3. Dolphin Diving

Sure enough, Meg & Peter had been greeted by James down on the strand. There was a gang of lads and lasses playing around with a school of dolphins in the surf; no doubt about it, actually playing with the dolphins and riding them, hanging onto their dorsal fins, being whisked through the water by them. The dolphins would come surfing in, perched up in the breaking waves, magnificent in the clear sunlit water, swooping past the youngsters, who if they were quick enough could grab a passing fin. Thereupon the dolphin would turn seawards, towing them back out through the breakers.

Once past the surf, the bottom fell rapidly away, and the dolphin would dive. Then the rider had a brief blurred vision of colourful reefs with corals and waving sea fans and shoals of glittering fish about them, before having to let go. It was great sport and a couple of hours passed quickly by. Afterwards Meg & Peter went up the beach and threw themselves on the warm sand, behind a big boulder that sheltered them from the breeze off the sea. They were tired and dozed off, dreaming of that underwater garden that they had just glimpsed, and of dolphins, and whales. It seemed to Peter, as he lay there with an ear to the sand, that he had a vision of a great whale with a gaping wound in his side, which a man in a frail little leather boat alongside was stitching up.

“Oh, why do men persecute us so? Why do they not enjoy the beautiful sea and leave us in peace?” moaned the whale.

The man made sympathetic noises and said “I know, it is very terrible and I am sorry from the bottom of my heart. But if it’s any consolation to you, they treat each other no better.”

“I know that. My own people have witnessed them sinking each other’s ships, and even deliberating passing by some who were dying of hunger and thirst on wrecked ships or little boats. And then these ones would even kill and eat their own companions. A whale would just die rather than do such a thing. But I suppose men are more like sharks.... only they seem sometimes to be even worse, and they are so devilishly clever!”

They were woken by the sound of voices on the other side of the rock. An intense man’s voice was saying: “Something drastic has to be done. At least in the past there were limits to what the barbarians could do. Now with their fancy new technology they’ll destroy everything, in their pride and boredom and frustration, so alienated are they from the Word. The chances are that they’ll find us at last and come and drag us all into their mess, and it’s quite probable that they’ll make the whole planet uninhabitable.”

“Brother, you’re being presumptuous. You must leave such concerns in the hands of the Lord,” his companion calmly replied.

“Look, the Lord didn’t put us here to sit on our hands. This is clearly the time of need that has been expected all down the years, that we have been kept and prepared for. Now we have to break out and do His work, preach the Word, get them to see the error of their ways and to change their whole mind-set. What did St Dominic say when he was here, before he set off on his great mission? ‘The seed that’s left in the bag rots!’”

“Humm, that doesn’t sound a great recommendation for celibacy, does it now? Forgive me; we know He had a higher fatherhood in mind, and motherhood too. Yet how Jesus cherished the Mary who just sat at His feet to listen! Alright, it is true that He condemned the fig tree that bore no fruit; but firstly we have to listen, and so become grafted on to Him who is the vine, the tree of life; then we shall not be blown away by the storms of life, but bear fruit in Him, according to His season. If we are so blessed, the fruit remains His, and it is not given to us to know what will come of it, anymore than the coconuts that float off on the tides of the Ocean. But anyway, what exactly is it that you are proposing?”

“It is time for us to declare ourselves. This old tree must bear its fruit now, or at last it will rot away from within. Do you see those youngsters swanning around on the beach? We should be working them much harder. See that young James down there; can’t you see the restlessness in him? They are ready to respond, if only they were addressed with more conviction and urgency. And we should be gathering up more new brethren all through the world, not just waiting for the odd stray that happens to chance along here, and then only pussyfooting around with them. Don’t you realise that there’s probably nowhere else where a person may perceive the divine wrath hanging over the world so clearly, not to mention the opportunity for a new beginning? We should be launching an army of St Dominics upon the world, at this critical point in history.”

The other man was quiet and thoughtful. “Critical point in history?” he echoed. “Would you mind telling me at which point was human history not critical? It seems to me it always has been on a knife edge, with the odds stacked against humanity’s very survival, and has only got along by the kind providence and constant loving mercy of our God! And what is all this about launching armies, and trying to take history by the scruff of the neck? You are speaking the language of power. Do you not recall how the Enemy tempted Our Lord with the offer of political power? That was his best hope of destroying Him. Did Judas the Zealot not betray Him precisely because He refused to take up the mantle of earthly power?

“What harm has been done by those who use God’s name in vain, to bolster their desire for power of one kind or another! It is always the Devil’s work. Our mission here is among other things to counteract mankind’s lust for power, to remain a little territory of freedom where that lust has no power; an island of hope and light in a dark sea, which it is our task to preserve.”

“But when did Our Lord speak of freedom? The Gospels do not record His use of the word once. His concern was to do the will of His Father; His instructions to us were to take up our cross and follow Him.”

“Come, you know well enough yourself; how our salvation was prefigured in the escape of Israel from the land of Egypt, how the Apostles Peter and Paul spelt it out; ‘ where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’; on this they certainly agreed. The Man who rose from the dead hardly needed to say anything else about freedom, for in doing so he undermined the reign of fear, and so set us free. Unfreedom is based on fearfulness, while the will to power, the Enemy’s chief weapon, that feeds on fearfulness as it enslaves, draws its strength from the desire to deny death, to protect ourselves from disintegration. Whether this results in a naked will to power over others, or maybe a pious one cloaked in religion and even concern for others, or in the myths of technological power so beloved of the modern world, or when it lurks in an illusory personal autonomy that demands endorsement from others, it is always at war with that acceptance of death which leads to the ability to love, to life with Christ.”

At this moment there was a shout from James. “The dolphins must leave to fish for their supper, Father John. They would like you to give them your blessing.” Evidently the quiet man was Father John, and he jumped up to do as he was asked, remarking as he did so, “Ah yes, our brothers the dolphins; if only men could live as they do, entranced with the joy of life, and each other's company!”

Peter and Meg decided it was time to come out from behind their rock. Father Mark was still leaning on the other side of it, gazing at the proceedings on the beach and sighing to himself. “Blessing those old fish! The man’s unreal! But James should know better,” he remarked disdainfully, and then turned his keen eyes on us. “Hallo, where did you two spring from? More recruits for the beach bums?”

It was Meg who answered, “Good Heavens, we’ve only arrived today. I hope it remains to be seen whether we shall be recruits for anyone.”

“Well, you’re going to have a decision to make, along with the rest of us. You can play along with these dreamers, or help those of us who want to do something about this poor old world.”

“And how about just going home?”

“That may happen too, in due course, but you will not find it like home any more. There is a sea change coming over the world. Besides, you will find your lives charged with meaning and a call, and such longing will have awoken in your hearts that you are unlikely to fit back into your old way of going on. Anyone who comes to this place finds his life changed utterly. But maybe you overheard my conversation with that dolphin guru?”

Father John was standing up to his knees in the sea, his hands upraised in blessing. The dolphins all shot up out of the water together, fell back in with big splashes, and headed out to sea. He and James turned back towards them. “Let’s go and see if your parents have come out,” said James. “It is time for church again soon, and I expect that they’ll be there”.

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