Jim Cogley’s Reflections: Tues 6 Oct – Mon 12 Oct 2026

Please note: There have been 5 cancellations for the 4-day retreat in Ballyvaloo in October that was previously full.

This is entitled: The Journey of Enlightenment – A Pathway of Transformation.

This retreat will offer a unique opportunity for those seeking to come into deeper healing and spiritual awareness with those who are already familiar with the inner journey. Don’t miss this unique opportunity in such a beautiful venue if you are free and sense a prompting of Spirit to participate in what your higher self will one day thank you for.

Date: Mon 12th -Thurs 15^th October.

Cost: €370

Note: Bookings ASAP with Luba Rodzhuk on 087-7640407

A seminar day on HEALING and INTEGRATION will be facilitated by Jim Cogley and Luba Rodzhuk on Sat 10^th Oct from 10am to 4pm in the Edmund Rice Callan Healing and Heritage Centre. The cost of the day is €50 (including light lunch). Bookings to Jim Maher on 086-1276649. Please book as early as possible.

Wood You Believe books are available at seminars and on website: jimcogley.com

Tues 6^th Oct – From Possessions

Being free from material things in a materialistic world is a huge challenge. The myth we unconsciously buy into is that to have more is to be more. Our security becomes synonymous with our material well-being and even though we know that this is a foundation made of sand and can be swept from beneath our feet in an instant, or by a single sentence from a medical consultant, we still build the edifice of our lives upon it. In biblical terms, to have possessions is considered a blessing and necessary for living but to be possessed by what we own is a curse. If our inner security is related to our bank balance or property portfolio then we are facing a rude awakening where what we most need at that time can’t be bought by money. It is in the nature of material greed never to be content with what one has and to always want more. However, if we are not happy with what we have, is there any guarantee that having more can do it for us?

Wed 7^th Oct – From the Approval of Others

The addiction to the approval of others is endemic and destructive but rarely classed as an addiction. Many go through their lives looking over their shoulder always concerned with what someone else might think and would they approve or disapprove. Their validation comes from without rather than from within; if that significant other is smiling, they glow inwardly but when scowling they wilt. When it happens, as it does, that the ‘other’ is having a bad hair day the comb immediately comes out of their pocket because they see it as a reflection on themselves. Many experience their lives as being under the control of someone else and feel powerless. Yet the reality is that no one had more power over us than we give them and it is to the extent that our self-esteem is below par that our personal power becomes invested elsewhere.

Thurs 8^th Oct – From our Personal Story

Five stages that form a framework for personal maturity can be outlined as: 1) Know yourself; 2) Understand yourself; 3) Accept yourself; 4) Be yourself; 5) Forget yourself. It is the last stage that we most associate with freedom and rather naively think we can get there by skipping over some of the others. Knowing and understanding form the starting point and this involves exploring one’s personal story and understanding how it continues to influence our lives and actions. We are a product of that story and until we know and understand that story we remain prisoners of it. It is our untold story, not even told to ourselves, that largely determines who we are in the world and how we relate. Without integrating our story there is little self-acceptance, a tendency to want to be like others and little freedom to be truly ourselves.

Fri 9^th Oct – In Personal Relationships

It would seem to be self-evident from the world of nature that two birds can only fly if they are totally free of each other and if tied together even by a slight thread, they may have four wings but will be unable to fly. A couple come together and enter into a committed relationship. The natural expectation is for each to expect the other to be true to them. At a deeper level this carries the seeds of destruction no matter how good it seems. It can carry the unrealistic expectation that each be always there for the other to meet their needs and when this is not happening it opens the door for all sorts of insecurities and jealousies. To move a stage further to expect a partner to be true to the relationship also carries a bind while to expect a partner to be true to themselves is the only way the other is free to be true to all three.

Sat 10^th Oct – Freedom from Negative Emotions

Troublesome emotions are a feature, perhaps we could even say a curse, of so many lives. Waking up with negative emotions day after day draws the life out of living and leads to a miserable and non-productive existence. Without our permission they occupy the driving seat of the car that is our life; sometimes they refuse to even turn on the ignition and if they do get started, they bring us to the nearest ditch or perhaps a roundabout where they just keep on going round. We recognize this has happened when we engage in cyclical thinking that goes nowhere. To gain victory over our feelings it is necessary to consciously relegate them to the passenger seat and place commitment, will and determination at the wheel. Initially our emotions will protest and not want to go anywhere but by ‘acting as if’ they want to travel by the end of the journey we usually find they have become more positive and may even have enjoyed at least the latter part of the ride.

Sun 11^th Oct – Wedding Feast 2

There once was a man who was quite intelligent and highly educated. He took some time out from his academic career and normal family routine to go on a retreat. The retreat master used story after story in his talks that were humorous, witty and captivating, but very lacking in intellectual content, at least in this man’s estimation. He said as much to him directly, ‘Do you not think that all these stories are an insult to our intelligence? The only time I use stories is when my children are going to bed, I don’t use them with adults.’ The master replied, ‘You use stories with children to put them to sleep, I use them with adults in order to get them to wake up.’

