To be intentional☀️🙏🏻

‘It occurs to me that the critical thing in life is whether you take things for granted or whether you take them with gratitude. Gratitude is merely happiness doubled by wonder’. (G.K. Chesterton)

We departed in haste mingled with fear, over twenty years ago, so revisiting Swords some days ago fitted like a well-worn cozy shoe. The place where we lived as a family, good days and bad, always in the Gladsome Light of Christ.

Back home now, and here I am, reliving every minute, all the time immersed in gratitude to God for myriad graces and blessings. One-time thing, no need to repeat. Fait accompli!!

Close to one hundred prayers shared. Unbelievably amazing encounters, all of them in my heart, some undoubtedly will haunt my mind and spirit for quite a while. Many distressed folk in need of kindness right now and probably every ‘right now’ until the end of time. ‘The harvest is ready’. (John 4:35)

Thinking, this morning, that I must listen more intently to Holy Spirit’s leading. Feeling deep down in my soul that I must go out!! Staying close to home is cozy and safe but perhaps time is not yet to hang my boots up!! Deep in thought when I open my Magnificat and read the following!!

‘Hence the importance of standing always ready, of being cautious with attachments, of practicing the ascetics of not lingering. Those who wish to follow Christ must be ready to get up and go. They are not to think of taking luggage. As an exhortatory climax, the warning resounds - ‘Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it…..’

From experience we know the truth of St. Bernard’s claim: “Not to move forwards on the path of life is to slide back”. Standing still is not an option. We need to stay fixed on the goal we would reach, to mobilise our will, orient our desire’. (Bishop Varden)

Wow!! Walking with Jesus, in the Gladsome Light of Holy Spirit all the way home to Father God really and truly is high adventure!! Signposts in vivid display every step of  the way when we see with the eyes of our heart.

Chatting with folk who ‘got even’ with those who treated them horrendously one time. Only thing is, now they are no longer the victim, now they are the perpetrator!! So sad to see. Better to be a venerable survivor if at all possible.We must never seek revenge, hard as it might be to remain stoic in such times. 

In fact ‘getting even’ allows the real perpetrator off the hook, so to speak!!

‘Vengeance is mine’, says the Lord. God sees all!! Everything comes to those who wait.

So many times I almost abandoned my prayer-sharing mission. Every time though, someone or something miraculously prevented me from doing so. Happy days!!

                        ‘Let us run ahead by our desires and by progress in virtue’. (St. Bernard)

‘When you have done all that is commanded of you, say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty”. (Luke 17:10)

Visiting with dear Mary once again, beyond words.❤️

‘Pray it every morning and all of Heaven will be minding you. I cannot promise you that nothing will be wrong but you will be strong’. (Holy Spirit wisdom to my heart as I shared my prayer with young guy called Fionn, some years ago)

‘Everything God expects of us, He supplies. Whatever He commands, He enables’. (Elizabeth Elliott)

God’s Amazing Grace☀️🙏🏻

                  ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’. (John 6:68)

‘We often need simply good eyes, sensitive to a need for attention in a poor soul. The test is to realise that nothing more important matters than the person in front of us in that instant’. 

(Fr. Donald Haggersty)

I could hardly believe my eyes!! Upcoming visitation to my compact cottage not filling me with joy at all. In fact some trepidation as to how it might all pan out. Then, thanks be to God, above wisdom in this month’s Magnificat magazine quelled my fears, ferrying on its wings, much needed clarity and peace. Light from on-High.

After Holy Mass, tea with distraught poor lady from a land far away. Myriad concerns, tired and alone. Definitely when Jesus enters the mix everything changes!!

Young girl, tear filled eyes had lost her mother’s money, loose change from shopping. Yes, she could have approached anyone in the store but she chose me. Jesus again!

Distributing Holy Communion, guys enduring and living with mental health issues ask as they always do; ‘Will you sing for us Bridget?’. What a privilege. I sang ‘Don’t give up till it’s over’, by Johnny Duran rip. On my way home I planned on seeking out uplifting songs and have them at the ready for my guys. Magnificat again! Perfect hymn!! My own melody. Always my hymns must have have meaningful words and catchy melodies. Warms our hearts and lifts our spirits.

Visiting with a dear man recuperating from surgery in another place and as we parted I told him; ‘I will call again next week please God, to which he replies; ‘Thanks for the warning!’.

Laughter, best medicine of all.

