New Year 2022.☀️

‘As the year draws to a close, we gather up, in a basket, the days, weeks and months we have lived in order to offer them all to the Lord. Let us courageously ask ourselves: How have we lived the time which He has given us? Have we used it primarily for ourselves, for our own interests, or have we also sought to spend it on others? How much time have we reserved for being with God, in Prayer, in silence, in Adoration?’ (Pope Francis)

 

‘And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown!”. He replied: “Go out into the darkness and put thine hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to thee better than light and safer than a known way”. So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night’.  (M.L.Haskins) 

‘So as we enter 2022, may all it holds point us to Christ, so that no matter what challenges this year brings with it, we will know where and to Whom to look for all the answers and help we need’.                             (Fr. Denis Lemieux/Restoration Newspaper)

                                                      

Christmas Day 2021 🎄

“While Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for the Baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn’ (Luke 2:6)

Quietest Christmas Day since I first became a Mom, forty years ago. Just Killian and me, happy and content in each other’s company. Time changes many things.⏰ We visited Marina of course, and Coonanna harbour, wild and magnificent. Zoom call with the lads and lassies in the evening. So good to be all together for a time, even virtually. Our many visiting feline friends dined lavishly outside, while we dined inside.🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈

Later, we watched ‘Good Will Hunting’. I can’t remember when I last watched a film. Wise choice by Killian, evocative and thought provoking. Robin Williams always wonderful, God rest his gentle soul.

Some things will never change though. Sublime Divine truths like: Christmas Day, will forever and ever be the Holiest of days. Walking with Jesus, who never leaves our side on our life journey, will forever and ever bring us joy in abundance, no matter the circumstance or trial. Immutable and comforting in this our day and time. 

Kitty waiting for her dinner.

Road trip to Coonanna.

                                                    Arc in the sky. God’s symbol of promise. 🌈 

Marina and Killian in St. Anne’s.❤️

Jim 🐈 says Happy Christmas 🎄

‘God wants us to enjoy life to the full. “I am come that they might have life”. C.S. Lewis once said; “God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature, He likes matter. He invented it”. Of course He wants you to enjoy the taste of plum pudding, the flavour of the wine and the warmth of the fire. All these things come from the earth, His earth’. (from ‘The Kingdom within’)

‘Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests’. (Luke 2:14)

“God has done everything; He has done the impossible: He was made flesh. His all-powerful Love has accomplished something which surpasses all human understanding: the Infinite has become a child, has entered the human family. And yet this same God cannot enter my heart unless I open the door to Him’.  (Pope Benedict XVI)

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours; Yours are the only hands with which He can do his work, yours are the only feet with which He can go about the world, yours are the only eyes through which his compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours’.                    (St. Teresa of Avila)

Happy Days.❤️

Killian and I visited with Paulina today. She now resides in a charming rural retreat. ‘Refugee Centre’ sounds cold and impersonal and it does not feel one bit like that. 

Her Room, number 21, cozy, spacious and bright. Home. 

Paulina is happy and content. Thank you God for Everything. 🙏🏻☀️

                                               

                                   Paulina sporting her new ‘sock’ hat that Killian brought her from Vancouver.

‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future’. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Diary of a Happy Nan.😀❤️

Saoirse and Aoife taller and more grown up every time I come to visit. Easy for me, their loving Nan, to wish they could stay small forever, safe and secure wrapped in cotton wool.

That is not how it goes though. Life, God’s greatest gift to each and every one of us, is for living, exhilarating adventure to be enjoyed, not a problem to be solved.

Growing up, our Dad was our very own hairstylist. He had the ‘Page Boy’ look down to a tee long before it became fashionable in the outside world. All seven of us sisters sported the same hairstyle for many years. 

