Almost idyllically ☀️🙏🏻

Work permits have arrived and now many seeking employment in our little town. Arduous task, jobs scarce as hens’ teeth!

She comes into Church carrying her folder of cv’s. Exhausted, she walked many miles to a factory outside town to drop off her cv but a ‘good man’ took her back into town again in his car, God Bless him. ‘God’s way of saying He knows’, she tells me, smiling weakly.

Telling her how similar our lives are, how my boys and I returned back to this place twenty years ago with no choice but begin again. Jesus never left our sides though and He is with her too, every solid step, I tell her. 

‘It was worse for you than it is for all of us (her fellow asylum seekers) because you did not have a ‘Bridget’ like we do’. Dear sweet lady!

Thank you Holy Trinity One God for bountiful blessings, not least for keeping me alive until this day and time when I can do for others what You have always done and continue to do for me. Every single thing I get to do comes directly from You. 

In our hour of need, my boys and I may not have had a ‘Bridget’ but oh we had You every step of the way. No comparison! My joy now to pass it all on, any time day or night. 

Young guy cleaning windows this afternoon. ‘Congratulations, you got married. Are you living idyllically’? I ask. To which he replies; ‘Almost’. 

Great name for a book! ‘Almost idyllically’.

‘Christ Himself is our mouth through which we speak to the Father, our eye through which we see the Father, our right hand through which we offer to the Father. Without His intercession neither we nor all the Saints have anything with God’. (St. Ambrose)

‘

I’m the one and this is the place☀️🙏🏻

                                                              Here I am….send me Lord!

‘In our culture we never ever reject an offering from our elderly. That would be a terrible offence’. Gracious African man’s reply when I asked why he did not refuse my offer of coats for his children even though he did not need them. He almost took them but thank God I sensed he was just being nice.

Wow! He wasn’t telling me that I am old. On the contrary he was telling me that as an elder I am precious, honoured, appreciated and loved. Elderly is good!

Imagine what our land would be like if our elderly were treated in that way. As if we mattered!

So, let us live our best life day by day, ageing as we go but never ever growing old. Let us occupy our place, advanced in age but young at heart. Each one of us unique, precious and unrepeatable.

If we do not pass on to young folk what we have gleaned up and down the long years, then how will they ever know. I believe without question or doubt that our young folk will appreciate and be eternally grateful.

I know it because every time a young person accepts my prayer their eyes tell me so.

‘I’m not afraid to die, I’m just a bit embarrassed. I should have done more’.                                           (Elderly priest’s deathbed words).

‘Most people are not afraid of dying….they are afraid of not having lived’. (Harry S. Kushner).

‘There’s nothing quite so consoling as an older person who, somehow or other, did not end up embittered by the way life has treated him or her and still retains a sense of humour and hope in God. To know someone ground down in their body but undaunted in spirit is a great encouragement’. (Fr. David May/Restoration/Madonna House)

Tuesday☀️🙏🏻

Tuesday morning Diarmuid called my phone, just twenty four hours into his week long course helping him manage his debilitating stammer. Away from home in the company of strangers, he needed badly to pack it all in and return home. 

Disappointed for him, sad too that 700€ would be wasted (money scarce in those early days), I told him; ‘Many folk give up on a Tuesday. Weekend over and next weekend away off on the horizon. Tuesday is a tough day but if somehow you get through today, you are in with a fighting chance of lasting the course’. Turns out he did just that!!

Seventeen years on, Diarmuid thanks God and all concerned, for super skills gleaned in ‘Stammer Camp’ (as we jokingly called it) in that time of trial in his young life. Today, he owns his stammer, (it did not miraculously disappear), but in no way is it a hindrance to the wordsmith that he is. Far from it!

Only now, with the passage of time, do I fully realise the enormity of his task at hand back then and how utterly amazing he was to go through with it. He could so easily have dropped out and I would have totally understood. How glad I am that he did not though. For sure he is too.

Then, last evening, lady calls my phone in floods of tears, (on a Tuesday too). Dublin too big, too scary, she will return home tomorrow and search for work in another place. 

Grasping at straws, stuck for words of encouragement, when suddenly Diarmuid’s testing tale of triumph danced into my mind, changing everything for poor lady. Her sobbing stopped as she began to rethink her rash decision.

Imagine that! Seventeen long years come and gone, and another poor soul finds solace and direction all because a young guy called Diarmuid somehow found the strength within, to keep right on to the end of the road.

Every tiny thing we do in life has consequences. In the economy of salvation nothing is wasted.

‘A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job’. (Michael Larsen)

Jesus beautiful smile☀️🙏🏻

So the more I disappear from world view, the more I become ME!! I become who God created me to be in this our day and time. All dealings, kind gestures hidden, thereby leaving room for Christ to grow in me. Hidden from the world, clearly visible to God.