Jesus was the master storyteller and using the simplest of illustrations drawn from ordinary life he presented the most profound of truths. Stories of farmers and fishermen, shepherds and merchants, formed the backdrop for his entire message. Every time we hear a story, no matter how familiar we are with it, we truly have never heard it before. It’s as if we are hearing it for the first time because every time we listen we are in a different place and so the story can speak to us in a different way.

The story I’m going to share with you is not a gospel story but if Jesus were around it’s the kind of one he would be very likely to employ because he loved to use shock tactics to wake people up and to show how pious devotion can become divorced from real life. ‘Shocking holy’ people tend to be the most easily shocked! This story is also about a wedding feast where a couple came to arrange their marriage with the local priest. They explained that because they were unable to afford a hotel reception, would he mind if they used the rather large entrance or foyer of the church to provide some refreshments and have some music. The day duly arrived and a big crowed turned out but the weather was miserable and wet. Afterwards no one could go outside and the entrance area was just too small. So they asked him if it was okay to open up the doors and pull back the seats and create more space inside. He said, ‘No problem’.

Soon the musicians arrived and set up their instruments and with plenty of wine flowing the guests soon got into party mode. The church came alive with the sounds of music and dancing, the way it was meant to be from the very beginning! With everything in full swing, it was obvious that there was someone who was unhappy and not behind the door about showing it. An older priest, cast in a more traditional mode, disapproved of his companion’s decision to allow the church to be used for such purposes and when he came in to witness such ‘carry on’ in the ‘House of God’ he vented his anger towards the other. Such disgraceful conduct in a church and all with his approval, did he not realise what he was doing and how disrespectful it all was. The younger man tried his best to reassure him by saying, ‘Father what about the wedding feast of Cana, remember Jesus turned water into wine; 180 gallons of the stuff and that was after the bar had run dry? Surely this gathering would be meeting with his full approval and if he were here would he not be the first to be down there dancing and offering his good wishes to the newlyweds?’ ‘That’s all very fine,’ replied the older man, ‘but he didn’t have respect for the Blessed Sacrament to worry about.’

The Gospel story today is no different where Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a joyful wedding feast to which all are invited but not everybody comes. In fact, the very ones you would expect to be the first are the last and the last anyone would expect to be there are the first. The image of God that comes across is of a generous host who really knows how to throw a good party. The first invitations are extended to the chosen but when they refuse the invitation is sent out to the highways and byways to the good and bad alike. The good news is that God wants everyone to be saved and none to be lost. In other words he wants everyone to be a part of his party. No one is outside the circle of his love except those who chose to be.

As so often happens in his parables there is a twist at the end that is like a story within a story. In this case the master comes into the banquet and finds someone without a wedding garment and with uncharacteristic cruelty he has him unceremoniously thrown out. The man was probably poor and unable to afford proper clothing. Why did the host act that way? In the Jewish wedding feasts garments were provided for all the guests. It helped do away with social or religious status and all guests were to be regarded as equals. This man, by not wearing the garment, was publically insulting his host by not putting on what was provided. The symbolism here is quite significant. Our own worthiness to beat the banquet is not in question. It is a given that we are unworthy on our own merits; our good works will never make us good enough. Love can never be earned or deserved. The garment is therefore a symbol of the free gift of God’s love that is offered to us in Christ. It is by virtue of our relationship with him that we can stand loved in the sight of God and not by virtue of our own merits. In other words, our access to God is by way of Christ so he reminds us that we cannot come to the Father except through him. This is something that demands conversion and trust. If we have truly accepted Christ in our lives as Lord and Saviour then we can truly say that in Christ we are as acceptable and as loved as Christ. That is essentially the mystery that we celebrate in the Eucharist, that just as the drop of water is mixed with the wine and becomes inseparable from it so in union with Christ our lives are acceptable to God.

Mon 12^th Oct – Freedom from Negative Thoughts

In the words of Shakespeare, the mind is capable of making a hell of heaven or a heaven out of hell. As the bible says, ‘As we think so we are’. It is our thoughts that influence our choices, create our reality and determine our future. The mind is like a stronghold that has to be conquered. A negative thought of worry, fear or resentment can so easily creep in and extinguish the light of Spirit. Then we feel a sadness and despondency as more and more negative energies make their way through. Much depression results and darkness is created when we allow our spirit to become enslaved by something on our mind. When a negative thought assails us, a useless way of dealing with it is to engage it with a spirit of hostility. The negative thought will always conquer. A more useful approach is to practice hospitality toward it, observe and communicate with it while at the same time reminding oneself not to identify with the thought and what it might be suggesting that one should do. Become like a curious bystander watching it march past while resisting the temptation to join in.