Jim Cogley’s Weekly Recollections: Tues 19 May – Mon 25 May 2026

Wood You Believe – Seminar, Healing of Childhood Trauma and Abuse

Born out of immense suffering in the Christian Brothers Order and arising from revelations of Sexual Abuse within their schools, a significant initiative has been launched at the birthplace of their founder Blessed Edmund Rice in Callan to create a Garden of Healing. This will be 15 large Stations of the Heart sculptured in marble that will reflect essential stages of the journey towards recovery.

A unique seminar will be offered on Sat 20^th June where the models, originally made in wood, will be used to guide participants through a process of healing. It will also be an opportunity at this time of new beginnings for those taking part to refine the vision based on their own experience and create a legacy for the future.

This will be facilitated by Jim Cogley and Luba Rodzhuk from 10am to 4pm and bookings can be made to Jim Maher on 086-1276649. Early booking is advised.

Also, a five-day residential retreat will be given by Jim Cogley and Luba Rodzhuk in the Spiritan Retreat Centre in Navan June 22^nd to 26^th. This will be entitled Coming Home to Ourselves – The Healing Journey. As these events tend to fill up quickly early booking is advised on 046-9078973.

Tues 19^th May – Working for God?

What an extraordinary answer Jesus gave to the Jews who asked him ‘What must we do if we are to do the works of God?’ He said that this is working for God: ‘You must believe in the one he has sent.’ Having belief is really having faith and putting our whole trust in that person. I once heard of trust in terms of two trapeze artists who performed in a circus. They had a spectacular act where both would swing and at a certain point of momentum one would let go and fly through the air to be caught hold of by the other coming towards him. Someone enquiring about the act was told that the secret was entirely the job of one to let go and it was the job of the other to do the catching. This was a powerful illustration of what it means to have faith in Jesus. It’s our job to let go and it’s his job to catch us.

Wed 20^th May – Letting Go

If there is a secret to experiencing a sense of excitement and adventure in living the Christian life it has to be learning the art of letting go. This is the secret that is expressed in the philosophy of AA, to ‘Let go and let God’ and it really makes sense to those who have found their lives to be unmanageable and that only a higher power could restore them to sanity. Without surrender or letting go we are not really open to the voice of God simply because our way is all important. It is important to apply this truth not just to addiction but to any area of our lives that we find unmanageable and beyond our control. The acknowledgement of our weakness is always the starting point – it’s where we finally give up the struggle, accept the bankruptcy of our ego and simply let go.

Thurs 21^st May – Thy or My Will be Done?

Life divides into two classes of people; those who live the life of surrender and say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says, Okay have it your own way. If we fall into the second category the voice of God will be an affront to our ego that wants to remain in charge and so we close our minds to any form of listening. Similarly, if we fear hearing because of what we might be asked, that too will close our ears. It is true that we will always be called to what is beyond us but that is where faith comes in. The Lord will never call but he will empower and he will never lead us where he will not provide. Many of us go through life feeling that when it comes to surrender, we can only go so far and there is always a part that we hold back on. So, we use such phrases as ‘I have a long way to go when it comes to total surrender.’

Fri 22^nd May – Willing to be Made Wiling

Notice that it is the bit of ourselves not surrendered that always trips us up. However, also notice that everything is predicated upon ‘I’. It would be an enormous boost to our ego if we could surrender fully because it is we who would take the credit. Perhaps the honest thing to do is accept our inability and reluctance to surrender, and offer that to the Lord. Surrender is never about willpower, but it is about willingness. It is at this point we discover that true surrender is pure gift and if we are just willing to be made willing the Lord’s grace will do the rest. Full surrender is a place we are brought to rather than somewhere that we are capable of going to, but we do need to say ‘Yes’ to Thy will being done.

Sat 23^rd May – The Perfect Yes

We have just returned from a trip to Medjugorje and last year while taking a few moments to pray at the top of Apparition Hill I closed my eyes and the picture that came to mind was no longer the beautiful statue of Mary that stands there. Instead, it was replaced by a huge key that connected Heaven and earth and the thought of Mary being that key came to mind. For a key to work it has to fit perfectly, and I could understand that it was her perfect ‘yes’ that unlocked the treasury of Heaven. With that came the realization that while it is a huge ask, unless our ‘yes’ is also perfect it cannot be effective in opening that all important lock. This has to be the gift of pure grace because no amount of willpower will suffice. All our trying, struggling, wanting and hoping will not work. Even our most ginormous ego struggles will leave us lying flat on our faces in the mud of failure. Yet this is as it has to be before we see that surrender is entirely the work and gift of Divine Grace that alone can do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Sun 24^th May – Pentecost 26

Tongues of Fire

The first Pentecost was an amazing event that found its way into the secular history books of the time because it signified the beginning of the phenomenon we call Christianity. How could a small group of people with little or no education and even less influence, transform the then known world in the space of a few short years? When the flame of Christianity took hold it just spread like wildfire and it all started with the tongues of fire that rested on the apostles that first Pentecost

Something extraordinary happened in that Upper Room where the disciples had gathered. It was a place where initially there was more fear than courage. They were petrified that the same fate was going to befall them as had their master when suddenly something happened that transformed them into fearless witnesses, full of courage and zeal. It was literally the birthday of the Church and the ongoing ripples of that event were to spread out and have such far-reaching consequences that we are still here today because of it.

