Jesus, all for Jesus☀️🙏🏻

Everything we say and do is through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus. Amen

Twenty years ago, just after moving into our compact humble cottage, we sat around one night, my guys I do life with and me. They were busy planning much needed repairs, should ever any money come our way. I was in my own world not taking part at all until one of them blurted out; ‘First thing we’ll do is take that picture down’ and of course I sprang into action. ‘He is going nowhere’, I replied, referring of course to our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

They got me!! Again!! To this day we laugh about it. Yes, repairs have come and gone, guys are grown, and still thank God, our Sacred Heart picture remains where first it touched down. Our compact cold cottage, once an igloo, is now an incubator. We have been truly blessed.

Today is the beautiful feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus. When I reminded Ruairi of today’s exalted feast day, adding, ‘He’s going nowhere’. Ruairi’s reply; ‘Ha, He certainly isn’t’.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, always has been, laughter got us through many many hard times, by winding means, enveloping us like a cozy blanket as the thunder rolled. We are beyond grateful.

                              ‘Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God’. (Leon Bloy)

             ‘It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world’. (St. Aloysius Gonzaga)

After Holy Mass every morning I go outside discarding water (not Holy water) left over from Holy Alter. One parishioner asked me if I was blessing the folk outside! When I told another parishioner what she asked me, she replied roaring laughing; ‘You’re crazy but you’re not that crazy’. 😂

Dear lady upset and confused about oh so many things. We sat in the Oratory awhile and suddenly she uttered, her face aglow; ‘Isn’t He just beautiful’ as she gazed lovingly on beautiful Jesus. Children, and folk enduring dementia, see Jesus with unvarnished clarity!

.

God governs everything ☀️🙏🏻

 

‘We breathe, we eat, we sleep, only for one reason - to serve Him whom our hearts love’.

 (Catherine Doherty)

She came towards me, just after Holy Mass this morning. Cheerful, smiling, and yet plain to see that she has suffered beyond words and is suffering still. Hard not to cry. Hard still, many hours later.

Right there before my very eyes, Beautiful broken Body of Jesus in the person of this dear lady. What a privilege for me. When I offer her a brand new Holy Bible she almost cries. Everything else, how ever much needed, paling into insignificance when compared with her Holy Bible. ‘I have found a mother in a strange land’, she whispers.

Thank you Father God for my vocation. Thank you Jesus for walking with me every step. Thank you Holy Spirit for Your Gladsome light.

Our group ‘Blankeriers’ to the rescue as always. Together we are strong. God owns everything, we are merely His stewards.

Somebody once said; ‘God is No.1. We are, all of us, rich, poor, No. 2. No need for competing. We will never be No.1’. Sobering thought!!

Holy Mass every morning. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament one whole hour after Holy Mass. Holy Rosary before Holy Mass. Total toolkit from on-High.

Saint Mother Teresa is so right; ‘Without God we are too poor to help the poor’

Dear fragile lady’s gift to my heart. Deeper knowing that God is in control, we do not have to be. Mutually illuminating encounter was ours.

I am sorely tempted to mention my disgust at the madding crowd protesting against arrival and safety of folk like fragile lady in our island of Ireland but I shall refrain from doing so. (No protestations in our town Thank God)

Keep my eyes upon Jesus! God sees all!! Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Two joyful elderly ladies all the way from Ukraine sat chatting on a bench beneath this mural as I strolled home. I asked if they would like me to photograph them in such a splendid scene. They were delighted. (On their own phones). Made me so happy! Cead Mile Failte - One hundred thousand welcomes!!

‘Every man is your brother, every woman your sister, every child, your child. You are to know no difference of race, colour or creed. One is your Father, and all ye are brethren’. 

(Jesus/God calling)

Hail Mary, full of Grace…☀️🙏🏻

‘When we pray the Rosary, we are gazing into the mysteries of Christ with our Lady.’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

‘Our Lady loves hearing us pray the Hail Mary. Of all the Marian prayers that exist, that is the one most pleasing to her because that is the one by which Heaven spoke, won her heart and filled her with the incarnate Word. When she hears it she recalls the greatness of that moment. Fr. De Montfort highly recommends a certain degree of affection simply for saying the Hail Mary, by itself’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

Wow!! In our beautiful St. Anne’s Holy Rosary group, each and every resident prays a Hail Mary. Some pray a whole decade, others pray a half-decade, while many pray just one Hail Mary. In fact anyone present, staff, visitors, all pray one Hail Mary. 

