Jim Cogley: Reflections Tues 5 Nov – Mon 11 Nov 2024

It has been a great privilege to provide these daily reflections from Our Lady’s Island since the onset of Covid. Hopefully they continue to shed some light on issues and questions that we are encountering and help hold our course as we navigate our way through strange times. Their widespread use is entirely due to all of you who faithfully pass on these postings every week. So many are suffering deeply and hungering for life giving words of faith that uplift and encourage. From so many emails received, your generosity in sharing the reflections is greatly appreciated and so many describe them as a lifeline. Please pass them on to as many as possible and encourage them to do the same.

Note: You can order Wood You Believe books online at jimcogley.com and tune in to services on ourladysisland.ie where recordings are also available.

This Wednesday 6^th Nov the Healing Mass will be at 3pm.

Tue 5^th Nov – Time: Chronos and Kairos

The Time Goblet

The time goblet represents two concepts of time. First there is Chronos or linear time, from which we get minutes, hours, days and weeks. Early timepieces were known as chronometers. This is reflected in the linear stem that is like a timeline. Then there is Kairos, that is God’s time, the eternal ‘now’, timelessness, or eternal time. In the piece depicted, chronological time is seen to flow into Kairos time. This is the time that is outside of all time, and so is depicted as an infinity symbol. All events happen within the framework of chronological time. However, emotions belong to the realm of Kairos. This explains why a traumatic event that happened forty years ago that was never integrated can still be experienced as a now reality. All emotions find their home in the sacred self. Suppression, that activity that we are so good at, can only consign them to the unconscious where they must wait until conditions are favourable in order to resurface and be invited into their true home.

Wed 6^th Nov – Tempus Fugit

Having now reached the 70 milestone I find it a sobering thought to consider that by far the biggest portion of my life is behind me, and just how little sand I have left in my timer. At 26, I had responsibility for just one area with 800 people, now at 70, I am being asked to look after four areas. While I would never consider retirement, except for health reasons, it certainly is not an option any longer. We priests are an endangered species! I notice that as we get older our perception of time changes and it seems to go much quicker. Rather like a toilet roll, that as it comes closer to the end it runs out all the faster! When we were children, summers felt long and Christmas and birthdays seemed very slow in coming. It feels like when we were young we were climbing up a hill and it appeared to go on forever. However, once we come to mid-life, and go over the top, we seem to gather momentum and coming closer to the end we seem to be flying. As one elderly lady said, ’Even when the minutes seem to drag the years still fly’.

Thurs 7^th Nov – Approaching eternal youthfulness

The blessing of being 70 is to know that you are not going to die young! However, it would be foolish to bury our heads in the sand and not give thought to our forthcoming demise. Our death represents a ginormous change for all of us, the leaving behind of everything that we have known and are familiar with. So, it would seem logical that here and now, by learning to gracefully adopt to change, we are getting into practice. In many cases, the older a person becomes the more they resist change and want things to remain as they always were. For myself, I like to think of the ageing process as the approach of eternal youthfulness; that as our bodies get older, our spirits grow younger. Rather than thinking of the day when my soul will leave my body, I see a time when my spirit has grown so large that it can no longer be contained within this mortal frame and so will just joyfully break free. I expect to be looking back on my body with gratitude for how it has served me so well and been the temple of my evolving spirit for so many years.

Fri 8^th Nov – No unfinished business

As the finishing line of life comes into sight there are some things I would like to have in place. I have no doubt that each of us will be invited to do a life review and this is based on almost all accounts of those who have had near death experiences as well as the Scriptures. I would want that my ‘yes’ to the Lord has been total and unconditional. Having experienced his unconditional love, I would not want my response to be any other way. I would also like to think that coming to die that there will be nothing left to do except die; that I will not be leaving behind any unfinished business. Being the very last of a family line and the last to bear the name Cogley that seems extra important. Similarly, I would like to think that when that time comes that my identity will be purely in who I am, and not in any way identified with any roles I may have played during life. Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I want to return to my God.

Sat 9^th Nov – A life review

I mentioned earlier that almost all of those who returned after a near death experience (NDE) reported going through a review of life. This was where every detail, every word, every action, and every motive behind every action, was seen in sharp focus along with the consequences of each choice. This was more an invitation to judge one’s own life than be subject to Divine judgement. During that review only two questions seem to matter, how have I loved, and what have I done with my life? A familiar saying from St John of the Cross was ‘in the end of the day we will be judged on love’. From NDE’s this would seem to be, first at least, our judgement of ourselves, with the suggestion of a final divine judgement later. For some NDE’s that review was quite harrowing as it became clear that they had spent their lives building a monument to their own ego – power, prestige, wealth and success had become their god. These were the ones who, when told that their work on earth was not complete, were more than willing to return and ensure that their lives would make a difference.

