Go within or go without.☀️

Every Friday, Community busses would ferry folk from the country to our little town. Centra Supermarket buzzing, shopping bags neatly piled in the corner, owners sat chatting with coffee, tea and maybe even ice cream. That weekly catch-up so important for everyone, laughter resounding over the chatty crowd. 

Holy Mass on Friday mornings I delighted so much in singing their favourite hymns. Holy Mass, shopping and the craic - Sacred Space in the midst of life’s trials and tribulations.

Lockdown time here again, our town silent, everything put on hold. Such is life, this is how it must be for now but the silence is even more deafening when one recalls the frantic Friday morning activity that was.

As I walk the empty street, I am struck anew by our Church, summit and centre of our town. She has stood tall for over a century, seeing many changes in her time, yet herself, never changing. She has accommodated and endured us, she accepts us totally. 

Yes, she was visited but oftentimes more ‘fitted in’ from habit than ‘put first’ out of reverence.  Now, in these tumultuous times, she seems to be saying - ‘Come in, all is not lost. Time for prayer, patience and silence. Rest awhile’. 

Rearranging priorities can be arduous but always in the aftermath, great good emerges. I believe if we bow to the wisdom that emanates from our Holy Church, we will be a stronger more content people when laughter again fills our town on a Friday morning. 

Jesus, King of kings, Lord of Lords resides there in the Holy Tabernacle awaiting our visit, forgotten Lord who lives down the street. 

If we will not go go within, we will go without.

‘Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it. It does good, though you feel nothing, even though you think you are doing nothing’. (Julian of Norwich - 1342-1416)

‘Your Monastery is located in the heart of the city. How is it possible not to see in this the symbol of the need to bring the Spiritual dimension back to the centre and to give full meaning to the many activities of the human being’. (Pope Benedict Emeritus- Monastery of St. Francis of Rome) 

Freedom.🌠

‘Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty I’m free at last’. (Martin Luther King)

Being merciful towards others is easy for me to do and with very good reason. My many poor decisions are always in the periphery, waiting to hijack without warning, reminding me of instants in my life that were definitely not my finest moments. If that is how other folk feel when in need of my forgiveness, then I will never add to their pain and suffering. I forgive unconditionally from my deepest heart.

Only very recently did it dawn on me that to forgive myself, offer to me the same mercy I show to others, might well be the greatest gift I could ever give myself. Well, it makes perfect sense! if God readily forgives me in the Sacrament of Confession, then it follows that I must therefore forgive myself. Liberating logic. 

So there it is, no more wasting valuable time, God says I’m free and so I am free indeed. Huge weight lifted, another little piece of my brittle heart patched up.

I never tire of passing on this riveting revelation to anyone and everyone. Life-changing...

‘Be kind and compassionately to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you’.       (Ephesians 4:32)

Force yourself, if necessary, to forgive those who offend you, from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offence you can suffer from them is nothing compared to what God has forgiven you’.

(St. Jose Maria Escriva)

Lift up your spirit and love God’. (St. Padre Pio)☀️

 

‘If we really knew just how much time was left for us, how many years or months or weeks, we’d cease to fret and fuss about the unimportant things that fill our lives today, using every precious hour before it slipped away. If we knew exactly what the span was going to be, we should value Time and live each minute gratefully, wasting nothing of its treasure, sifting false from true, making up for all the time we’ve squandered, if we knew’.

Terrorist attack in Nice, sheer horror. Three people have lost their lives, may The Lord have mercy on their gentle souls. Feeling of helplessness can be all consuming in a time such as this but then I am reminded of what it is I can do. I can pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the souls of the deceased, most essential wonderful prayer. I can go on doing whatever I am asked to do in this small plot of earth I inhabit, with a willingness and smile, no matter the circumstance, issue or trial.

Today, my offering seems puny and paltry but God wastes nothing in the economy of Salvation. Every tiny thing gets used for the greater Good. Our Faith points always to the big picture.

I am not burying my head in the sand, I am just hoping to do whatever little good I can, in whatever time is left to me on this earth. With God’s glorious grace, bloom where I am planted, make a difference and leave my footprints in the sands of time.