We offer Mother Mary a rose (Hail Mary) in her honour. Attached to that beautiful rose are the special intentions that burden our hearts. (Thorns). Mother Mary brings our simple bouquet to beautiful Jesus and so for a while, we relax, knowing in our deepest hearts that our cares are in the Best of Hands. Our Blessed Mother has one desire and one desire only, to lead us to intimate union with Her Son, Jesus Christ.

Joe, elderly resident declared one time; ‘Now we have no worries. We can enjoy a free afternoon’. 

What joy it is to know that our beautiful Mother Mary loves the Hail Mary so very much. We had no idea!

Thank you Father Hugh from our deepest hearts.

‘Mary Most Holy, in her simplicity and humility, reflects the beauty of the Triune God, because she fully welcomed Jesus into her life. May she sustain our faith; May she make us worshippers of God and servants of our brothers and sisters.”. (Our late Holy Father, Pope Francis)

Elderly lady told me recently that when her Dad died, more than sixty years ago, she and her siblings were very young. As they sat with their heartbroken Mom around his coffin, my dear Dad came by. He knelt in prayer for a moment before uttering; ‘Let us pray the Rosary for the man of the house’. There and then, elderly lady and I shed tears of gratitude to God for our blessed humble rich lives.

‘The chair of St. Peter was vacant after the death of our dear Pope. We entered into a time where the seat is vacant. Sense of loss! Not a Father on the chair. There’s something missing’. (Father’s homily EWTN). Reminding me of returning home from work after my dear Dad died and witnessing his empty chair. No Dad on the chair. Long years have come and gone and yet that precious memory steadfastly remains fixed in my deepest heart.

‘We were never poor. We just didn’t have any money’. (Johnny Mathis)

‘Beauty takes Truth and Goodness and gives it clothes, gives it form, gives it something we can recognise. Beauty gives us warmth and light’. (Stefan Novinski)

‘Fr. De Montfort highly recommends that we pray this beautiful Magnificat after we have received Holy Communion precisely because that is the first prayer ever said by one who is enclosing God within her. In no small measure when we receive Holy Communion, Christ is within us too. So, who better to teach us how to make a good act of thanksgiving than our Lady who actually offers the original act of thanksgiving for holding the Lord within’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

‘St. Louis Marie De Montfort saw the Rosary as something like spiritual rain. One Hail Mary at a time, softening our hearts so the seed of the word would fall on prepared soil’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

Voyage of discovery in the Gladsome Light of Christ☀️🙏🏻

                            ‘My God, as long as I live, I am Your servant’. (St. Gertrude of Helfta)

Young girl serving us tea and scones seemed really sad. I could not help overhearing her tell another lady; ‘Yes, I am really tired. Long working hours late into the night’.  My heart went out to her. When I went to pay she was there again smiling brightly but still sad. ‘Would you like a beautiful morning prayer I love to share’, I ask. Never before have I witnessed such startling surprise in my prayer offering. ‘I really need this today’, she utters, on the verge of tears. We chatted some more. Unforgettable encounter at 9AM.

Young man on bicycle. Another unforgettable impromptu blessing. What a chat we enjoyed. His dear mother had just passed from this world and his poor heart is shattered. Before she died she told him that if he would not take life easier he will never ‘make old bones’. What wisdom! He attended Holy Mass next morning in our Church and he intends to be much more intentional in his Faith journey going forward. 

Lady told me that when she walked away from alcohol one year ago, my words to her at that time were; ‘You are about to embark on the most exhilarating adventure of your life. Walking with Jesus is beyond beautiful’. Yes, it is true - for both she and me. Alcohol is the supreme light squasher!

Three young folk came into our Church as I was setting up Holy Alter for Holy Mass. Italian, I learned. They were taking photographs on their smartphones. They happily, (shocked) accepted my beautiful morning prayer and one young girl said smilingly, in all seriousness; ‘You are very kind’. 

I love telling, in particular to our precious young folk, that I am a grandmother who loves to share what I know and believe without question or doubt to be totally true and totally thrilling. I say too that if each and every one of us would do something nice every day, our world will become nicer! Simple!

‘Thank God for praying grandma’s. They’re going to get you and you can’t get out of their prayers’. (Young man on YouTube).