That changed for me when I was fifteen years of age and thoroughly modern ‘Gypsy hairstyle’ became all the rage. I loved it and somehow, (no memory of how it came to pass🧐), managed to organise a hair appointment in our town, eight miles away. Returning home afterwards, feeling ultra sophisticated and over the moon, I remember clear as crystal, my dear Dad’s words as I walked in our door: ‘Oh Bridge, you are growing up’. He was plainly doing his utmost to be happy for me but his fragile smile did not quite reach his kind eyes.

I would have given anything at that moment to scurry back to the salon, pick up my cut hair from the floor and stick it back on my head. But that was not an option, no going back and all was good.

Dad was not unhappy or sad beholding my new hairstyle, I know that now. He was doing his best to embrace change. He knew well that nothing lasts forever and time had come to move on. 

Reminding me gloriously, that the present moment is all that really matters and if we fill up our days, worrying about what might come to pass, then one day will be our last day and we will not have lived at all. How horrific!!

‘To live is to change. To live well is to change often’. (St. John Henry Newman)

‘For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope’. (Jeremiah 29:11)

‘You should put all you blogs into a book, Nan’, beamed Saoirse ‘and I know what the title could be; ‘Diary of a Happy Nan’. 😀💎

Divine appointment.☀️

‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’. (Matthew 12:34)

He sat on his rickety bench, impervious to the rain as I rounded the corner. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Perfect timing. 

‘Hello Harry. I brought you a present’. (Handing him a bottle of Holy water)

‘Thank you very much. I really appreciate it’. 

‘I’m Bridget from Kerry. Happy Christmas’.

‘I know that’. Happy Christmas to you’. (Smiling broadly)

‘Are you ok for everything Harry?’

‘I am, Bridget. I got paid today, I have a load of money. But this here - pointing to the bottle of Holy water in his hand - is worth more to me than all the money in the world’.

‘God Bless you Harry’

‘God Bless you Bridget’.

My feet scarcely touched the ground as I made my way to Holy Mass.

‘You give yourself to everyone and you find me there. It is only your duty that changes. Your Master is the same gentle Master’. (Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis/God calling)

Today 10/5/2022 Harry and I chatted on my way to Holy Mass. ‘I pray for you every day’, he told me - ‘That you will always be happy and healthy, have a great life and that you will always be Holy’. What more could I possibly wish for. ☀️🙏🏻

Beautiful Bridie📿☀️

Bridie and I prayed Holy Rosary in St. Anne’s Oratory today, first time since before Lockdowns began almost two years ago. Sacred sacrosanct space, Jesus in Holy Tabernacle, Bridie in her wheelchair and I seated right next to her. Indescribable gift to both of us from Almighty God. 

Seeing, hearing and talking all extremely difficult for Bridie. However, praying Holy Rosary not only extremely enjoyable for her, effortless too. Years of practice!!

When she called out her favourite prayer, (St. Teresa of Avila’s) I silently thanked God from my deepest heart for the awesome privilege of hearing her pray it once again. Her words; ‘Whoever has God lacks nothing’, I know and believe without question or doubt are true, coming as it does, from dear Bridie. 

Unhurried time with Bridie is pure unadulterated prayer. Sacrament of the present moment, my heart full to overflowing as I return home this radiant evening from God. 

Too much beauty to articulate....The heart knows❤️

‘Words spoil anything that surpasses them’. (Cardinal Robert Sarah)

Sitting with Bridie, in the sublime presence of Jesus in the Holy Tabernacle, calls to mind St. Elizabeth and how she must have felt in the presence of Mary, the Mother of our God when she spoke the words: ‘And why is this granted me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?’. (Luke 1:43) If Saint Elizabeth felt unworthy, devout Holy woman that she was, then how much more unworthy did I feel today in the Holy Oratory. ⛪️

                                                             Bridie’s favourite prayer.😀🙏🏻

O Happy Day.☀️🙏🏻

‘A prayer! I have my own prayers, Thank you very much’😡, vexed elderly lady’s response, when I offered her my prayer this morning. Her awful anger caught me off-guard, seriously ruffling my feathers. Refusals can be unsettling, but this was the first time anyone ever reacted in such ferocious fashion.

