Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

'Pray without ceasing' Over the past few days I have been ever more conscious of the beautiful ministry of intercessory prayer which I am called to as a Disciple of the Divine Master. There have been many prayer requests through Twitter, Facebook, email, text, letters and general day to day encounters. Friends have lost dear ones, sickness has come to family members, families risk division. Life is hard for students, those looking for jobs or deciding to emigrate or not. Every day, I have the blessing and the mission to spend time in prayer interceding for the needs of the world. I have the chapel just a few metres from my room so I can come before Jesus in the Eucharist and ‘hold up the world in prayer’, to use an image from the liturgy of this Sunday past. In the First Reading we read how Moses' hands grew tired from being extended in prayer; so his companions Aaron and Hur put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile these same companions supported his hands, o

Newly consecrated bishop, Francis Duffy (St.Mary's Church, Athlone) Picture: Irish Independent Last Sunday, 6th of October 2013, was a day of great celebration in Athlone for the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois and the neighbouring Diocese of Elphin as the Episcopal Ordination of Francis Duffy took place at St Mary’s Church, Athlone, Co. Westmeath. The church has been serving as the Pro-Cathedral for the Diocese since the destruction of St. Mel’s Cathedral by fire in 2009. Continuing on from the previous blog, the newly consecrated Bishop, underlined strongly the value of life. Here is what he said: “The Episcopal motto I chose is from Saint John’s Gospel: ‘I have come that they may have life’.  I chose it because each human life is so important.  In thinking of life we inevitably think of those who matter to us.  Ordinary daily life, around the kitchen table, at work, at recreation, with all its joys, pressures and possibilities, is where our faith and on-going relati

Sorry this is late but it has been a busy week and mid-term exams have even started, crazy as it seems! Just wanted to share with you some blessings which I have had over this past week. Last Sunday, Life Chain was held simultaneously in more than 200 cities across Canada each year. Life Chain involves gathering at public locations for an hour on the first Sunday of October and creating a chain of people who stand and give witness to the dignity of life. It is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life individuals standing and praying for our nation and for an end to abortion.  It is a visual statement of solidarity by the Christian community that abortion kills children and that the Church supports the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. It does not involve the use of graphic images but of short phrases like "Abortion Kills Children," "Adoption - the Loving Option," "Jesus Forgives & Heals," "

“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden.” ― St. Thérèse de Lisieux Today is one of my favourite feastdays, feast of St. Thérèse, also known as the Little Flower! I know it is predictable but one of my favourite spiritual books is the ‘Story of a Soul’ which I came across as a teenager.Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint and found in her short life more inspiration for own lives than in volumes by theologians. Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, publis