I cannot attend Mass but that does not mean I am somehow distant from God writes Bairbre Cahill When I wrote a couple of weeks ago about sometimes finding prayer a struggle I could not have contemplated the situation we now find ourselves in. I know many of us share a deep loneliness that…
Ignatian spirituality, being ‘contemplative in action’ and ‘finding God in all things’ has always seemed a very good fit for my life as a busy working woman, a mother,and a laywoman. I never felt that the monastic model fitted well and I would have questioned those who offered it as a model for laypeople. Over…
We find ourselves entering the strangest Easter Triduum we have ever known. We will not gather for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the washing of feet. We will not kiss the cross. We will not light the night with paschal flames and banish the darkness as we proclaim the resurrection. There is no…
We had great plans for sacramental preparation in the parish this year some of which came to fruition and some of which we have had to set aside. We had planned three evenings during Lent for the parents of children preparing for First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion and anyone else in the parish who…
Faced with coronavirus, the question is not so much why but how can we respond as people of Faith writes Bairbre Cahill “Who do you say I am?” It is a question Jesus poses to the apostles in Mark 8:29 and which is being posed to us now too. I came across someone recently…
The past few weeks have got me thinking about Lent as a spiral journey. I’ve written before about how we learn in a spiral rather than a straight line, how we come back to things to understand them more deeply, to gain a new perspective on them or simply to be reminded of what is…
I was listening the other day to the radio and an Irish conductor was talking about being asked by Elmer Bernstein to work on the music for Martin Scorsese’s film The Age of Innocence. Things were not sounding as they should and the conductor was trying to listen intently to isolate the problem. Behind him…
I am trying to get out more to walk and to pay attention to my surroundings when I do. There is something about having a camera or a decent phone with me, I find it makes me more observant. I am looking around, seeking out beauty, noticing little things that otherwise might escape my attention.…
I am going to be doing some work over the coming months with social enterprises. A social enterprise addresses challenges or needs in the community through an entrepreneurial business approach. An example of a social enterprise could be a bakery which employs people with learning difficulties or a community venture which provides classes, activities and support…
I was walking through the carpark into the supermarket when she waved at me and said hello. Well actually it was more like “ello” which is fair enough as she was only about 18 months old, sitting in the trolley while her mum packed bags of groceries into the boot of the car. “Ello” she called…