‘Let us live to serve our lives☀️🙏🏻

‘Let us live to serve our lives’. Words spoken softly in my sleep last night. Hard to articulate. (Like building a cloud with bricks!!) Gems come gently and if I don’t write them down right away, they disappear forever. I know that from experience!!

I have a hard copybook of them! Amazingly beautiful wisdom from above in the dead of night. One that stands out; ‘Deeper your prayer, deeper your sleep, there’s a direct correlation’. Back then I had to look up the word ‘correlation’ in my dictionary.

This morning I googled; ‘Let us live to serve our lives’ and here’s what I found!

‘Let us live to serve our lives’ is a powerful call to find purpose through selfless action, emphasising that a meaningful existence comes from contributing to others. Seeing life as an opportunity to serve God and humanity rather than just oneself. 

It means using your freedom and gifts to help others, echoing Jesus’s teachings and Paul’s epistles, and aligning your daily actions with love and purpose’.

There it is!! Divine confirmation as we head into 2026. What a Mighty God we serve. 

Our dear Dad would often say that three books are absolutely essential in any home; 1) Holy Bible; 2) Atlas and 3) Dictionary. Even now, myriad years later,  modernity with all it’s grandeur will never replace the glory of a good book. 

Another time, more than sixty years ago, dear Dad reading his newspaper (rare occurrence in his busy day). I notice the Roses of Tralee for that year. ‘Who is the nicest, Dad’,  I ask. ‘You are Bridge’, he replies with that beautiful kind smile. He meant every word. The heart knows.

‘Love alone can make fresh wonders spring forth). (Jesus/He and I)

Do the next right thing☀️🙏🏻

My new phone (Christmas present from my boys) gifted me this gem. Written February 2020! Just popped up!

In days of yore my dear Mom would tell me in the midst of my punishing panic; ‘We will wait and see’. I would reply impatiently: ‘’We cannot! we must do it now’.

Mom was right, I grew to learn with the passage of time. Hasty decisions rarely reap rich rewards.

Derm (third son) is learning it too. Time really is a great prophet’. Wait and see!! Wonders unfold at their own chosen speed!

Life is not a problem to be solved suddenly and abruptly. Life is a mystery to be lived continuously and perpetually.

‘God is the Artist, you are a block of marble and the chisel is EVERYTHING!’. (Dr. Peter Kreeft)

Sacrament of the present moment. Right here! Right now!

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

 

Christ our Light, light our way.☀️🙏🏻

‘May Your Presence, Prince of Peace, bless the world with peace, the poor with care and prosperity, the despairing with Hope and confidence, the grieving with comfort and gladness, the oppressed with freedom and deliverance, the suffering with solace and relief. Loving Jesus, You are the only real joy of every human heart. I place my trust in You.

Oh divine fruit of Mary’s womb, May I love you in Union with the Holy Mother of God. May my life be filled with the obedience of Saint Joseph and the missionary fervour of the shepherds, so that the witness of my life may shine like the star that leads the Magi to your manger. I ask all this with great confidence in Your Holy Name. Amen        (Magnificat)

Looking about my uncluttered compact cottage on this Holiest of days, definitely my heart feels less cluttered too. What a blessing!!

The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her’.(Luke 10:41)

(I told our priest in the Sacrament of Confession yesterday that I fret far too much about my four fine sons. I always want them to be fine and it just doesn’t feel right!! He gifted me the above Bible verse. What a gift to my heart!)

Today☀️🙏🏻

‘My Me is God, nor do I recognise any other Me except my God Himself’. (St. Catherine of Genoa)

                                                                    Santa got my prayer!!

Many years ago I read how Shirley Temple’s daughter asked her mother one time; ‘Tell me about the best day of your life’. Her mother replied simply; ‘Today, dear’. Perplexed, her daughter asked; ‘But Mom, you always told us that your wedding day was the greatest day of your life?’. Her mother replied, smiling sweetly; ‘Yes dear, but that was then, this is now’. 

I love this!! Pondering as I stroll home from St. Anne’s Holy Rosary amidst my precious folk, on this chilly crisp afternoon. Elderly, enduring many challenges and yet joy abounds in their glorious presence. They gift my heart with countless gems. 

Everywhere, frazzled folk rush hither and thither, seeking joy where there’s none to be found. Pleasure yes! but joy is on another level altogether.

JOY    -    Jesus first, Others next, Yourself last.

Countercultural? Absolutely!! but completely true!!

I love my life of service. To give and not to count the cost, to give to those who cannot repay…..brings joy, freedom and oh so so much more. To be the Hands and Feet of Jesus in this our day and time!

Of course I know it is all HIM. What can I say!!

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

 

                                                         Love my new Christmas jumper too!!

Tis God doing!☀️🙏🏻

 

‘The work will continue, you see, whether I’m there or not, because it is God’s work, not mine’. 

(Fr. Edward J. Flanagan/Boys town)

As I stroll along, engrossed in my own world, passing car grounds to a halt, window rolls down and a hand appears holding an ice cream. Wow!!

Thing is I had just witnessed something beyond beautiful, ethereal even, and so my gifted ice cream was literally the icing on the cake!!

Earlier, grateful to be invited to pray at the bedside of dear Bridget as she whiled away her final hours in this wonderful world. Before I began to pray Divine Mercy Chaplet, I told her family present, that which I say and know every time, that right now there is no roof in St. Anne’s and no floor in Heaven. All of us together in this sacred sacrosanct space.

As if hearing my words, dear Bridget opens her eyes wide, gazing intentionally up above. (Unthinkable that she would open her eyes at that stage). Clearly she could see what we clearly could not! Then, closing her eyes once more, her breathing slows right down and within seconds she passes peacefully to her eternal reward. All of us cried!! Her son who told me one time, utterly kindly, that while he ‘liked what I do (pray Holy Rosary with dear residents), most certainly it was not for him), was visibly moved and shaken.

Seeing his dear Mom in her final moments definitely granting him pause. Her final gift to him before taking her well earned leave. God is great all the time!! 

Sublime gift to all of us present. Unforgettable!! Heaven exists!!

Back to that invaluable ice cream! Colette and her daughter having been food shopping were enjoying ice cream and noticing me walk along, decided to hand an ice cream out of the car window to me in the midst of traffic. Snap decision ! All part of the Master’s plan.

Uplifting Faith-filled tale of kindness, joy, love and all all that is good, gifted to our hearts from above!! Ain’t no High like the Most High!!

‘If you pray well, you will live well and if you live well, you will die well’. (St. Augustine)

Every Thursday morning, Legion of Mary meeting over, I gift our alter flowers to whoever comes my way. This morning’s flowers tattered and bereft, some Legion members of the opinion that they were not fit for ‘passing on’. However, I know that Mother Mary blesses our flowers no matter what state they are in. Our time of prayer in Her company bestows myriad graces and blessings.

Rain bucketing down, I encounter Eileen. Yes, she would like my flowers please and then, after a short pause, utters: ‘Last night I asked our Blessed Mother to please help me’ and now, this morning, She gifts me flowers. All is well’.

Our Mother Mary flowers never go astray. Many Thursdays, many stories. Like the distraught lady who had just been informed that her son’s marriage had broken down and so many more.

Loved African gentleman’s reply as I complimented his amazing tiling work in our Church. Throwing his arms up in praise: ‘Tis God doing’. Allelulia!! 

The yield of doing what we are meant to be doing is sheer joy!

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. On each occasion 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’.