Jim Cogley’s Reflections: Tues 11 Aug – Mon 17 Aug 2026

Our annual Pilgrimage season opens here in Lady’s Island on next Saturday Aug 15. Below is the schedule. You might like to pay a visit or to bring a group for an afternoon or evening. If so just book with Helen on the number given.

Our Lady’s Island – Pilgrimage 2026 

Saturday 15 August

Opening with Bishop Ger Nash – Mass 3pm followed by Rosary Procession

Sunday August 16

Mass of Healing 3pm – Blessing of the Sick – 3pm – Fr Jim Cogley

Sunday 23 August

Mass 3pm – Testimony and Song with Michael Flood, Tenor

Sunday August 30 

Mass 3pm – Outdoor on Island

The Acceptance of What Is

Tuesday 1 Sept 7.30pm Ecumenical Service 

Wednesday 2 September – A Time to Heal – 7.30pm

Sunday 6 September

Remembering our Loved Ones – Mass 3pm 

Tuesday 8 September – 3pm Mass in Church

Closing of Pilgrimage Mass at 7pm with Torchlight Procession

Daily Mass during season will be at 3pm & 7.30pm in Church

Prayer around the Cross on Fridays after 7.30pm Mass

Blessing of the Sick each Wednesday & Friday after 3pm Mass

Musicians will be taking part in daily Masses

along with invited speakers

Parishes and Organisations are invited to come for individual pilgrimages 

(Prior Booking) – 087-7569638

Coffee Shop and Gift Shop staffed by voluntary workers

open daily during Pilgrimage

Web-Cam will be available from Island Altar – ourladysisland.ie 

Enquiries: Helen on 0877569638 

Director of Pilgrimage: Fr Jim Cogley PP Lady’s Island Phone 086-2471063.

Tues 11 August – Perspective

9

On the page is the figure nine, or is it? Viewed from the bottom it certainly is a nine but from the top it’s a six. It’s all a matter of perspective, where I am looking at the figure from. The way we see reality is always from our unique perspective and problems arise when others don’t, or can’t see it our way. Even the way three people describe an event can be so entirely different to the point one might wonder if they were all witnessing the same thing. How many misunderstandings arise simply because of this, how many legal disputes would be unnecessary if only we understood this better. What I see is my truth and what the other sees is theirs. From my perspective they are outright liars while from theirs I am the one lying. This is why there are three sides to every story: there’s yours and there’s mine and then there’s the truth!

Wed 12 August – Listening in the Others Shoes

Communication and good listening are essential for relationships to develop. To be able to communicate one’s truth to another is so important but it is equally important for the other party to listen to what is being said from my perspective. Should that person fail to stand in my shoes and hear my side of the story he or she will slip into a judgemental mode that will completely block all attempts at self-revelation. This of course has to work both ways. An old Indian piece of wisdom is never to judge another until you have walked a mile in their moccasins. To be in that non-judgemental place for listening to happen is the ideal and it is usually where we begin. However, walking in another’s shoes can be quite uncomfortable and after a short time I revert back to what I am more familiar with. Non-judgemental listening is an art that has to be sustained.

Thurs 13 Aug – Same but Different

Duck or Rabbit

The piece shown is a good example of perspective and the entirely different ways we can look at something. Viewed from one way it is a duck while from another it is a rabbit. So, it can be seen as either one or the other or even both. The way we see something determines entirely what we do with it. Many will look on a difficult childhood and blame this on the misery of their adult lives. Others will choose not to allow the past to hold them back but to bring it with them in some positive manner. Many of the best grief counsellors grew up with sadness and loss. Some with horrendous childhoods put their experience to good use in working with troubled kids or teenagers. Similarly, there are those who have been the victims of sexual abuse who have worked through their trauma and are now the best in that field of expertise.

