Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

I remember after my first Religious Profession being asked by our then Superior General where I saw myself in five years and I responded that I was open to ‘be a missionary’ , to go wherever I was needed, even to the new foundation which was being considered at that time in a particularly cold climate! However, she was quick to assure me that my mission was in the ‘green fields of Ireland!’ I had just spent four years in Italy and whilst the mission at that time was in Ireland, it would later bring me to other countries – Poland, Vatican City, Italy again and then Canada.   During those years abroad from Ireland, I never really saw myself as a missionary, just living in a different country carrying out the ministry associated with our charism as Disciples. And yet here I am, 30 years later, a religious, and not a ‘missionary’! Or am I? So what’s that difference, you may ask?   What makes a missionary a missionary? When are we ‘on mission’ or ‘on the missions’? One of the ...

  I recently have started to contribute some articles for Shalom Magazine.  The first one is about beauty and Christian life. You might be interested in the digital version here :  Image from Shalom website.

  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, your mind and your neighbour as yourself." (today's Gospel). As we come to terms with the sudden and tragic passing of the legend that is Sr. Bernard, from the Sisters of Mercy in Athlone, I can't help but think that she really lived today's Gospel. She loved God in everything she did and said and she loved her neighbour. The people of Athlone can give first hand witness to the goodness and kindness that she gave to so many, especially after she retired from teaching where she visited the sick, the elderly and those who lived alone. Over the course of her 50 years in Athlone, I'd say hardly a family from the town and the surroundings didn't know who Sr. Bernard was! For many of us, she was our teacher, our principal, our choir mistress (who remembers belting out 'Hail Glorious St. Patrick' or 'Céad Míle Fáilte Romhat' in preparation for St. Patrick's Day in her Pri...