Thank you Holy Spirit🕊️🙏🏻

‘The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness’. (St. Gianna Molla)

Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament and Holy Mass in this unadorned Holy Church this morning. I stayed on afterwards praying Holy Rosary and Stations of the Cross in the stillness.

I nearly didn’t offer my prayer to the lady who came in but now I am so glad I did. Her car had broken down, she told me and she was waiting for her husband to rescue her. For his trouble he received my beautiful morning prayer too!

Outside, I told her about a book I saw in Church bookcase but had no way of paying for it. (As in no place to leave money). She told me that the gentleman who wrote that book leaves a copy there for free. Every time it is taken, he replaces it with another. ‘Go back in and take it’, she told me.

Thing is I spied a dainty cafe on my way to Holy Mass but had forgotten to bring my book with me. 

Thank you Holy Spirit. Your gentle prompts are always so worthwhile.

‘Act and God will act, work and He will work’. (St. Joan of Arc)

                                                                     Idyllic stroll home.☀️🌲🌴🍦

‘I have a marvellous teacher in the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit teaches me very gently what He wants from me’. (Mechthild of Magdeburg)                                            

On the road again. 🚌 🚂 🚃

Bus driver less than helpful as he bade me : ‘Pop your case up there’. I managed with a struggle. ‘He could have done better’, I told myself dejectedly. Just then guy got on and asked: ‘May I pay on the way back’ to which ‘unhelpful’ driver replied: ‘ No problem’. Next on, young girl with Downs Syndrome and again ‘unhelpful’ driver greeted her warmly. Got me thinking how often we prematurely judge another on one poor performance!

Train journey delightful as always. Guy in wheelchair with rosary beads tattooed on his wrist (he kept losing his real one!) accepted my prayer. Guy reading ‘Racing Post’, young girl and Ukrainian lady too. Scintillating conversation with university lecturer who is ‘spiritual not religious’. She placed my prayer in her bag just because she likes it. (Thing is, my seat number was in carriage F but in error I sat in carriage E. Happy mistake!)

First Tea trolley on train since lockdowns, icing on the proverbial cake!! 

Waiting on Derm in Heuston Station, I spied young lady gingerly approaching middle-aged couple. They totally ignored her and so she made her way towards me. Three security guys stood watching nearby as Esther and I chatted. Earlier I watched same three guys eject a lady from the station so I guessed Esther must be ok. She needed €20 for a hostel, in return I asked if she would pray for my family. She happily accepted my prayer too.

I don’t know if Esther needed my money for a hostel or something else but her prayer is precious, I know that for sure. I feel sorry for middle-aged couple who missed out on something beautiful. A mere ‘hello’ and €2 would have sufficed and all they would have gained! Esther may have been penniless but she was not empty handed.🎁

                                  ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want’. (Psalm 23:1)

Nan time.😀🙏🏻❤️

          The first time ever I saw your face☀️🙏🏻❤️

‘For You created my inmost being: You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Your works are wonderful. I know that full well’. (Psalm139:13-14)

                                                                 😂Watching Arsenal ⚽️ 

‘

‘I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread’. (Psalm 37:25)

 

May Day.☀️🙏🏻

 My granddaughter Aoife picked me a beautiful bunch of bluebells for Mother Mary on this first day of May, Mother Mary’s special month. As she handed them to me I said: ‘Aoife, you mean the world to me’. About to run off on her merry way she stopped for a split second to say: ‘And you mean the world to me too Nan’.

                ‘It is no small thing, when they who are so fresh from God, love us’. (Charles Dickens)
 

Sunny encounter☀️

‘Preach the Gospel with your life - without compromise’. (Catherine Doherty/Madonna House)

‘We are looking to visit your Church’, gentlemen enquired as I returned home this morning. He and his wife holidaying in our town from the Netherlands.

‘We live a secular lifestyle but actually I am a lapsed Catholic’, he told me after a while. Such honesty totally refreshing, perfect segue to my all-encompassing morning prayer. 

Lady read it aloud before happily placing it in her backpack. I offered two but they would take just one because after all - ‘We are a couple!’.

Avid reader, English teacher, gentleman highly recommended a book I will certainly purchase: ‘Irish Journal’, by Heinrich Boll. I suggested he might read a book that has had a profound impact on every aspect of my life: ‘He leadeth me’, by Fr. Walter Ciszek. (‘He leadeth me’ - Audiobook YouTube)

Another unforgettable prayer-sharing encounter, I told my Netherlands friendly folk, as we parted company. I walked on home pondering in my heart how very much poorer my life would be without my beautiful morning prayer and all it entails.

