Jim Cogley’s Reflections – Tues 27 Jan – Mon 2 Feb 2026

Note: Coming Wood You Believe Healing Seminar with Jim Cogley & Luba Rodzhuk:

Responding to your Call – Discovering your Purpose Embracing your Destiny

Edmund Rice Centre, Callan, Sat 14^th Feb 10am- 4pm (Cost €50 refreshments included)

Bookings to Jim Maher on 086-1276649. Early booking is advised.

You can tune in to live broadcasts usually daily at 10am or recordings by going to Our Ladys Island Webcam

For ordering books at lowest prices go to jimcogley.com (Some volumes have been hijacked by other websites at crazy costs and without permission)

Tues 27^th Jan – The Life of each of us has its influence on others

This week’s postings aim to give a pen picture of a man of enormous significance in Irish history. Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice was born in Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1762 and was the founder of both the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers whose influence in the field of education has spread to many parts of the world. There are many who, having not attended a CBS school, may scarcely have heard of this remarkable man whose methods of education were streets ahead of their time. It’s truly remarkable how one person born so long ago can exert such an influence even to the present day. This was brought home to me recently while staying overnight in the current residence located adjacent to Edmund Rice’s ancient homestead. Waking up in the morning and looking across to that building I realized that by virtue of having gone to a school of his founding I could attribute everything that has ever happened to me from the age of 12 until the present to the life that was born there in 1762. Had that not happened my life would have taken a very different trajectory.

Wed 28^th Jan – The Early Years

Not only was Edmund Rice a colossus in the Ireland of his time but also to the present time. The congregations he established made remarkable contributions to every aspect of Irish development, social, spiritual, economic, political and particularly educational. At this time when their mission in Ireland is not so defined and numbers are dwindling their light in as many as twenty-eight other countries continues to shine unabated.

The Rice homestead, now restored as a Heritage Centre, would indicate that Edmund grew up in a comparatively well-to-do family. This was at a time when no Catholic was allowed to own land or receive an education. Yet by finding a loophole in the penal laws of the time he managed to make a good living and run a profitable business. After working with his uncle fitting out ships in Waterford, he later inherited the business and was well on his way to becoming one of the most successful and prosperous men of his generation.

Thurs 29^th Jan – Life breaks us all

Life does indeed break us all and only ‘some grow strong at the broken places.’ While his early life was successful it was also tragic. Having married Mary Elliot in 1785, four years later she fell from her horse and died. Her unborn child was saved but had a mild disability. This was the singular defining moment in his life that turned his comfortable life upside down. The intensity of suffering awakened his soul and from there on he searched for a deeper meaning in life. Like the challenge that is there for all of us, Edmund’s life became defined not by the tragedy that had befallen him but by what he did with it. His ongoing care for his disabled daughter probably played a central role in the direction his life would take when he would later see her needs mirrored in the thousands of urchins and orphans that were roaming the streets of Waterford with no education and no hope for their future.

Fri 30^th Jan – The Providence that Directs our Ends

His disabled daughter, Mary Rice, was the broken reed in Edmund’s life that could not be mended but only transcended by prayer. In the manner of Divine providence, she played a vital role in the unfolding of the Divine plan for him. He cared for her diligently and tenderly until the age of forty and undoubtedly was forced to dig deep to find the inner resources of grace that were necessary for his task as a single male parent. In a mysterious way it was she who directed the course of her father’s life not in the way he would have originally intended but in a manner that became fruitful beyond all expectations. Similarly, in the manner that Edmund matured in his spiritual journey and responded to his vocation he conferred meaning and purpose to his wife’s early demise and to his daughter’s stymied life.

Sat 31^st Jan – The Empowerment of Education

In his travels through Waterford City, Edmund was in daily contact with the poor and destitute, particularly the young boys without a future who frequented the docks. His first step towards improving their lot was to begin a night school. He was convinced that only with an education could they ever find their way out of the poverty trap. It was difficult to keep people interested in helping with the project, but he was joined by two colleagues from his hometown, Thomas Grosvenor and Patrick Finn, who also shared his vision of starting a religious order. So it was that on the 7^th June 1803 that Edmund opened his first school that was named Mt Zion and was already drawing up the rules for his new religious order that was first known as the Brothers of the Presentation. He was around forty at the time, the number in the Biblical sense being associated with new beginnings.

