Ora et labora☀️🙏🏻

‘The journey towards Heaven begins in the plains, in a daily life broken and shared, spent and given, in the quiet daily gift of all that we are’. (Pope Francis)

Someone told me recently that I should not be feeding my birds. Seemingly our little hungry birds are growing too dependent and should be encouraged to fend for themselves. I am reminded too of a time when someone told my dear Mom that she should stop feeding countless hungry cats who visited our humble home daily or they they may well continue to drop by. My dear Mom did not stop, our visitor cats continued calling. I will not stop feeding my birds either. 

The idea of anybody hungry hurt my Mom deeply, me too. 

‘Don’t feed immigrants lest they continue to come and take what is rightfully ours’, scream the raucous crowd. God help us all!!

A memory dances into my heart. I was told, in no uncertain terms, to not assist a fragile lady, in floods of tears, put her stockings on. She needed to be able to do it for herself. Poor lady had a really painful arm too. I did help her of course and when someone shouted at me for doing it I replied quietly: ‘You are free to do it your way, I will do it my way’.  

Poor lady was so grateful. 

To this day, many years later, I am so glad and grateful to God for being in that place at that time. My accuser got some space that day too to rethink her not-so-kind actions.

Storm Eowyn did some serious damage to my television aerial. My Christian channels have disappeared without trace!! Multiple other channels remain. Thing is I only ever watch EWTN and other Christian channels. Strange!! More time for prayer. 

Sun is shining on delightful birds loving life in my garden as I write. Mantle of pure peace and calm covering us. I know we are truly blessed, my birds know it too. God is good all the time. 

So much unrest in our world right now. Folk frightened of what their future might bring. Easy enough to feel utterly helpless in the face of so much pain and suffering but despair does not come from God. Instead, let us do what we can while there is still time. Bloom where we are planted!,

May my life be full of prayer. May my days be full of kind deeds. Our loving Father God will do the rest as we walk hand in hand with beautiful Jesus, in glorious light of wonderful Holy Spirit, home to Heaven above. What joy!

A beautiful life is lived in imitation of Christ.

‘We are labourers, not master builders; servants, not the Messiah. We are prophets of a future that does not belong to us’. (St. Oscar Romero). 

‘Give us, O Lord, a love for You that is so pure, so holy, so devoid of self-love, so full of charity towards our neighbour and so much Your own that we will only concern ourselves with pleasing You and consoling You’. (Blessed Concepcion)

‘In the presence of the heart of Christ, I once more ask the Lord to have mercy on this suffering world in which He chose to dwell as one of us. May He pour out the treasures of His Light and Love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all; it’s heart’.                          (Pope Francis/Dilexit Nos)