Elderly man who replied to my prayer offering; ‘Oh I don’t know! I don’t pray at all girl’, took my prayer anyway.

I read one time; ‘We don’t have to wait for pie in the sky when we die. We can have cake on our plate while we wait!’. Exactly right!

Walking with Jesus, adventure extraordinaire!

‘May the Grace of God uphold you. May the Father’s Love enfold you. May the Holy Spirit guide you, with joy and peace now and to eternity . Amen (Old Irish Blessing)

                   ‘Look around and be distressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest’. (Corrie Ten Boom)

I awoke one morning singing; ‘Wherever I be is fine by me’. I had been ruminating over the fact that while my time in Medugorje was magnificent on so many levels, being home again is awesome too. Spending time with my dear sons and their families, sitting in prayer with my St.Anne’s Holy Rosary group, Holy Mass and Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament in our Church every morning, joyful prayer-sharing encounters, getting to serve folk, scribbling these heartfelt lines ……

Yes, Holy Trinity One God, fulfils our heart’s every desire! With the passage of time it becomes clearer and clearer that all we really need to do is SHOW UP! Circle of love which is the Blessed Trinity.

Walking with Jesus, (our elder Brother), all the way home to Father God, in the Light of Holy Spirit. That’s the journey!!

 ‘The whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father’. (St. John Paul 11)

                                                  Seven days without prayer makes one weak!

❤️🙏🏻

‘Taking Christ in us wherever He wants us to go to, being where He wants us to be, being what He wants us to be’. (Carlyle Houselander)

Medugorje 2025☀️🙏🏻

‘I am the Light of the world says the Lord. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’. (John 8:12)

 

 Beautiful Medugorje. Seven whole days steeped in goodness, truth and beauty.  Myriad Holy Spirit encounters, far too many to relate. Like the young man whose partner suffers with her mental health. As we stood together, into my heart dances; ‘My Grace is with you right now’. (Holy Spirit prompt to my heart on a day of deep turmoil). Grace, light of Christ, not in the past, not in the future, but RIGHT NOW! and every ‘right now’ until the end of time. Young man, smiling now, utters; ‘Yes, and I must tell you we have a little girl and her name is Grace’. 

Holy Spirit goosebumps enveloped us. All will be well, we both agreed. Live in the present moment. It is ENOUGH!

Beautiful lady, her smile like a thousand suns. She gladly accepts just enough money for pizza but not another penny, no matter how I try. Then, holding up five fingers, in her own dialect she gladly tells me that she will pray ‘Rosarie📿 for me’. Gladsome Light of Christ shining brightly.

Jesus, James and me☀️🙏🏻

                                                                      Three sisters❤️

                                       Dear Father Slavko please pray to Jesus and Mary for us. Amen

Mother and adult son with special needs, his beautiful head resting on her comforting shoulder, arms around one another, swaying gently to beautiful prayerful music, all the while gazing lovingly on beautiful Jesus in Blessed Sacrament, outdoors. One whole hour! Excruciatingly beautiful.

                                              Archbishop Aldo. Goodness, truth and beauty.

               Father who heard my Confession is eighty nine years old. Goodness, truth and beauty.

                   Dearest Mother Mary, Queen of peace. Keep our troubled minds at ease. Amen

                                             Eric (first born) came to meet me in Cork Airport.❤️

                                                  Killian (last born) picked me up at the bus stop.❤️

I return home with an even deeper conviction and commitment to ‘my life of unceasing service and unconditional Charity for all men and women without exception or reserve’.

(Thank you Fr. Denis Lemieux/Restoration magazine, for putting in words beautifully what I could not).

‘Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a Master who pays well; who rewards even a cup of cold water given for love of Him’. (St. Dominic Savio)

                 I love what Seamus in our group told me; ‘Take each problem by it’s easiest handle’.

‘I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things…..

Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light’. 

(C.S. Lewis/Mere Christianity)

Young guy sat beside me at Holy Mass, weeping when music ministry played Ennio Morricone’s ‘Gabriel’s Obo’ after receiving Holy Eucharist. I wept too. Beauty is a great reflection of God Himself. There is no other explanation!

Beautiful elderly lady who on accepting and reading my powerful prayer, utters; ‘This is not by mistake! God has prepared it’. 

