Brendan the Navigator

Available for 27 days

In the early centuries of Christianity in Ireland - monks set off from the coast without oars - in small coracles … not out of madness but to follow the call of God and the love of Christ wherever God might lead them: In today’s culture of strategy and management - this posture is entirely other: and yet as we face tumultuous seas, roaring waters of political instability and fierce climate changes it reminds us of how little we are in control. In the 6th century, St Brendan left the wild western shores following the call of God. His journey across the seas brought incredible stories of enormous crystals of ice, fantastic sea creatures and even people building community. While local folklore would use these stories to stake a claim for the Irish discovery of the new world long before Columbus, this misses the point revealed about Brendan’s own willingness to go well beyond what he could control and to place his utmost trust in the God in charge of the wind and the waves. The lack of certainty in destination, was actually the point of a journey of faith placing utter trust in Christ his saviour, the one who empathises with his human fears while reassuring him of divine comfort. As you start this day, in St Brendan’s words: "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." Amen