Fri 14 Aug – Positives in the Negative

Usually, it takes quite a lot of time before we can see the positive that is concealed in the negative. Yet our lives will be determined not so much by what happened to us but more so by how we responded and what we did with what happened. For far too many, painful events that carry so much potential for growth and development are relegated to the realm of the unconscious and while they appear to be out of sight they still continue to affect us in ways that are hidden in plain sight. In my own story, the close shave my mother had with death when I was ten and the sudden death of my father a year later, lay dormant for at least another decade until I began to unpack and revisit those painful emotional memories. Now I can really appreciate how they impacted on my spiritual journey and in a very positive manner.

 Sat 15 Aug – Featuring a Defect

The photo shows one of my very earliest pieces of woodturning. While it was originally intended to be just a vase made of yew it turned out to be an accidental example of perspective. This is one I have used to good effect with groups of both young and old. Working with the piece what emerged was a serious defect in the wood that could easily have caused it to be discarded. Then with careful handling the defect was so incorporated into the overall design that it came to be classed as a feature that made the piece look even more attractive. In using the piece for teaching purposes, I usually ask the question what do you see and the answer is ‘a vase with a feature’. The next question is what it was initially and the answer is ‘a defect’. Now the defect is still there but with the work that has been done it can now only be seen as a feature.

Sun 16 Aug – Syrophoenician Woman

A lot of towns mentioned in the Bible are now reduced to a state of ruins. The two towns mentioned today Tyre and Sidon are an exception and can be found on the coast of Lebanon that much troubled part of the world. Christ probably withdrew there because of opposition from the Jewish authorities. Obviously, his reputation as a healer had gone before him and so he is confronted by this pagan woman whose daughter was tormented by a devil.

He responds to her in a most uncharacteristic manner. First is silence, he answers her not a word. Then when she keeps shouting, he says, ‘He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ At this stage she is kneeling at his feet and still pleading for an answer. He then gives her a mini parable saying, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’. It was normal for the dogs to gather close to the children because of their sloppy eating habits and in Jewish culture the pagans were known as the ‘dogs’. So, it looks as if he is not being very nice or even courteous to her. Not to be put off she plays with his response and replies, ‘Ah, yes sir but even the housedogs can eat the scraps that fall from the master’s table’.

Up to this point he had only seen her persistence but now he recognizes her faith. It is this remarkable faith that touches his soul and suddenly he realizes that she has something important to teach him. Up to this point he only understood his mission as to the lost sheep of the House of Israel but now this woman made him realize that his mission was much broader and to everyone. So after he compliments her for her faith what else can he do but grant her request and from that moment her daughter became well again. 

Again and again in the Scriptures we find that faith is the vital ingredient that opens the door for miracles to happen. Sometimes it’s a place with a faith environment like Lourdes, Medjugorje, Knock or Lady’s Island that offers the right energy for healing to take place. Still, it is our faith that is all important. Faith is not to be confused with a set of beliefs that we can take or leave. It has a lor more to do with trust and letting go.

Two anacronyms useful for faith are: Fantastic Adventure in Trusting Him and the other is Forsaking All I Trust Him. Both of those capture the essence of faith and are each about letting go in a spirit of trust. Trust too is all important because when we ask for something and there’s a delay in the answer our faith gets tested. So Trust too can be understood in terms of an anacronym where we use the first letters to expand the meaning of the word. Trust them could stand for ‘Totally Reliant Upon Saviours Timing.’

God’s way of answering our prayers can be very different to ours and according to a different timescale. If we do exercise faith and trust than we can have Hope and this too can be understood as, Holding Only Positive Expectations.

So, it is in that spirit of Faith Trust and Hope that we offer our prayers for healing.

Monday 17 Aug – Problems or Solutions – The Faith Stance

The Bible in Romans 8 offers a very challenging perspective when it invites us to see that ‘God works everything for the good for those who love Him.’ It takes a faith perspective not to see problems but always solutions. We easily forget that to live a life of faith is to always be fundamentally optimistic. To treat a stumbling block as a steppingstone is itself a faith step. To believe that God doesn’t close one door without opening another is also an attitude of faith that may give recognition as to how difficult we find the corridors! To see a disappointment as a divine appointment may take time but it is a faith attitude that allows that to unfold. Finally to stand at the grave of a loved one and see death not just as an end but as a new beginning is faith at its best.