‘You must be the change you wish to see in this world’. (Mahatma Ghandi)

‘Don’t spend your energies on things that generate worry, anxiety and anguish. Only one thing is necessary: Lift up your spirit, and love God’. (St. Padre Pio)

Sweet Lord.🌺

‘Sweet Lord, keep on writing on my heart, whatever it is you want me to do. Write your law in my heart. Write your orders there where they’ll never be erased’. (Marguerite d’Oingt)

As I read the above, a memory came rushing in, as often happens. Ten years ago, at an extended family gathering, I whispered to Jesus that I was much more content and happy to be there, than I expected I would be, a feeling of warmth and camaraderie about the place. I will forever remember Jesus reply; ‘Others will only think enough of you when you think enough of yourself’. 

The simplest of wisdom, yet oh so difficult to comprehend until we are ready to receive it. The beautiful words were not audible, they were written on my heart, that was a new departure to me. The heart has an inner ear, H-EAR-T.

There is no time frame with God, for Him, all time is NOW. If I had read the above wisdom ten years ago, it would not have resonated with me, I would not have made the Divine Connection that is so clear to me today. Let go and Let God.

Others will only think enough of you when you think enough of yourself.

‘The God of Love, my Shepherd is, and He that doth me feed. When He is mine and I am His, what can I want or need’. (George Herbert)

Prayer and Sleep. 😴

‘Deeper your prayer, the deeper your sleep. There is a direct correlation’. Wisdom from on High, gifted to my heart in my sleep. Next morning, I looked up ‘correlation’ in my dictionary: mutual relationship or connection between two or more things. 

 ‘I will praise The Lord who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me’. (Psalm 16:7).

As my walk with Jesus deepens, my sleep deepens too. Sounds almost too good to be true, and yet, how can it be? Is that not what Faith in our ever Loving God is really all about? Being minded, cared for, shielded, the more we trust, the more we relax. Let go, let God. Sleeping is God’s super gift of relaxation to our tired bodies and souls.

‘It is I who send you sleep. This is another way of loving you. You fall asleep and yet I never cease to look at you.’. (Jesus to Gabrielle/He and I)

Doing God’s Will to the best of my ability, enables me to sleep better at night. Sleeping better at night empowers me to do God’s will to the best of my ability each day. With Wonderful Father God, every little thing is made to measure, in the economy of Salvation nothing wasted. 

‘When you lie down, you will not be afraid, when you lie down your sleep will be sweet’.             (Proverbs 3:24)

‘God, creator of all things, ruler of the sky, Who clothe the day with beauteous light, the night with grateful sleep, that rest may weakened limbs restore for labor’s needs, and ease our weary minds, and free our worried hearts from grief’. (St. Ambrose)

As I journey on I can claim without one scintilla of a doubt; ‘The deeper my prayer, the deeper my sleep. There is a direct correlation’. As I move away from delving into stuff that does not concern me and focus on what God is asking of me right here, right now, peace flows gently like a river. Morbid self-analysis and despair scarper. Sleep comes easy. 🙏🏻🌸🌝

‘It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to his beloved sleep’, ((Psalm 127:2)

Marathon man and woman.🎆

Ruairi just completed Dublin a very different Dublin City Marathon - 2 hours and 56 seconds. I am so proud of him. On his own too for the most part - a few loyal friends intermittently playing the role of ‘pace setter’. Fiancée Tricia always supportive and caring. (Lockdown marathon)

Piety House the beneficiary, most worthy cause. Forgetting about ourselves for a while and reaching out to another - No higher calling.

‘I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth’. (3 John 1:4)

Number 6 🏡 ❤️

Content I pray, I will always be with home and hearth and family.

Content in my small realm to reign, happy in my own domain.Thankful for whatever’s there, goodly feast or frugal fare. Every meal a sacrament, when the spirit is content. Content with what comes to my door, not always wanting something more. Grateful for the odds and ends, that a God of mercy sends. (Patience Strong)

Jesus, Name above all names.🌺

‘The Name of Jesus, pronounced with reverence and affection, has a kind of power to soften the heart’.        (St. Philip Neri)

Holy Name of Jesus, Name above all names, yet so very often disrespected, disregarded, trampled, spat upon, called out in disgusting expletive fashion. Father forgive us, we know not what we do.

 ‘You shall not take the Name of Your Lord, our God, in vain’. (Commandment/2)

I find it deeply upsetting and I ask folk if they would say ‘Janeymac’  instead. Oftentimes they are not aware they are being blasphemous. If you love Jesus don’t do it - if you don’t love Jesus don’t do it. 