‘Dear Jesus, I know that intimacy with You brings us to the fullness of peace and love and that if I enter thus into Your heart, You shall freely enter into my heart. I need You to fulfil my mission, to carry my cross, and to keep myself in peace throughout the trials and difficulties of my life’. (Blessed Concepcion)

                                                                     Magnificat hymn!!❤️

Don’t worry. Be happy☀️🙏🏻

This afternoon, Jim touches down on my kitchen window sill, hail and hearty, looking stunning. What a transformation!

He had not been looking well recently. Scarily sore eye, bone weary, not in a good place at all. Obviously needing care and attention but Jim doesn’t hang around, mostly he eats and goes. That he drops by at all makes me feel truly blessed. For the longest time, frantic with nerves, Jim absconded whenever I dared move in his direction. Nowadays trusting totally, he knows he’s on solid ground. 

Jim trusts God too, he knows he is always in the care of his Heavenly Father. Jim relies totally on God’s Grace. I know it too but oh how easily I forget. Thank you Jim for reminding me……

‘Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much mor valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life’? (Matthew6:26)

 

Walking with Jesus☀️🙏🏻

                                         Mom, Eric and Katy. God rest their gentle souls❤️🙏🏻
Dear lady deep in Alzheimer’s, gloriously enveloped in the Gladsome Light of Christ, translucent. Prayerful lady her long life through. Today, cozy in her reclining chair, I lean over to place Holy Eucharist on her tongue but before I could, opening her tired eyes she gently asks me; ‘Are you Mary Walsh?’. ‘Yes’, I reply, shocked. ‘Mary Walsh was my mother’. ‘You look so like her’, she utters, adding, ‘How did I just say that?’, herself pleasantly surprised too. I could have cried!! My dear Mom passed on to her eternal reward almost thirty years ago. Nora rarely speaks. Moment of transcendence, beauty and peace.

Today too I got to share a few words and my powerful prayer with one heartbroken grandad. After that, wonderful prayerful encounter with sad lady whose husband is in prison and will be in that place for a long time. Walking with Jesus because He knows the way!!

Strolling home, thanking God, carrying my loaf of ‘Sullivan’s’ bread (comfort food) when a guy I know well (his name is Sullivan) stops his car just to inform me that I was holding a ‘Sullivan’ in my arms so all is very well.

My reply; ‘Made it Ma. Top of the world!’

Laughter badly needed!! Always there is joy.

‘At each step we can admire the grandeur, the power, the goodness of God. How bountifully He provides for all our wants - I would even say for our pleasures!’. (St. Theodore Guerin)

St. Faustina’s Feast day☀️🙏🏻

I saw my beautiful Katy in my dreams last night, shiny black hair, wearing a red coat. Red was always Katy’s favourite colour! Transfixed, I gazed for a while as she walked gently along the side of a hill we both loved as children. Then, excitedly, I picked up my cellphone to photograph her. However, I just couldn’t do it. My camera just would not comply. Then I said to someone close by; ‘’Oh, she cannot be photographed where she is now’.

What a gift to my heart this morning as I awoke.

Thing is, twenty three years ago today, my boys and I arrived in this place, lock stock and barrel. Out of our comfort zone for sure. Without Katy and her husband Donal’s wonderful minding and caring of us in those windswept worrisome days, our suffering would have been far greater. God rest their kind gentle souls.

Katy came to me in the early hours of St. Faustina’s Feast day. We came here twenty three years ago on St. Faustina’s Feast day. Katy loved St. Faustina. We would pray together the powerful ‘Chaplet of Divine Mercy’. 

 Inseparable in life, inseparable in death. Together forever, my beautiful Katy and me.

‘I will daily repeat the following prayer which You Yourself have taught me, Jesus:

“O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You. Jesus I trust in You. Jesus us I trust in You”. (St. Faustina)

‘I desire to unite Myself with human souls; My great delight is to unite myself with souls. 

Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of Graces which I want to give to the soul but souls do not pay any attention to Me;

 they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. 

Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognise Love! They treat me as a dead object’. 

(Jesus to St. Faustina)

I love this!

The Unutterable Beauty

I’m a man and man’s a mixture. Right from his birth there’s part of him comes from Heaven and part of him comes from earth. 

There’s summit that draws him upward and summit that drags him down. 

The consequence is he wobbles twixt muck and a golden crown. (Woodbine Wille 1883-1929)

Nellie knew.☀️🙏🏻

‘On ever with Me. Do not let earth’s frets disturb you’. (Jesus/God calling)

Nellie, our precious pony ferried us to Holy Mass every Sunday morning. Five miles to the compact country Church, five miles back home again. No extreme safety measures, no seat belts. Old coats underneath us providing some respite from the hard cart. Our dear Mom must have worried so!

