Visitors not refugees.☀️

‘The bread you store up belongs to the hungry, the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor’. (St. Basil the Great).

                  ‘Because a man is poor, do not cheat him. The Lord is listening and He’s on his side’.                       (Proverbs 22:22)

Our refugee friends are moving on, was there a better way? My friend Paulina from South Africa is happy here. Life’s basics keep Paulina satisfied and content.

They contributed a cosmopolitan atmosphere to our lacklustre town, we might have benefited greatly from their input. Every single one of our visitors brought with them a valuable gift to share with our community. Sadly, now we will never know. 

Had we bothered to get to know them as visitors instead of refugees, accompanied and befriended them as opposed to looking on them as problems to be solved. 

Yes, Corona made interaction problematic but if more time and effort went into helping them out instead of helping them OUT. They are nomads again, peripatetic. Pathetic if you ask me, I am crestfallen.

NIMBY-ism at it’s finest. (Not-in-my-backyard). If we will keep our eyes shut in the day time, we will not be able to shut them in the night time.

The Gospel is about building bridges between people, extending the hand of friendship to those who are on life’s journey with us but are very different to our ways and ideas.

Dear Lord, we ask for a growth in generosity, we ask too for forgiveness for the many times we miss the mark. Amen

‘They never bothered me’, a local guy told me after they had left our town. Simply said, they didn’t put him up or down. ‘Oh yes’, I replied, trying hard to muster up some kindness in my tone: ‘Many folk told me exactly that, our visitors never bothered them too. Thing is though, folk did nothing, they kept themselves to themselves and therein lies the crux of the matter’. 

‘Have I today done anything to fulfill the purpose for which Thou did’st cause me to be born’. (J.Baillie) 

Uprooted.

When upheavals shake your world and bring a sudden change.
Do not be afraid of what is new to you and strange.
Adapt yourself to fresh conditions, Make another start,
Accept the role that life assigns you, play a different part.

Someday you’ll be glad that you were jolted from your groove.
Out into an unknown future, be prepared to move.
Looking forward, pushing onward, boldly hopefully.
Changes often force the door of opportunity.

(Patience Strong)

Healing is all around us.💎

When I introduced my friend Paulina to a local man on the beach today, he replied with barely a glance to her: ‘I met her already’. He didn’t, he met some of our visiting refugees, he did not meet Paulina. They are ‘them people’ in ‘that place’ they are not individuals in many people’s eyes.

Paulina was not upset, that is how it goes, she says. It upsets me greatly but I do not despair, we can all bring about change for good in our own little way. Walking in the broad Atlantic is enough for today, healing all around us, ocean breeze puts the mind at ease. 

To see her happy fills my heart with gratitude to God. Today a joyous heart is reflected in her countenance.

‘The soul is healed by being children’. (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

‘By faith, the Christian knows that we are all brothers and sisters with a common Father in Heaven, and a common call to beatitude. Thus every life has dignity and meaning because it belongs to God and is called to eternal union with God. In this knowledge, the Christian has a great gift to offer society and an obligation to work for the building of a just society at every level. The more we open ourselves through Faith for Love, the more we will be transformed by it and become a light of stability, peace and faith for the world around us’. (Opus Santorum Angelorum)

Once you’re round the bend.

Something unexpected may be around the bend.
Something to encourage you, a lift, a gift, a friend...
Something that will strengthen you to face the road ahead,
spurring you along, upon the pathway that you tread.

Do not halt or waver. Go forward. Keep straight on.
Even if the reason for confidence has gone.
Just go on believing that things are on the mend.
Life may look quite different, once you’re round the bend.

(Patience Strong)

Diarmuid and Shona say ‘I do’.👩‍❤️‍👨

Diarmuid and Shona are married, I am a very happy grateful to God, Mother and Mother in law. The grand wedding could not take place, Corona said NO. Enter Plan B.

Whatta day, just the two families, everything pared back, no excess. Extraordinarily beautiful on every level. We lived in somebody’s large beautiful home for the weekend, idyllic views, great outside area for social distancing party. Both families got on really well together, a match made in Heaven.

The devout Church ceremony, extremely meaningful, simple, no fanfare. 

The whole thing unforgettable. God and family, pure joy. 