Yesterday, I got told a beautiful story from our childhood, shedding light on my journey. Fifty years ago, my sister Chris and her friend Rita were tending sheep with our Dad. Every time a sheep would break loose, Rita in a state of panic would call out ‘Jesus’, obviously normal practice in her home. After a while our Dad sighed gently: ‘Please do not call the Holy Name in vain’. 

My sister Chris remembers the moment like it was yesterday. Nothing has changed, fifty years ago and today, most Holy Name of Jesus sacrosanct. Transcendent immutable truth.

I am following in my dear Dad’s footsteps, another similarity, another confirmation. As I stumble along my road of life. falling and rising, shafts of light illuminates the way ahead when I least expect them. For a time, at least, I find my bearings, I know I am on the right road. 

‘Let us always whisper His Name of Love as the antidote to all the discord that surrounds us. The harmony of Heaven begins, while silent from the world, we again and again repeat it - JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, JESUS’.

‘Moreover, be mindful of the Name of Jesus. I have told you how you should reverence this Name when you hear it spoken, the devotion springing always from your heart. And if you should fall on your knees when you hear this Name, you kneel to God, the Son of God’. (St. Bernardine of Siena)

‘To holy people, the very Name of Jesus is a Name to feed upon, a Name to transport. His Name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living’. (St. John Henry Newman)

‘God only gave us Ten Commandments and one of the ten has for its sole object the reverence due to His Name. Yet, is there anything nowadays that is treated with less respect than the Sacred Name?.’           (Cure D’Ars)

Pray, Hope and don’t worry.🥳

Next-door Lady cat, sitting stately, unperturbed, enjoying  glorious October sunshine, as I open my bedroom blind this morning. My heart lifted, spirit eased. Perfect ‘Corona style’ visitation on day one of lockdown.

Like a bird flying through an open window, St. Pio’s words dance into my heart; 

‘Pray, hope and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer’. 

Sublime Invitation.🕊️🙏🏻

All encompassing prayer I love to say and share in this, our day and time. Sacred assurance that I am in the palm of God’s Holy Hand and ALL of Heaven are holding me close as I go about my day.☀️

                                             I found it on EWTN - not plagiarism I hope.......

‘I am sent, not only to love God but to make Him loved. It is not enough for me to love God, if my neighbour does not love Him’. (St. Vincent de Paul)

Lockdown Prayer.🙏🏻

‘He who shall introduce into public affairs the principle of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world’ (Benjamin Franklin)

Lockdown time again, inevitable in my humble opinion. We went beach hopping, deep yearning in my soul to see the Atlantic one more time before shutters fall.

Kells, my place of birth, magical, pristine clear water, blue and still, otherworldly. Peace and acceptance about the place, as if to say: ‘let lockdown happen. All is well’, I was loathe to leave. 

St. Finian’s bay strikingly beautiful, waves crashing, cold and blustery, not one bit impressed with impending lockdown. ‘Enough already’, written on every grain of sand and rock, I could empathise. 

Ballinskelligs, picturesque, calm and pensive, accepting but crestfallen. I could empathise too, returning home refreshed and all the above.

Imagine if you will, our Taoiseach adding at the end of his Lockdown speech  -  ‘.......and if you would all, each and every one of you, pray one ‘Our Father’ - The Lord’s Prayer - every day for the next six weeks. Forget that you may not believe, just do it and see what happens’. 

Smiling to myself as I type this, imagining the consternation that would ensue. Is he losing it? Is the pressure too much for him? We’re in the midst of a pandemic and our Taoiseach is asking us to pray of all things???

Or could it possibly be worth a try?

‘Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of; Wherefore, let thy voice rise like a fountain for me night and day’.  (Alfred Tennyson - 1809-1892)

Hope.🌠

Every morning she sits in perfect symmetry, bisecting the scene, hoping against hope that one little bird will make a wrong move and today’s lunch bagged. Day away from dry food would be so delectable, utterly welcome.

However, it is not to be. Outwitted, Lady cat walks away dejected, disappointed for what might have been. She will not be deterred though, no way, tomorrow she will wait patiently again. She will persevere to the end, hope reigning supreme in her little feline heart.

Observing, totally absorbed, I feel honoured and grateful. A valuable lesson unfolding before my eyes in these COVID days of trial and testing. 