In all those years the nearest we came to having an accident was the time two little elderly ladies had one of their car lights broken, trying to avoid us on a tight bend. Otherwise we were safe and sound, Sunday after glorious Sunday.

Today, myriad years later, it dawned on me!! Nellie knew that once she did exactly what was expected of her, trotting along, looking straight ahead the whole time, then all would be well. No wonder we were safe and secure.

Thank you Nellie from my heart. For taking us to Holy Mass of course but also for reminding me to keep on walking in the Gladsome Light of Christ. What I do not know will not bother me and what I need to know Holy Spirit will tell me and He does, the whole time.

Simple as that!!

‘Be little and low. Let Jesus get on with His work and you will witness more miracles than you can ever imagine’. (Sr. Dede)

‘Be still and know that I am God’. (Psalm46:10)

‘Beauty is the heart’s encounter with the Living God’. (Bill Donaghy)

 

Holy moment☀️🙏🏻

‘Do ordinary things with extraordinary love’. (St. Mother Teresa)

Most beautiful moment in time!! Two of us on a stage singing ; ‘Nearer my God to Thee’ and ‘Amazing Grace. She from Africa, I deepest Kerry.

She sang low. I sang high. Perfect harmony.

All God’s doing. No question!

I love another African lady’s moving words;

‘Our combination interprets oneness and does not encourage discrimination’.

‘A foretaste this of Heaven’s oneness and fulfilment’. (Jesus/God calling)

Wow!! To be part of something so beautiful. Words fail me yet again!

Freedom, liberation, forgiveness and joy. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.

‘In everything, whether it is a thing sensed or a thing known, God Himself is hidden within’.                  (St. Bonaventure)

Joe happily accepts my prayer, lovely young guy. He will pray it every morning. ‘Us grandmothers want only the best for you precious young folk’, I tell him. Smiling broadly he utters; ‘Yes, ye are the smartest of them all’. Wow!!

Life is beautiful. ☀️🙏🏻

‘Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these; “It might have been”. 

(John Greenleaf Whittier)

I really wished with all my heart to politely not attend the wedding of my late husband’s nephew. My forehead gash still in plain sight for all to see and my in-laws and I hadn’t crossed paths in quite some time. I did attend though and I am so glad. 

Wonderful catch-up. Unforgettable. 

My wound visible. Others’ invisible. All of us in the same boat. All of us seasick!!

Lots of enjoyable prayer-sharing encounters too on my journey there and back. Life is full of beautiful moments when we see with the eyes of our heart. Like the young man with Down’s syndrome who walked into the shop as I queued. He approached the pleasant young guy packing shelves. Young guy stopped what he was doing asking young man; ‘How was Mass’. ‘Ah grand’, young man replied. Natural and heartwarming!!

My teenage granddaughter returning my ‘God Bless you Aoife’ with ‘God Bless you Nan’. So beautiful.

Young army guy who spent some years in Syria told me as he accepted my prayer. ‘Only God got me through. No one but Jesus!!

Ruairi and cousins enjoyed immensely Oasis concert. He knows me so well!! Having something to show for our lives is a worthy task!! When all is said and done let there be less said and more done!!

Only God can fill our emptiness and satisfy the hunger of our hearts.

Lady messaged last night. She needed something and that same lady had received enough, I thought to myself. Gently, beautiful Jesus whispers in my deepest heart; ‘Have I ever given you ‘just enough’. Enough said!!

(Jesus/God calling)

Ruairi and his cousins (friends from youth) enjoying each other’s company, drowning in laughter.  Elderly lady commented (laughing too); ‘If you don’t stop laughing, you will be sick’. How beautiful is that!!

La vie est belle!!

Impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time!!

Glad surprise☀️🙏🏻

                                                    ‘You will live in a spirit of glad surprise’. 

Ruairi got a shock when he first saw the gash on my forehead this morning on FaceTime. I assured him that all is well. ‘Sun damage’. No sun-tan protection way back then. Saving hay in our swimsuits morning till night. Beyond sore for days on end. Amber Solaire tourist luxury!! Snob goods.

Thank God my ‘gash’ will heal. I may be left with a mark but nothing sinister. However, heading to Holy Mass I planned to visit my Docter tomorrow. Just to make sure all is going according to plan. 

