Advent.🕯

 

Radiant Creator awaken me to Your Presence. Jesus, Light of all lights, kindle love in my heart. Spirit of illumination guide my path today. Amen

Waiting and longing for the Birth of Christ, Advent is upon us. The darkness that abounds renders this time all the more special, no mistake that Christmas falls in deepest winter. Cosily conducive to prayer and silence, time of candle light, open fires and rest. Stillness, expectation, heightened awareness.

This morning’s entrance antiphon at Holy Mass; ‘The Lord is coming and will not delay; He will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal Himself to every nation’.

Through the years, Advent held little spiritual meaning for me, much to do and fret about, race against time. Christmas exciting but expensive. I knew what Advent meant, it just never really registered with me.

Nowadays a tad older (and hopefully a smidgen wiser), my Advent journey is a reflective one, my preparation for Christmas soaked in meaning and majesty. Better Advent - better Christmas! 

I’m like a child again awaiting Santa’s arrival as I savour every moment. Jesus, my Lord and Saviour, my best friend, rest, and consolation will be reborn in the stable of my heart and soul, just as He was born in history in the Crib at Bethlehem. What joy, what grandeur, how can I speak of such wonder, there are no words, my heart is full to overflowing.

‘Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings Hope’.                             (Pope Benedict Emeritus)

‘It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of Hope’. (Pope Benedict XV1)

Praying for the Holy Souls.🙏🏻📿

Today’s cemetery sublime, our second last day of Pilgrimage for Holy Souls. Serene, lonesome, yet not in a downcast way. Perhaps, bright November sunshine lifting ambiance of this Sacred place. 

As we ambled prayerfully from the new section to the very old part, we spied what looked like a walled garden in it’s midst. Christine, reared in the vicinity, informed us that we were gazing on a very ancient Church, Holy Eucharist celebrated here many times up and down the long years. We entered in awe, thanking God yet again for another beautiful experience in this month of Pilgrimage.

‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is Holy ground’. (Joshua 5:15)

Every November up to now, I have prayed for Holy Souls. However, this time of pilgrimage has really heightened my awareness of them, Holy Souls and I now on first name terms. What a powerful grace from God to be able to help them by my prayers, sacrifices, and having Holy Masses offered for them. Totally dependent on us, dear Holy Souls can no longer merit Grace for themselves.

They never stop interceding for us. To be able to assist them on their way to Heaven, there are no words to express my happiness and gratitude to God, so easy to do, so very worthwhile.

‘My greatest pleasure is to go to the cemetery to say my beads, and meditate on that unending happiness which so many of them are already enjoying’. (St. Damien of Molokai)

Holy Souls.🙏🏻

‘And I heard a voice from Heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth “. “Blessed indeed”, says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them”. (Revelation 14:13)

Nearing end of our pilgrimage, reflective, subdued and deeply privileged to have walked this hallowed ground. In my heart I feel a deeper closeness with our precious Holy souls. 

Humbled as we gaze on the Holy stone Alter where Holy Eucharist was celebrated. Our ancestors’ only sustenance and one delight. Battered statues of Jesus and Mary on impoverished graves pierced my soul, what comfort they must have brought poor people in that shameful famine time!

 Nowadays, Holy statues oftentimes dumped without thought into charity shops, discarded by polite society such as we. May God forgive us, we know not what we do. 

We may be a little hasty in our extensive clearance though. Many bereft in these tumultuous times of pandemic and in great spiritual distress. Without Faith in God, there is no shelter from life’s storms, no compass. With no anchor, we can but drift. No wind is helpful if we do not know to what port we are sailing. 

Anxiety rife in this fluid society that is ours. 

Our November Pilgrimage has given me much food for thought. At the outset, famine cemetery made me sad, and oh so angry. Today, with the passage of time and prayer, deep sadness remains but all anger gone. 

Thank you Holy Souls for this thought-provoking window to your world. Thankyou for keeping the Faith and passing it on. My great joy doing likewise to the best of my ability all the days of my life.

Although it was locked, I managed to open the gate of the cemetery a bit and said, “If you need something, my dear little souls, I will be glad to help you to the extent that the rule permits me”. I then heard these words, “Do the Will of God; we are happy in the measure that we have fulfilled God’s Will”.   (St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy Diary (518)

Psalm 121.🕊

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?.  

My help comes from The Lord who made Heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved, He who keeps you will not slumber.

 Behold He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand. 

The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and for evermore. 

The White House.🏡

 

In 2017, our tumble down shack qualified for a grant, my good friend Dermot did all the paper-work. He came up with the idea, he applied for the grant, he filled out copious forms, he liaised with the people involved. Dermot, our knight in shining armour is a good man and forever up there on my ‘Thank you God’ checklist.

In my wildest dreams I could never have envisaged how it would all end up. Our drab off-yellow ancient cottage is now a dynamic white - hence ‘The White House’. New windows and doors that not only look amazing, they keep all draughts out too, new concept for us. Solar panels on the roof and the whole house insulated throughout. Consummate transformation, incredible.

