Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Somewhere there must be a ray of light that dispels the darkness of the future, a hope that does not permit itself to be slain by disenchantment, a faith that does not lose immediately faith in itself. Somewhere there must be an innocent child that demons have not conquered, a freshness of life which does not emanate rottenness, a happiness not founded on the misfortune of others. Somewhere there must be a wise wake-up call that alerts one to the dangers of self-destructing games, a gravity that one dares take seriously and a goodness whose root is not simply restrained evil. Somewhere there must be a beauty that continues to be beauty, a pure conscience that does not hide a solitary crime; there must be a love for life that does not speak an ambiguous language and a freedom that does not rely on the oppression of others. Maria Wine

Let the people be cherished.  Let the stories be told.  Let the truth be heard.  Let the pain discomfort us.  Let the hurt be held gently but firmly in the sacred space of healing and resolve.  Let our hearts be infinite abysses of love and compassion.  Let our lips speak when needed and hush when it's necessary.  Let our eyes be opened to the blindness which enveloped our Church, our society, our country.  Let our ears hear with kindness and commitment, our response be of promise.  Above all, let it never happen again.  #motherandbabyhomes #KyrieEleison

"And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” You are God’s beloved. That word “beloved" means every inch of what it sounds like. In Greek it is, “agapetos” which means “loved with agape” – loved with a love that is deep, active, self-sacrificing and absolutely unconditional. This is a love that doesn’t have to be earned. This is a deep love that just is .God gives us life and unconditional love. We are told to give God – nothing. Nothing is demanded of us before or after in return. There is nothing we can do that will cause God to stop loving us. Nothing will cause that love to be taken away. Instead we get an invitation, one that we are free to embrace or ignore. God invites us just to trust in the gift, to trust in the active, unconditional love God has for each one of us. Just to trust in it. Happy feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the day where we recall our own Baptism, where we became part of a community of Christ, as be...

On New Year's Eve, as the world prepared to bid goodbye to a very difficult year of 2020, in Ireland, many sat down in the comfort of their homes to watch some TV, hoping for something uplifting, hope-filled, positive to welcome in 2021. However, our national broadcaster RTE decided, once more, to reduce to 'comedy' our faith as Catholics and as Christians with a blasphemous clip about God and the Blessed Mother. It was deemed as satirical to accuse 'God of raping a migrant girl (Mary).' This clip made little of our faith, our beliefs, of Christmas, of the solemn feast of Mary, Mother of God. Equally importantly, it made little of rape, with little thought for women and men who have been through this horrific ordeal.  It made little of migrants who may have had to flee their homelands and often put themselves in dangerous situations where they risked being trafficked or used. The skit was supposed to be a parody but it shone a light once more on how our national bro...

  "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 If this past year has taught us one thing, it is  that family is important! The ordinariness of visiting families, giving and receiving hugs, of being able to say goodbye to loved one when they passed, all became rarer because of the inability to travel, to meet, to gather in numbers. During these days of the Christmas season, with the restrictions of COVID-19, not everyone has been able to spend a  little time with families. For some it is simply not safe to gather, there are travel restrictions or curfews, others are on the front line of fighting the pandemic and cannot put fam...

When restrictions for Level 5 were announced in Ireland at the end of October, headlines in the newspapers the next day carried phrases like: “6 weeks to save Christmas” or   “ Ireland has six weeks to save Christmas in order to have December joy”, or ‘Will Christmas be cancelled?” It sounded like a plotline from Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Grinch Stole Christmas.” As I reflected, I thought, “We cannot save Christmas”, rather it is ‘Christmas that saves us”. If we go back to the reason for the season, it is Jesus. Jesus, the Emmanuel, Jesus our Saviour, Jesus the Child of Bethlehem. This year, we are being called to celebrate a simple Christmas, one which this year for many reasons, resembles the first one 2000 years ago. And that’s okay- our faith, our family, our friends, gratitude for life,   memories of those who are not around the Christmas table this year, for different reasons- in the sacred space of the Word made Flesh, we are grateful. We are called to live simply this Chr...

In both our readings today, we see people crying. As Jesus comes in sight of the city of Jerusalem, he 'sheds tears over it' because of the inability of its inhabitants to welcome the message of peace. Today we read in the Book of the Apocalypse that John 'wept bitterly' because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it. This is the awareness of the human condition which limits us from that fulness of life which God continually offers to each of us.  Revelation 21: 4 reminds us that ‘God will wipe away every tear’ yet Psalm 80:5 says that the Lord ‘has fed them with the bread of tears and made them to drink tears in large measure.” So which is it? Does God want to console us when we are hurting or does he want to make us cry?   We cry because we are sad or fed-up. We cry because we are hurt and lonely. We cry because we have been betrayed or disillusioned. We cry because we have regret, we wonder why, how, where, what. We cry because...sometimes we don't e...