‘Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing unto Him. That’s all the doing you have to worry about’.          (St. Jean De Chantal) 

‘

‘Preserve the warmth of the family, because the warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it’.         (St. Charbel Makhlouf)

Sacred idleness.

Rainy misty Sunday afternoon, blanket of grey, mountains scarcely visible. Paddling in the broad Atlantic, chatting and laughing, Mary and me. Children once more in the glorious outdoors. Simple abundance. Awesome God.

‘A friend is one to whom we may pour out the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away’. (Author unknown)

                                    Tea and toasties in Kilarney. Standing room only. Covid rules.

                                                              Day trip to Valentina Island.

                                                             Fancy pants😂

                                                                    ‘The Harp’ door.....😀

Jesus Christ is the Wellspring of Joy.☀️

‘I have one passion, it is Christ. Christ alone’. (Count Zinzendorf)

As we journey on, Jesus and I, more of His wonderful light shines in my darkness and the landscape of my life is changing from ‘black and white’ to bright colour all the time. To articulate this is impossible really, I am bursting at the seams to sound all coherent, I know I won’t. I simply must try though. Holy Spirit You have the words of eternal life, please prompt me.

As my crutches fall to the ground - television, radio, merlot, to name but a few, Jesus fills the empty spaces with His Light and Life. It is not as if Jesus asks me to make big changes, He never does, Jesus will never trespass our free will, He will never barge in. Simply said, I find walking in His footsteps so rich and interesting, I do not want to waste a second. There’s a joy, an all-encompassing contentment that cannot be easily explained. The massive highs are gone, as are the devastating lows, instead there’s an evenness like I have never known. There’s a river of joy flowing deep in my heart, a warmth.

My extraordinary privilege of being the Hands and Feet of Jesus takes me many places, I never know what is around the bend. Today I met a young couple in a perfect setting to tell them about Jesus, later I met a very sad lady from another country, again a perfect setting to reach out and offer hope. When I tell people that I did not read what I am sharing with them - I walked every step of the way - they relax. When they see that I am not trying to convince them of anything, I am simply witnessing to them, sharing something wonderful, Someone Wonderful, Jesus, a receptivity emerges, an openness.

‘If you become Christ’s you will stumble upon wonder upon wonder, and every one of them true’. 

(St. Brendan of Birr)

Holy Spirit gives me the courage to speak and the wisdom to be quiet, my inner ear is sharpened. I have always been a talkative person but more and more I am being led to listen, quite a feat some might say. 

‘Lord Jesus Christ, You never used your tongue poorly, and You never kept quiet honestly and helpfully. You always said whatever God wanted You to say. Blessed be Your tongue’. (St. Birgitta of Sweden)

Prayer is joy where once it was burdensome. Jesus told Sister Josefa Menendez that all important actions should be preceded and vivified by prayer, for only in prayer can a soul obtain the strength needed in life’s difficulties. (Christ’s appeal for Love)

Being taught with such gentleness and kindness is so different from our worldly ways, learning is  enjoyable, every day an adventure. Our Divine Master is full of tenderness and mercy. ‘I will teach you lovingly, patiently. My lessons are not of the schoolroom; they are fireside confidences’. (God calling2)

For many years I liken my life to having two baskets, one basket for Jesus, one for my problems. Over time, God’s beautiful grace united my two baskets and nowadays my best friend Jesus is in charge of my life basket. With Jesus at the centre, order is restored, chaos recedes. 

St. Faustina wrote that whoever is united to One of The Three Divine Persons - God the Father, God the Son and God The Holy Spirit, is thereby united to the whole Blessed Trinity, for this Oneness is indivisible. What comfort and hope, what unimaginable happiness. 

Jesus is the wellspring of Joy and Gladness. 

‘Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my moments and my days; Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take myself and I will be, ever, only, all for Thee’. (F.R. Havergal)

‘To say “Yes” to Jesus is to reach our maximum fulfilment because this is the true meaning of our existence, the goal to reach. It is the only thing that really counts and it is for this reason that God became man’. (Mother Elvira/Cenacolo Community) 

Circuitous route.🥳

Holy Mass has returned to our churches, I am overjoyed to be allowed receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist once again. Although there are restrictions and the freedom we once knew is no more, sublime privilege of receiving Jesus far outweighs any inconvenience. 

