Iona: Island of silence, solitude and sunshine!

I am pretty sure that apart from the middle of the day when the ferry off loads 2 or 3 coachloads of visitors you will always be able to find silence and solitude. Sunshine, however, cannot be guaranteed. So I felt very blessed to have the sun on my back as I explored for two days. I also enjoyed the ethereal mists on my last morning.

What can I say about Iona that won't sound cliched?

It is beautiful with stunning ancient rock formations, white sandy beaches, wild flowers everywhere, spring lambs and their woolly mothers, cute cottages and atmospheric ruins.

While I spent the requisite amount of time visiting the Nunnery ruins and the rebuilt churches and the Benedictine Abbey it was not until I took myself walking along the shoreline and up into the hillsides and the wild meadows that i encountered the spirits of Columba and his Irish monks. What I felt most was Columba's sorrow at not even being able to see his beloved homeland and the tremendous burden of responsibility he felt for the twelve men who had left Ireland with him and those who followed later.

I took myself back to the Abbey that afternoon and paid my 8 pounds to sit a while in St. Columba's shrine. This small stone building with a low arched doorway was rebuilt over the place where Columba's dead body lay. Archeologists have found evidence of Columba's writing hut on top of a hill just west of his resting place.

Sitting with Columba

Four square straight back chairs

a wooden kneeler, if only my knees would bend.

A low table with icons

and Saint Columba's head cast in stone.

An open Bible - the wedding banquet

A small 10 paned window

and a low arched door.

Most visitors pass by

or if they do bow their heads to peek in

they shake them and quickly move away

as if to say

"nothing to see here",

And in an obvious way they are right.

Columba's bones and relics are no longer here

Broken up and scattered to give hope to the faithful

and especially to those who wished they could be more faithful.

Yet his body has lain in this place after the monks buried him here

and still today I find Columba very near.

So I shall sit a while and think of those forced to flee from lands they loved.

I will call upon the spirit of Columba who learned to begin again.

That they too might find another place

to draw them into its embrace.

A place of possibilities and communion

A place for a new start

and the healing of a broken heart.

For all those who mourn, those whose death is near,

those who have lost everything

and those who still look back in fear.

Columba, man of gentleness and strength

man of wisdom and vision,

as one with the land and all its creatures;

may your spirit spread throughout our world.

Colum Cille, Dove of the Church

Columba, Dove of Peace

Pray for us.

Angela Hazebroek Iona May 4th 2024