Saturday, March 27, 2021

FRIENDSHIP

The gift of a good friend is something to be treasured always.  And especially, the ability to be a good friend puts life and meaning into our lives.

Of course, the true value of friendship begins with our spiritual self and the efforts we make to develop our relationship with God, our Father.

This can help us to have the right disposition when we are making efforts to be a good friend with another.  Do we just act as our natural self, or do we allow our spiritual self, which is encompassed with virtues of faith, hope and charity to become uppermost in the efforts we make to be a true friend?

The more aware we are of our spiritual self and our relationship with God, our Father, the more enriched we become with love and patience and kindness.  We become a true child of God and allow His love to shine through us.



Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Feast of our Lady

 Whenever we admire and love someone, we want to express ourselves and let them know that we care.  In this way, our feelings and love will develop and grow.

Our Lady may not be known to everybody, yet those who have the good fortune to know and experience her love, will want to admire and celebrate her special days.  Tomorrow, 25th March is such a day.

A mother's love is special, and when it is the Mother of God who is showing her love for us, then we are moved and want to express our love for her.

Love demands a response, a positive acknowledgement of how we are moved by love, and want to reciprocate the joy of love itself.



Thursday, March 18, 2021

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

We celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick on the 17th March each year; a quiet display this year because of Covid-19, yet wonderful virtual displays to show we remember.

And a good question to ask ourselves, what do we remember?  Is it a story of a young man who was a slave, managed to escape and return to his home. Then later, inspired by God to return to Ireland and share his Faith with us, or is it more?

These days, with no public Mass being celebrated, and a virus pandemic keeping us at distance from each other, our need for our Faith is at a crisis point. Perhaps, more than ever, we begin to realize our desperate need for spiritual encouragement.

What can we do to regain the Faith of our Fathers?  Saint Patrick has done his job for Ireland, now what can we do?  What can I do?  If one truly believes in the gift of Faith received, then the answer is to share our Faith in everyway we can. 

How we think / how we speak / how we write / how we act / to become like Patrick, a person willing and able to share the gift of Faith!



Thursday, March 11, 2021

A MOTHER'S LOVE

  1.  History presents us with many stories of women of great qualities and courage.  They were willing to stand out above the norm and respond to their voice,, guiding and prompting them to speak out for Truth and Liberty.
  2. Countess Markievicz comes to mind.  She was an aristocrat, well educated and in a position where she could live a life of ease.  Why bother with the pains and woes of others?  She made her choice to stand with the Freedom fighters of Ireland, which almost cost her death; subjected to imprisonment and degraded for stepping out of line. A true hero.
  3. Then we have in bygone days, Saint Brigid, another woman who cared for her people and worked to establish a spiritual and caring future for the people of Ireland.
  4. These great ladies enthrall me, and yet the woman that I am thinking of with heartfelt love and gratitude is my mother, who worked hard to provide a comfortable home for her husband and eight children.
  5. I only really got to know her as a person, when she became ill and had to spend time in hospital. I was young and my thoughts were centered on why did she have to stay away from us?  Surely, the doctors could make her well again?
  6. Her journey through pain made me realize how difficult it was for her, saying  goodbye to us when we came to visit and hiding her tears.
  7. What a joy when she came home again. I learned to appreciate and believe that a mother's love is the best love in the whole world.


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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

MOTIVATION

 The power of Motivation is an amazing encouragement.  Once we feel motivated to do something, we step away from our fears and insecurities.  We can and we will succeed.

It is a good thing to know how to become motivated, and recognize the barriers that might prevent us from being true to ourselves, and follow our dreams.

For me, the lives of the Saints and People of Vision help me to see beyond myself, and to aim at stretching whatever talents I believe I have.

Perhaps a good guideline can be found in asking the question:  What do I want to do, to achieve, to move forward in life?

If we have a talent for something, whatever it might be, put it on the top of our List! This will motivate us, and no worries.  We may not be able to succeed, or become a Rocket Scientist, yet can always reach for the Stars!




Friday, March 5, 2021

VULNERABLE

 Being vulnerable is not a choice one would make with deliberation, and yet each time we allow ourselves to love, we become vulnerable; open to being hurt. 

We open our heart to someone we care about, and enter into their world. This is a wonderful thing to do, to share our inner self with another.  However, take care.

How we look at life can be different to how others see things. Dialogue and patience is needed so we can learn to understand and grow in love.

This is what courtship is all about, learning to be comfortable in another person's world. We are so unique, each one of us, with the ability to become compatible with another, and to learn the greatest of all lessons, the ability to love.