One time we lived in an igloo, nowadays we reside in an incubator. Articulating how we feel is unachievable, not alone did Dermot go well beyond the extra mile, the ‘Grant’ folk did too. Mary and Youenn made everything sound easy and possible, always with a smile. The workmen were extremely adept at their work, exceedingly pleasant, always leaving everything spic and span. 

I got great joy leaving them many packets of chocolate biscuits and sweets every day. On their final day, they called me up at my place of work to thank me for the treats. Wonderful hard working gifted men, I will forever remember and admire. 

Thank-you kind folk, each and every one of you is forever in my heart and prayer.

Like a make-over television program, everyone waiting in the wings to swoop in and fix everything, simply surreal. I worked hard to pay for our little cottage, but renovating it would have been out of the question, for two reasons. My bereft bank balance, and no wish or desire to own the best house on the block.

My vocation from God is my life and now I am free to do what I know God is asking of me, returning home every evening to my cozy warm home. Who can fathom our Omnipotent God, His goodness and kindness know no limit. He will never be outdone in generosity.

Cardinal Robert Sarah writes; ‘Words spoil anything that surpasses them’ and so it is with ‘The White House’. Our little tumble down shack got the touch of The Master’s Hand. Our igloo has melted, our hearts are brimming with gratitude, our cup runneth over. 

‘For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God’. (Hebrews 3:4)

Look upon the rainbow.💎

While praying Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Holy Souls today, God gifted us this awesome rainbow. In all it’s splendour letting us know that all is well, God is in control. We do not have to be.

God cannot be outdone in generosity, ever. Our hearts were lifted, warmed, knowing Holy Souls were enjoying some relief, a sign from above. 

They are totally dependent on us and can no longer merit Grace for themselves. While we live we can do much to help them. What a privilege, let us waste not one minute.

‘Look upon the rainbow and praise Him who made it, exceedingly beautiful in it’s brightness. It encircles the heavens with it’s glorious arc; the Hands of the Most High have stretched it out’.             (Ecclesiasticus 43:11)

The rainbow is a promise that God will never judge the earth again with a worldwide flood. He assured Noah that “never again would the waters become a flood to destroy all life”. (Genesis 9:15)

Baghaghs Workhouse.😌

Workhouse grim, laden with grief, stark against the cold blue November sky. Solemn crows rendering it all the more ominous. Stone’s throw from ‘The Famine cemetery’, man’s inhumanity to man.

We pray silently for the souls of our ancestors, whose suffering, beyond shocking, is incomprehensible to us in this our day and time. Words superfluous, the scene before our eyes speaks loudly for itself, elucidating, chilling.

‘Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude’. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Christmas - not Xmas. 🙏🏻

‘Xmas’,  highjacked, dismantled cold version of ‘Christmas’, gross insult to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Deeply degrading, profanity at it’s loftiest. 

When I asked a shop owner if she would change her ‘Xmas’ sign to ‘Christmas’,  her reply - ‘Maybe next year, there is not enough space for the full word’. No space for Jesus, nothing new there!! There was no space for Him back then, too. Jesus was born in a freezing stable, all doors shut to the Holy Family on that first Christmas night. 

We ourselves love hearing our own names spoken, something soothing in it, even the cruellest of dictators got to keep their own names for posterity, but not so for Jesus, ‘X’ will suffice. Father forgive us for we do not know not what we are doing. 

The ‘experts’ are suggesting we push Christmas back this year. When Corona numbers drop, when conditions are perfect, Christmas can take place. Then, we, self seeking folk that we are, will sing dance and be merry to our heart’s delight. 

Christmas will go ahead though, despite human reckoning, that’s a ‘given’. 

Jesus, Lord of the universe, was born in a freezing cold stable in Bethlehem on 25th December, for the sole purpose of dying a horrendous death for each and every one of us. He took upon Himself our shame and guilt so we would one day be with Him in Heaven. That is a transcendent immutable truth the ‘experts’ can never tamper with. 

Let us celebrate the real meaning of Christmas this year. Let us extend a warm heartfelt welcome to The Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, into our hearts and homes. They will not arrive empty handed, they never do.

‘What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;  If I were a wise man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him - Give my heart’. (Christina G. Rossetti)

My Angel from God.☀️

‘Every day; every hour, we can thoughtlessly fall aside and miss the way. For this reason God gives us the Angel at our side so that at all times we may have his light as our guide’. (Mother Gabrielle)

Running late this evening, I was about to take a shortcut through a darkish alleyway on my way to Church when out of the blue a memory emerged, causing me to change my mind. Instead, I knocked on my friend Ger’s door and he walked with me the rest of the way. As I related my tale to Ger, I was almost as shocked as he was. The memory was not buried, I recalled it occasionally through the years but speaking it out made it real and profound.

Back then, residing in flatland Dublin, I was returning from Holy Mass on a dark, windy, winter’s evening, extremely cold. The alleyway near my flat was no length at all, I would be home in a jiffy. Before I knew it, in a split second, I was being grabbed and knocked to the ground. After what seemed like a minute, he was gone. My attacker scarpered, leaving me bewildered and shaken on the cold cement.

