-
Courage. Gentleness. Wisdom
This hymn grew out of listening rather than certainty. It brings together two women who never met, yet somehow recognise one another across time and land. Saint Agatha, standing her ground in the hard stone world of Rome, and Saint Brigid, whose holiness took root in hearth-fire, field, and care for ordinary people. One knew… Continue reading
-
Flour. Aprons. Presence.
For many of us, faith is encountered not first through abstraction or silence, but through texture, rhythm, repetition, and shared work. This poem emerges from the sensory world of baking—warmth, fragrance, patience, and touch—and attends to grace as something embodied and practiced rather than merely believed. Written to be read, prayed, or sung, it traces… Continue reading
-
Lines. Rise. Twice.
When the Words Arrive Twice This morning I wrote a poem for a grieving friend. The words came quickly—not rushed, but with that quiet certainty that sometimes accompanies deep care. They felt true. They felt needed. They felt like mine to offer. And yet, before I pressed “publish,” I did what many of us do:… Continue reading
-
Held in the humming
A poem expressing the medical treatment I experience. The morning hums its fragile tune,the clinic lights grow bright;on Monday, Wednesday, Friday dawnsI take my steady rite.The lines connect with practiced care,the blood begins its round;a pilgrim held by humming pumps,yet rooted in this ground.Twice yearly comes the Dublin trip,a check that keeps me true;HIV’s a… Continue reading
-
Kept on honour
From Bushmills’ coast the malts arise,Black Bush with warmth that stays;The ten-year bright with morning light,The sixteen deep as days.The Reserve kept for nights of cheer,Firelight falling low now;A quiet dram, the hour held still,As amber shadows glow.A pink gin softens fading light,Sloe gin warms the cool air;And port, when taken gently warm,Brings peace beyond… Continue reading
-
God’s Whisper Everywhere
A short poem in celebration of God’s whisper written during a restless night. Continue reading
-
Platform Wait
The platform wind cuts through my coat, My patience wears too thin;Two hours between each wretched train— What state are we all in?A bank-day hush lies on the tracks, The cold seeps through my bones;The loudspeaker stays deathly mute, Ignoring all my groans.I pace the boards, I stamp my feet, I mutter at the sky;So who designed this dismal plan And… Continue reading
-
Soft. Anchor. Steadfast.
Otto sits gently by my side,Grey Belfast hoodie wrapped with pride;A quiet friend who does not speak,Yet offers calm when days feel bleak.His soft paws rest within my own,A steadying weight I’ve always known;He comes to dialysis with me too,And helps me face what I must do.When noise or brightness starts to swell,He anchors me… Continue reading
-
Umbrellas. Flowers. Puddle.
The rain beats softly on the glass;the ward keeps steady time.A holiday that will not pausefor weather, will, or rhyme.Coats drip in corners, umbrellas closelike flowers bruised by rain.The nurses move with gentle poisethrough hours long and plain.Your blood flows out, your blood flows in—a tide you cannot sway.Yet kindness holds you, calm and thin,through… Continue reading
-
Walk. Prayer. Grace – “We walk Saint Brigid’s way today”
We walk Saint Brigid’s way today We walk Saint Brigid’s way todayThrough Monasterevin’s grace;With pilgrim hearts and steady stepsWe seek God’s holy place.We gather at the parish church,One family in prayer;To bless the road, to share the light,And meet Christ walking there.We thank you, God, for shepherds sentTo guide this flock with care;For bishops who,… Continue reading
-
A Lenten Chapter in The Church Is Open
Lent is not a performance. It’s a season of showing up. The Church Is Open: Lent continues The Church Is Open series with quiet, story-shaped reflections rooted in the life of a city parish that keeps its doors open when faith feels fragile and answers are scarce. This is not a manual for Lent. It’s… Continue reading
-
Seedtime. Light. Pilgrimage.