Sun 10^th Nov – The Widow’s Mite

The gospel passage of the widow’s mite brings to mind a story of a wealthy, well-to-do lady who arrived in heaven, and was being given the grand tour by an angel, before being escorted to her own quarters. They came to a fine mansion and she was told that it belonged to her former gardener. Another fabulous building was the lot of her former maid and so, with her pedigree, she really looked forward to what magnificence awaited her. The angel brought her to a very humble cottage and she was told that this was her new home. In disbelief she asked how this could be, especially since her gardener and maid had been given such grand mansions. ‘I am really,’ sorry said the angel, ‘but this was all we could provide with the money you sent on ahead.’

The widow’s mite is a story that reflects generosity of spirit. It’s a small gesture that pulsates with meaning, grabs the imagination, and immortalises itself. The spotlight is on the quality of her giving. The reading notes that she had two coins, so she could have given one and kept the other, and still be considered generous.

We can safely assume that the widow had known sadness, poverty, pain and deprivation. Life had not been kind to her; it had not turned out, as she would have hoped. The hand of faith had thrown up many curved balls that must have been hard to come to terms with. She would have been considered destitute, as there was no widow’s pension in those days. Yet here we find her with a noble and generous heart giving everything that she had to live on. Her whole life was being offered as a fragrant offering symbolised in those two small coins. This prompted Jesus to say that this lady has given more than all the rich put together.

We don’t know what happened to her afterwards but somehow, we just know that she didn’t die of starvation. This is something we can’t prove but we just know that God amply rewards generosity. So many have discovered this truth to the extent that while there are lots who can’t afford to give, these others can’t afford not to give. Apart from any financial rewards, satisfaction comes from using our resources wisely for the good of others. For example, suppose you have a few grand lying idle in a bank account. You take it for granted and it certainly doesn’t make you happy. Now suppose you take that few grand and use it to rent a house for a family who don’t have a roof over their heads. Which brings the greatest level of satisfaction and fulfilment, just having the money or when you are getting into bed and turning on the electric blanket, knowing that a number of people can do the same, as a result of having used your money wisely. It’s very easy to forget that everything we have is just on loan and that one day we will be held accountable for how we have used the resources that were at our disposal. There are so many who come in for a windfall from a legacy or property deal and are so blinded by a sense of entitlement that they never consider giving a decent percentage to a homeless charity. As a parent which would you consider more important; to leave 50 grand to your children which they may not need, or the legacy of you having shown them how to be generous?

The fact that God rewards a generous giver is something we cannot scientifically prove and neither can we prove something else that is also true. That is the more we give the more we discover what we have to give, and not only are those who receive enriched, but so also are those who give.

Finally, giving and receiving are just two sides of the one coin, so even if we are good at the giving, then are we equally good at receiving? Some of us are very good at giving to anyone who asks for our help but when we are in trouble ourselves, how good are we at asking for help? It takes generosity to give, while it takes humility to receive. Where do we stand in relation to both? If I am a good giver, am I equally a good receiver?

To love our neighbour as we love ourselves translates as, give generously and receive graciously.

Mon 11^th Nov – Everything to look forward to

For some reason, the fear of death prevents many from fully living and it makes sense that if I have not fully lived I will find it hard to fully die. For myself I would like to think that my excitement at the thought of passing over would deepen with each passing year that I have left. If we were to truly contemplate all that God has in store for those who love Him why should our joy and expectancy not be unbounded? ‘If no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, nor has it entered the heart of man what things God has prepared,’ then what a glorious prospect, and why should we fear? What I have sensed in my spirit throughout my life bears witness to this. So does the testimony of countless thousands from many different belief systems who have passed over and returned. The sense of overwhelming bliss made it very difficult for them to come back, and the most common report is that when it does happen eventually, it is something to be greatly looked forward to, with no need for fear. Many speak of it as ‘a seamless transition that is a coming home not just to your God but to your true self.’ So, what is death then but falling into the arms of God’s love where we find the wonder of who we are and always will be.