Carmelite Monastery of St Joseph, Kilmacud - Sisters' Reflections

In this great Jubilee Year of Hope, we rejoice to be celebrating the centenary of the death of Venerable Matt Talbot. The Carmelite family are also celebrating the centenary of the canonisation of St. Therese on May 17th 2025. Matt was attracted to the young saint of Lisieux whose message of confidence in God’s merciful love was running like a forest fire around the world. We find her message making an enormous impact on the struggling alcoholic sucking his pebble as he walked the streets of Dublin to ward off his craving for drink and the other terrible withdrawal symptoms he was experiencing. Matt called Therese “his little brick”! She beckoned him on along his path of conversion. When shame and guilt scorched his mind and heart – her confidence in God’s merciful love was like oil poured into his wounds. In these 2 young people – 28 year old Matt and 14 year old Therese Martin, is there not something similar in their conversion? Christ’s grace of conversion descended on Matt outside ...

  The great season of Lent in the   Jubilee Year of Hope is upon us. As I began this blog, news came that Chi’s beloved grandfather in Saigon has slipped away to heaven to be with God whom he loved and served so well for 95 years. He died surrounded by his loving family and Chi accompanied him in prayer from Kilmacud Carmel. He gave her every encouragement to follow her   Carmelite vocation. May he rest in peace forever and watch over his loved ones especially Chi, our postulant.   The refrain of a hymn we were learning seems to me to capture the heart of Our loving Father as he gazes on His children   preparing to live Lent.   Come back to me , with all your heart.  Don’t let fear keep us apart.  Long have I waited for your coming home to me in love And living deeply our new life. Dear Sr. Kevin of happy memory loved the hymn – Come as you are by Paul Gurr. It too captures the heart of Our Abba Father   as he sees into the hearts of H...

A few weeks ago one of our Sisters fell and broke her wrist. (She is now well on the way to healing, thank God). In the aftermath of the accident, the usual procedure was followed: first aid, transport to hospital, x-ray and diagnosis, resetting the injured bone, and wrapping in a protective cast to promote full healing. But that was only the beginning, and since then Sister has been receiving lots of TLC and assistance with various needs that are difficult to do “one handed” and we are all happy to aid her recovery in whatever way we can. Isn’t it true that when a family member or friend has such an accident, it brings out the best in us? These days the daily news is reporting on the inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people plus unborn twins.   Many more were left maimed and scarred for life, not only physically but emotionally and mentally. This opportunity for them to tell their story may help to bring some healing of wounds carried for decades. Often we do...

Last week my team, Shelbourne FC (whom I have followed and supported for 30 years) won the league again! What joy and celebration there was amongst all the supporters, team and management of the club. The scenes I was able to view online were so uplifting and made me smile and my heart pump with happiness! It was the first time in 18 years since they won the league… eighteen long years… it makes me stop and think… Eighteen years ago I joined this community at Kilmacud, and so much has happened in my life in that time – ups and downs, joys and sorrows. Eighteen years ago my nephew was born, and over all these years, through the normal ups and downs of life (thank God more ups than downs) he is now grown into a wonderful intelligent, healthy, caring and thoughtful young man. And over the past eighteen years, that beloved football club, Shelbourne, that was my second home for many years before I became a Carmelite, have been through such doldrums, such difficult times, barely surviving… b...

  In yesterday's Gospel, Jesus says: “the Kingdom of God is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour ’til it was leavened all through.” A few months ago, Dr. Jessie Rodgers, the Scripture scholar broke open this parable for us. Do you know how much 3 measures of flour is? Well, I did not. It is enough to make 52 loaves of bread! Dr. Jessie does the Parables of Jesus with children sometimes and the comment of one little girl on the 52 loaves of bread was – “ that Mammy must have had very greedy children”! What strikes you I wonder? Maybe that the good woman must have had strong arms to mix that amount of flour? What grips me is that a tiny bit of yeast could make 52 loaves of bread rise. Our young sister makes a large loaf of yeast bread and I love to see it swelling up. But what is so much more awesome is that Jesus uses that image of the tiny bit of yeast when He wants us to discover the wonder of the Kingdom of God’s lov e and goodness. Yes and He tel...

  As the days become warmer and brighter, I think back to the glorious childhood summers of endless joy and sunshine.  I suspect the memories are coloured with a fair slice of imagination as the weather was clearly as changeable then as now, but we only remember the good days!   One thing about summer that didn't change was the Summer concert and the predictable 13th century song 'Summer is a-coming in'.  There are many versions of this, which I suppose is not surprising given the length of time it has been around. I still remember the version we sang: Summer is a coming in, Loud now sing, cuckoo. Groweth seed, and bloweth reed, And spring the woods anew.     Sing Cuckoo. Ewe now bleateth after lamb, Loweth after calf the cow, Bullock starteth,  buck now verteth, Merry sing cuckoo, cuckoo  cuckoo.  Well singst thou cuckoo,  Nor leave thou never now. We were told that it dated from the thirteenth century and the earliest copy wa...