‘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)