The Upward Arrow: A Way of Holiness for Every Home
Fr Colum Power
New York: Scepter
2024
148 pages
ISBN: 978-1594175350
Fr Colum Power grew up in Cork in a family of nine boys, the sons of Joe and Mary Power, both dentists (though Mary became a full-time mother after marriage). In the book’s introduction, he describes his parents’ generation – the young adults of the mid-twentieth century – as having been misrepresented. In his words, ‘They were tough people, but they were not hard. They understood truth, justice, and sacrifice, but they also understood and lived truth, justice, and mercy.’ After a period away from the faith, Fr Power joined the order of the Servants of the Home of the Mother and was ordained in 2003.
Throughout the book, he describes numerous examples of how Joe and Mary lived their faith and attempted to pass it on to their children – though the children wandered away from the Church, only for most, including the author, to return in due course. His parents were ordinary people made extraordinary by God’s grace acting through the sacraments of matrimony, the Eucharist, and confession. Their approach to marriage and parenting provided abundant material for his priestly talks and homilies to married couples over the decades.
Above all, his parents’ conviction was that their most important responsibility was the eternal salvation of each of their children. This did not cease when the children stopped practising their faith, though over time most returned, some after dramatic experiences. Even as he lay dying at 89, Joe Power asked the only son who had not yet returned to the faith to grant his dying wish – that he go downstairs to the hospital chapel and say a Hail Mary for his soul. The son replied, ‘Of course, Dad.’
After an introduction in chapter one, which sets the scene, the author describes how his parents were rulers of their household. He addresses the teaching of St Paul in Ephesians and the idea of wives being subject to their husbands, extending to Pope St John Paul II’s notion of mutual subjection in the context of his parents’ relationship. There was never any sign in the Power family of the wife being subject to the husband in the wrong sense. A simple but powerful example occurred when Mary was putting coal on the fire and blocked the family’s view of an exciting match on television at a pivotal moment. A spontaneous, unanimous roar urged her to move. Joe got up, turned off the television, and said, ‘Out, all of you, out; don’t ever speak like that to your mother.’ They all got the message.
From there, he continues the theme of subjection through stories of Queen Isabel of Spain seeking a confessor who wouldn’t kneel before her. She found one in Fray (later Cardinal) Cisneros, who accepted the role obediently despite reluctance. Together, they unified and rebuilt Spain, which made a significant mark on the Catholic world. Their greatness was rooted in their willingness to bend the knee before God and one another. Just as Christ’s trajectory was downward through his coming to earth, his suffering, death, and presence in the Eucharist, ours must be downward to meet him there.
In chapter three, we are reminded of the story in 2 Kings 5 of Naaman the Syrian’s cure from leprosy when he is persuaded to go down and bathe in the Jordan. God had spoken to him through his wife’s maidservant, the prophet’s messenger, and his own servants. The story offers an object lesson in humility, not just in practising the faith but in marriage and human relations generally. Fr Power shares other stories from his priestly life where a similar approach yields solutions to apparently insurmountable problems.
In subsequent chapters, Fr Power contrasts satanic and nathanic moments – typically contrasting actions based on pride with those based on humility. He stresses the importance of kneeling in confession and draws inspiration from characters in the Old Testament, St Edith Stein, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Ven. Louise of France, and others. The message that God unites and Satan divides comes through clearly, as does the idea that a spirit of poverty and a critical mindset are among the most important gifts parents can pass on to their children.
As well as making sound spiritual sense, the book is entertaining throughout.
About the Author: Pat Hanratty
Pat Hanratty taught Science/Chemistry in Tallaght Community School from its inception in 1972 until he retired in 2010. He was the school’s first Transition Year Co-ordinator and for four years he had the role of Home School Community Liaison Officer.