‘If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counsellor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius’. (Joseph Addison)

‘When through the murk of the shadows you grope. You’ve got to remember there’s always a Hope’.           (Patience Strong)

Christmas is not cancelled.❤️

‘My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water’. (Jer 2:13)

No need to save Christmas, it is not in any danger, never was, in fact it is the most secure event in our world at this time. On the first Christmas night, Baby Jesus was born in a freezing stable in Bethlehem, no room in the Inn, doors shut tight to the Holy Family. God, Lord of the Universe, became man and lived amongst us for the sole purpose of setting us free, wonderful for us but for Him what condescension. 

For many years, we have ignored the reason for the season, Christmas became known as ‘The Holiday season’. Jesus hardly ever invited to His own Birthday party. Our God is a God of order, He does not let dis-order continue, sooner or later all things will be in accordance with His Holy Will. 

Jesus was born into poverty and He seeks to find a place in all our hearts. Will He find us ready and waiting.........

Many are wondering aloud what Christmas 2020 will look like, one lady told me that for her, Christmas is cancelled this year. No problem, things are not going our way so we will call the whole thing off. Only there is a problem - it is not up to us, it never was. Who could blame us for thinking we were running the show, it seemed that way for the longest time and in our wildest dreams we did not see this pandemic on the horizon.

We have choices of course, we can stomp our feet, kick our heels in defiance, sulk until we get our own way, or we can try God’s way for a change. We just might be pleasantly surprised, first pared-back pandemic Christmas may well be our best ever!

Jesus invited into our hearts and homes, maybe this year there will be room for Him in the Inn.

Yes we are in the midst of terrible uncertainty but for me it is hugely comforting to know that God is running the show, I do not have to. No control now, no responsibility, one foot in front of the other as I follow Jesus. ‘All the way to Heaven is Heaven because Jesus said, “I am the Way”. (St.Catherine of Siena)

Christmas is not cancelled. Jesus will be born anew in our hearts and souls if we but shift our gaze, accept and trust. While all else is crumbling around us, Christmas stands firm, bringing us healing and much needed peace. 

Life and every daily action comes from a heart that has been healed and renewed, Mother Elvira (Cenacolo Community) tells us - ‘The drug addicts tell us this! Encountering Jesus, their lives have become a celebration and they reveal it to us by their transformed lives, through their singing, dancing, suffering, crying and working. Love gives you life and with life you have everything’.

‘There were only a few shepherds at the first Bethlehem. The ox and the ass understood more of the First Christmas than the high priests in Jerusalem, and it is the same today’. (Thomas Merton)

Well folks, I’ve had my day.🐴

My equine companion evokes many memories as he stands alone in the mid-day October sun, definitely not throwing his hat in the air as my dear Mom might say. I am catapulted back to the sunny long ago, listening with joy as my youngest sister, Josephine, recites the poem  ‘The old brown horse’. She would say every time, ‘Well, folks, Ivy (I’ve) had my day’ and we would laugh and say ‘Whoever Ivy is’. Pure fun in our childhood time of sublime innocence. 

On our farm, we had an old brown horse called Paddy, rendering the magical poem all the more relevant and real to us. How fortunate we were to be children in that time of pure simplicity. No internet, no noise - except for our own commotion and cares. Hard to believe that such a time ever came to pass......Many fond memories sneak up on me when I least expect them, warming my heart and soul, comforting and consoling in this concerning Corona time.

‘The old brown horse looks over the fence in a weary sort of way. He seems to be saying to all who pass: “Well folks, I’ve had my day.

I’m simply watching the world go by, and nobody seems to mind. As they’re dashing past in their motor cars, a horse who is lame and half blind”.

The old brown horse has a shaggy coat, but once he was young and trim, and he used to trot through the woods and lanes, with the man who was fond of him.

But his master rides in a motor car and it makes him feel quite sad, when he thinks of the days that used to be, and of all the times they had.

Sometimes a friendly soul will stop, near the fence where the tired old head, rests wearily on the topmost bar, and a friendly word is said.

Then the old brown horse gives a little sigh as he feels the kindly touch, of a hand on his mane or his shaggy coat, and he doesn’t mind so much.

So if you pass by the field one day, just stop for a word or two, with the old brown horse who was once as young and as full of life as you.

He’ll love the touch of your soft young hand, and I know he’ll seem to say, “Oh, thank you, friend, for the kindly thought for a horse who has had his day”. (W.F. Holmes/1809-1894)

      

Gone too soon.😌🙏🏻

Fourteen years ago today, Eric, my husband, father of our children, died. Too young to die, too tired and worn-out to live.