In Holy Mass, young man sat down beside me. Unsteady on his feet, obviously hungover, my heart went out to him. In the past, he would always refuse my prayer; ‘Not for me, thanks’, declaring laughingly. Today, however, he accepted gratefully, reading it quietly and then placing it in his pocket. His weary face creased in pain, heavy tears glistening his sad eyes.

He came to Church this morning to light a candle for his deceased Dad and for no reason at all decided to stay on for Holy Mass. ‘I have done many bad things in my life, and now I need a new life but I don’t know what do do’, he divulged.

‘Would you like the precious Blood of Jesus wash all your sins away in Confession’, I asked. ‘Yes’, he replied, ‘but I have not been to Confession in twenty years’. ‘Not a problem, follow me’, I almost sang, as I rushed off to lay hold of Father Larry, all the time glancing behind me to make sure my friend was on my heels. Incredible event unfolding right before my very eyes, truly beyond my wildest dreams and highest hopes.

Father Larry, in Persona Christi, heard his confession, pronouncing sublime words: ‘Your sins are forgiven, go in peace’, absolving him of his sins. My friend, layers lighter, smiling and crying all at the same time. Slate wiped clean, all sins forgiven by the Most High God. 

No Saint without a past, no sinner without a future. 

Next time anyone refuses my prayer, I hope I will recall this morning. How my friend, after countless rebuffs, accepted my prayer and there ensued for him, that sublime Sacrament of Confession setting in motion his new life in Christ. Oh Happy day☀️. 

Yes indeed, I will go on sharing my prayer. The good far outweighs the bad, God’s amazing Grace covers all.

‘I tell you, there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance’. (Luke 15:7)

‘If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another’. (1John 1:7)

Home for the Holidays.🎄

                                                                 Are they here yet????

                                                   Killian back home again from Vancouver.

                                                              Home is where the ❤️ is.

                                                     Killian and Daithi meet for the first time.

                                                      Cozy fleece all the way from Vancouver. 🎽

                                            Be it ever so humble, there is no place like 🏡. ❤️

                                                            Murt’s......here we come. 🍺 🍺 

                                                                    Craineens..........

     

                                                                    No place like Home. 🐈 



                                                             
                                                     

The Wounds of Christ.🙏🏻

Mary is back home again having spent a spell in hospital. Her wise words make me smile: ‘When some illness comes our way, and then when it goes away again, life is like a honeymoon’. 

I knew Mary when she was a beautiful young girl, before life got complicated and deeply painful for her. Many years have passed since that time and Mary, even more beautiful now, content and well cared for. In turn, she cares for all of us with her comforting faith, wise words, and joyful sense of humour. Her stick-to-it-ivness. 

Jesus kept His Wounds. ‘The eternal freshness of the wounds of Christ’. (Venerable Fulton Sheen). Mary’s wounds visible too, part of her story. Gladsome Light of Christ shining brightly through them on all of us who are profoundly privileged to be her friends..

Pen in hand, notebook at the ready every time we chat. I know it is Jesus who speaks.🌹 

‘Speak Lord for your servant is listening’. (1Samuel 3:9)

“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses’. (Pope Paul VI)

Today, January 9th, 2022, Mary’s response when she learned that I am suffering from COVID right now; ‘Oh Bridget, I will pray for you all the time. If you got it bad it would finish you’. 😀🙏🏻

Noble Desires.💥

To want what Jesus wants is a beautiful thing.🎆

Of late, mini events I truly wished would come to pass, effortlessly and seamlessly have popped into existence right before my very eyes. God places His lofty desires in my heart and then He fulfils them. Noble desires because all of them proceed from God.

Sister Loretto sitting, reading her newspaper in the front room of the convent as I walked past on a beautiful sunny evening. Silence and solitude spoke loudly to my deepest heart and I said to myself; ‘I could easily live in that place’. Twenty four hours later phone call from Reverend Mother asking if I would live-in and care for three elderly Sisters who reside there. 

