RONAN. Let be, Ceallach. You cannot move him.
CIARAN. Of what were we to speak to-day?
_They have sat down around him._
ART. You said you would speak of the friends of Our Lord.
CIARAN. Aye, I would speak of friendship and kindly fellowship. Is it
not a sad thing that every good fellowship is broken up? No league that
is made among men has more than its while, its little, little while.
Even that little league of twelve in Galilee was broken full soon. The
shepherd was struck and the sheep of the flock scattered. The hardest
thing Our dear Lord had to bear was the scattering of His friends.
IOLLANN BEAG. Were none faithful to Him?
CIARAN. One man only and a few women.
IOLLANN BEAG. Who was the man?
CEALLACH. I know! It was John, the disciple that He loved.
CIARAN. Aye, John of the Bosom they call him, for he was Iosa’s bosom
friend. Can you tell me the names of any others of His friends?
ART. There was James, his brother.
RONAN. There was Lazarus, for whom He wept.
BREASAL. There was Mary, the poor woman that loved Him.
MAINE. There was her sister Martha, who busied herself to make Him
comfortable; and the other Mary.
CEALLACH. Mary and Martha; but that other Mary is only a name.
CIARAN. Nay, she was the mother of the sons of Zebedee. She stands for
all lowly, hidden women, all the nameless women of the world who are
just the mothers of their children. And so we name her one of the three
great Marys, with poor Mary that sinned, and with Mary of the Sorrows,
the greatest of the Marys. What other friends can you tell me of?
IOLLANN BEAG. There was John the Baptist, His little playmate.
CIARAN. That is well said. Those two Johns were good comrades to Iosa.
RONAN. There was Thomas.
CIARAN. Poor, doubting Thomas. I am glad you did not leave him out.
MAINE. There was Judas who betrayed Him.