Empathy.🌿

She remembers my name, a friendship in the making. Two weeks ago they arrived in our town - Refugees with no other option than to flee for their lives from their own homes in war-torn Syria and elsewhere. Many changes happening here, now the whole town is silent, everything has ground to a halt.

We mention the Corona Pandemic, we agree the our world is suffering greatly. For the longest time it seemed like we were the only ones, she says. Yes, I reply, ‘We  prayed for Syria, we watched you on our television screens, we felt sorry for you. We could switch channels though, we could close our eyes and continue on our merry way’. ‘Yes’, she said. ‘It felt like no one really cared’.

Let us pray for each other, we both said, almost in unison, a distinct feeling of ‘Empathy’ in the air. On the pier, the once used lobster pots stood forlorn, unemployed.

                          ‘Now we are all in the same boat and we are all seasick’. (G.K. Chesterton)

My Guardian Angel. 😇

‘Every day, every hour we can thoughtlessly fall aside and miss the way. For this reason God gives us the Angel at our side so that at all times we may have his light as our guide’. (Mother Gabrielle)

I was being lifted onto the pavement and safety, oncoming speeding car missing me by a hair’s breadth. ‘You are my Angel, How can I thank you’. I told the young man who saved my life. ‘It is no problem’, he replied, smiling. ‘God Bless you’, I said. ‘God Bless you too’, my beautiful gentleman replied, as he walked away.

I rang my dear friend Eileen to tell her what had just happened and before I could utter one word, she said: - ‘I was just thinking this very minute, how devastated I would be if anything ever happened to you’. Not at all like Eileen to say such a thing.

That evening, Ruairi called me from Maynooth. ‘I’m delighted you’re alive’, he said. How could he possibly have known?  He didn’t!  He called to tell me that on his way from work, he visited a church and a funeral was taking place. He was flabbergasted when he noticed that the deceased lady’s name was the exact same name as mine - his Mother. I told him my story and to say we were both awestruck is most certainly an understatement! 

Thank you Father God from my deepest heart, every day I glimpse a little more, the wonder and supreme gift my precious life is. Thank you for my always vigilant angel, who never takes his eyes off me.

Thank you, dearest angel, for the occasion I speak of and many more besides. 

‘Continuously ask your angel for help, your Guardian Angel has to become your best friend’.

 (Blessed Carlo Acutis)

‘For He will give His Angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’. (Psalm 91:11-12)

‘Every day, every hour we can thoughtlessly fall aside and miss the way. For this reason, God gives us the Angel at our side, so that at all times we may have his light as our guide’. (Mother Gabriele)

 

The oak tree proud and ancient.

The oak tree proud and ancient.
The sapling thin and frail,
sway beneath the driving winds,
and bow before the gale.

Bending but not breaking,
as the storm goes raving past.
Resisting not the force and fury,
of the roaring blast.

The winds of God blow round the world,
and sorrows come to all,
but if we bow to Providence,
we shall not fail or fall.

Knowing that there is a Final Purpose to fulfil,
finding strength in yielding to -
His good and perfect Will.
Amen.

We don’t know what God knows..🎁

First winter in our creaky compact cozy cottage, visitors dropped by, unannounced. Slugs. They remained in one room only, not in the least inquisitive.  To put a substance down that would endanger them definitely not an option. I would take Mr. Slug outside in a piece of tissue, sad for his wasted arduous journey. (or maybe Mrs.Slug...🤨)

After some time lightbulb moment, I would accept them. If they would be gone on their merry way every morning then we would abide one another and so it was for some time.

Then, one day the dirt track outside our door was replaced with a pristine tarred road, complete transformation! Consequently my visitors could never again drop by, they had no choice but remain underground. Pristine tarred roads don’t impress slugs much.😌

Likewise, I am accepting my life as it is now, in this time of Corona virus, with acceptance comes peace. I keep my distance respectfully doing my utmost to be available at all times to friends and anyone who needs me, Jack and I pray Holy Rosary at the marina every afternoon. Holy Bible as opposed to news updates.

I suggest we prayerfully read Psalm 91 each day, the four Gospels at least once before we die. I share the marvellous things God has done and continues to do in my life. 

The media would want us all on high alert, worrying and fretting in these tumultuous times. My slugs taught me otherwise though, keep walking, one step in front of the other, do the next right thing.

