The Opening Prayer of the Feast of Saint Colmán of Dromore[1] (7th June) offers important, indeed indispensable insights into the lessons of his legacy to the church :
‘Grant to your Church, we pray, this threefold gift: to love learning, to live simply, and to seek your reign above all things’.
‘Love of learning’ is often linked to the life of the monastic church with the leisure of both time and resources for reading, research and reflection. Yet this cannot be left to the monasteries as it is also valid and valuable, indeed vital, for the whole church including 
missionaries who must learn to live interculturally, taking onboard customs and concepts that are challenging in terms of communicating and living the Gospel. Moreover, such learning is not confined to the cloisters and classrooms but is contained in the wisdom and experience of the whole People of God in their synodal journey. The sharing and receiving of the first two stages of the synodal way – participation and communion – involves a mutual listening both within the church and with cultures which serves the third stage, which is mission. Searching for understanding from sources both sacred and secular, scripture and science, is a sign that ‘every scribe instructed for the kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom new things as well as old’ (Matthew 13:52).
In his encyclical on the environment Laudato Si’ Pope Francis expresses and exhorts a lifestyle that is rooted in Christian spirituality, proceeding from ‘the conviction that “less is more”, [which] proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little’. This stance involves ‘a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack’.[2] This existential stance is at the heart of the ‘ecological conversion’ calls for. The sobriety, moderation and humility mentioned by Pope Francis are the hallmark of authentic monastic and missionary life in the church.
In his Encyclical The Mission of the Redeemer Pope Saint John Paul II devoted Chapter Two to the ‘The Reign of God’. He writes that ‘Jesus of Nazareth brings God’s plan to fulfilment’ and ‘Since the “Good News” is Christ, there is an identity between the message and the messenger, between saying, doing and being. His power, the secret of the effectiveness of his actions, lies in his total identification with the message he announces; he proclaims the “Good News” not just by what he says or does, but by what he is’.[3] Dedication to the Reign of God is therefore what Pope Francis calls ‘missionary discipleship’ which seeks to follow Christ and his teaching to ‘Strive first for [God’s] Reign and righteousness’ (Matthew 7:33).
We pray, Lord, that through the intercession of Saint Colmán of Dromore the church may be devoted to study and search for what is authentically ‘old and new’ in its vision, be drawn to a simple lifestyle in its mission and desire the ‘Reign of God’ which is ‘justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 14:17) above all other realities.
Fr Kevin O’Gorman SMA
[1] There is an altar dedicated to Saint Colmán in the SMA Chapel, Dromantine, which is located in the Diocese of Dromore.
[2] Dublin, Veritas, 2015, par. 222.
[3] London, Catholic Truth Society, 1991, par. 13.