After Holy Mass, worried visitor to our town chatted with me. He works just two days and he needs more. Last week he complained he had no work at all. I shared what I know to be totally true; if we are not super grateful to God for what we already have, then we halt the flow of new Blessings into our lives. Attitude of gratitude at all times! He seemed pleased to hear that.

Somehow I did not take my usual route home and I actually wondered why, as I strolled along. Then, much needed surprise event! Wonderfully kind Docter and his charming wife walking my way, having attended Holy Mass too. On the spot, he kindly examined my ‘gash’, telling me all is fine thank God, adding  ‘Come to the surgery in two weeks’. Wondering if I should apply some cream or something, both of them uttered in unison; ‘Holy water’. They know me so well!!

So grateful and relieved. I called Ruairi up right away, our young folk have enough worries of their own without adding ours to their list.

This morning, I read and took particular note, in that precious gem; ‘God calling; ‘You will live in a spirit of glad surprise’. Honestly. Words fail me!!

‘Though we speak much we cannot reach the end and the sum of our words is: ‘He is the all’. (Sirach:43-27): 

                                                 ‘Be where your feet are at’. Love that!!

I sent it to my dear nephew Tim right now and his gladsome reply; ‘Poignant, sweet, and oh so complete!’. Perfect!!

Try a little Kindness.☀️🙏🏻

‘As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied Grace’. (1Peter:4:10)

I knew in my deepest heart she was kind and generous, I just knew. Her mother-in-law is my friend and so our paths would cross sometimes. How could I possibly know anything about her and yet I did. Mystery!!

Until this morning that is!!

Back then, one extremely dark wintry evening, Derm and I in Killarney Outlet Centre having travelled by bus from Cork. Derm had recently been diagnosed with Kerataconus and was attending wonderful Opticians in Cork.

Treacherous weather conditions, snow and sleet, resulting in missing our connecting bus home. Dire straits!! Stopping over in Killarney, out of the question, money scarce. Taxi fare far beyond our reach too but beggars cannot be choosers. We had nobody to call on, not one.

No memory of how we got talking to shopkeeper lady, perhaps we asked about getting a taxi, but on hearing our predicament she offered wholeheartedly to drive us all the way home, over thirty miles without a second thought in the driving sleet and snow. She would be finishing her shift shortly. Of course I could not possibly accept but she insisted adding; ‘Many times I have been stranded just as you are now. I know well how that feels’.

I remember vividly how relieved Derm and I both felt in that moment, at the same time too hoping against hope that we might find another way.

God is great all the time!! Glumly walking aimlessly about when Lawrence, guy from our town I knew from my younger days, came walking towards us. Miracle definitely!! He and us were the only three people in the building that evening. Lawrence, more than happy to drop us at our door, God Bless his kind heart. 

We thanked kind lady and after that our paths never crossed again. I did go to her shop but it had shut down never again to reopen. We never forgot her kindness though.

Then this morning enjoying my cuppa when it dawned on me who kind lady is!! Kind shopkeeper lady in our hour of need is my friend’s kind daughter-in-law!! Utterly amazing. It just came together in an instant! 

I couldn’t wait to call up my friend and wow!! her son (kind lady’s husband) was with her. ‘Have I got a story for you’, I told them both as they listened joyfully. Fifteen years ago she worked in that shop, he told me. Yes, it was her alright.

I knew she was kind!! The heart never forgets!! Circle closed.

Just now message from my friend to say her daughter-in-law remembers but had no idea it was me and is shocked that I discovered it was her, after all this time. 

Divine intervention! Holy Spirit of course!! 

‘But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you’. (John14:26)

‘Divide your day into three parts. In the morning, as soon as you awaken, give yourself to the Father Creator, who offers you His Son as food. After Mass, give yourself to the Son, who is in you and fall asleep in the Holy Spirit, who is love’. (Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis/God calling)

All things must pass.☀️🙏🏻

‘Praying, singing, crying and drinking’, lady’s reply to my wondering if she had enjoyed her recent trip  to Medugorje!! Everything covered!!

This morning our town eerily silent after three ‘early till late’ non-stop fun days, annual Music and Arts Festival. Some transformation! Almost difficult to believe any of it actually came to pass!! Gigantic imposing stage, (from which music blared non-stop) now soundlessly out of place, redundant, Food trucks locked up. Exhausted townsfolk going about their business, (many relieved normality once again restored) but above all of that, everyone extremely grateful to God. Apart from aching heads and lighter wallets, everyone safe, sound and accounted for.

