Augustinian Friary Dungarvan

13/09/2026

SEPTEMBER 13th
It’s hard to believe that it is 25 years since the infamous 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, “Time and Tide Wait for No One”. I came across a commentary by St. Augustine on one of the Psalms: “From the time that I started speaking until this moment, do you realize you have grown older? You cannot see your hair growing. Yet while you stand around, while you are here, while you do something, while you talk, your hair keeps on growing –but never so suddenly that you need a barber straightaway. In this way, your existence fades away. You are passing on.”
The older I get the more I ask myself: “Where are all the years gone?” Even as I write this, even as you read this, our existence is fading away. To clarify: our existence in this world is fading but our eternal existence will never fade. That’s God’s promise. The question is: Are we living our daily fading existence in this time-based world in preparation for an existence which will never fade? The eternal NOW.
Augustine again “You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

05/09/2026

September 6th 2026
The newspaper reports of two professors of mathematics resigning over the slow pace of Irish curriculums in adapting to modern demands brought me back to an article I read on how many physicists come to the belief in the intelligent creation of the universe “The temptation to believe that the Universe is the product of some sort of design, a manifestation of subtle aesthetic and mathematical judgment, is overwhelming” (Australo-British physicist Paul Davies)-that there is something behind it all. The applicability of mathematics, the mathematical precision of the structure of the universe indicates that the world was conceived by an intelligent being.
The argument goes as follows:
1.If the world was not conceived by an intelligent being, then the applicability of mathematics is a pure coincidence
2. But it is very unlikely that the applicability of mathematics is a coincidence.
3.Therefrore, it is likely that the world was conceived by an intelligent being.
Isaac Newton: Described the universe as operating under universal mathematical laws set by an infinite spirit.
René Descartes: Argued that God is a supreme mathematician who ordered all things by weight, number, and measure.
St. Augustine believed that God created everything in an instant and that God described it for us as being completed in six normal days for the sake of our understanding, six being a perfect number.
“In the beginning was the Word…He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Jn 1:1
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

01/09/2026

This Friday 4th September

29/08/2026

AUGUST 30th
Recently I read of someone being called a “nobody”. Even though it was not meant in a derogatory manner, I was a little surprised because the person referred to was indeed a very good person having given her life for others. No body is a nobody, everyone is somebody, even if they are unrecognised by the world at large. God does not create mindlessly nor carelessly, every human person is created by God and has intrinsic meaning and is created in the image of God with the dignity of a person, - not just a nobody, but somebody and we all owe to each other the duty of respect because the divine image is present in every man, woman and child.
The great St. Catherine of Siena, praying to God the Father writes beautifully:
'What made you establish man (sic) in so great a dignity? Certainly, the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good.'
We exist because God has created us through love and through love continues to hold us in existence. Therein lies our dignity and reason for being.
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

27/08/2026

Friday 28th August
St Augustine’s Day
Mass in Friary 10am

25/08/2026

St Monica, mother of St Augustine.
Feast day Thursday August 27th
Mass in Friary 10am.

22/08/2026

AUGUST 23rd
In a casual reading in a book “God, the Science, the Evidence” I came to Plato the ancient Greek philosopher who argued that beyond all that is organized there must be a great organizer: “The Demiurge”. And to craft the Universe, this divine being drew upon an inexhaustible source of models that could be combined in an infinite number of ways: the “Ideas” --and I thought, Shades of AI and algorithms! The difference being is that Plato was a deep thinker. AI doesn’t think; hasn’t a thought in its head.
Descartes’ famous “I think, therefore I am” doesn’t apply to AI. Thinking proves you exist because a mind must be active to think.
Augustine’s faith was essentially a thinking faith, attempting to bring together the belief of his heart and the abilities of his mind. Faith seeks understanding: faith first, understanding afterwards. Augustine viewed thinking not just as a mental habit, but as an inward journey of the soul to find truth, connect with God, and understand faith. He believed that the mind reflects the divine Trinity through memory, intellect, and will, making self-reflection a sacred act, imaging the Trinity. His explanation of the trinity of memory, understanding and will are ultimately directed to remembering, understanding and loving God. To be thus made in the image of God indicates not an abstract truth but a plan of action as we live and work to in an on-going, dynamic process: we can become more and more like God if we allow ourselves to be renewed by a closer imitation of the divine goodness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit
It’s amazing where casual reading can sometimes take you!
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

21/08/2026

14/08/2026

AUGUST 16th
The recent eclipse of the sun in some strange way got me thinking about “time”. Our days are timed by the rising of the sun to its setting. Saint Augustine’s most famous reflection on time from Confessions is: "What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." Yes, there are occasions when time seems to drag by and other instances when time flies by, which might tie in where he writes: “We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times." and he goes on elsewhere: “Time is a three-fold present: the present as we experience it, the past as a present memory, and the future as a present expectation.
The word “present” is central, which brings me to the question of “time” spent in heaven (or elsewhere!”). Which, of course, is a non-question, because time does not exist in the afterlife, heaven or elsewhere. Heaven is the eternal present, the never-ending joyful NOW of the eternal family of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit without beginning or end. Take it from there!
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

11/08/2026

MASS TIMES THIS WEEKEND

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION
Vigil Mass Friday 14th 6.15 pm
Saturday 15th 10 am

SUNDAY MASS TIMES
Vigil Mass Saturday 15th 6.15 pm
Sunday 16th 9 am and 11 am