Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor died today; she was 56. Cause of death is uncertain at this point, but if you read anything about her life, you realize that life itself could have caused her death because her life was tragic. When you find someone like this, you can’t help but feel compassion. She was abused by her parents, she had three children all from different fathers and never had a stable marriage. Her son committed suicide when he was 22. She struggled with mental illness and had a penchant for stealing things which led to eighteen months in an asylum. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was eighteen which might have come as a relief due to the violent trauma she experienced from her mother’s hand. “Our family is very messed up. We can’t communicate with each other. We are all in agony. I for one am in agony.”
Through all of this she was on a deep spiritual journey. She became famous for tearing a picture of the Pope in half on Saturday Night Live in protest over child abuse in the Catholic Church. In 1999, she was ordained as a priest by the Latin Tridentine Church, a sect that is not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church. She finally found a home in the Muslim faith taking on the name, Shuhada’ Sadaqat. She consistently spoke out on issues related to child abuse, human rights, anti-racism, organized religion and women’s rights. She cared.
The point of this is to realize that there are people around us all the time like this, but we would never know unless we spent time with them and cared enough to probe into their life and find out who they really are, what are their hopes and fears. A lot of this you won’t find out on the surface. This is exactly why it’s all about relationships. You would never know about any of this outside of a caring relationship. We know about this because she is famous enough to have a Wikipedia article about her. Your average person doesn’t have a Wikipedia file on them. You have to write your own article on them. Write it on your heart.
Think about this when you are getting to know someone. And pray that someone brought Jesus to Sinéad. Both Bono and Edge from U2 have worked with her on music projects. There was certainly the fragrance of Christ there. Pray for her and her family. There has got to be a better conclusion to this story than this.
DON’T MISS YESTERDAY’S INTERVIEW WITH PAUL CLARK
John Fischer The Catch 
“I always say, if you live with the devil, you find out there’s a God.”
~ Sinéad O’Connor
Beautiful and moving rendition of that song. Thank you Bob.
You’re welcome, John 🙂
Jesus works wonders on each and every one of us. So true about how Sinead cared about so much and thru the tragic life she experienced never stopped caring. Jesus wants each of us to care and cannot say enough about how he made the ultimate sacrifice because he loved us all so much. Hopefully millions will think about that in our lives no matter how tragic it may be and at the best of times.
RIP Sinéad O’Connor & my God forgive me for judging you without knowing your story!
Me too, Mark. I judged her without knowing her story.
TY 4 your empathy Pastor John! I sincerely appreciate it & you.
“…if you live with the devil, you find out there is a God!” To me that is a very profound statement. Lots of people stick with the devil they know. I hope that she didn’t just find out God was there but put her trust in him also. Does anyone know?
What a beautiful rendition of Danny Boy!! Jane and I enjoyed the purity of her voice and the clarity of the acapella words.
All of us come from some form of family, however dysfunctional the background. It is easy to say, “don’t blame your family background, stop making excuses by blaming others and your circumstances, realize your past is not your fault, but take responsibility for how you react to it. Be honest with yourself, face it and correct it. Suffering is God’s manure to spiritual maturity.” Some of us just never get that far. That is why we need to pray for each other that we stop blaming our problems on our past and on other people, and to meet our past head on with the power of God’s Word. ‘Help me to take responsibility’, should be our cry.
Unfortunately some of us have been so deeply hurt, that there appears to be just no way out. There is such a person in my family. You might say still a holdout. There was such a young man who lived across the street from us for 10 years. His family background quite similar to Sinead O’Connor’s. I planted many seeds of the gospel in Him at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. O, God please save his soul!!!
Like add an Amen to your comments, brother Peter!
Thank you Mark.
Hi Peter,
Obviously I can’t say with any certainty what Sinéad’s relationship with Jesus was, however, through past interviews and magazine articles she has never denied her belief in God. (Of course, that could mean many things.)