Sunday 1^st Feb – Brigid

In our Celtic world the Spring equinox when we celebrate the feast of St Brigid is very important because it marks the beginning of spring. This is when we begin to see the first stirrings of hope new life and rebirth. The Spring that has been sleeping in the womb of winter is slowly coming awake. So, it is a good time to acknowledge the God who is the source of all life and to celebrate as a faith community the ways in which Brigid of Kildare still challenges us in our time to be channels of hope justice peace faith and healing in the lives of others around us

It is very difficult to do justice to such a colourful and historical figure as St Brigid in the space of a few minutes. She was born in AD 450 in Faughart, near Dundalk in Co. Louth. Her father, Dubhthach (Dark One), was a pagan chieftain of Leinster and her mother, Broicsech, was a Christian. It was thought that Brigid’s mother was born in Portugal but was kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave, a story similar to St. Patrick. Brigid’s father named her after one of the most powerful goddesses of the pagan religion – the goddess of fire, whose manifestations were song, craftsmanship and poetry. He seems to have been a controlling figure and kept Brigid and her mother as slaves even though he was a wealthy man. Brigid spent her earlier life cooking, cleaning, washing and feeding the animals on her father’ farm.

She lived during the time of St. Patrick and was greatly inspired by his preaching. Probably as a result she became a Christian. She once fell asleep during one of his long sermons and she woke up to see him smiling at her. She wasn’t the last to fall asleep during a sermon! At eighteen, she became rebellious and stopped working for her father. He wanted her to find a husband but Brigid decided that she would spend her life working for God by looking after poor, sick and elderly people. Brigid’s charity, even before she became a nun, angered her father because he thought she was being too generous to the poor. When she finally gave away his jewel-encrusted sword to a leper, it was the last straw and her father realised that she would be best suited to the religious life. Brigid finally got her wish and entered the convent where  she made her vows and dedicated her life to God.

News of Brigid’s good works spread and soon many young girls from all over the country joined her in the convent. Brigid founded many convents all over Ireland; the most famous one was in Co. Kildare. It is said that this convent was built beside an oak tree where the town of Kildare now stands. Around 470 she also founded a double monastery, for nuns and monks, in Kildare. She is regarded as the first and only female bishop even if by accident, since St. Malachi, who was performing her consecration rite as Abbess of her order, inadvertently used the rite of consecration for bishops. Whether Abbess or Bishop of this foundation she wielded considerable power and was a very wise and prudent superior. The Abbey of Kildare became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland and was famous even throughout Europe.

St. Brigid also founded a school for the arts, where all sorts of craftsmanship were encouraged. In the scriptorium of the monastery, the famous illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kildare, was created which contains many of her teachings. For example, in counselling one priest she advised him that it was more important to find a soul friend either male or female than even to eat. That without an Anam Chara he would quickly become like a withered leaf. Even in that piece of advice we see a woman who was way ahead of her time.

St. Brigid died in AD 525 at the age of 75 and was buried in a tomb before the High Altar of her Abbey church. After some time, her remains were exhumed and transferred to Downpatrick to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick and St. Columcille. St. Brigid is the female patron saint of Ireland. She is also known as Muire na Gael or Mary of the Gael which means Our Lady of the Irish.

Legends abound in relation to St Brigid and her miracles. St. Brigid’s Cloak is possibly the most famous: St. Brigid went to the King of Leinster to ask for land to build a convent. She told the king that the place where she stood was the perfect place to build. It was beside a forest where they could collect firewood. There was also a lake nearby that would provide water and the land was fertile. The king laughed at her and refused to give her any land. Brigid prayed to God and asked him to soften the king’s heart. Then she smiled at the king and said, ‘Will you give me as much land as my cloak will cover?’ The king thought that she was joking and because Brigid’s cloak was so small and would only cover a very small piece of ground, the king agreed and Brigid spread her cloak on the ground. She asked her four friends to hold a corner of the cloak and walk in opposite directions. The four friends walked north, south, east and west. The cloak grew immediately and began to cover many acres of land that is now the Curragh of Kildare. The king was astonished and he realized that she had been blessed by God. He fell to the ground and knelt before Brigid and promised her and her friends money, food and supplies. Soon afterwards, the king became a Christian and also started to help the poor. Brigid’s miracle of the cloak was the first of many miracles that she worked for the people of Ireland.  

Mon 2^nd Feb – A Revolution in Education

The first CBS school, Mt Zion, was originally a stable and it was here that Edmund Rice established a system of education that was way ahead of its time in every respect. Spirituality was a vital component since he believed that without it a human being could never be complete. In Mt Zion he had aptitude testing and vocational training and even a tailor’s room where boys could be fitted out to face the world with self-respect and dignity. There he also had a bakery to feed the hungry. He knew every pupil by name and would stand by the door and shake the hand of each to welcome all who came to learn. Even our modern educational system would have a lot to learn from his methods, and it is no wonder that what he established was set for rapid expansion as news of his success with ‘unteachable boys’ began to spread far and wide.