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes close to me ever since.
I was signed up to go to his retreat in Oregon last October. I could not go due to an illness. There won’t be another retreat in Oregon in 2008. But John is not gone. He is just on the other side.
I feel so privileged that he was my friend.
Christine, Mountain View, California
…I met him and lost him in an hour. Upon reflection I realise although I will never see him in person my life will be changed by the cloak that his words wrapped around me last night. I watched a video of him speaking at findhorn passed on by a friend - I felt I had indeed come home whilst listening to his words find the hidden places I didn’t remember existed within my soul. I laughed and I cried. Then I cried some more when I went to his website to find out where he was next speaking and saw that he had gone on the next part of his incredible journey. Today I am grateful for being introduced to him last night and know my life and those that hear his words will never quite be the same.
Bernadette Darnell Kentford Suffolk
Never met or heard John live but his words explain feelings and beliefs I could never put into words.
May he rest in peace.
Marie
John I miss you so much. I am so glad that John made it to Killorglin in November 2006. His lecture was just so wonderful
It is with great sadness that I recently learned of the death of John O’Donohue. In written and spoken word, John embodied the voice of Spirit. He traced her movements through hills, caves, homes and the caverns of mind. I recall once having just missed him at Sounds True where I was informed that John was taped the week before. The sound engineer, who had taken him to lunch, said that there was no difference in John’s poetic way of speaking whether he was sitting across the table eating lunch or in front of a microphone. Another memory that comes to mind: one of my patients, who shared my love of John’s work, signed up for a week long workshop with him in Ireland. I was green with envy. On her return she gave me a treasured gift - a signed book of Beauty. She complained that he’d written more to me, a complete stranger, than to her who had just spent a full week with him! I don’t understand why God reclaim his soul after only giving us 52 years of his Celtic alchemy, but I am thankful just the same. Although I never had the good fortune to meet him personally I consider him my anam cara. Farewell, good friend.
I was introduced to the wonder of John O’Donohue this past weekend, thanks to an interview with him that was broadcast on Speaking of Faith. His poem Beannacht is a treasure. I wish I’d heard of him before now.
You can find a pointer to the Speaking of Faith site on my blog where I also posted a copy of Beannacht. http://tinyurl.com/2336oh.
My wife Lynn and I were able to find John O’Donohue in the wilds of Connemara in September, 2005. We had accompanied our daughter to Ireland for her international studies term at University of Limerick, and we stayed for an extra week. During this time, we made day trips from our B&B in Adare. One day, we decided to try to find John O’Donohue. After much sleuthing, we found him, and he was actually at home. He agreed to meet us at the Peacocke Hotel in Maam Cross, and we spent a wonderful hour with him in the little pub there. I had read all his books and listened to all his lectures on CD as I faced a life-threatening illness. I connected very deeply with his spirituality, and felt that I simply needed to meet him and thank him. Which we did. He was a warm, delightful man, full of life and humour. He is now my new patron saint. I have just listened to the NPR interview Krista Tippett of National Public Radio did with him. It is a downloadable podcast at the “Speaking of Faith” website, and is well worth listening to.
Two quotes that remind me so much of John O’Odonohue.
When we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, we are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly.
And when the time is right, we can let go of it and we will be free of pain, free of fears and worries, free as a very beautiful butterfly, returning home to God.
Elisabeth Kibler-Ross.
The other:
In my end is my beginnning.
T. S. Eliot.
This is a thank from someone who began her spiritual journey with John. I will continue to search for love and beauty in the world, and try and spread as much love as I can.
Thank you for your friendship on the journey. Go in peace for I will miss you.
may John’s soul rest in peace!
thanks you for the update here.
peace!
I am so fortunate to have met John twice and heard him speak on 4 or 5 occasions. He came to Belfast one Saturday and lead a small group in a day long reflection…it was amazing! He was nearing the end of his talks and he sat in the seat next to me - a spare seat inbeween us. I so wanted to tell him what the day had meant to me but I guess I do have a shy side after all and said nothing. Just before he went to the front of the room and as others were coming in and sitting down… he looked round…I smiled and he reach over the empty chair and put his hand of my shoulder. I knew then that he knew what I wanted to say but couldn’t.
I met him again at a book signing last August at the Greenbelt Festival in England and reminded him that we’d met briefly before. He smiled broadly, stood up from his chair, bent forward of the books and gave me a big hug and kiss…what a man!
I won’t see him this side of heaven but boy…I still hear that voice in the days when I need encouraged!
Mo - Belfast
slan leat
eistigi! chualamar an ciunas
feachaigi! ni fhacamar eine
feicimid le suil amahain
ar anam mor choillte
slan agat
beimid le cheile fos
Go raibh maith agat a Sheáin.
Slán leat mo chara….
I read your words slowly ,for it was the only way that I could absorb and understand them ,that first day.I thought to myself “he must have spent forever compiling his words into sentences ,for surely no one can speak unrehearsed with such eloquence and with such discernment .Then I heard you speak I watched your every expression ,all I saw was sincerity ,all I heard was love ,words bursting with love ,love for the land ,love for your fellow man, and a deep understanding of the strengths both possessed,of the beauty both beheld, and the innate attraction of one for the other,and of the dependency of one for the other .I listened as you passively explained how developers with perfect eyesight were still blind to the ancient beauty and how you involved yourself in the protection of our ancient footprints from the speculators.For these but few of your greatnesses I am eternally grateful ,but most of all I am indebted to you for the loan of your wisdom at a time I needed it most .Enjoy your forward journey for I am sure your adventure goes onward and forward ,but for you John O’Donohue never backward.Say hello to Mohandas for you both have a lot in common, and many views to exchange .
Pope John 23rd. said ” Do not walk through time without leaving worthy evidence of your passage”.
John O Donohue in his books left “worthy evidence” in his passage through time.
May his beautiful words sing in our hearts forever.
.
No change
I travelled to Burlington, VT to hear John because I had read his books and listened to his tapes. I especially needed to see him because my daughter, Katie, had died of cancer and I wanted to thank him for writing because his words helped me to survive; his words helped me to bear up under my pain and I wanted him to know that. We need to hear from the people whose lives that we have touched; it is a human desire for connection. I will always be grateful to John O’Donohue, his grace, his soul and his words. Meeting him also helped me decide to write my first book, which I did. Please look for it in October. When Every Day Matters: A Mother’s Memoir on Love, Loss and Life by Simple Abundance Press.
Mary Jane Hurley Brant from Bryn Mawr, PA USA
I was just thinking about how much John loved his father Paddy. I loved mine, too. We are greatly blessed when we have a father that we feel cherished us even if they, as we, are not perfect.
I was give a tape by a friend some ten years ago. I started listening to a man with an unusual accent. Within minutes I was mesmerised by his message. I read Anam Cara and found such beauty, wisdom and truth. I did volunteer work for years in jails, dealing with people going through tough times. I brought John into those meetings and was able to intruduce him to these souls through his words. I have just recently returned from the San Juan Islands and met someone who mentioned that John had passed. In reading the comments of the lives he touched I realized that indeed there is a group of Soul Friends that will continue to grow.