I love how an age-old truth touches down in my deepest heart becoming really real for the first time. Lightbulb moment!

H, one of our group ladies, lives her life exactly like that, selfless kindness and caring in vivid display. (To God, not the world),  She gives and gives with an easygoing grace and joy. Never seeking limelight, she remains always in the background. 

Recently, all of us donating to folk in need of travel money, H gave her offering to another to deliver, caring only about helping folk in their hour of need. Thanks not wanted nor needed!

On the odd occasion that she does personally deliver, her presence brings light and happiness. 

‘Yesterday H brought me a duvet. Her smile….’, lady told me this morning in Church. Smiling herself, she could find no words. I knew exactly what she meant.

Let us be Jesus beautiful smile to another this day.

                                           ‘He must increase, I must decrease’. (John3:30)

‘O God, Trinity, Whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely and to establish myself in You. Unmovable and peaceful, help me to always remember Your eternal activity in me. 

May nothing be able to trouble me, to disturb my peace or make me leave You, o my unchanging God. May each minute that I have life, bring me more deeply into this mystery of Your life in me. 

Grant me peace. Make my soul Your Heaven, Your beloved dwelling place, the place where You come and find rest. 

May I never abandon You there. May I be there whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith that You are there.

Entirely adoring You, given over entirely to Your creative action in teaching, communicating and loving inside of me. Amen. (St. Elizabeth of the Trinity)

 

God Knows☀️🙏🏻

Mary dropped by last evening sporting ‘new’ (to her) cozy coat. Mary’s friend passed it on to her and so Mary joyfully declared; ‘I’m passing on my brown warm coat to you’. (For someone in need).

I danced on the spot. How could Mary have known that some hours earlier in the day, an African lady, new in town, told me she needed just one thing! A warm coat. I told lady all our coats had been snapped up but the next one to arrive in our supply room will definitely go to her.

What joy after Holy Mass this morning, witnessing lady donning Mary’s perfectly-fitting warm brown coat. ‘It is perfect’, she exclaimed, over and over. Honestly, we both got goosebumps. Wonderful Holy Spirit covering us both in a powerful way!!

Not just that, dear lady received Sacrament of Penance too. First time in many long days. Freedom.

Father God knows our every need long before we know it ourselves. Lately, I hardly have time to formulate a need in my mind before it is attended to and resolved miraculously. Such is the goodness of our God. 

Snow on the mountains, lady takes her leave cozy and carefree. Two less problems for her to contend with for now. Covered in warmth, covered in Grace!

Walking with beautiful Jesus, adventure extraordinaire!!

            ‘Put your delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart’. (Psalm 37:4)

‘Pray, hope and don’t worry’. (St. Pio)☀️🙏🏻

She approached me after Holy Mass this morning, wiping tears from her sad eyes. ‘Can you please write for me the little prayer you call out after 3pm live-streamed Holy Rosary’, she asked. ‘I really need it right now’. Of course I did.

‘Dearest Mother Mary, Queen of peace, keep our troubled minds at ease’. Amen. (X3)

Later on, I wrote it again for another dear lady who needed it too. Thinking maybe I will distribute printed copies as I go. Holy Spirit prompt! Anxiety rife in this our day and time.

Lady in our St.Anne’s Holy Rosary group told me; ‘I was trying to remember your little prayer about ‘troubled minds’ this morning’. Yes, for sure I will have them printed. One beside her bed every morning made her smile brightly.

Where did I find this beautiful prayer? Who gave it to me? I have no idea whatsoever. I only know that it brings comfort and peace in abundance.

Then, on my way home from same livestream Holy Rosary this afternoon I spy a hedgehog in deep trouble. His head stuck in a yoghurt carton. (Let’s call him Sonic). 

Thank God my friend Barry came by in the nick of time, liberating Sonic in seconds. (Perhaps his yoghurt got spiked!! suggested Ruairi. Alice noted that Sonic got a strawberry surprise!)

Hedgehog’s poor head. All our poor heads!!

‘Love Our Lady and make her loved; always recite the Rosary and recite it as often as possible’.            (St. Pio)

We are here to grow and to serve☀️🙏🏻

Last night, sleep eluding me as I mulled over stuff in my past that I could have done so much better, had I, at that time in my life, gleaned the hard-earned wisdom I now posses. Then today, that icy emotion of fear ambushing my peace once again, recalling something which occurred yesterday that might have ended bad. (It did not Thank God). Morbid rumination, erroneous thinking, tangled and scattered imaginings stealing my joy, shattering my peace into a million pieces. No wonder someone wrote one time; ‘The movie in my mind is a foreign film’.