She directed her “rebellion” and indignation mostly toward the Catholic church as well as corrupt (or overly-greedy) non-religious institutions.
Unlike many of us who would quietly leave a church or protest injustices from the comfort of our armchairs, Sinéad O’Connor put her passions into public view and interview – setting herself up, of course, for ridicule, judgement and condemnation.
Some might think it blasphemous for me to say but, apart from her personal life and struggles, her outward displays of outrage could almost be likened to Jesus making a whip and angrily rebuking the religious officials and overturning the tables of the money-changers in the Temple.
While I can’t (and shouldn’t) speculate on Sinéad’s knowledge of and intimacy with Jesus, one thing I can say with certainty is: Jesus knows Sinéad O’Connor intimately… just as He knows you and me.
Prayers to you and Jane.
Shalom, Peace my friend…
🙂
Like add an Amen to your excellent comments about Sinéad O’Connor, brother Bob!
Thank you, Mark!
🙂
Hello Bob,
Thank you for that information Bob, much appreciated. You mentioned Jesus clearing the temple with a whip, and rebuking the religious officials, to me that is righteous anger ie. anger without sin and in response to total disrespect to the Almighty. David fought Goliath for that very reason. There some more examples in scripture, I think. It took guts for Sinead O’Connor to make clear to the Roman Catholic Church that she found it disgusting they did not purge the sin of sexual abuse by the clergy. I always admired her for that. I pray to God that there are no sins in my life that I so stubbornly deny.
Prayers for you and Paula go up daily,
Strong faith to you in order to ‘hang in there’ my friend,
Peter
Thank you, Peter!
We all fall short one way or another but thank God for the Lifeblood of Jesus which is our Lifeline through thick and thin.
🙂
Hey Bob, you are right we all fall short. It is a life long battle but once I think I am in the habit, distraction soon follows. It is good everyday before I get up to contemplate that Jesus looks after me through thick and thin.
It is therapeutic for me to write these emails to a person going through the same circumstances and empathizes rather than telling me what to do. My sons mean well but guys only want to fix things. That does not always meet the need.
Bob I am addressing a sensitive topic below. Please know I do not wish to pry, but am just concerned and hope to hear a report that God is taking care of you two.
My Dad had Alzheimer’s and eventually was put into a home, when my mother died. He said,” I am in jail”. The doors to the ward were locked because many wandered off if they got the chance. He was moved a number of times from facility to facility by my sister who noticed that in some of these places they drugged the patients to manage them and have less staff necessary to look after patient welfare. In one such place my Dad was vigorous and active when he came in but thirty days later he couldn’t even hold a cup of coffee. My sister noticed that and started to visit the facility at different times of the day. The result was she moved him to a facility that had a heart for the patient and not the bottom line. We have government healthcare but some of those care facilities charge a fee, and since the pandemic are not trusted.
Many seniors died unnecessarily in these places during the pandemic. Now I am sure you have researched and know what you are going to do when the time comes. Yes, I am facing it too. Jane is declining rapidly and my prayer is that she will be able to see and know her brothers who live in Manitoba and New Brunswick. My prayer for Paula and you is the same. I know you had such a tour but another might be in the making, I am guessing. I do not know your circumstance and don’t want to overstep.
Care here in Canada at that level is being addressed so I need to research the best facility for Jane when the time comes. Presently she is at home and according to professional advice, and my wishes she is still at home and will be until that is no longer possible. I pray that the time for that will not come. She is such a homebody and pray for mercy in that regard.
So my question is are you aware of these things? If so what are your plans should you wish to share.
On PBS they had a informative program on retirement. They mentioned 5 mistakes you should not make. One had to do with healthcare. They mentioned that you could need up to a million dollars in care as a senior. How in the world does a person prepare for that if they only have a modest income? So I prayed for you that you would have no financial hardship in taking care of Paula and yourself for that matter.
So pardon me if I have crossed a boundary that I do not have a ‘passport’ for so to speak. Answer only if you wish, my friend.
May God smile on you
Peter