‘Iona’

The name ‘Iona’

Has a magic ring to most,

But they have chased away

The Holy Ghost

For a druid or for worse.

They have forsaken you,

Father Columba,

The blazing coal

Burning bright with the Fiery Light

Of Heaven’s Dove.

Pillar of Fire,

You made Iona

A house of light

That pierced the pagan darkness

Of Westernesse.

Pillar of Stone,

You built churches

And kingdoms there

On foundations

Unmovable.

But her sons have,

Little by little,

Blinded the eyes of their hearts,

And their hands have

Laid new cornerstones.

Iona, keeper of

Western Europe’s

Sacred Flame, the storehouse

Of her Holy Light,

The axis her Christian Faith

Revolves around:

Father Columba,

By your prayers

Help her to see

Where her salvation lies.

***

Both images via Dmitry Lapa’s good article on St Columba (+597, commemorated 9 June):  http://orthochristian.com/104544.html

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!