Then, mercifully, right this minute, wonderful Holy Spirit speaks into my deepest heart; ‘ Thanking and praising God with every breath you take, leaves no time to spare for scary thoughts. All is very well, right here, right now’. (I will share this wonderful wisdom with many).

Wow!! Moment of transcendence, beauty and peace. Holy Light and inspiration from on-High.

As I write, tall trees at the end of my garden swiftly losing their remaining few leaves. My trees are accepting, living in the moment, and precisely because of this, they stand majestic in their sublime nudity.

My dear friend Mary calls, as she oftentimes does. Labouring under crushing mental health issues all her long life she tells me candidly; ‘I am doing my best, fighting my way’, Before she goes on her way rejoicing, she asks for prayers for another dear lady in terrible turmoil right now.

Ruairi and little Daithi arriving back home in Kildare safe and sound after our joyful weekend together here in Kerry. Nan, son and grandson. What a gift from God.

When I told sweet little Daithi (grandson 3years) how much I wished he could stay with me forever and live in my pocket, his reply; ‘People don’t live in pockets, Nan, and I don’t either’. Simple as that! So much beautiful theology packed into little Daithi’s wise words.

Gaze shifted, nothing left to do but praise and thank wonderful Holy Trinity One God with every fibre of my being from the bottom of my grateful joyful heart. Tremendous tools of navigation through my life here on earth.

When we praise and thank God we are uplifted. There is a practical reality to praise and worship. We are in the Throne room of the Lord Most High. ‘A joyful heart makes for a dazzling countenance’.(Psalm 15:13)

‘The devil rejoices most when he can steal the joy out of the heart of the servant of God’. (St. Francis of Assisi)

‘Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find salvation’. (St. Seraphim of Serra)

‘Holy Mother of God’, repeated many times is huge comfort in times of distress.

‘Trust in Me. Do more than trust. Joy in Me. If you really trust, you cannot fail to joy. The wonder of My care, protection and provision is so transcendingly beautiful, as your trust reveals it to you, that your whole heart must sing with the joy of it’. (Jesus/God Calling2)

Living as Christians☀️🙏🏻

One year ago today ‘Blanketiers’, our WhatsApp group was born. Countless asylum seekers in our town, we could share with them. No files, no policy. No office, no queues. Needs met as they would emerge.

We began with four members. Now we are eighteen! Amazing awesome adventure. Attics emptied!

In the beginning folk were suspicious. I remember two young girls refusing everything we offered them. They told us later that they were beyond shocked to be offered stuff for nothing and were scared of what they might be letting themselves in for. 

Today, both of them received two fine winter coats with smiles of gratitude. As always we remind them that God owns all, ‘Blankatiers’, merely His stewards. (Someone kindly told me one time that ‘to be eternally grateful to any one person is a terrible place to be’. I share those wise words all the time).

God-incidence! Today’s Gospel reading right on target: ‘So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say; We are merely servants; we have done no more than our duty’. (Luke 17:10)

Why ‘Blanketiers’? In the beginning many folk’s greatest need was a warm blanket. Ireland colder by far than Africa! Mary came up with the name and we are so happy with it. Blankets needed and blankets bringing folk comfort too. 

In turn, our African friends pray for us all the time. Unashamedly they love God and whether folk realise it or not, our visitors shine a bright light in this post-Christian land of ours.

‘With prayer one can go on cheerfully and even happily, while without prayer, how grim is the journey. Prayer is as necessary to life as breathing. It is drink and food’. (Dorothy Day).

I love Dorothy Day. She is the inspiration behind what we do and how we do it! Her beautiful book ‘The Reckless Way of Love’, is forever within my reach. No home should be without one!!

Woke up this morning with these beautiful words on my lips: ‘No award for anything I do. All is hidden in You’. 

‘Sometimes in thinking and wondering at God’s goodness to me, I have thought that it was because I gave away an onion. Because I sincerely loved His poor, He taught me to know Him. When I think of the little I ever did, I am filled with Hope and love for all those others devoted to the cause of social justice’. (‘Reckless way of Love’ Dorothy Day)

‘There is no point dwelling on the past excessively. My mother used to warn us against that; she’d say, “doting on what’s gone is wasting precious time”. It’s stealing time, really, from the present and from the future. If you believe in the mission of Jesus Christ, then you’re bound to try to let go of your past, in the sense that you are entitled to His forgiveness. To keep regretting what was, is to deny God’s Grace’. (Reckless way of Love’ Dorothy Day)

I am so glad and grateful to my dear friend Barbara for gifting me this book. Divine inspiration without a doubt! Kindred spirits!

‘

Jesus, light our way.☀️🙏🏻

‘For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it’.  (Amanda Gormann)

This morning we walked to the bus stop, just the two of us, all of her worldly goods stuffed tightly into one large suitcase and two bags, one medium size, one small. Little old me, chosen by God, to accompany and lend a helping hand to this courageous exceptional lady. No place else I would rather have been. Simple abundance!

