Former Athlone friar's new book focuses on finding hope
The sense of satisfaction that comes with completing the writing of a book is a feeling Fr John O'Brien knows well.
The formerly Athlone-based Franciscan priest is the author of close to 20, each one dealing in various ways with themes of faith, spirituality and struggle.
In the recent weeks his latest work, entitled Broken but Holy: Becoming Human, was published by the Maynooth-based St Paul's Publishing.
Reflecting on the book's completion, Fr John said that initial feeling of accomplishment is soon followed by a murmur of trepidation.
"When it's published and going out to people, you have a sense of fear. It's like seeing your child going off to school for the first time - 'Will you be alright out there?!'" he laughed.
"Of course, you never feel that you have said everything you wanted to say. But you reach a stage where you say, 'That's it, I've said as much as I can say for now'."
Broken but Holy is a companion piece to his previous book, Winter Past: The Spirit of Hope which was published in 2024 but officially launched at a well-attended gathering in Athlone's Shamrock Lodge Hotel last March.
"What I didn't say in the last book, I'm saying in a different way in this book. I'm still searching!" Fr John explained.
He outlined how the new book explores the theme of hope by examining how the challenges and difficulties that we face can ultimately deepen our humanity.
"It's the idea that we become truly human by working through these things; not in running from them or pretending that we don't have them," he said. "There's a Jewish expression that 'there's nothing so whole as a broken heart', so the book is along that line."
He said the book also counters the so-called 'prosperity gospel' which suggests that "if you pray enough the money will flow in".
"The best of people give away what they have, and never become rich. And they have a happiness," he said.
"I write about St Francis and St Clare on that. And then I write about one of my old favourites, (rabbi and theologian) Abraham Heschel, and the idea that, in all of our suffering, God suffers. And that if somebody we know is suffering, God is suffering in that person.
"So when we relieve pain we're not just relieving the pain of a person, but the pain of God. It's to get that idea across of the sanctity of a person. It's not riches that determine our value. Some of the best people, and holiest people, you find in hospices and hospitals."
Fr John is currently based in Multyfarnham, having previously served in Athlone's Franciscan Friary, where he developed a number of enduring friendships with locals.
He said that, in light of the closure of Athlone's Friary, and of other former Franciscan-run premises in various parts of the country, his new book has relevance for the remaining Franciscan community also.
"With the (Franciscan) houses closing, morale is low, and fellas might feel that we may as well give up, that we have nothing to give. That's common with a lot of people. But it's about reviving the sense of hope in one's self.
"There's a theme from St Francis - which is included on the back cover of the book - that even the tiniest light dispels the deepest darkness. We should never feel we have nothing to offer. The little light we can shine might mean a lot to someone else."
"The way things are in society, broken people are looked down upon, especially in this Trump era. (In broader society) the heroes nowadays seem to be the entrepreneurs, and those who have made big sales.
"But it's the person that gives who makes life beautiful for others. They are the real heroes."
In his dedication at the beginning of Broken but Holy, Fr John states that the book was written "for all the moments of kindness I received since I had cancer".
When asked how his health is today, he replied: "It's not great, but it's ok. There are times when I get weak, and of course patience was never my virtue. I try to force myself to be better, but that doesn't work!
"Overall, I'm ok, I just sometimes go through bad patches. So when I speak of hope against hope, it's very much against that background as well, that when you're sick it doesn't mean you're useless.
"Even though, I'm much reduced in what I can do, I can still write, and that's hope for me."
'Broken but Holy: Becoming Human' by Fr John O'Brien, published and distributed by St Paul's Publishing, is out now. It can be ordered online, priced €10, from: www.stpauls.ie/product/broken-but-holy/