This hymn is offered as a prayer for the turning of the year, when winter loosens its grip and the first signs of new life appear in field, garden, and soul. Rooted in the landscapes of Kildare and shaped by the rhythms of early spring, it gives thanks for creation renewed and for God’s living… Continue reading
-
Carried. Promise. Radiance.
Written for Candlemas (The Presentation of the Lord), this hymn celebrates Christ as the Light of the nations at the turning of the year. Drawing on the witness of Simeon and Anna, and set within the landscape and seasonal rhythms of Ireland, it weaves biblical faith with themes of light, hope, and patient renewal. 87… Continue reading
-
Silence. Suffering. Steadfastness.
A day of uneasy memory, quiet courage, and layered history. On 30 January, NeuroDivine holds space for complexity, conscience, and the land’s long remembering—and offers a new hymn rooted in Leinster’s fields for those who honour your servant Charles with tenderness rather than triumph. Continue reading
AnglicanCommunion, AnglicanTradition, AutisticFaith, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, Contemplation, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, FindingConnection, HeldInLove, Hymnody, InclusiveChurch, Ireland, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHistory, IrishHymnody, IrishReflection, IrishSpirituality, LiturgicalReflection, NeurodivergentFaith, NeurodivergentTheology, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, Pilgrimage, Prayer, QuietCourage, QuietWitness, Reverence, SacredRoutine, SacredSong, SacredSpaces, Sanctity, Spirituality, SpiritualReflection, ThresholdOfGrace -
Starfield. Shadow. Covenant.
This hymn is shaped by the daily readings at Morning Prayer for today from the Church of England. It draws together the promise God makes to Abram beneath the night sky, Christ’s faithful obedience in the garden, and the Spirit’s work of forming trust and courage in us today. Set in the landscapes of water,… Continue reading
-
Lead. Glass. Light.
Light beyond all telling, breaking Light beyond all telling, breakingThrough the colours shaped by hand;Bless the artists bent on makingWindows where your wonders stand.As they work with oak‑fast patience,Lead and glass in woven line,Let your breath, like wind on waters,Stir their craft with touch divine.Circle deep with ancient meaning,Sign of love that has no end;Interlace… Continue reading
-
Brigid. Pat. Sarah.
From Brigid’s fire to today’s Church, a hymn of gratitude and hope, attentive to calling and the Spirit’s movement in an Irish Church still becoming Continue reading
AnglicanCommunion, AnglicanHistory, AnglicanTradition, Christianity, ChurchOfEngland, ChurchOfIreland, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, FaithInTheEveryday, FindingConnection, Hymnody, InclusiveChurch, IrishHymnody, IrishReflection, LiturgicalLife, LiturgicalReflection, LiturgicalRhythm, NewHymn, NewHymns, Poetry, QuietMoments, Reverence, Sanctity, Spirituality, SpiritualJourney, SpiritualReflection, ThresholdOfGrace -
Ground. Way. Breath.
I’ve been sitting for a while with the idea that faith is something made as much as it is believed—shaped by hands, time, weather, and patience. This hymn grew out of that sense of slow, faithful craft. It’s written with stone in mind: quarries and chisels, walls raised and repaired, the quiet devotion of people… Continue reading
-
Silence. Signal. Recognition.
✨ Reflection on Watching the Waterloo Road Series 17 Finale Watching the finale, I found myself quietly unsurprised when Luca’s sexuality was finally acknowledged. Long before the script made it explicit, something in his story — the emotional timbre, the way he moved through the world, the subtle sense of difference layered on difference —… Continue reading
-
Roots. Reverence. Resonance.
Sometimes the most unexpected conversations become the doorway to something sacred. At a recent family gathering, one of my father’s cousins pulled me aside with a spark in her eye—the kind that says I’ve just discovered something, and I need to tell someone who will understand. She and her husband have begun learning about the… Continue reading
New book:
A Living Cloud of Irish Witnesses
NeuroDivine 