This morning, as I walk to church, I am reminded of a time in my childhood in the sunny long ago. Our stored memories can spring to life and blossom at the most unexpected moments.

Every summer, a visiting priest would offer Holy Mass in his holiday home each day for one week, us children would be invited along with our parents. Huge excitement donning my best dress, normally reserved for Sundays and special occasions, sense of newness, something unusual taking place. The joy of being able to defer, for the moment at least, the arduous task of saving the hay. Every tiny detail stands out like it was only yesterday.

Many similarities between that time and now. Pre-COVID I always had somewhere to go after Holy Mass every morning and so I dressed bearing that in mind. Nowadays, I attend Holy Mass and return home directly afterwards. COVID has locked down everything. Like back then, I dress with Holy Mass in mind only. Feeling of newness, beautiful sacred pared-back simplicity.

As I walk to Church, I feel like that young girl felt as she tripped to Holy Mass in the sunny long ago.  So much has changed but much remains the same too. Back then, that young girl was forever filled with hope. She loved God, she loved nature, she loved beauty.

I can say that even after many twists and turns on her life journey thus far, this older girl can profess without a scintilla of a doubt that she loves God, she loves nature, she loves beauty and she is full of hope too. 

Deep down, the essence of who we are essentially does not change. We build on it, broaden it, but ‘who we are’ remains. To be child-like - not childish. To have travelled many miles, many highways, and yet know deep down, that we always are where we always were. Deep down, we never left.

‘And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time’.   (T.S. Eliot)

Recently, passing by the holiday home where Holy Mass was celebrated way back then, I was struck by it’s size, in my mind’s eye it was much bigger, much grander. Thankyou God for my childhood days of unadorned simplicity, I would not swap them for a gold clock.

‘A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle’. (Mark Twain)

‘You never change’, I told Eileen this morning. Her grey hair in a bun, her eyes sparkling, her kindly smile. ‘No change in you either’, Eileen replied: ‘You are the same old girl who walked through the fields to school all those years ago’. I rest my case😃

Convent Life. ⛪️

                                                               Sister Loretto and Terry.

Precious time I spent with three Presentation Sisters will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I dwelled among them five days every week in their charming convent. I was their minder. 

Sister Loretto in early Alzheimer’s, Sister Ina elderly, Sister Agustine enduring cancer. I used to joke (half joking - fully in earnest 🤨) that my boys survived despite my cooking and not because of it, yet here I was cooking and keeping house for three dear ladies. Our God is a God of surprises.

The silence and prayerfulness of the convent balm to my aching spirit. In the Oratory each evening with Jesus, as the Sisters slept, painful memories would emerge mercilessly. However, with the passage of time in that Sacred Sacrosanct space they began to lose their paralysing power over me. The process of healing and restoration had begun. I began to feel whole again.

‘He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul’. (Psalm 23:2)

One Sunday lunchtime, December 2012, I noticed that Sr. Loretto was still in her bed. I knocked on her bedroom door and she told me she had a dreadful headache. Dashing to the kitchen, I made her a cup of coffee. Unable to sit up in bed, I placed my arm around her shoulders, holding her as she sipped her coffee. ‘I am parched’, she whispered, last words spoken in this world.

Sr. Loretto was just like Jesus on the Cross, both of them parched, both of them dying. I was heartbroken but so privileged to be in that sublime Sacred space. Dear Sr. Loretto passed away peacefully in hospital next day. I was allowed keep some of her books including her ‘well used’  Bible. I treasure them dearly.

Sr. Agustine died a year later. Sr. Ina moved to another convent and lived happily there until her death. 

Thankyou Father God for choosing me to mind your Sisters. You could have chosen one far superior in every way but you chose me. You didn’t just give me a better version of me, You gave me a new me and without a doubt my cooking skills improved too.

‘You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am’. (Psalm 139:3)

    

Sr. Loretto loved Terry dearly. He guarded his Sisters fiercely. Here he is, fast asleep having read the daily paper, cover to cover.😂

                                   Fixing Sr. Agustine’s blouse collar on her Golden Jubilee day.

             ‘Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will and being just what God wants us to be’.                            (The Little Flower)