Bishop Michael joined with the staff of Tara Mines and their families at St Mary’s Church, Navan on Saturday 21 April 2017 in giving thanks for 40 years of production and for the contribution of Tara Mines to the life of our town and parish community.
In his homily, the Bishop referred to a passage from the Book of Job (28: 1-12) which gives a description of mining and how man can find precious minerals, yet Wisdom is beyond his reach. “Our search for Wisdom finds its answer in the encounter with the risen Christ” the Bishop said.
After Mass, Bishop Smith was presented with a Miner’s Lamp by Michael Donnelley, Eoghan O’Neill and Gertie Courtney.
Job 28: 1-12 “Where is Wisdom to be found?”
There is indeed a mine for silver,
and a place for refining gold.
Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper smelted out of stone.
He sets a boundary for the darkness;
the farthest confines he explores.
He breaks open a shaft far from habitation,
unknown to human feet;
suspended, far from people, they sway.
The earth, though out of it comes forth bread,
is in fiery upheaval underneath.
Its stones are the source of lapis lazuli,
and there is gold in its dust.
The path no bird of prey knows,
nor has the hawk’s eye seen it.
The proud beasts have not trodden it,
nor has the lion gone that way.
He sets his hand to the flinty rock,
and overturns the mountains at their root.
He splits channels in the rocks;
his eyes behold all that is precious.
He dams up the sources of the streams,
and brings hidden things to light.
As for wisdom—where can she be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
