Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Good news: Yesterday on the 17th anniversary of the beatification of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, we received the good news that the Pauline Family has received by decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a new liturgical memorial to be added to the Proper of the Pauline Family, namely the memorial of Pope Paul VI, to be celebrated on May 29th. Our Superior Generals of the Pauline Family wrote to us: "We all know the importance of Pope Paul VI’s magisterium for the Church, especially for his insistent invitation to bring the Gospel to the contemporary world, from the perspective of Vatican Council II. Reading his speeches and observing his pastoral practice it is evident that «the Church must come to dialogue with the world; the Church makes itself an expression, the Church makes itself a message, the Church makes itself a dialogue» (3 December 1970). The reason why this news makes us rejoice is his particular closeness to B

Author unknown- if anyone knows the origin of this- I'm happy to give it its due credit.  Lord Christ, today I saw a priest of your church weeping because of your people. What was this strange, silent grief? Was it because of some failure in your people? Or some inadequacy in the priest himself? Is there something he needs, but still lacks, for his ministry? Was there something I could give him? A book to read, a bit of theology? Or some encouragement and a friendly word? Or was it your own grief, the grief of your priesthood, that had entered his heart and broken it from the inside? When you wept over the lost sheep of Israel, was it because your priesthood was lacking, or because it was so full? Christ our shepherd, Christ our pastor, Christ our priest, have mercy on all priests of your church. Have mercy on all who have responded to your call, even when their task is beyond all human ability. Have mercy on all who have to announce your forgiveness, even when sin's burd

Unprecedented' is a word we have heard so much over these past few weeks, 'unprecedented' times, moments, events....and yet each day we are living the 'extraordinary-ordinary'. Finally we have seen ‘ordinary people’ doing ‘ordinary jobs’ being lauded in extraordinary and grateful fashion: shelf-stackers, cleaners, porters, drivers, essential good suppliers, postmen and women, the list is endless. Maybe we are beginning to see that we rely on each other so much and not be afraid to acknowledge this. Whilst we were so interconnected digitally, we forgot that we continue to be interconnected and interdependent for all these precious services which we tend to take for granted. At the moment, digital connectedness is a lifeline for so many but hopefully it won’t become the substitute for face-to-face and human interaction, care, support and kindness. Watching the ‘One World-Together at Home’ concert last night, there was a strong sense of global solidarity in ackno

Have you been to Emmaus?  Literally, I haven’t been to Emmaus. However I don't refer to the Palestinian village several miles from Jerusalem, but I refer rather to our own Emmaus, because Emmaus is the place you go when there is nowhere else to go. Emmaus is the place of lost hopes, shattered dreams, and heavy hearts. Emmaus is the place you retreat to when you are bone-tired, beaten down, and broken up by the tragedies and disappointments of life. It may be a village, but it is often a state of mind, characterised by the absence of joy, the lost sense of meaning, the frequent loneliness of the human condition, and the seeming absurdity of life. Have you been to Emmaus? It is the place you escape to when you are hurting and in need of healing, when you are crying and are in need of comfort, when you are exhausted and in need of renewal. If you have lived at all, I suspect you have been to Emmaus or maybe you are still there. The road to Emmaus is frequented by ordinarily men and

Jesus, your tomb is a tabernacle, make my life a vigil of Adoration. Bless the expectation of hope with which I approach your tomb. May the wonder of your tomb help me see beyond the limits I impose on my life. I consign to your tomb all my powerlessness and whatever makes me want to give up. At your tomb, make of my life a new beginning. Help me face whatever in me needs to die. May the sign of hope accompany me in all life's difficulties. By drawing close to you in death may I know your intimacy in my life. I leave at your tomb all my discouragement, despondency and defeat. United with you in your tomb, liberate me from all self-reliance and self-assertion. May your tomb convert me from the temptation to build monuments to self-importance and self-glory. May your open tomb free me from whatever keeps me closed in on myself. Roll away the stone of anger and resentment. Roll away the stone of indifference and lethargy. Roll away the stone of scepticism that makes

