Sunday spiritual inspiration leads to Brigid's first book

Glasson's Brigid McLoughlin found the spiritual inspiration to write her very first book from reading the Sunday Mass leaflet and spiritual writing in the parish newsletter.

'How to get close to Jesus' is a series of short reflections on the readings and the gospel, in a simple, conversational style that stresses not rules, but love and forgiveness.

“I used to bring home the Sunday mass leaflet from Tubberclair, read the readings and gospel again and write a piece from there,” says Brigid, who started the process back in 2016 and has now compiled her writing in a 106-page self-published book.

“This book isn't all about religion as we were taught religion (in the past), but rather what I think the word of God is saying to the ordinary Joe soap like me,” Brigid explains, saying it is aimed at anyone who has an interest in spirituality and wants to see it from an ordinary person's view in everyday life.

“I believe in my book and I feel everyone who reads it will come out feeling more and more loved and enriched in every way. It's the sort of book that one can pick up time and time again and get something more enriching every time you read it,” Brigid, a native of Streamstown, who has been living in the Glasson area for more than 20 years points out.

“There are lots of other spiritual bits and pieces in there not connected to the Mass as well, including things like attitudes to donating to charity, the way to treat people and a different way of thinking about spiritual matters than we were taught in the past. It's an up to date version of what's going on now and deals with real-life and everyday things,” outlines Brigid, who even uses RTE's Operation Transformation to make comparisons with what she calls 'Operation Spiritualisation'.

“A few people who have read it said it is wonderful, it is in ordinary man's language and a breath of fresh air. That's the kind of comments I'm getting, I was very happy and surprised with that. It's great to get that kind of feedback,” she adds. While Brigid hasn't studied theology, in fact, she says she had just the bare minimum of education coming from a family of 15, but she always had an interest in spiritual matters from an early age, something she attributes to the strong faith of her late parents, Jim and Angela Slevin which was passed onto her, and for which, she feels lucky and hugely grateful. Her cousins were also big influences in this regard.

“If it weren't for faith, I wouldn't have written this book. It shouldn't be taken for granted. When you're in a dark spot and you can turn to your faith, everything gets sorted out. We both (herself and fiancé Nigel) turn to our faith if we have any worries. At the same time, we're fun-loving people, we love music and going to pub and lots of other things. I play bodhran, I'm self-taught,” she explains, adding that musical influence probably comes from her parents who were both great singers.

Very creative, Brigid loves all kinds of writing, including poetry, songs and sketches, but never had the time to devote to it until she retired. An inventor too, she has a great interest in how things work and even appeared on The Late Late Show enterprise show many years ago with Gay Byrne showing her protective clothing products which he was very taken with at the time.

She credits Fr Mulvany in Tubberclair as another great influence that she'd like to acknowledge, and she finds daily Mass very nourishing. Not being able to go to church during the lockdowns was difficult, Brigid admits but she did turn to the Mass on TV.

“You don't have to go to Mass to be spiritual,” she stresses. “If you are a person of goodwill you'll be accepted by God and a lot of people don't realise that. Having said that, it's very enriching to be close to God and receive Holy Communion,” Brigid tells the Westmeath Independent, saying she was learned a lot in her research - one that stands out is that Catholic actually means worldwide.

She has huge gratitude for her fiancé Nigel Fagan for his kindness and patience while writing the book, her three children, sons Gerard and Patrick in Canberra, Australia, and daughter Maura, her grandchildren and everyone who has got in touch with her about the book. She also thanked Joe Spollen and all of the shops who have agreed to stock her first publication.

Looking to the future, Brigid hopes to write another book, perhaps a book of childhood memories this time, given that she has seven brothers and seven sisters to draw on.

'How to get close to Jesus' is available in Spollen's Centra, Glasson, Athlone Bookshop at the Village in Burgess, The Liturgical Centre, Athlone, and John's Bookshop website