Gulf Pine Catholic

6 Gulf Pine Catholic • June 1, 2018 Serving the Community within the Diocese of Biloxi with Dignity & Respect. There is a Difference... Riemann Service A Riemann Family Company Phone: 228-539-9800 www.RiemannFamily.com Since retiring in 2013, I have offi- ciated at only two weddings. One was a neighbouring young woman and the other was that of my cousin. To say that I miss the pageantry, the style show, the opulent tastes is an over-statement. In Ireland, a priest, minister or lay person who officiates at a wedding has to be registered by the state. In order to officiate at a wedding here, I have to get authorization to become a solemniser for each occasion. It can be quite a hassle. Recently, I took my nineteen-year- old niece to the city during her break from college. On arrival in the city, we agreed that it was better for both of us to go our own separate ways as far as shopping was concerned. Of course, we had to facilitate different tastes and experiences. We agreed to meet at a certain time for lunch. I called her to see if she was ready for lunch. Instead she invited me to meet her at a particular store. It was then that I discovered I was being invited to take part in a very unusual ex- perience with her. She told me that she was looking for a certain piece of clothing to compliment the dress she would be wearing to an upcoming wedding. She invited me to search for the com- plimentary piece of clothing. To say the least, I was shocked by the invitation. Years earlier, she had invited me to help her find shoes that matched her outfit for prom. We were successful. As a priest who would be officiating at the wedding, my own outfit was a no-brainer. It was just basic black. But for a woman, it was a totally different challenge. So our journey began through various stores to find the right outfit. Obviously, our journeys ended up in the women’s department of each store. Here was a young woman accom- panied by a man who was old enough to be her grandfather searching through racks of clothes. Piercing eyes of women shoppers fluttered as they observed an old man asking a young woman questions and asking things like “What do you think of this one?” “Would this one compliment your dress?” As we walked down the avenue of shops, I would stop and ask, “What about this shop?” Often the answer came, “That store only caters for older people like Mom.” Or “That store only caters for people who like to dress in the eighties and nine- ties.” We ventured into an upscale and very exclusive store. Im- peccably dressed lady shoppers and well-manicured attendants surveyed the wares. An old man in jeans entered with a confi- dent young woman. Some may have thought the old man might have been suffering from dementia but he, too, surveyed the wares and found the answer to our search. Of course, the price was hidden inside the sleeve. Sticker shock followed as we discovered it only would cost 650 euros. Obviously, we didn’t want to deprive anyone else of the chance of purchasing the item. A few minutes later, we found the ideal complimentary item for only 25 euros. With an air of satisfaction, we headed home with our prize. At the wedding, the old man in a basic black suit took a photograph of a young woman decked out in her complimen- tary outfit. The wedding was a tapestry of blues, greens, pinks, lav- enders, woven together by ladies of the cloth. As I looked out over the rainbow of colours, I realized how difficult and pain- ful it must be for a woman attending a wedding because of the complicated process of choosing the perfect outfit to wear. For a man, it is so simple -- just a basic suit and tie. It is no wonder that women get the most compliments at a wedding and deservedly so. One hears comments like, “Wasn’t the bride just stunning?” “Whoever did her makeup, nails and hair did a wonderful job. It just suited her." “I loved the out- fits the bridesmaids wore. They were really elegant.” Then, of course, the mothers have to be complimented with words such as, “Wasn’t the mother of the bride stunning? That colour really suited her.” The mother of the groom was missed, physically, but she did show up in her celestial wedding garment. She had died years earlier of a brain aneurism when the groom was a little boy. Now I am going to demote my basic black suit to the closet. And I don’t anticipate any old man being invited to join a young woman in search of the perfect outfit for any future wedding. Father Michael Tracey is retired and lives in Ireland. He can be contacted by email at mtracey1@bellsouth.net . His website is www.michaeltracey.net What to wear to the wedding Across the Pond Fr. Tracey If you’ve seen “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” or “The Last Jedi,” you’re familiar with the planet Ahch-To, where Luke Skywalker has isolated himself for many years. In reality, that is an island in Ireland called Skellig Michael, on which twelve Christian monks established a monastery over 1,000 years ago. Christian history lover Philip Ko- sloski found his curiosity piqued by this detail, so he set out to learn more about the island itself and the monks who inhabited it. During a “Christopher Closeup” interview, Kosloski explained that for centuries after St. Patrick brought Chris- tianity to Ireland, monasteries were founded throughout the country. “They were inspired in particular by a tradition from Egypt, to go into the desert, dedicating one’s life to God. In Ireland, there are no deserts, but they have a lot of places where it’s really hard to get to.” That made Skellig Michael a desirable destination. Lo- cated about seven miles off Ireland’s coast, the monks saw it “as a great place to get away from the world so they can enter into a greater communion with God.” Skellig Michael’s terrain made life difficult, but again, the monks found this to be an attractive aspect of the loca- tion. Kosloski says, “They embraced the call to fast and to pray, to do these things that intentionally cause suffering to their bodies so they can offer that suffering up to God.” Interestingly, the monks of Skellig Michael considered themselves warrior monks, a description that could also describe the Jedi of “Star Wars.” Kosloski sees a connec- tion between the two: “It’s providential that the filmmakers chose Skellig Michael to be this place where supposedly was the first Jedi temple. The Jedi, in some ways, teach a doctrine similar to Buddhist teachings. [But] they also were, at least in the eyes of George Lucas, fashioned after war- rior monks of early Christianity. What I mean is: the monks in the first two cen- turies of Christianity saw themselves as waging this spiritual battle -- the strug- gle of temptations but also in the greater spiritual cosmos. The fight of good and evil with angels and demons. So there’s that connection of these monks on Skel- lig Michael who saw themselves as spiritual warriors -- and the Jedi in the Star Wars universe, in a similar way, are these pillars of the galaxy that fight for truth, justice and peace.” With that kind of background, the monks of Skellig Mi- chael seem to be a rife source for visual storytelling, so Ko- sloski is taking advantage of his own interest in the is- land -- and that of others as well -- by creating a comic book about life there. He assembled a team to work on the first issue, which will be out later this year. “A lot of people in the Star Wars community love comic books, so this is a perfect bridge between the two worlds,” he says. Kosloski hopes to take readers deeper into the minds and hearts of these religious who, in their own way, saw themselves as lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness. He con- cludes, “They saw their lives as doing something greater than themselves. They wanted to wrestle with those demons that are within themselves, but also, in a certain sense, pro- tect the world from the evil outside through their prayers and sacrifices. They didn’t curse or shun the world, but they were doing it as a sacrifice, in honor of union with Christ… to protect the world from those spiritual forces that we don’t usually see.” Tony Rossi is the radio host/producer for The Chris- tophers. For a free copy of the Christopher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@ christophers.org . Light One Candle Rossi The Irish monks of Skellig Michael