One very happy young lady from foreign shores told me this morning after Holy Mass, that she made quite a sum of money, (much needed), recycling bottles and cans discarded by affluent revellers. Good for her!!

Our sleepy small town normally serene but today it feels far quieter. Like walking along a road in the darkness of night and with every passing car lights, the darkness seemed even darker still. (Back then, when I was young and cars were scarce!!)

I got to assist Father at the Christening of three babies on Sunday morning. While setting up, many visitors dropped by our compact Church. Particularly enjoyable meeting up with members of our Travelling Community. Like our African visitors, they treasure their Faith in God. Prayer joyfully in vivid display at all times. Not hidden!!I love that!!

Loved chatting too with four delightful young guys. When I told them; ‘I cannot promise you that nothing will be wrong but you will be strong’ as they accepted my prayer, all smiled and one guy said; ‘I like that’. I told them Holy Spirit placed those words in my heart one time, as I shared my prayer with anothe lovely young guy. Simple but so profound!

Someone left a bag of lady’s clothes at my door on Saturday. Inside, amongst other items, prettiest colourful dress. Bereft lady recipient told me; ‘I have spent all day in my room, missing my family so much. Now, I will put this dress on and go hear some music in the Festival’. We both cried!! God’s amazing Grace! Dear lady’s gaze shifted!!

Myriad amazing encounters all weekend long, but this morning’s particularly poignant. Lovely couple I mistook for folk I met yesterday (Travelling Community). Guy, full of life took my prayer and began to pray it aloud, laughing (not mockingly, shocked morelike). ‘I share with whoever comes my way’, I told them. ‘Holy Spirit directs my path’. With that, beautiful lady blurted out; ‘Oh my God. This means so much. My brother committed suicide last week’. She kissed my prayer adding; ‘Meant to be’.

‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire’, St. Catherine of Siena wrote. 

Yes, and walking every step with Jesus makes exactly that happen. My home is not here, it is in Heaven. We are going back to God from Whom we came and our place is there now waiting for us. 

                                        ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’. (John 3:30)

St. John Vianney (Cure D’Ars) Feast day today. What a role model He is, in this our day and time;

‘Man has a noble task; that of Prayer and Love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man on earth’.

‘Not me - but God’. (St. Carlo Acutis)

He danced into my heart first thing this morning. Young guy killed tragically in a road traffic accident some months ago. I did not know him or his family but my heart was heavy at that time just as everyone else in our town was. My sons knew the young guy and his brother. God love them all.

On my way to Holy Mass little while later, walking through Church grounds I meet with a pleasant young man. I walked by him and as oftentimes happens, I turned back asking if he would like a beautiful morning prayer’. Without a moment’s hesitation he replied; ‘I would’.

My name is Bridget, I told him. He told me his name adding; ‘I was in school with your son’. Wow!! Turns out young man happened to be brother to the poor guy who got killed and whom I was thinking of earlier. 

‘I was thinking of your brother this morning’, I said. We shook hands. ‘That is weird, alright’, he said.

God’s ways are not our ways!! Rather amazing the whole thing. 

Speechless, I could only offer; ‘Just keep on walking. Your brother is very near.

My hope is that our impromptu encounter, gifted to both of us from Heaven above, shone some light into sad young man’s day.

‘Do not expect to see results. The bee knows nothing of its agency when fertilising flowers for fruit-bearing’. (Jesus/God calling)

The sanctity of an ordinary life.☀️🙏🏻

“Praying, smoking a few cigarettes and minding my own business’, Mary’s reply to me just now. The sanctity of an ordinary life! Mary is being cared for by kind staff and has been under somebody’s care for much of her long oftentimes painful life. I love to tell her that while she may not have got to live the kind of life she longed for and deserved, nevertheless with the passage of time she is fortunate and extremely blessed in her living.

As for us, yes we got to live our lives as we pleased, (for the most part), and yes, we have accrued much ‘stuff’ along the way, only nowadays, truth be told, we are enjoying shedding much of that ‘stuff’ from our lives. Trinkets!! 

Mary is further on up the road! Then I read; 

‘I have seen Christ in certain people who suffer much and still manage to have a sense of peace, and acceptance of things as they are, and even a finely developed sense of humour. I love seeing that in people, and I hope to see more of those things in myself as I get more used to being used up’. (Fr. David May/Restoration magazine)

What can I say!!

