Lent 2025 Day 18

Pádraig Ó Tuama, Poet and Theologian 
Psalm 139 | Isaiah 5:1-7

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and peacemaker whose work explores the power of language, faith, and belonging. Born and raised in Ireland, Ó Tuama grew up in a Catholic tradition but wrestled deeply with questions of identity, conflict, and faith. His poetry and storytelling offer an honest reflection on the tensions between belief and doubt, suffering and hope, exclusion and belonging. As a leader in reconciliation work in Northern Ireland, he has dedicated his life to creating spaces where people can hold their stories with honesty, even when those stories are painful or uncertain.

Psalm 139 is a psalm of deep intimacy, assuring us that God has searched us and knows us completely. Ó Tuama’s work often centers on this radical idea: that to be fully seen is to be fully loved. Yet, many struggle to believe this, especially those who have been made to feel unwelcome in faith communities. His poetry, like the psalmist’s words, calls us to trust that God’s knowing is not a judgment but an invitation—to be honest with ourselves, to speak truth in prayer, and to find comfort in the fact that even when we feel lost, we are never outside God’s presence. As he writes in In the Shelter:

“To be welcomed is to be seen and to be seen is to be known and to be known is to be loved. And to be loved is to belong.”

Isaiah 5:1-7 presents a different kind of knowing—a knowing of disappointment, of a vineyard that does not bear good fruit despite every effort. This passage speaks to both personal and communal faith: how do we respond when our faith feels barren? When institutions that claim to be rooted in love fail to live up to their calling? Ó Tuama’s life and work challenge us to hold these questions tenderly, acknowledging that faith is often found not in certainty, but in the willingness to keep searching, speaking, and hoping. In his poem Narrative Theology #1, he offers this prayer:

“And I said to him: Are there answers to all of this? And he said: The answer is in a story and the story is being told.”

Faith, for Ó Tuama, is a story still unfolding. It is not about having the right answers but about having the courage to stay in the tension of questions. Like Isaiah’s vineyard, our lives are places where growth and struggle intertwine. Lent invites us to be honest about where we feel fully known and where we feel distant. It calls us to ask, as Isaiah does, whether we are bearing the fruit of justice, love, and mercy—or whether we are tangled in systems that fail to nourish the world around us. Ó Tuama reminds us that there is courage in speaking our truths before God, even when they are complicated.

Reflection:

• How does Psalm 139’s assurance that God fully knows you shape your understanding of faith? 
• Where do you feel the tension between belonging and exclusion in your own faith journey? 
• What does it mean for you to bear good fruit in the vineyard of God’s love? 
• How does Ó Tuama’s poetry invite you to hold both certainty and uncertainty in your spiritual life? 

Breath Prayer: Inhale: You have searched me… Exhale: …And You know me.

May this Lenten season be a time of courageous honesty, deep listening, and trust that God meets us exactly as we are.

Amen.