Two heavenly years ensued in that peaceful oasis. God and I wanted the same thing.

On my way to Holy Mass every morning, man in his house gazing at his huge television. ‘If I could only say a prayer with him sometime’, I pondered. Lo and behold, what do you know, short time later, his son came to ask if I might drop by and remind his Dad take his medication. ‘May we pray together..’, I asked. ‘Yes of course’, his son replied. God and I wanted the same thing.

I wished I could pray with Bridie in St. Anne’s once again but it seemed far fetched and utterly outlandish in these harsh days of pandemic. Had Marina not moved to her new pristine room, I would never have walked by Bridie’s room to get to Marina’s last Sunday afternoon. God and I wanted the same thing.

Thirteen thousand precious babies murdered in our country since the abortion referendum in 2018. My heart in smithereens wishing there was some little thing I could do, when Father Larry asked if I would pray Holy Rosary from our Church, three days every week. Live-streamed to St. Anne’s and now many others join in prayer too from many different places. After each decade we pray in unison; ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you, save souls. Save the Unborn’. God heard the desire of my heart, He and I wanted the same thing. 

Multiple similar exquisite events I can recall at the drop of a hat. Walking with Jesus, learning His ways, becoming more like Him every day, wanting what He wants. 

‘How utterly divine it is to co-operate with God in the salvation of souls’. (St. Charles Borromeo)

‘Keep watch on your thoughts; they control your words and actions. Dwell upon my thoughts, so full of kindness and compassion, and you will do my deeds’. (Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis/He and I)

St. Anne’s 🏥

This afternoon in St. Anne’s, as I was walking the long corridor to Marina’s brand new room, I spied Bridie. That same Bridie, who prayed aloud; ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you....’ at the end of our St. Anne’s Holy Rosary every day until Corona arrived in our world calling a halt to our ‘Holy Huddle’. 

Sitting on her chair blind and deaf, locked in her own world, almost two years have passed since our last Holy Rosary together. Kneeling at her feet, I prayed aloud the Our Father and Hail Mary prayers, she answered word perfect. I began her favourite prayer; ‘Let nothing...’, she took over, calling it out flawlessly, word for beautiful word.  Overjoyed  I could have cried with joy and gratitude to God for such a precious privilege. 

From now on I have permission to visit with Bridie. We will pray Holy Rosary together. She will call out her favourite prayer at the end, like she always did. We will sing her favourite hymn: ‘Hail Queen of Heaven’. Maybe ‘Amazing Grace’  too.

For Bridie of course, business as usual, she won’t find it strange that it will be just the two of us. Blindness and deafness having been her lot for many a long day, Bridie never knew how many of us were in the Dayroom praying Holy Rosary before Lockdown. 

To get to pray with Bridie once again beyond my wildest dreams. Sublime Divine appointment from wonderful Father God.

Dear Marina is finding her new pristine room strange. It will take her a while to get used to it but in time she will, please God. Old habits die hard. Thank God she has Lesley (cuddly toy) keeping her company.

Spending time in St. Anne’s, enlarges my heart like nothing else can. Soothing safe haven from the storms of life in this our day and time, little slice of Heaven.

‘As our hearts become larger and larger and larger, they are more capable of wonder and awe. In that process of opening up to wonder and awe, we come to see more clearly the Face of God’.                           (Restoration Newspaper)

Wait for The Lord.🌹

Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength’. (Isaiah 40:31)

My sister Agnes had asked if we could swop hair appointments. Could I take her 10.45AM and she would take my 2PM. Of course I agreed but I was sad to be missing Holy Mass, and most especially Holy Eucharist. However, I am well aware that Holy Eucharist is my Sacred and Blessed privilege, my sublime gift from God, most definitely not my entitlement. 