‘Youth and good health eventually give way to old age and sickness. But what keeps us ever new, ever joyful, is that each stage of life is a communion with our Lord, who is not impeded by limitations of age or health or circumstances from being fully Himself in us’. (Fr. David May/Restoration magazine)

Recently, I overheard a young lady reply re dental appointment for her mother who stood by her side: ‘If I cannot bring her, (for her appointment ), perhaps my sister will’. Poor lady! So much nicer had her daughter used the words ‘if I cannot accompany her……Our words are so very important!! Even if dear lady is enduring Alzheimer’s, (I have no idea), yes she most certainly would have forgotten but that does not mean she did not feel invisible in the moment. Hurt lodges within even when forgotten!!

St,Anne’s Holy Mass. Dear lady deep in Alzheimer’s worried and upset about many things. Consecration, as Father raises Sacred Host, lady relaxes, uttering aloud; ‘My Lord and my God’. All else in zigzag mode, but sure and certain of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Unforgettable!

Pause, ponder and praise God.☀️🙏🏻

 

In the evening of life you will be examined in love. Learn then to love as God desires to be loved and abandon your own ways of acting’. (St. John of the Cross)

One dear lady from our St. Anne’s Holy Rosary group passed away and I got invited to watch her funeral Holy Mass on television with her friends. I pray Holy Rosary with them twice every week so this was very precious for me. Afterwards I got to enjoy lunch with them all. 

We ate in silence, not one word uttered throughout. No discussing, no grumbling, no asking questions. Movingly beautiful even now, many hours later. Not a sullen silence, far from it!! Elderly folk happy with their lot needing nothing more than what they possessed in the sacred moment.

Meal over, we prayed Holy Rosary together and sang hymns. Lots of laughter too as always. Joy never in short supply. 

So beautiful every moment. Getting older doesn’t scare me and that is for sure. Of course it is not all plain sailing, there are challenges, but there’s a freedom too. With acceptance there is peace. 

Perhaps it is never too early to begin letting go of stuff. I love St. Mother Teresa’s quote;

‘Accept whatever God gives you and give whatever God takes from you with a smile’.

I love this quote too from Cardinal Robert Sarah’s beautiful classic, ‘The Power of Silence’; ‘True witness is expressed by the silent, pure radiant example of the sanctity of our life’. 

As we refresh others, God will refresh us.☀️🙏🏻

‘If you’re in trouble or hurt or need - go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help - the only ones’. (John Steinbeck/The grapes of wrath (1939)

I had the privilege of meeting with him twice, on my way to visit my family and on my return home journey. Same place both times. Large bottle of cider at his feet, just sitting there. I had actually passed him by but returned offering him my prayer. He gladly accepted kissing it before he placed it in his pocket. ‘Have you any spare change, I don’t like to ask’, he said. Of course I shared my widow’s mite. Everyone needs money!! I asked him to please pray for me, he said he would and I knew he meant it.

Next day I told him; ‘I’m Bridget. I gave you my prayer yesterday’. ‘Indeed you did’, he replied smiling, ‘It is in my room and I prayed it this morning. I will pray for you and your family Mam’. 

I shared my widow’s mite with him again. The way he looked at me uttering: ‘God Bless you. Thank you for your kindness’. Spending that little time in his company, pure gold to my heart.

I would have loved to stay awhile, hear what he might say, but like others in his predicament, (I have found), he has no need of company. His neediness is well and truly over. Low expectations. No paper ‘spare change’ cup by his side!! He wears the world lightly.

Walking on, my heart was sad. Folk dashing past, going about their business, hither and thither. My friend invisible in plain sight! If only they would see him, even a furtive glance in his direction. Oh they would not have walked away empty handed. I most certainly did not!

Yes, Jesus was sitting alone on the cold cement, hidden in plain sight, waiting to bless us all……

‘Do not turn your face away from any poor man and the Face of God will not be turned away from you’.     (Tobit 4:7)

“Dear brothers and sisters, when will we too be capable of interrupting our journey and having compassion?. When we understand that the wounded man on the street represents each one of us. Then the memory of all the times that Jesus stopped to take care of us will make us more capable of compassion.

Let us pray that we can grow in humanity, so that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion. Let us ask the Heart of Jesus for the Grace increasingly to have the same feelings as Him’. (Pope Leo/General Audience/28/5/2025)

The Lord takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.☀️🙏🏻

‘Let every action of mine be something beautiful for God’. (Saint Mother Teresa’s motto)

Hobbling along on crutches he joined the queue as we waited on our bus. He enquired, of no one in particular, if he could get on first because of his predicament. We were happy to oblige. He began to talk with a lady just in front of me, they both kindly included me in their interesting conversation. I love impromptu encounters. We introduced ourselves. 