Artist: Sr. M. Elena (pddm) Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise Without delayes, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With him mayst rise: That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more, just. Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part With all thy art. The crosse taught all wood to resound his name, Who bore the same. His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key Is best to celebrate this most high day. Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song Pleasant and long: Or, since all musick is but three parts vied And multiplied, O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, And make up our defects with his sweet art. I got me flowers to straw thy way; I got me boughs off many a tree: But thou wast up by break of day, And brought’st thy sweets along with thee. The Sunne arising in the East, Though he give light, and th’ East perfume; If they should offer to contest With thy arising, they presume. Can there be any day but this

"She had known Him beautiful and glorious,with the freshness of Divine Innocence and peace upon His countenance; now she saw Him so changed and deformed that she could scarce have recognised Him .  The multitude have gone home. Calvary is left solitary and still, except that St. John and the holy women are there. Then come Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and take down from the Cross the body of Jesus, and place it in the arms of Mary." (J.H Newman)

As we journey on this Holy Week, we have arrived at the day which has come to be known as Spy Wednesday where Judas Iscariot finalises the plans which will cost Jesus his life.  Yet Jesus knew exactly who would betray but still He continued to love Judas. He cared intensely for Judas. He was discouraged. He hurt. He felt pain. He wept. He loved Judas even when Judas was enshrouded by darkness because: “the light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5). The readings which we will hear today at Mass, although heavy with the impending doom of the death of Jesus, should also bring us hope and relief.  God loves us so much.  We should be both overwhelmed by what our sinfulness has done to our relationship with God and also touched by the extremes to which God goes in order to bring us into a closer, restored relationship.  During this Holy Week, it might be good to take some time to see how at times we can 'betray' others by our words or actions, by our silence and our passi

'Conscience' by Nikolai Nikolaevich  As we journey on this Holy Week, the readings today contain a richness of which we often just scratch the surface. Today we see Jesus predict the betrayal which will cost Him his life. Often in a relationship, the betrayal is so shocking because we don't expect it, we didn't see the signs. Yet Jesus knew exactly who would betray but yet He continued to love Judas. He loved Judas even when Judas was enshrouded by darkness. “The light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5). The other disciples would betray Him in other ways but Judas could not turn back and accept the merciful love that would forgive even this most deceitful betrayal. Each one of us at some stage of our lives have had our trust broken. Often it is not easy to bounce back as we fear that a new relationship or friendship will end up the same way as soon as we let down our guard. As we journey through life we seek people to trust and who support us. We are called to do t

Meeting Pope John Paul II, 2004 Today we recall the 15th anniversary of the return home to God of Blessed John Paul II. When he came to Ireland in 1979, I viewed this historical event from the tranquility of my mother’s womb (I was born a few months after!). My father, who played the french horn in the Band of the Western Command was part of the military band for the occasion and played at the Papal Mass in Knock. So did my godfather Gerry Lacey too who wrote about this in an interview with the Westmeath Independent here . I felt I could say ‘I was there too’. Little did I know some years after I would meet JP II face to face and have the opportunity to speak to him and tell him about this little antedote. Our God is truly a God of surprises! Never in a million years did I ever contemplate being in Rome for such memorable events: the death of John Paul II, a conclave, and the consequent election of Pope Benedict XVI. I had come to Rome three years previous and as I at

Sadly we had to suspend the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in our two public Chapels but the Sisters are continuing to keep Jesus company in their private Chapel, taking turns before the Blessed Sacrament. As always we are ready to pray for you and your intentions. Thankfully there is no 'social distancing' with Jesus and we can all come and rest in Him, lay our weary heads on his heart. Sometimes you might see a priest at the time of the consecration carry out a gesture where he leans over on the altar, almost as if he was leaning on the heart of Christ. This is a beautiful thought because the most powerful heartbeat of Christ is heard when we come and receive Him in the Eucharist and sit with Him in silent Adoration before his Eucharistic presence. At the moment many cannot physically receive Jesus in the Eucharist but we can make those acts of spiritual communion inviting Jesus in our heart and acknowledging the desire to receive Him in the Eucharist when it is poss