‘Know that the greatest service that man can offer to God is to help convert souls’. (St. Rose of Lima)

                                                            Diarmuid’s  Birthday today 🌺⭐️❤️

God’s Blessings..🙏🏻☀️

I begin this day and all things: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Kitty and I chatting in the sunshine as motorbikes sped past. Like I always do, I made the sign of the Cross, I blessed myself. (That is exactly what happens when we make the sign of the cross  - we give ourselves a Blessing !!)

‘Why did you do that’, Kitty asked and I told her that always I make the sign of the Cross for motorcyclists asking God to please watch over them and keep them safe. Sometimes a biker will make the sign of the Cross too in recognition of my action. 

I love Kitty’s reply: ‘I do that for aeroplanes’. Every time she hears an aeroplane in the sky, Kitty Blesses herself, invoking God’s Blessings on everyone on board..

Ambulance and fire brigade too. We make the sign of the Cross every time sirens scream. 

I love to say: ‘God Bless you’, when someone sneezes. Oftentimes folk are shocked but always grateful for a Blessing.

I learned today that oftentimes Mother Teresa would make the sign of the Cross on her lips, particularly when not sure how to respond in times of trial. Definitely something I intend to take up from now on. 

Yesterday, group of us about to have tea and scones before the meeting began, I asked: ‘Do you mind if we say Grace’. Nobody refused, in fact all were delighted with the idea. Had they refused, I would have accepted gracefully and moved on. Ask anyway!!

Almost forgot!! At the close of all telephone chats with friends and family the following prayer is always prayed:

‘O Angel of God my guardian dear. To whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day/night be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Myriad ways to lift one another up in these trying and testing times we find ourselves in. To quote John O’Donoghue: ‘Our times are desperate for meaning and belonging. May we realise our power to bless, heal and renew each other’.🙏🏻

‘No one prays for himself, not even a hermit. He exists for others….. He belongs to everyone, and so he must share not only his food but his thoughts, the graces that God may give him and above all, himself’.     (Catherine Doherty/Madonna House)

‘We shall be happy only when we know fully with both our minds and hearts - The Father who gives truth, the Son who lives this truth, and the Holy Spirit through whom we are joined to the truth’, 

(St. Agustine)

Joyful reminders🎆☀️

‘The Lord did not say: “Convert everybody”, because conversion is His gift. But He did say: “Go to everybody”. (Frank Duff)

On my way to Holy Mass this morning Mary told me that her friend Jack refers to me as: ‘The lady with wonderful colours’. Her words resonated joyfully as I recalled glorious time spent with dear Rosie. Enduring Alzheimer’s, Rosie loved when I wore bright colours, her spirits soared. Because of Rosie I continue my colourful trend, hail, rain or snow. 

Lady, new to our town told me how thrilled she is with her decision to move here permanently. ‘You are all so kind and friendly’, she uttered. Her words resonated joyfully too as I recalled how my Mom would say: ‘You are nice yourself’, every time I told her of someone’s kindness to me. I had no hesitation whatsoever passing on my Mom’s compliment to lady, we too are delighted with her decision.

Eileen brought me back beautiful Rosary beads from her trip to Lourdes. ‘They were made in the Poor Clare Convent’, she told me. Another joyful reminder for me! Seven years ago in Lourdes, I spent almost all my time in that sacred place. Holy Mass every morning. Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament every evening. Elderly priest reposing Blessed Sacrament on a white cloth delighted me as I pictured Jesus Holy Head resting on a cozy cushion. Sublime image remaining forever in my deepest heart.

My friend John dropped by, elated, having enjoyed fruitful counselling session with a good man. ‘I might write a blog’, he told me. I could honestly share with John that his blog need not be ‘word perfect’, a work of art. Offloading his story will not only hugely help him, others might benefit too.

Interesting amazing prayer-sharing today. One extremely funny encounter that can never be shared.😂.

In the economy of salvation, nothing is wasted. Every little life-event will have meaning some day, even the ones we are least proud of. All of them make up the edifice of our life here on earth, a place for everything and everything in it’s place.

Dear Lord, please bring to my mind that wise nugget, next time I cringe at yet another ridiculous thing I said or did! 

‘You can find everything you need in your relationship with me. I provide the foundation on which to build your life, and I myself am LIFE. So the closer you live to me, the more alive you will feel’.                 (Jesus Always/Sarah Young)