He lost his leg in an accident. His own fault, drugs! He accepts his lot (He didn’t for a long time) but life is tough. I offered them both my prayer. They happily accepted. She said; ‘This is meant to be’. He told us that one time he was a committed atheist but not anymore.

Bus arrived, we got on. He sat up front talking a lot (to anyone and everyone) and loudly, all the way. Something really nice about him, full of drama and perhaps deep trauma. God only knows!

Time to get off the off bus and as I walked by him (he waited until last); I said; ‘ Goodby now, Name, I hope it all works out for you’. I will never forget what happened next. He looked at me like he had never really heard his name being called before, like he was being seen for the very first time in his short life. His face completely transformed, softer, he uttered; ‘You are such a sweet person. I have your prayer. Thank you’.

Stepping down from the bus I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had witnessed something unforgettably miraculous. Jesus and that young troubled man came face to face right before my very eyes on a Bus Eireann bus in the middle of the afternoon.

‘In the heart of everyone there is a hunger for God’. (Mother Angelica)

‘If you live for the Lord, He Himself will be your support, your defence, your comfort at all times. Who knows what you need better than He does? Put into that heart then, with total trust, all your fears, all your anxieties. Pray, receive Holy Communion with fervour, work generously to acquire those virtues which cost you the most, and God will know when and where to surprise you so that you will be happy’. (Blessed Clelia Merloni)

Jesus, all for Jesus☀️🙏🏻

Everything we say and do is through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus. Amen

Twenty years ago, just after moving into our compact humble cottage, we sat around one night, my guys I do life with and me. They were busy planning much needed repairs, should ever any money come our way. I was in my own world not taking part at all until one of them blurted out; ‘First thing we’ll do is take that picture down’ and of course I sprang into action. ‘He is going nowhere’, I replied, referring of course to our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

They got me!! Again!! To this day we laugh about it. Yes, repairs have come and gone, guys are grown, and still thank God, our Sacred Heart picture remains where first it touched down. Our compact cold cottage, once an igloo, is now an incubator. We have been truly blessed.

Today is the beautiful feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus. When I reminded Ruairi of today’s exalted feast day, adding, ‘He’s going nowhere’. Ruairi’s reply; ‘Ha, He certainly isn’t’.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, always has been, laughter got us through many many hard times, by winding means, enveloping us like a cozy blanket as the thunder rolled. We are beyond grateful.

                              ‘Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God’. (Leon Bloy)

             ‘It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world’. (St. Aloysius Gonzaga)

After Holy Mass every morning I go outside discarding water (not Holy water) left over from Holy Alter. One parishioner asked me if I was blessing the folk outside! When I told another parishioner what she asked me, she replied roaring laughing; ‘You’re crazy but you’re not that crazy’. 😂

Dear lady upset and confused about oh so many things. We sat in the Holy Oratory awhile in silence and then, impromptu, her beautiful face lit up as she uttered, face aglow; ‘Isn’t He just georgous!’ gazing lovingly on beautiful Jesus. Yes, for sure, children and folk enduring dementia, see Jesus with unvarnished clarity!

.

God governs everything. ☀️🙏🏻

 

‘We breathe, we eat, we sleep, only for one reason - to serve Him whom our hearts love’.

 (Catherine Doherty)

She came towards me, just after Holy Mass this morning. Cheerful, smiling, and yet plain to see that she has suffered beyond words and is suffering still. Hard not to cry. Hard still, many hours later.

Right there before my very eyes, Beautiful broken Body of Jesus in the person of this dear lady. What a privilege for me. When I offer her a brand new Holy Bible she almost cries. Everything else, how ever much needed, paling into insignificance when compared with her Holy Bible. ‘I have found a mother in a strange land’, she whispers.

I love how she utters sincerely; ‘Am grateful’. No endless ‘thanking’ as I myself am prone to do. Definitely borrowing this gem. ‘Am thankful’, from our heart says it all!!

Thank you Father God for my vocation. Thank you Jesus for walking with me every step. Thank you Holy Spirit for Your Gladsome light.

Our group ‘Blankeriers’ to the rescue as always. Together we are strong. God owns everything, we are merely His stewards.

Somebody once said; ‘God is No.1. We are No.2, each and every one of us, pauper, millionaire and everywhere in between. No need for competing. We will never be No.1’. Sobering thought!!