What may seem like a wasted journey may be anything but!! Time will tell. We don’t know what God knows.🕯

‘Nothing in life is to be feared. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less’.
 (Marie Curie)

When the day is over, may I know within my heart.

 that I’ve tried to do my duty and have played my part. 

Given all I had to give and followed faithfully - 

on the path where I believed Thy Hand was leading me. 

(Patience Strong)

Corona has changed everything.🌿

Praying Holy Rosary in the beautiful sunshine on this park bench, is not that bizarre anymore, Corona has changed everything, we are living in a time of ‘forced reflection’. Praying has become acceptable, maybe even cool.

Corona is not a welcome guest in our wounded world but she has not arrived empty handed. There’s a calmness, a kindness, a caring gentleness about the place. A relaxation like never before.

‘Whatever is given can always be reimagined.’ (The Settle Bed/Seamus Heaney)

We are too concerned in these tumultuous times to waste one moment in judgement of another. We have enough to do to mind ourselves, as my dear Mom would oftentimes say, in the sunny long ago.

‘Now I am grown up and have time for nothing but the essentials’. (Thomas Merton)

“Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened “. (Alexander Solzhenitsyn said of the tragedy of the 1917 Russian Revolution)

I saw Jesus❤️

‘Oh if I could make everyone know and see how beautiful is my Jesus’. (St. Gemma Galgani))

‘We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen: for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal’. (2 Cor:4:18)

I fell asleep extremely downcast, family member in deep turmoil. Next morning, before dawn, my eyes still closed, I saw Jesus with the eyes of my heart. Even now, five years later, it seems so surreal, yet I speak the absolute truth.

His Kind Beautiful Face, His hair as it is always portrayed. His beautiful red smock-like outfit sparkling just like the Atlantic Ocean on a sunny day in my childhood. That really took my attention. ‘Our good Lord, so absolutely to be revered, makes Himself familiar and kind to us’. 

Jesus, with open Hand, pointed to my heart and back to His own Beautiful Heart. As I type these words, I am reliving that Sacred moment again. St. Margaret Mary said that when Jesus pointed to His Heart before her, He was talking about the Great Love in His Heart for each and every one of us.

My words fall short - far too short, no matter how many times I write and rewrite. ‘Words spoil anything that surpasses them’. (Cardinal Sarah). I guess some words are better left unsaid, yet I long to share that precious moment from God. Thankyou Jesus for your Beautiful Visitation, I shall follow you every day of my life.

‘I saw Jesus Christ, so gorgeous, no human heart could imagine what I saw. On God’s graceful hands and feet were the gracious wounds He suffered because He loves us. From these magnificent wounds poured out a light so great, it was stunning. It was as if all the beauty of God’s Divinity was shining through it’.

(Marguerite d’Oingt)

Holy Eucharist.🙏🏻

One single Holy Eucharist devoutly received would be ENOUGH, one Sacred Host is 100% Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. ‘It only takes one Holy Communion to make us a Saint’.                                 (St. Teresa of Avila)

Knowing our frail human nature and our ever obstinate ways, Jesus, in His wondrous kindness, came to us over and over and over again, hoping we would turn to Him. Jesus ever so gently and tenderly implored of us, He has no need of us, we add nothing to His Greatness. He loves us intensely. We were too busy, distracted, heedless.

Every Sacred Host we receive remains in our hearts forever, deepening our yearning for Jesus. Every Holy Mass we participate in, remains in our hearts forever too. We are not deprived in this time of Pandemic. The time is now to sit quietly and spend time with Jesus living in our hearts, appreciate, love and thank Him for His wonderful compassion and mercy. The running and racing is over, as my dear Mom might say.

One step towards Jesus and He will take many steps towards us. He told Saint Faustina that He did not allot just a certain amount of pardons, His Mercy is endless. The peace, the serenity, the joy, the happiness that you and I crave, will only be found in Jesus, I know this not just factually, I know it from my deepest heart. I can say without question or doubt that Jesus is my All, Holy Eucharist is my Everything. To do Your Holy Will, my Dearest Lord, is my one and only desire.

Father Leo Clifford tells us that the devil does not tempt us by telling us ‘There is no God’, our instincts tell us that God does surely exist, he gets us by telling us ‘There is no hurry’. 

Let us shut our ears to his lies, it is later than we think.

‘The Mercy of God is like an unleashed torrent, it bears all hearts in its floods’. (St. John Vianney)