Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

  I have a friend who always ends our skype calls with ‘It’s been good to visit with you’. I often smile to myself because it’s not really a phrase we use here in Ireland. Yet it never ceases to make me reflect. Every interaction, each phone call, WhatsApp, each text, each emoji, each video-call, is actually a visit with someone. We allow them in our lives and we are invited into theirs- we walk on the holy ground of each other's lives, let us tread gently!  This evening at the conclusion of the Marian Rosary Marathon to end the pandemic, Pope Francis asked our Lady, Un-doer of Knots  to untie 5 knots; significantly the 1st knot being that of loneliness and indifference. Whilst technology became a stronger lifeline for many during these past 18 months, we constantly are reminded that it can’t replace being actually present in person- this applies for our public worship, for our celebrating the joys and sorrows of life, for marking milestones etc.   During the pan...

Who would have thought that we would shed tears of joy and emotion as we gathered for Mass after 6 months of not gathering with friends and fellow pilgrims? Who would have thought that we would ask people not to sing 'Alleluia' but to sing in the depth of their hearts, nourishing the Resurrection cry, a burst of hope which for the moment remains silent from the assembly? Who would have thought that we would refrain from shaking the hand of another but look each other in the eye at the sign of peace- our eyes being the smile hidden behind our protective masks, an exchange of true shalom? Who would have thought that we would weep because once more we can receive Jesus in the Eucharist, our Bread of Life? Who would have thought that we would awkwardly 'elbow-bump' with each other when we meet, knowing this social convention is us silently saying to each other: "I am glad you are still alive, that the virus didn't get you? Who would have thought? No-one cou...

My Dad's garden Not a cry of distress but a reminder of a feastday we have in Ireland- May Day (1st of May).  I was thinking back to the years in primary school where we prepared May altars religiously. My Dad was a brilliant gardener and had a beautiful garden, however we weren’t allowed to pick the flowers that often! One of those few occasions was for the school May Altar when it was ‘our turn’ to bring the flowers. I was always so proud to bring in that big bunch of red homegrown roses, purple lupin, bright orange marigolds, pretty forget-me-nots, vibrant dahlias and pure white lilies. Not only did they look beautiful but the perfume would fill the classroom and the other teachers who popped in would all comment on the beautiful flowers! I remember other times when the younger kids from the neighbourhood would try and ‘borrow’ some flowers. My Dad, possessive as he was of his hybrid roses, would give in and often snip one off and give it to the...

Last Sunday we celebrated Vocation Sunday, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Whilst many homilies focussed on the call to priesthood and religious life, we need to remember that each and every one of us is called to a particular vocation in life. It is fitting to recall the words of St. Catherine of Siena, whose feastday we mark today: “ If you will be what you should be, you will set the world afire. Don’t be content with the small things: he, the Lord God, wants them great” (St. Catherine). No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’, no half measures! Don’t be contented with a mediocre life when God is holding out his hand to you to follow him in love and for love. The heart is always drawn by love”  (Dialogue 26). Love transforms everything. Christ lives in us in the measure in which we are transformed each day. Just like the tomb of Jesus is empty, nothing remains in death’s prison. Our existence is a manifestation of his love for us, won by the Cross. One of the phrases in St. Catherine's 4t...

                                              Talk for Dublin Diocesan Virtual Pilgrimage Live-streamed through the webcam at Our Lady of Victories Church, Ballymun Road, Dublin Title: St. Joseph and the Apparition at Knock Shrine. Good afternoon to all of you gathered as we continue our time of pilgrimage here in the Archdiocese of Dublin. My name is Sr. M. Louise O Rourke, I am a sister with the congregation, Disciples of the Divine Master and I serve the Diocese in the Office for Religious and Extern Priests. I have been asked to talk to you a little about the figure of St. Joseph in the Apparition of Knock. Most of us know the story of the Apparition of our Lady of Knock. On the 21st of August 1879, there was an apparition at the gable wall of the Parish Church in Knock when our Lady appeared, in the company of St. Joseph and of St. John. On the altar was Jesus the Lamb...

Mary Magdalene, what are you about, as I follow your footsteps through the gospels? You begin and you end with JESUS. I see you at Simon’s house with your perfumed oil, and I find you again at the tomb, carrying fragrant spices. What are you about Mary? You are unique in the gospels, as the one always at the feet of Jesus. At your home, where Martha busied herself. At the Cross with Our Lady.                                                                               I never find you when you are not in adoration of Him. Such faithful love did not go unnoticed. ...

 For was it not in a garden that a woman, together with a man, fell away from God?  Was it not in a garden that our first parents, after having first rejected God’s abundant love, wept?  Was it not in a garden that the expectation of death first reared its ugly head as the wages of sin? The events of Good Friday centred on a hill called Golgotha but ended in a nearby garden, where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bound Jesus’ body in linen cloths and laid it in a tomb. Once more…. A woman A garden The sound of weeping The expectation of death but…. Mary Magdalene, a daughter of Eve, turns and sees a man standing there. This man asks: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Mary supposes Him to be a gardener.  And yet, is she really that far off? Was not the first Adam—the caretaker of Eden?  Here now is Jesus—the second Adam—walking in a garden in the cool of the new day, revealing Himself to the daughter of Eve.  In response to the Gardener, M...