Eric had it all, handsome, fun-loving personality, kind to a fault. In actual fact I often wondered how he ever gave me a second glance but he did and for that I am glad. Hard worker, gifted in many ways but from very early on I sensed something was truly amiss. Turns out, Eric, deeply broken, had already turned to alcohol for reassurance and all other wonderful gifts alcohol offers, but never delivers.

He loved me, he loved his boys, we loved him, but he got to love alcohol more. I know it was not how he wished it to be, but when one says ‘yes’ to oneself too many times, all resolve fades and self-control evaporates. Eric could never envisage life without alcohol, we could never envisage Eric an old man. Take what you want but be prepared to pay for it!

Today we remember him with love, sadness and huge gratitude to God for myriad Blessings. Our road of life was not an easy one but we got strength always to keep on keeping on. Money was scarce but there was always enough in our times of need. Laughter figured highly, still does in our daily round, we could almost always see the funny side - almost.

Looking at the boys, all grown up now, makes me wish sometimes that things could have turned out differently. Swiftly I remind myself though that was never an option. The demon drink had no intention of relinquishing it’s insidious grasp, Eric was a willing participant until all choices were denied him. 

That’s how it goes, incarcerated by his own choosing, sadly, all light extinguished.

‘He or she who becomes the slave of habit, who follows the same routes every day, who never changes pace, dies slowly’. (P. Neruda)

‘When blossom break on bush and spray, God speaks to all who grieve. There is no death, He seems to say. Look up, have faith, believe. Our loved ones pass beyond our sight, we say that they have gone. But they are somewhere in the light where Life and Love go on. (Patience Strong)

On the good days with Eric, I pitied every woman who wasn’t me. On the bad days I pitied me.😌

23rd November 2023. Seventeen years after Eric’s sad passing from this world, in my dream I asked Eric if he was going to the pub, He told me ‘no’ as he climbed into bed. I will never forget his beautiful relaxed smile as he lay there. Never once, in all our time together on this earth have I ever witnessed Eric so serenely content.

Distinct moment of Grace. Eric is happy. Thank you God from my deepest heart.🙏🏻❤️

A little daily wisdom.💎

Oftentimes when I read something that resonates deeply in my heart, I forward on to friends via text. I love to share God’s beautiful wisdom, this morning I read: ‘I place my hope in God because His Grace covers me like a good piece of clothing’. (St. Hildegard of Bingen).

About to share it but decided not to, maybe I do it too much, I told myself. Placing the book back on the shelf, I heard clearly, gentler than the softest snow, whispered in my deepest heart - ‘So you are going to keep it for yourself’. 

No doubt about it, no wondering, definitely Holy Spirit prompting. Without further adieu, I shared with my friends, Thank you Holy Spirit, You brighten our days, lift our hearts.

While basking in the sunshine of that Sacred moment, Jack rang. We both agreed our friendship had gifted us many Blessings, we have learned much from one another. ‘Yes’, Jack said, ‘I needed a religious conversion, I did not need a woman. We didn’t shake the world or anything but we got better ourselves’.  ‘You got a woman too Jack’, I replied, ‘God can not be outdone in generosity’. He laughed so loud, all his anxiety dissolved in a flash 

Walking with Jesus is truly high adventure, goodness and beauty shine forth, leaving all else in shadowland. Let us move forward holding Jesus beautiful hand, let us not look back too much. Let us listen with the ears of our hearts, the heart has an inner ear -  H ear T. 

To listen to Jesus is to receive Him, become His disciple, follow Him, carry my cross with Him all the way to Calvary, Glory and Victory.

Jesus, friend, draw us ever closer to you. We entrust all we carry in our hearts to your abundant mercy. Amen.

‘

Elders.🌠

When asked if she planned to get a face lift, the great actress Anna Magnani replied - ‘No, I do not want to, it took me a lifetime to acquire these wrinkles’. Sage words indeed.

Autumn has arrived, pretty soon it will be winter. The once vibrant green leaves are changing colour. They are coming of age. Yes, they were beautiful in their prime, but now they are exquisite. Weaker too, more fragile but that just adds to their loveliness. They embrace change, go with the flow, such is life.

What a shame that we, spiritual beings having a human experience, do not conduct ourselves in likewise fashion. Ageing is mostly frowned upon, staying young is the preferred state. 