Holy Mass every morning. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament one whole hour after Holy Mass. Holy Rosary before Holy Mass. Total toolkit from on-High.

Saint Mother Teresa is so right; ‘Without God we are too poor to help the poor’

Dear fragile lady’s gift to my heart. Deeper knowing that God is in control, we do not have to be. Mutually illuminating encounter was ours.

I am sorely tempted to mention my disgust at the madding crowd protesting against arrival and safety of folk like fragile lady in our island of Ireland but I shall refrain from doing so. (No protestations in our town Thank God)

Keep my eyes upon Jesus! God sees all!! Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Two joyful elderly ladies all the way from Ukraine sat chatting on a bench beneath this mural as I strolled home. I asked if they would like me to photograph them in such a splendid scene. (On their own cellphones). They were delighted. Made me so happy! Cead Mile Failte - One hundred thousand welcomes!!

‘Every man is your brother, every woman your sister, every child, your child. You are to know no difference of race, colour or creed. One is your Father, and all ye are brethren’. 

(Jesus/God calling)

‘Some have everything, others nothing. Those who have everything become blind and let themselves be carried along by the whirlwind of their desires, and those who have nothing end by discovering that they themselves are the rich ones’. (Jacques Fesch)

Hail Mary, full of Grace…☀️🙏🏻

‘When we pray the Rosary, we are gazing into the mysteries of Christ with our Lady.’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

‘Our Lady loves hearing us pray the Hail Mary. Of all the Marian prayers that exist, that is the one most pleasing to her because that is the one by which Heaven spoke, won her heart and filled her with the incarnate Word. When she hears it she recalls the greatness of that moment. Fr. De Montfort highly recommends a certain degree of affection simply for saying the Hail Mary, by itself’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

Wow!! In our beautiful St. Anne’s Holy Rosary group, each and every resident prays a Hail Mary. Some pray a whole decade, others pray a half-decade, while many pray just one Hail Mary. In fact anyone present, staff, visitors, all pray one Hail Mary. 

We offer Mother Mary a rose (Hail Mary) in her honour. Attached to that beautiful rose are the special intentions that burden our hearts. (Thorns). Mother Mary brings our simple bouquet to beautiful Jesus and so for a while, we relax, knowing in our deepest hearts that our cares are in the Best of Hands. Our Blessed Mother has one desire and one desire only, to lead us to intimate union with Her Son, Jesus Christ.

Joe, elderly resident declared one time; ‘Now we have no worries. We can enjoy a free afternoon’. 

What joy it is to know that our beautiful Mother Mary loves the Hail Mary so very much. We had no idea!

Thank you Father Hugh from our deepest hearts.

‘Mary Most Holy, in her simplicity and humility, reflects the beauty of the Triune God, because she fully welcomed Jesus into her life. May she sustain our faith; May she make us worshippers of God and servants of our brothers and sisters.”. (Our late Holy Father, Pope Francis)

Elderly lady told me recently that when her Dad died, more than sixty years ago, she and her siblings were very young. As they sat with their heartbroken Mom around his coffin, my dear Dad came by. He knelt in prayer for a moment before uttering; ‘Let us pray the Rosary for the man of the house’. There and then, elderly lady and I shed tears of gratitude to God for our blessed humble rich lives.

‘The chair of St. Peter was vacant after the death of our dear Pope. We entered into a time where the seat is vacant. Sense of loss! Not a Father on the chair. There’s something missing’. (Father’s homily EWTN). Reminding me of returning home from work after my dear Dad died and witnessing his empty chair. No Dad on the chair. Long years have come and gone and yet that precious memory steadfastly remains fixed in my deepest heart.

‘We were never poor. We just didn’t have any money’. (Johnny Mathis)

‘Beauty takes Truth and Goodness and gives it clothes, gives it form, gives it something we can recognise. Beauty gives us warmth and light’. (Stefan Novinski)

‘Fr. De Montfort highly recommends that we pray this beautiful Magnificat after we have received Holy Communion precisely because that is the first prayer ever said by one who is enclosing God within her. In no small measure when we receive Holy Communion, Christ is within us too. So, who better to teach us how to make a good act of thanksgiving than our Lady who actually offers the original act of thanksgiving for holding the Lord within’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)

‘St. Louis Marie De Montfort saw the Rosary as something like spiritual rain. One Hail Mary at a time, softening our hearts so the seed of the word would fall on prepared soil’. (Fr. Hugh Gillespie)