One day. One tiny town.☀️🙏🏻

‘Go forth as an apostle, with no shoes, no gold or silver. Then, you too will hear the words of Christ at the end of the journey; ‘Have you wanted for anything’. (Catherine Doherty)

Sam is pensive as he walks along bearing pretty flowers. We stop to chat. His friend’s little nephew was killed (murdered more like) yesterday in her harried homeland of Gaza. His friend, living here in our town, devastated and helpless many miles from home. It so happened that a few minutes earlier, Christine gave me a plastic Rosary beads for no reason at all. (Or so it seemed!).  Sam wrapped the beads around the pretty flowers for his friend. Moment of transcendence and beauty. 

St. Anne’s Holy Rosary and dear elderly lady pining for home. Addling Alzheimer’s!! Searching for Home, just as we all are, even if we don’t realise it. We pray Holy Rosary, all of us together. Peace descends for a time. Honestly! If folk ever caught a glimpse in their heart how beautiful it is to be in their midst, St. Anne’s would be snowed under with visitors. Sadly that will not come to pass any time soon.

Strolling home and beautiful music emanating from a parked car. Of course I stopped by and inside, the driver, happy guy, playing his concertina obliviously enjoying every note. This is how he passes time in a new town! His wife enjoys browsing while he plays music to his heart’s content. Husband and wife both doing what they love!! Symphony of beauty. Into the bargain joyful gentleman happily accepted two prayers. The ordinary is extraordinary all the time!

All is so simple in the ever present moment! Everything God expects of us, He supplies. Whatever He commands, He enables.

With Faith everything is possible. With Love everything is easy.

‘Things seen superficially can disturb us, but if we regard them with the profundity of Faith, nothing can make us lose peace’. (Archbishop Martinez)

Young African boy prostrated himself as I entered their humble, beautifully simple, apartment. ‘This is how we welcome our elderly’, his Dad proudly declares. Wow!! Venerable elder!!

I love what Cardinal Robert Sarah writes about Martha (Luke 10:42);

‘Christ tenderly invites her to stop so as to return to her heart, the place of true welcome and the dwelling place of God’s silent tenderness, from which she has been led away by the activity to which she was devoting herself so noisily’. (The Power of Silence)

Yes indeed, all of us are searching for Home!,

                                  

Live hopefully no matter what🎶🎶☀️🙏🏻

‘A bell’s not a bell til you ring it. A song’s not a song til you sing it. Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love til you give it away’. (Oscar Hammerstein)

‘Sing and keep on walking’. (St. Augustine)

My siblings and I sing all the time, mostly without even realising that we are singing. Our dear Dad had us sing from the moment we could talk and maybe even before that. One of my regrets in life is that while he loved to hear me sing, I never once asked him to sing for me. However, I am sure and certain that some fine day we will sing together in Heaven please God. (I was only eighteen years of age when my dear Dad passed suddenly r.i.p)

Today in St. Anne’s Holy Rosary group an elderly lady, (former neighbour) shared the following story from my childhood. I just love it !!

Upon returning from school every day, as a young child, I would go sit with two guys in a haggard near our home, as they made lobster pots for my fisherman Dad. What did we talk about? I have no idea but I remember clearly gazing on the neatly piled sally rodds. Simple abundance about to be used to create something magnificent. Right now as I write, what I wouldn’t give to lay my eyes once again on one such lobster pot!!

Seemingly, one afternoon my Dad came to fetch me and not wanting to leave, I ran off to my hiding place close by. I asked the men to please tell my Dad I was not there. My Dad stood for a moment before replying: ‘I know she is here. I can hear her singing’.

In my hiding place that day I completely forgot to stop singing, and thank God, every day since my charming childhood, hail, rain or snow, the song continues on, by the glorious grace of God.

A guy in our Holy Rosary group rarely speaks but always he joins in when we sing. Singing makes him feel happy, he told me once.

I heard a Sister say recently that the practice of virtues such as compassion, kindness, forgiveness, gratitude and patience can actually change the neuro pathways in the brain resulting in healing hope and new life.

I would add ‘singing’ to that life-giving list. I remember reading one time that each activity lights up some part of the brain while music and song light up the whole brain.

Right now my crows are ‘singing’ at the bottom of my garden. How they sound is irrelevant!! They just love to sing and no one is excluded.

All together now……

‘Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music’. (George Eliot)

‘Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy’. (Ludwig Van Beethoven)