Not me though, ageing is a joy, precious privilege privilege, which is not the same thing at all as ‘growing old’. We must all of us ‘age’, we must never ‘grow old’, goes the axiom. As in all of Life’s seasons, many Blessings reveal themselves in this time, like having time to stand and stare. In these autumnal days, there is plenty on which to gaze, food for the soul.

‘What is this life, full of care, if we have no time to stand and stare’. (W.H. Davies).

Being an elder is no mean feat, with it comes a very important assignment. Our responsibility to pass on what wisdom we have gleaned through the years. If we do not, then we will be doing the next generation a great disservice. They have no need of us as their best friends, plenty of their own, but they do need our mentoring, how else are they going to learn. 

Priceless wisdom gleaned from walking the walk will not be found in text books. When I told a young man recently, that never once has a young person refused one of my prayers, he replied with gravity: ‘That’s because we need them’. 

‘So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God’.  (2Corinthians: 1:3)

Let us learn from Nature. Let us embrace our time of life, enjoy being telders. Faith is caught much more than taught. God is everywhere by nature but He is only present by Grace where His children bring Him.

‘Even if my knees knock, it doesn’t matter. Hope in the power of love, and the strength to help everyone with great joy, brings the dead back to life and makes seventy-year-olds become children again’.    (Mother Elvira, Comunita Cenacolo)

Beautiful day.☀️

We pray Holy Rosary at the grotto, the two of us. Cars drive by, folk glancing in our direction. Jack stands tall, eyes shut, I know I am in the presence of Jesus, I am elated, humbled.

As we walk, I ask how his day has been. ‘Reasonably well’, he replies. When Jack looks serious, he looks very grave indeed, when he smiles the whole town lights up. I love his company, soul thing. 

Without warning, he turns to go into a shop, saying before walking away; ‘Thankyou for sharing your strength with me for the past six years’.

Thank you Jack, for sharing so much more with me. Because of you, I know who God is.

‘A person’s beauty is sophisticated and sacred and is far beyond image, appearance or personality’.    (John o’ Donoghue: Divine Beauty)

When I told John today (13/10/2021) wonderful tidings of my new grandson Daithi’s safe arrival into our grateful lives, he replied: ‘He’ll be a mighty man - that baby’. 😃💡 

Corona family breakfast.🍤🍤

Enjoying my solitude this morning when quite by chance, Agnes and John dropped by. We shared a most wonderful Corona breakfast together, soaked in laughter, mirth and our favourite marmalade, apricot conserve. Sultana cake for desert, a ‘drive by’ family breakfast one might say. Conditions perfect.

As time goes on, us siblings are realising more and more how fortunate we are to be family. We have had our ‘moments’, and having resurfaced, we are careful, considerate and a lot more understanding towards one another. We don’t turn our little misadventures into epic drama anymore.

Age definitely a factor but Corona must be thanked too. In these tumultuous times, as in times of grief, being near those we know and love brings security and comfort.

‘I’m glad we called’, says John as he drove away. I am glad too. When we avail ourselves of situations presented to us, with respect, kindness and laughter, negativity has no reason to stick around, under God’s omniscient gaze it is always summer.

‘Teach us to number our days Lord, that we may gain a heart of Wisdom’. (Psalm 90:12)

Divine Simplicity.🌺

Beautiful rose popped its head up, dancing joyfully in the breeze, above the adjoining wall to our Church today. Photographing it not easy, a few failed attempts when suddenly, beautiful rose stood still in all her glory gifting me with her splendour.

Life is full of such moments when we open the eyes of our hearts, keep our gaze on our own paper, do what God is asking of us, right here, right now. The hinge on which it all turns. 

We are made in the image of God and just  like this beautiful rose, let us reflect His, rather than our own glory. We were made by Love for Love.

‘If I keep my eyes open and my spirit alert, I will live in continual thanksgiving. How can I repay you, Lord, for filling my life with so many good things’.(Cardinal Nguyen/ thirteen years imprisoned by the Vietnamese government).

‘The terrible thing about all Divine truth is it’s simplicity and yet this very simplicity makes it so unacceptable to the wise and the proud and the sophisticated. (Father Ciszek/ incarcerated cruelly for many years in Siberian labour camps and Soviet prisons)

Lockdown drama.😉

Ruairi and Diarmuid may have physically driven away just now, but to me they are gone nowhere, they are in my heart like always. Our weekend together in no way defines us, we are the sum total of all our weekends, all time ever spent in each other’s company since our lives together began, collective memory.

