Jim Cogley’s Reflections: Tues 18 Aug – Mon 24 Aug 2026

Our annual Pilgrimage season in Lady’s Island is now in full swing. You might like to pay a visit or bring a group for an afternoon or evening. If you are not familiar with the area it is a hidden gen of picturesque beauty. If interested just phone Helen on the number 087-7569638.

Sunday 23 August

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

Sunday August 30 

Mass 3pm – Outdoor on Island

Theme – 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

Director of Pilgrimage: Fr Jim Cogley PP Lady’s Island Phone 0862471063.

Tues 18 Aug – Made in God’s Image

The first chapter of the Book of Genesis makes the mind-blowing, astonishing assertion that each of us, ‘is made in the image and likeness of God’. This is something we have heard so often that it no longer shocks, challenges or has any real impact on our lives. Yet if we were to buy into the implications of this statement it would be utterly transformative and would save us untold anguish and suffering and countless hours in therapy. If God is love, then it means that my core essence is love. If God is the great creator and I am His creation then to be creative is in my very nature, (even if at times it may feel blocked). If love is my origin, then love is my calling and love is my destiny. Also, if love is my origin, then my core is original blessing and not original sin. God seeing all that He has made as being very good means that my starting point is totally positive leaving no room for feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness or not being good enough.

Wed 19 Aug – The Inner Reality

At one point in his ministry Christ sent out seventy-two of his disciples in pairs to towns and villages where he was going to visit. It was their task to prepare the ground for him. They returned jubilant saying that ‘even the demons submitted to us when we used your name’. His reply was somewhat surprising when he said, ‘Rejoice not that the demons submit to you but rather that your names are written in heaven’. In transliteration this means, ‘Do not get caught up in what is spectacular or extraordinary, these are but external manifestations of a deeper and inner reality that your names are written in heaven – that you are sons of God’. For those who live out of their divine essence external signs are no longer necessary while for those who only live at the external level no number of signs will suffice.

Thurs 20 Aug – The Sin of Doubt

It is to doubt this foundational premise of who we really are that forms the basis of the fall from Grace and consequent expulsion from the Garden. We normally associate the Fall with eating the apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. A closer reading reveals something very interesting. Up to the Fall, Adam and Eve were conferred with full dignity of being children of God. They were both human and divine. The temptation of the serpent is to doubt who they really were. ‘Did God really say… and if you eat of the tree you will become like gods?’ In other words, the great temptation was to question their divinity and think they had to do something to achieve it. Later while Christ was being tempted in the wilderness each temptation was the same, beginning with the words, ‘If you are the Son of God you will…’ In each case Christ overcame the temptation by holding his ground and quoting the truth of Scripture in rebuff.

Fri 21 Aug – Tabernacle

In the Catholic tradition believers were taught to venerate the presence of Christ in the Tabernacle. On entering a church, we bowed or genuflected and the sanctuary lamp burned continually as a constant reminder that Christ was at home. In that tradition the Tabernacle was regarded as the most sacred place in any church and all the seating was arranged in a manner that focused on that sacred place. There has been a slow growth in understanding that all of this reflected a serious imbalance in our theological understanding. Without denying the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle or on the Altar the Scriptural truth has to be spoken that Christ is also in his body and that the true dwelling place of Christ is in each human heart. It could be argued that Christ’s presence in the tabernacle serves to remind us of where he really is and where he truly deserves respect.

Sat 22 Aug – The God Up There

Church spires are something of a lie that reflect the theological thinking of their time. Certainly, they are a powerful visual reminder of the transcendent but for most believers they pointed to a God who was also transcendent – up there and needing to be reached by adherence to rules and external observations. The idea of God being Immanuel, being imminent and totally at home in the human condition has been utterly foreign to most Catholics, even to this day. It was in fact much easier to believe one was being a true Christian by holding reverence for Christ in the Church than having to recognize him in the neighbour across the road with whom I am not talking to, or when I am talking about someone it’s not so easy to say what I feel like saying when I know that he or she, like me is a tabernacle of Spirit.

Sun 23 Aug – Who do people say I am? 