The Spirit that Jesus promised wasn’t poured out as a kickstart to get the infant church up and running. It was always part of the divine plan that every believer who accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of his or her lives would be filled with that same Spirit. The Christian life is by definition a life of union with Christ lived in the power of the Spirit. Rather than being about willpower it is about my will, yes, but working in conjunction with the power of the Spirit.

There is an incident mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles where Paul goes to the city of Ephesus where he meets with a group of the early followers of Jesus. They are a committed, prayerful, church-going people and to them he puts a strange question. ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptized?’ They look at him puzzled and reply, ‘We never even heard about the Holy Spirit’. If we were asked that question today would our answer be any different? Have we ever really heard of the Holy Spirit or grasped its significance for our lives? The Holy Spirit in our tradition has tended to be the forgotten paraclete or that mysterious holy dove that no one seems to know too much about.

Each of us here has been confirmed. This carries the presumption that we have received the Holy Spirit, but have we? I am not suggesting for one minute that God had not been true to His Word and not given the gift of His Spirit. The question is, have we received it for ourselves? For a gift to be truly gift there has to be both a giver and a receiver. Otherwise, it is just like a parcel that has arrived but was never opened. For far too long we seemed to think that because the sacrament of Confirmation was given that it had some automatic and ongoing effect in our lives. If we but look around and see the way so many who have been confirmed live their lives there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this is true. Many who are confirmed go on to live Godless lives with no Christian values.

Some years ago, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was giving a sermon on the Holy Spirit. To illustrate what he was saying he brought along a very ordinary lightbulb. ‘Each one of us’ he said ‘is like the lightbulb, we are capable of being lit up and radiating light; we have all we need to be lit up in ourselves except the power. Our task in life is to become connected to the source and to learn how to remain connected’. The Holy Spirit of course is our source of power. It doesn’t come from above but from within. The more we learn to live from that deeper place within ourselves the more enlightened and empowered we become. This is precisely what happens when we pray or meditate, we are tapping into the infinite resources of Spirit within ourselves. We are living a deeper and more meaningful life where the storms of life don’t blow us away. It’s like what Jesus said that ‘In the world you will have trouble but in me you will find peace’. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is Peace.

The Bible uses the term ‘Living in the Spirit’ quite a lot. How would we know whether or not if we are living a Spirit-filled life? One of the best indicators has to be whether we experience the fruits of the Spirit in our daily lives.

The first of these is Love. This is a love way beyond myself which fills my heart to overflowing to the extent that I want to share it with everyone that I meet.

The second is Joy; which is an inner sense of wellbeing and goes much deeper than happiness because it is not dependent on external happenings.

Then there’s Peace; which I have just mentioned.

Patience; which we certainly need in order to put up with others shortcomings.

Followed by Kindness; which is such an endearing quality in anyone.

Gentleness; which is an indicator of inner strength. Only those who are weak have to use power and be controlling of others.

Finally, we have the fruit of self-control where we are not enslaved by any form of passion or addiction. This is where we no longer see ourselves as a victim of anyone or anything but are very much in charge of our own lives. The opposite of this is where we might say I am not my own person anymore; my life is not my own or I am out of control.

Such are the fruits of the Spirit and the best indicators of living the Spirit-filled life that we are called to. Jesus did say that it was by their fruits that people would recognize his disciples, so in relation to the fruits of the Spirit just how fruitful are we?

Monday 25^th May – Surrender is the Key

Following from that revelation or insight at the Apparition Hill in Medjugorje, I shared the experience with the pilgrimage group and having located some medal-like keys in a souvenir shop I gave one to each of them. My room companion with whom I also shared the story went to confession and came back to say, “You won’t believe but the priest concluded by saying, ‘Remember, surrender is the key’”. Medjugorje I would class as a ‘thin place’ where with so much prayer taking place miracles do happen and can be seen to happen. Co-incidences that are truly ‘God incidences’ are daily occurrences and encounters happen that have far-reaching consequences. Countless lives are exposed to the grace of conversion there and many leave very different to when they arrived. Having experienced most of the usual signs associated with the place I have come to see that ‘For those who believe no signs are necessary while for those who do not believe no signs will suffice.’ In the end of the day, it’s the experience of the heart and nothing external that really matters. Moving statues may get busses moving but do they really move hearts?