With that in mind and heart, loneliness has no place to lay her head. We had a ‘hover’ hug, very pertinent for a helicopter mother, such as I, always hovering. 

Newsflash last night, some brave soul leaked that another lockdown may be imminent. Or maybe a ‘Columbo’ type person sneaked in and stole the file while the Government was on tea break.The subterfuge of it all. Bad enough that we are in the midst of Pandemic, the media would like that we remain at all times in a heightened sense of awareness and blind panic, fears amplified.

We have fallen for that old chestnut too many times not to be better able to guard ourselves against it at this stage. ‘What if’  is not the same as ‘What is’, conjecture will not change the outcome - it will merely waste our valuable time from God, take our eye off the ball of our lives.

We made the most of our last night together. We walked underneath the surreal red sky, we watched in awe as the starlings put on quite a show steeped in majesty and pure joy, we watched Liverpool v Aston Villa, all the time keeping our eyes on Liverpool

Life is precious, we knew that before Corona ever got here, but now we are much more aware of the fragility of it all, we are more careful. Sad taking leave of one another but oh so glad and grateful to God for a wonderful weekend with absolutely no regrets whatsoever. The hinge on which it all turns.

God and family. Powerful foundation on which to build a fruitful happy life.

‘The story and I can only go on and on, for that is what life is, the process of going on and on until the work for which we were created comes to an end’. (The Kingdom within/ Genevieve Caulfield)

The Sabbath Day.🙏🏻

The mind needs its Sabbath as well as the body. A day of rest is a necessity for overworked brains and overstrained nerves. It is a good thing to pause every seventh day and rest our mind in quietness, contemplating those things which lie beyond the fret and fever of the workaday world.

‘Six days shalt thou labour’. (Exodus:20). (Patience Strong)

‘If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my Holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the Holy Day of The Lord honourable, if you honour it not going your own way, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in The Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of The Lord has spoken’. (Isaiah 58 : 13-14)

‘Let us make God great in public and private life. This means making room for God in our lives every day, starting in the morning with prayers and then dedicating time to God, giving Sundays to God. We do not waste our free time if we offer it to God. When God enters into our time, all time becomes greater, roomier and richer’. (Pope Benedict Emeritus - Homily 2005)

Aoife’s First Holy Communion.☀️

Aoife, my granddaughter, receiving her first Holy Communion today. In this Corona time, only her Mam may attend. Compared with other years it will be a very quiet affair and therefore will receive the reverence and respect the Sacred occasion deserves. My heart is glad, much as I would love to be there, far more, I love that Aoife will receive Jesus in her heart and soul.

Last night on skype I asked her if she would please think of me when she received Beautiful Jesus for the very first time. Her reply will remain in my heart forever; ‘Nan, of course I will, every time I see a Church or hear a prayer, I think of you. That is what you are like’

Thank you Aoife for your glowing reference, that is the kind of Nan I want to be. What a privilege from God, what a precious assignment.

‘There is nothing so great as the Holy Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us’. (St. John Marie Vianney)

‘This is the mission of Mothers: to give witness to their children and grandchildren that Christ has risen. Faith is expressed with the lips and with the heart, with words and love’. (A year with Pope Francis)

Recycled Teenagers.👯‍♀️

In our early twenties, we drove through town in Sheila’s Morris Minor car.  Today we would look so cool, back then we looked just like everyone else. Our friendship is forty six years young. When my Dad died, Sheila took my Mom to Bingo, the dawn of a very enjoyable period in her life. My Mom got a whole new lease of life, we never forget Sheila’s kindness, my siblings and I.

The intervening years, in between what might have been and what has come to pass, I moved to Dublin, Sheila stayed home. We both got married, raised families, got on with the business of living. Thirty years later, I moved home again, seamlessly, effortlessly, we are back where we began.

Driving through town yesterday I said, ‘ Look at us, all these years later, we are doing exactly what we did way back then, nothing has changed, how blessed are we’. ‘Yes’, replied Sheila - ‘we are recycled Teenagers with years of experience’.

‘It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, that’s what it will give you’. (W. Somerset Maugham)

                                                      

Christmas 2022, Sheila’s daughter Catriona and Killian were wed. My  Killian and I attended their wedding. Wonderful beautiful occasion.❤️🙏🏻