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Home / 2015 / January / 03

Day: January 3 2015

The Mystery of Second Sunday after Christmas

January 3 2015 Blog

Now the busyness of Christmas is winding down, there’s time today to stop. And to wonder at the mystery.
Pádraig McCarthy

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1 comments
Jim Cogley: Reflections Tues 23rd April – Mon 29th April
April 22 2024
veronicafrancesclerkin
Thank you so very much for reflections. May the Holy Spirit continue to inspire you.
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3 comments
Seán Walsh: Pen Pal
April 18 2024
Sean O’Conaill
The wisdom of innocence? As for myself in the 1950s I was imagining huge trout in the dark pool in the Dodder below Templeogue bridge, and catching them only when I was fast asleep. I was never happier than when fishing the Dodder, usually fruitlessly, in hope. And later when in Wordsworth’s lines near Tintern Abbey I read ‘the sounding cataract haunted me like a passion’ I recognised myself.
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1 comments
Séamus Ahearne: ‘The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.’ (Thomas Gray).
April 16 2024
Paddy Ferry
Séamus, that lovely first verse of Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard brought back a lovely memory for me. But, first of all, I must agree completely with what you have to say about that scene in the Dáil. It was indeed a shameful and unfortunate spectacle. I think Brendan has also spoken about it. And, I have to say there are still those in your Scottish parishes who would say that you are the best priest they ever knew. We did part of Gray's poem for our Inter or Leaving, I can't remember which now. But, of course, it's that wonderful first verse that we remember for ever. And, so, to my memory. Having left the library one evening in Earlsfort Terrace during my student days I was sitting relaxing and deep in thought in the otherwise empty foyer just outside the Great Hall -- now the National Concert Hall -- when I heard footsteps coming along from what was then the anatomy department. It was Prof. Don Hingerty, Professor of Biochemistry, whose specialty was endocrinology and metabolism. He stopped in front of me in this quiet, deserted evening space and began: "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me". And then departed with a simple "Good evening, Mr. Ferry, take care of yourself." Now Don Hingerty was no ordinary professor. He was such a brilliant teacher -- one of the two best teachers that I ever came across -- and an absolutely lovely human being. His part of the course came quite near the end of the university year, late April, I think when time for revision was of the essence. And his lectures were so excellent that you only needed good notes from his lectures and nothing much else was required. My final academic memory with him was in my biochemistry oral which was out in Belfield. Such was the nature of the man that he asked me what I would wish that he would examine me on and such was my self confidence following his excellent teaching that I told him that he could decide. I still remember well that he examined me on carbohydrate metabolism and it went really well. So, Séamus thank you for stirring that memory of Don Hingerty one quiet, spring evening in Earlsfort Terrace. I had not thought of it for years. Some may remember him as an Irish Rugby Internationalist who did something special in a match against England. I wonder is he still with us, probably not. But I am so happy to share these memories tonight of a really wonderful man.
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21 April 2024 – 4th Sunday of Easter (B)
April 21 2024
Thara Benedicta
Key Message: Am I a sheep or a shepherd? Homily: In one of the churches I found the choir master was a young ninth grade student. During the choir practice, he liked a particular song and said from his heart, "I grew up with this song". Then he looked at the 6th grade cantor for that day and said, "Both of us have been growing up with this song". All the elder choir members appreciated this young choir master's comment and were very happy that the future church is building up!! My initial thoughts on this ninth grader was "He is a good sheep". But now I am seeing him as "a future shepherd". Our Lord Jesus, the good shepherd, ordains the ministry of shepherding His own flock to few of His sheep. All the Apostles were sheep turned into shepherds. Like this young choir master, God has blessed all of us with great good plans for our lives. Are we fulfilling our call completely? Testimony - "I received God's call in my life and I am trying to fulfil it. But I am not able to do all that my Jesus is asking me to do completely. So I felt discouraged and this was stressing me out. I prayed to our Lord Jesus to show me what is lacking in me. Then our Lord clearly showed me that the devil is constantly trying to distract me by placing other thoughts in my mind. He was distracting me a lot and I was losing my initiative and interest". In today's Gospel reading also our Lord Jesus tells us the same thing - God had made a good plan for each one of us. As said in Jeremaiah - it is a plan only to prosper us. Not to harm us. But the enemy sets up his own plan for us to steal the good blessings of God in our life, to kill us and only to destroy us. The enemy does many tricks for stealing the good life God has ordained us with. What are the ways the enemy tricks us? Disobedience: When God created Heaven and the earth, God found everything was good. But the devil placed the tree of good and evil in the garden. Then God tells His children "Do not eat from this tree". The devil tempted and both Adam and Eve fell into sin. God our Father will then search for Adam and Eve sadly, "Where are you?" God our Father knows that His little Adam and Eve are behind the bush. He did not require an iPhone tracker to spot them out. But the Bible says that sin separates us from God. So this sin of obedience separated Adam and Eve from God and also the life without hard work for Adam and childbirth without pain for Eve. Our Shepherd's solution: Sweetly obey!! Testimony: "Because of my many downfalls due to disobedience, I realised that whatever God is asking me to do is only for my good and that is the best way. So every time I hear from God, I fear that something bad will happen if I do not obey God's voice and obey His voice." Procrastination: It is the thought, "Let me do it at a later time". This never works out. Our Shepherd's solution: Do it. Do not delay it. Testimony: "When I do my jobs immediately, I get lots of mental peace. I am able to be at rest internally, while I am able to handle huge pressures externally." Sorrow: The devil fills us with sorrow. The people filled with evil spirits are not happy. They are always in agony. Our Shepherd's solution: I have come to give you joy, abundantly. Have we seen any sad saints? Fear: The devil uses "fear" as one of the main tools. There are other tools like jealousy, gossip, telling lies and so on. All these can be overcome by a soul who is constantly trying to overcome the negative characteristics. But fear is something we do not recognise as our evil inclination. But it leads us to utmost failures. In today's world, loneliness tends to induce fear in people. Lonely people who are affected by fear tend to watch lots of movies, sleep in broad daylight, always keep them in the company of people, keep calling up people and talking with them. Our Shepherd's solution: "Fear not. For I am with you" Why did our Lord Jesus repeatedly remind us "Fear not. For I am with you"? It is because when we fear, we cannot do anything. When Noah was building the ark, all the other fellow humans mocked him. This is what the devil does. The devil makes his own ways to discourage us. But he continued to build the ark, irrespective of what others comment about him. This requires great courage resulting from the understanding that God will take care. Can we imagine a frightened sheep in the hands of our Lord Jesus the shepherd? No. Then why do we live like a frightened sheep in the hands of Lord Jesus, our shepherd? This question gave me a great clarity of who we are and in whose hands we are present. This vanishes all our fears. God always takes the first step in calling us. Like how He called the prophets during Old Testament times, Apostles during New Testament times, He selectively handpicks His priests and nuns during our current times. All His selected Apostles and prophets were normal human beings with lots of human weakness. But still they accomplished their shepherd jobs perfectly. All their contribution was the surrender of their will to God. Our Lord Jesus already knows our weakness also. So let us love and serve Him confidently!! Let us not worry if we are His imperfect sheep. His present sheep are His future shepherds!!
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