Eight months ago she landed in our town and right away we became steadfast friends. How utterly she needed rest and recovery in those early days. Today, thank God, she takes her leave of us, sunny and strong.

‘Your Government kindly allowed me to come here’, she told me a few days ago. ‘They gave me free money and a place to lay my head. I am so grateful. Now that my work permit has arrived, time has come for me to brazen up and once again step out into the unknown’. She will live with another African family (they haven’t met) in one of our big cities while tirelessly she seeks much needed employment.

She quotes Psalm 37:23: ‘The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives’. Like me, she has not a scintilla of doubt about the sure and certain fact, that beautiful Jesus walks with her every step of the way. Nothing to fear, Jesus is here!

Right this very minute, as I write, I receive a message on my phone: ‘Hi Bridget. Thank you for your love and support’💕

My reply: ‘My joy. My total privilege. God is good all the time’. 💕

I love to tell her how much she inspires me to ‘brazen up’ too, be the very best I can be, good times and bad. Every action a sacred transaction. All of us give, all of us receive. God owns everything.

‘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)

Thanks be to God.☀️🙏🏻

She arrived in our town, frail, lost and all alone. Our privilege to share and care, as gradually she grew strong in mind and body. Remarkable transformation right before our very eyes. Then, one fine day she just took off without a word. No goodbye, nothing. Last we heard she is doing well in another town, another county.

Of course we are happy to know she is well but this morning I was thinking to myself how odd that she would take her leave of us in such a cold careless way. 

Still deep in thought when the words: ‘So you were looking for thanks!’, fluttered into my deepest heart. Holy Spirit wisdom, no doubt. No mistaking wonderful Holy Spirit when He speaks. Strength-giving and comforting at all times.

How often have I impressed upon impoverished folk: ‘We are sharing God’s stuff. He owns everything’, meaning, as much as I was able, every word from my deepest heart. However, those same words will mean a whole lot more going forward. God does actually own everything. All thanks is due only to God alone.

What a gift to my heart. I knew it before but now I feel it with every fibre of my being. We own nothing except our free will!

Soon after, another lady called, ecstatically telling me that her husband and family will be joining her in Ireland soon, please God. Our first meeting, that lady and I, remains forever in my heart, deep trauma darkening her beautiful face. Just nodding, she spoke not a single word. Today she is laughing and thanking God at the same time. I am too. ‘God did it’, she utters joyfully. ‘Dear Mother Mary in charge of everything’. Transformation extraordinaire!

This evening, strolling with yet another exquisite lady from a land far far away. Countless complications to contend with but like all our visitors, she thanks God for bringing her to this place of peace.

Folk marooned in our town, owning nothing but possessing everything! They know God. God knows them. Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.

Our teachers in disguise, each and every one of them. All will be revealed in God’s own time. God owns everything. We merely His stewards.

‘O my God, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve to be served, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fear of being wounded, to work without seeking rest, and to spend myself without expecting any reward, but the knowledge that I am doing Your Holy Will. Amen’.        (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

                                     

New York at home🇺🇸

On my way from St. Anne’s Holy Rosary I stopped to chat with Bill. ‘Did you enjoy New York’, he asked. I told him we had a wonderful time. ‘Time with my boys is always enjoyable, whether home or away, but yes indeed New York was amazingly beautiful in so many ways’. When we are happy at home with our loved ones, chances are we will be happy everywhere!

‘Just thinking Bill’, I added. ‘If folk realised how beautiful it is to sit with St. Anne’s folk in prayer, people who have walked the walk. Sitting in their midst while the healing power of Jesus Christ shines through their brokenness onto mine. What a gift to my patched-up heart. 

Some call out a whole decade, some simply pray one Hail Mary. One lady, completely deaf, prays the sign of the Cross over herself as we all join in. Honestly, she is drawing a cozy blanket around all of us straight from Heaven above.’

Bridie, blind, deaf and now Alzheimer’s too, prays St. Teresa of Avila’s beautiful prayer aloud, profoundly meaning every word. She does not know how much we love and need to hear her pray for us all but one day in Heaven she will know it all.

Oftentimes I say that if our town folk would come and see for themselves the beauty and majesty of our St. Anne’s Holy Rosary group, staff thereafter would not cope with the crowds. Best kept secret in town. Best gig around!

Every day I emerge from our time of prayer a little more exhilarated, tad more healed’.

Bill stood in silence, deep in thought.’I guess that is the real New York’, I said, pointing to beautiful St. Anne’s Nursing Home, full of light and life.

‘Yes indeed. We have New York at home’, he added, smiling sweetly.

                                                                     🇺🇸 New York squirrel.

Happy together ❤️

                                                                               Bridie’s 🙏🏻