St. Cuthbert's Isle

St. Cuthbert's Isle is where the saint had a hermitage, to which he could retreat whenever life at the monastery got too hectic. In a way, St. Cuthbert's is a miniature of its larger neighbor, for it sits but a few hundred yards off the beach below where the monastery was, and can be accessed on foot at low tide.

This morning at low tide we walked in Cuthbert's footsteps to his personal place of refuge, but not because we found the island too hectic.  Even if this had been the case, St. Cuthbert's Isle would not have provided much respite, because it is a popular place for Island visitors and pilgrims to watch seals and sea birds and borrow something from the residue of sacred energy left behind by the saint and his followers, ancient and modern. 

One can, as I say, walk to St. Cuthbert's, but not like the children of Israel, who reputedly "past dry-shod through the Red Sea." I discovered this for myself when the time for church drew near and I took a shortcut across the tidal flat toward the main island, and found there were just enough puddles and just enough mud to soak my shoes and socks. I confess that this caused me to mutter a long list of profanities under my breath, which in turn brought the image of Cuthbert into my mind. Most o f the time, I think of monastic saints from former times as frowning killjoys who roll their ascetic eyeballs at my easygoing version of Christian  faith and practice. This time, standing as I was in Cuthbert's soggy footsteps, I felt a spontaneous kinship with him. "This had to happen to you once in awhile., " I wondered, "did it piss you off as much as it does me?" I wondered. "You bet," I imagined  him saying, "one minute it's mystical union with God, the next it's soggy sandals." 

      Tidal mudflats can be more than an inconvenience. Shortly after my imaginary conversation with Cuthbert, Nancy found herself up to her knees in mud and had a real struggle getting to drier ground. This was actually quite scary, and closer to the conditions of Cuthbert's harsh times than a pair of wet socks. 

         May grace of God preserve us from the perils of mud and tides; may Cuthbert's foot steps show us the secret way; may the playful seals teach us to laugh at ourselves; and may  the wisdom of islands keep us sane.