{"id":2039,"date":"2015-07-08T04:55:57","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T04:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2015-07-08T05:06:05","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T05:06:05","slug":"torn-down-rebuilt-as-all-must-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/torn-down-rebuilt-as-all-must-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Torn Down, Rebuilt, As All Must Be"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"St.
St. Mels Cathederal on fire. Image: www.LongfordParish.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Longford’s St. Mel’s Cathedral burned down one Christmas morning. The rebuild, the challenge to attempt it, has many correlations to real life, indeed personally to me as a writer after my own disaster in Ballinamuck, of making character and succeeding against the odds in time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From dust to dust, what was built by man
\nTime in its own way the cycle began
\nRenewed, destroyed, rebuilt, strong faith again
\nChurch is not in stone but hearts of men<\/p>\n

Plans of man to build up to the sky
\nTo worship God, so none can deny
\nThe faith of a people, by famine tested
\nComfort granted when it in prayer requested<\/p>\n

Completed, stones were in Gods own time
\nUp and down the stonemasons climb
\nScaffolds, placing in place each hewn stone
\nAs man each day does the souls their own
\nUpon the morning of Sabbath day
\nGive thanks, ask guidance, comes to pray
\nThey, the honest sinner, genuine guilt
\nIs the stone of which the church is built<\/p>\n

Pennies of the poor, built walls and aisle
\nBuilt it in times of famine, trial
\nTimes of prosperity crashed: ended
\nA Ruin stood, proud, charred, blackened, splendid
\nThe cornerstone stayed where it was placed
\nNo fire cracked it, it was not disgraced
\nCame from Ardagh by time now in ruin
\nStone true, reused, tested there by time, hand hewn<\/p>\n

Rebuilding took longer than three days
\nBut it was rebuilt, after the blaze
\nThat greeted the town in a morning glow
\nIts faithful shocked at the blazing show
\nIt was but stone, and it is but stone
\nIt is but a building there alone
\nThe church is the people who there they pray
\nBring the faith to their lives each day
\nFear not when lifes trials faith destroy
\nTroubles fire is what God does employ
\nTo inspire us to rebuild again
\nCathedral of the self, to be better men.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Glossary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“dust to dust, what was built by man”
\n– the cornerstone came from the ruin of the original cathedral in Ardagh<\/p>\n

“renewed, destroyed, rebuilt”
\n– the cornerstone was the old cathedral renewed, destroyed by fire, rebuilt<\/p>\n

“church is the hearts of men”
\n– the trials of the abuse scandals shall change the church as a movement, but not the faith in the hearts of men. The movement, like the building, is but stones (people in positions of power and how its managed), but the faith is in the hearts of the people, and will remain true.<\/p>\n

“plans of man to build to the sky”
\n– I always think of churches of splendor as akin to Babylon tower, to me they say “look how strong our faith is, how perfect out religion”… God sends a test, tears it down, and in the rebuild \/ final build, the true church remains. The original was stopped by the trials of the famine, still it got completed, in Gods own time, not the time planned by man.<\/p>\n

“climb scaffolds \/ placing… each hewn stone”
\n– we all must take what is given to us in life, the stones are our opportunities, we must take the good and reject the bad (hewn stones)<\/p>\n

“the honest sinner”
\n– the stone is made of the honest sinner, though great may be their sin, due to they being of the lower “nafs” they know no better, but never are guilty of “shirk”<\/p>\n

– “nafs” is the base faith, the ego, the self, from Islamic theology, some are base and know no better, their sins are forgiven as long as they do not commit shirk, that is to deny God and His glory. Folk of higher nafs, though their sins may be less, are guilty of more as they know better. <\/p>\n

<\/ADDRESS><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longford’s St. Mel’s Cathedral burned down one Christmas morning. The rebuild, the challenge to attempt it, has many correlations to real life, indeed personally to me as a writer after my own disaster in Ballinamuck, of making character and succeeding against the odds in time. From dust to dust, what …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,7],"tags":[2218,42,2220,2219,2221,2222],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ireland","category-life","tag-cathederal","tag-longford","tag-rebuilding","tag-st-mels","tag-temple","tag-temple-torn-down","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-wT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":213,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/stone-angels-stone-hearts\/","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":0},"title":"Stone Angels, Stone Hearts","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"11th June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Pennies of the poor gathered, one by one, counted Thousands, and hundreds of thousands, from the faithful amounted... 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