A story is told of President Michael D who, while visiting a nursing home, asked one of the residents if she knew who he was. ‘I surely don’t,’ she replied, ‘but if you ask the matron, she may be able to help you’. The question posed by Jesus to his disciples was one that surrounded him always, even from his birth people were already asking who is this child and what is he going to turn out to be. In a way he is the last person who needs the answer to the question because of all people he knew exactly who he was and what his life was about. As a man in public ministry he was someone whose impact touched everyone, someone who caused a strong reaction wherever he went, both favourable and unfavourable. At the time, there were all kinds of rumours and ideas going around about him. Why is he saying the things he is saying and why is he doing the things he does? Why does he always seem to be on the side of the underdogs, the sick the poor and the oppressed?

So he himself poses the question everyone is asking. ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ It’s an easy one for the disciples to answer, ‘Some say you’re John the Baptist and others say Elijah or one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’ It would appear that they had some belief in reincarnation in those days. Then comes the bigger question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ It is only Peter who answers that one by saying, ‘You are the Christ the son of the living God.’ The word Christ is not a surname like Murphy or Kehoe but it means The Anointed One of God here on earth to fulfil a divine mission.

Applying those questions to ourselves is something we always need to do whenever the scriptures are read. Who do people say that Christ is? Having grown up in a Christian family in a Christian culture it’s relatively easy to answer with what we learned about him as we grew up. That he was born of Mary; that he grew up in Nazareth; that he worked miracles; that he died on the cross. But then the question goes much deeper. Who do I say that Christ is? In other words, who and what is he to me? Is he just a historical figure like Moses, Buddha or Mohammad or is he the resurrected Lord of my life? Do I have a personal relationship with him? Is he real to me?

For me it wasn’t until I lost my faith in the Church that I found personal faith in Jesus Christ. That may sound a bit strong but as a young man I did more or less lose faith in everything, including the church as institution. Looking back it was a necessary part of my journey towards a mature faith. Having grown up as a Catholic I sort of knew what that was but now I was forced to ask ‘What does it mean to be a Christian?’ At its core I found that Christianity is about having a personal relationship with Christ where He is my Lord and Saviour. That’s a far cry from having admiration for him as a remote historical figure. For me it meant trying to unpack the gift of baptism and confirmation to see what they meant and also to face the challenge of whether I was prepared to hand over my life to him. I can look back on a point in my life where that did happen and while up to that I had practiced my religion now my faith became real and something I was experiencing. For a long time I had an overwhelming sense of being loved and that my life had meaning and purpose. To come from religious practice to faith experience is a huge step that each of us is called to. In life each of us surrenders to something so why not to Christ 

With all that’s going on at present we may find ourselves a bit lost or confused in relation to our faith and if so, what can we do about it? Personally I think that it deserves something more from us than going to Mass once a week. If we only sat down to eat once a week we wouldn’t be looking very healthy. Here in the Island we have wonderful opportunities that are quite unique. People come here lost and confused all the time and they come in order to deepen their faith. As locals we are not exempt from this need either and I would encourage everyone to avail of everything that is on offer. The daily Masses are times of spiritual nourishment and if you decide to come its certainly not about just getting Mass.

We might decide to make it part of our spiritual practice to walk regularly around the Island and allow our hearts to be touched by the God of Nature. Here we have one of the most delightful pieces of landscape to be found anywhere and it’s right on our doorstep yet so many take it so much for granted that they seldom avail of it. Whatever it takes to improve the quality of our inner life we should go for it because without that, all we can expect is not a life but only an existence. If it so happens that our stable diet is only Mass on Sunday then the chances are high that we are suffering from spiritual malnutrition and slowly dying while at the same time we may not even know that we are hungry.

Mon 24 Aug – Our Peculiar Legacy

Attendance at Church is not the best indicator of faith but it is the best that is available. Using this as a yardstick, there is evidence of a resurgence of faith on the Continent. While the graph of attendance there in many countries is on the increase it is still sharply declining here in Ireland. Perhaps that is due to the particularly toxic brand of Roman Catholicism that has been so powerful here since the 1850s. This was the time when, under Cardinal Paul Cullen, a strongly Romanized brand of Catholicism laced with Jansenism was imposed on a vulnerable Irish church just after the famine years. This was when many traditional practices were abolished and replaced by continental style devotions. It was also when a sharp division was imposed between clergy and laity and the church of the people, Teach Pobail became Teach Dei, the Church of God. The slow demise of that old model of church that left a bad taste in so many mouths may take longer to die out before the Spirit can truly begin to breathe new life.