Oftentimes I shared with folk on the ‘Struggle Bus’ right now, Bible verse I love dearly; ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the Lord’. (Psalm 27:14). Soothing verse, much needed in this our day and time. Good idea to stick it on the fridge or somewhere pivotal reminding ourselves that we are always under the watchful eye of our wonderful Father God, all of the time.

After my hair appointment I entered Church with my new improved tresses expecting Holy Mass to be over and beautiful Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament taking place. Instead, to my splendid surprise, Father, in Persona Christi, was distributing Holy Communion, Jesus waiting for me, right inside the door. I received our Lord Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Eucharist, my heart dancing with joy and gratitude.

Everything worked out perfectly. Agnes got the appointment she needed, I received Holy Eucharist and my appointment too. Symphony of beauty, bond of charity, reminding me yet again that while I am oftentimes impatiently waiting for my Lord, He is right there by my side. 

Whenever I fall behind, He waits patiently for me to catch up, I am never alone.

‘It is only God who creates. Man merely rearranges’. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

‘Patience, Prayer and Silence - these are what give strength to the soul’. (St. Faustina/944)

Once upon a day.🌹

‘Consider the lilies of the field whose bloom is brief: We are as they; Like them we fade away, as doth a leaf’. (Christina Rossetti)

Affable  bus driver greeted me cheerily; ‘Good morning. We are not charging today, the machine is broken’. His welcoming attitude every bit as elevating as my free trip to Kilarney, and I told him so. My gift to him - my prayer, which he joyfully accepted.

I strolled through Killarney before 10AM Holy Mass in the Friary. I could not help noticing a little girl with her Nan, super excited, pointing up at the Christmas street lights and decorations even though they are not yet lit up. She could not stand still as she danced with glee. Well aware in her guileless childlike spirit that something wonderful is about to take place, something out of this world. 

Made me ponder a Bible verse I love; ‘Jesus said; “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. ( Matthew 18:3).

Helen happily accepted my prayer enquiring if I was a Jehovah Witness. When I replied ‘No, I am Catholic’, she seemed pleased but tad surprised, strengthening my resolve to keep on keeping on. Always little nudges, little signs, urging me on, when I least expect them.

Pat sat alone in deep sadness. He has already endured a lot in his life, he told me and now his health is really suffering. He will say my prayer every morning, right now in dire need of spiritual consolation. After our chat he seemed a little more upbeat. 

There is an urgency in our world right now, presumably more than any other day and time, for all of us to reach out and share our gifts with one another, hopelessness hangs heavy in the air. One thing for sure and certain! We cannot in all honesty justify doing nothing. Mother Teresa said; ‘I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things’.

Elderly Priest’s homily at Holy Mass in Friary insightful and uplifting. Afterwards, as I offered a very pleasant lady my prayer, she told me about a soothing prayer she says every day and now she too will copy, laminate and distribute it, as I do with mine. As we parted she said; ‘I was meant to meet you today’. Great oaks from little acorns grow.

Bus trip to Cork city delectable, falling leaves, awesome autumnal colours, clear skies. Enjoying the solitude, reminding me of myriad bus trips we enjoyed, my boys and me on days like this, once upon a time. Joyful journeys tucked safely in my heart for posterity making it easy for me to enjoy my solo voyages now.  

I reached my destination, tired and content, my delightful grandchildren, Saoirse, Aoife and Cillian balm to my spirit. As I sit in my bed writing this, I hear them laughing with their parents. Saoirse knocks on my door; ‘You’re welcome to join us for movie night Nan’, she says. When I thank her for her warm invite, but that I will stay put, she beams broadly; ‘So glad you are here Nan’. Pure unadulterated honesty from her deepest beautiful heart. 

So much to be thankful to God for, what a Mighty God we serve. 

‘Christ is our Light. His presence comforts and assures us like a blazing fireplace welcomes and settles those who sit by it’. (Joyce Rupp)

‘I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of His Body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is His is yours; breath, heart, body, soul and all His faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that in serving Him you may give Him praise, love and glory’. (St. John Eudes)