As I began to walk, I noticed the silhouette of somebody coming towards me in the darkness. Just before he got to me, however, he must have turned off in another direction as he just disappeared before my very eyes. Thing is, my attacker must have spied him, hence his mad dash into the night.

Thanks be to God, I emerged unscathed, apart from a gash on my face where he covered my mouth with his hand, nothing lasting, nothing life changing, 

There is not one scintilla of doubt in my heart that my beautiful Angel Guardian came to my rescue that evening. If it weren’t for him on that cold windy December evening over forty years ago, the trajectory of my life would indeed have been very different. I shudder to think!!

How shocked and flabbergasted we will be when we meet our Angels face to face, and learn how often in our lives we have been shielded and safeguarded by them. We will be thanking them for all eternity.

‘I thanked God for His goodness, that He gives us Angels for companions. Oh how little people reflect on the fact that they always have beside them such a guest and at the same time a witness to everything! Remember, sinners, that you likewise have a witness to all your deeds’. (St. Faustina 630)

Every conversation with my sons and friends end always with the following prayer, I can never stop thanking God for my Angel. I can never stop thanking my Angel for working full time in all weathers up and down the years keeping me safe and secure. My Angel is my faithful wonderful companion, best friend and my mentor.

O Angel of God my guardian dear, to whom God’s Love commits me here, every this day/night be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

‘For He will give His Angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’. (Psalm 91:11-12)

Reverent Wren.🕊

Last Sunday a wren dropped by our church just on time for Holy Mass. Perfect timing, no congregation total freedom, he made the most of it. We could hear him flutter about and then to our utter surprise, during the Offertory he touched down beside Holy Alter, transfixed gazing in reverence. Wren knew in his little heart that he was in a Sacred sacrosanct space in that moment.

After Holy Mass, I wished I would see him once more, when suddenly he flew by Holy Alter again, lingering just long enough to allow me photograph him, then he was gone. His time with us had ended, he had places to be, things to do.

We are learning many things in these strange times, reverence is returning in glorious surprising ways. With the frills pared back, real beauty, luminous and compelling is lifting our hearts above the dictatorship of noise. We know we are not performing any more, we are participating just like diminutive wren. 

Cardinal Sarah, in his wonderful book ‘The Power of Silence’ tells us that ‘Noise is a deceptive, addictive and false tranquilliser. The tragedy of our world is never better summed up than in the fury of senseless noise that stubbornly hates silence’.

The beauty of nature testifies to the existence of God, little wren wasn’t booted and suited for an occasion, he knew it wasn’t about him, in the process, his simplicity and reverence opened the eyes of our hearts a little more. 

Beauty is God’s Masterpiece, entreating us to pause, take note, be enriched.

‘The sparrow herself finds a home and the swallow a nest for her brood; she lays her young by your alters, Lord of Hosts, my King and my God’. (Psalm 83:3)

The Famine Cemetery.🙏🏻

In known and unknown graves they rest, the young, the bravest and the best. They too loved well what life could give, and yet they died that we might live’. (Patience Strong)

Every day, for the month of November, our little church community/group visit a cemetery. We pray Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the Holy Souls, sprinkling Holy water on the graves, as we go.

Sugreine Cemetery, also known as The Famine Cemetery, extremely moving experience for me. Unmarked graves, stones sticking out of the ground, deep sadness, grief hanging heavy in the air. Not far away, the ruins of the old ‘Work House’, poignant painful history. ‘Family tombs’ built with large flat stones, mini houses without windows, many of our ancestors interred here.

The ruins of the ancient Church where Holy Eucharist was once celebrated felt warm in a strange way. When no other comfort was to be had in those terrible times, the poor people lived for Holy Mass.

As we parted company, we knew something wonderful occurred in our hearts, something unexplainable. Prayer and grief mingled together in that open bleak place settled in our bones, shifting our gaze.

In these harsh pandemic days, we may be out of our comfort zones, but we have little cause for complaint. In comparison to the extreme hardship our ancestors suffered we are beyond rich.

May God have mercy on their gentle souls.

Seven sorrows of Mother Mary.🌿

 

The Seven Sorrows of our Blessed Mother.

1) Prophesy of Simeon.

2)  Flight into Egypt.

3)  Loss of the Child Jesus in the temple.

4)  Mary’s meeting Jesus on the Via Dolorosa.

5)  Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary.

6)  Dead Body of Christ in the arms of His Mother.

7)  Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea.

As I pray one Hail Mary while meditating on each sorrow, something glorious is happening, Mother Mary is becoming more real in a way I have not witnessed before. God’s Amazing Grace. 

Mother Mary obtains many graces and blessings on our behalf when we contemplate Her terrible sorrows patiently borne, believing with all Her beautiful heart that God is in control and all is as it should be. 

At first it may seem long and arduous but dive in and see what I mean. You will be pleasantly surprised, and forever changed in the school of Mary, our Beautiful Mother.

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