Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

As the year's final sands fall swiftly through the narrow hip of the glass, teasing me that they are speeding up: Let me find a wayside bench where I can rest and reflect- just a few seconds for each month of the year past. Let me feel again the heart moment that mattered most. Let me think back to before the problem was solved, the decision made. Let me recall the faces and voices that meant much, that cared for me, drew me on, restrained me with love. Let me be grateful for those who, by giving me some unwittingly difficult word, wounded and saved me. Let me remember the places where good things happened, where there was refreshment, delight and social joy. Let me recall treats and feasts, visits and encounters. Let me recall where radiance was. Let me be grateful for the good days, the good people, the good times. Let me visit once more the shadows and shades of sad or benighted minutes and days, the hours when purpose was eclipsed, the moments where I met hos

"The family: we were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing chickenpox and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma Bombeck During these days of the Christmas season, most of us are blessed to be able to spend a little more time with our families. See this time for what it is: a blessing. Sometimes that can be a difficult task. But God asks us to look not for reasons to complain, but for reasons to praise and to number our blessings, not our difficulties. Find those reasons. Count your blessings and praise and thank God for all of them - especially for your families. Remember always that the family is the oldest of human institutions and is God's most basic building-block for the building up of his Ki

Mary carries the Word Advent is the season where God waits for the love of his children. He waits, silently, patiently for the moment of grace until the chronos of life (our time) becomes impregnated with his kairos (God’s time), the Word becomes flesh! During Advent we reflect on Jesus in the womb of Mary, growing slowly, silently and invisibly, present even though invisible. Mary is an Advent woman, a woman very dear to my heart. A woman of life, a woman for life, every fibre of her being says ‘Yes’ to carry Jesus in her womb. Today, 12th of December, we celebrate a beautiful Marian feastday which celebrates the gift of life, that of our Lady of Guadalupe. On the 12th of December 1531, our Lady appeared to an Indian named Juan Diego and requested that a shrine be built and dedicated to her on the Hill of Tepeyac. Juan Diego, upon reporting this event to the bishop, was disappointed because the bishop didn't seem to believe him. Juan returned to the place of the apparition

Advent, the season of light, is an invitation to advent each other, To bring the light of Christ into our own lives and into the lives of others We can do this in simple ways: Through the ways in which we welcome each other And through the ways we recognise the pearl in every human heart. There is a pearl in every season, a pearl in every heart. Advent God bring this pearl to birth in us as we journey to Bethlehem. Advent is a time to take God into all the areas of our lives To rejoice in our own goodness and to sing the Advent mantra of gratitude. Advent is the season that offers us the opportunity to let go; without letting go of hope. Allowing the Prince of Peace 'space' to be born again in each of us Then in our hearts we can bless the wounded places in our world, consecrate the fragile events of our society And nourish the hearts of the 'unloved and unwanted' at the altar of daily life. Let us go to our inner 'inn', the &

Nothing like a Kavanagh poem to set the Leaving Certificate flashbacks in motion.   Advent We have tested and tasted too much, lover- ... Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder. But here in the Advent-darkened room Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea Of penance will charm back the luxury Of a child's soul, we'll return to Doom The knowledge we stole but could not use. And the newness that was in every stale thing When we looked at it as children: the spirit-shocking Wonder in a black slanting Ulster hill Or the prophetic astonishment in the tedious talking Of an old fool will awake for us and bring You and me to the yard gate to watch the whins And the bog-holes, cart-tracks, old stables where Time begins. O after Christmas we'll have no need to go searching For the difference that sets an old phrase burning- We'll hear it in the whispered argument of a churning Or in the streets where the village boys are lurching. And we&