Carmelite Monastery of St Joseph, Kilmacud - Sisters' Reflections

I love the story told about Bro. Vincent Cook, a Dominican who was born blind. Once he went   to Liverpool, a city   he had never visited before.   Feeling his way along with his white cane, he came to a very busy road and asked if there was anyone he could cross over with.   Someone agreed eagerly.   They set off across the busy road to the sound of cars shrieking to a halt and horns loudly hooting.   When he got to the other side he thanked the man for helping him across.   The man replied: No, you helped me. I am blind! We need each other and God blesses our mutual dependence.   God said to St. Catherine of Siena:       “I could well have supplied each of you with all your needs, both spiritual and material!   But I wanted to make you dependent on one another so that each of you could be my minister dispensing the graces and gifts you have received from me.” Yes, the gift of love is given because somebody somewhere is dying for the lack of a kind word; mercy is given because som

It is interesting to notice how often we read in scripture that God asks someone to leave everything to undertake a journey, whether a physical journey or a change of lifestyle. When Jesus called his disciples he was asking them to do both these things.  Two saints we celebrated recently, St. Patrick and St. Joseph both needed great courage to obey the call of God. St Patrick having escaped from captivity in Ireland, certainly had no intention of returning; but in a dream he heard the call to come back and preach the faith to the Irish people, and because he trusted in God he obeyed. St. Joseph showed extraordinary trust in God in his willingness to leave everything to follow the way God revealed to him.  First of all he accepted responsibility for Mary and her child. Then, in obedience to that same communication from God in a dream, he was the one to give Jesus his name, and by doing so he acknowledged publicly that he accepted him as his child and became his legal father. Then

  God so loved the world so much that He gave His only Son… John 3:16 Really that is the heart of Lent isn’t it – that we come to know the depths of God’s love for each of us. Imagine that He loved us so much that He gave us his only Son to draw us into His very own Life and Love. We have God’s very own love in our hearts to share with one another.   So, Lent   has to be about   loving, prodding us to wake up to the wonder of God’s love searching us out,   and calling us to love to one another.       A young newly married couple from India once came on a holiday to   Ireland.   A little child dashed out in front of their car and was killed to the immense sadness of the couple and the unbearable sorrow of the parents of the little one. The Indian couple returned to their country with heavy hearts . But a year later, they came back   with their first born child and presented him to the sorrowing parents. They genuinely came to hand over their precious first-born   child. We can jus

T hese few words of Pope Francis came alive for me some weeks ago when the priest at Mass quoted them.   When I think of risk taking I think about jumping out of a helicopter and hoping I will pull the right cord at the right time and the parachute will do the right thing. As I write and think about this unlikely possibility, I can feel the fear of such a risky adventure. As you see in the photo Sr. Gwen is always prepared to take a risk. Bolt (the horse) decided not to bolt on this occasion! Putting the adjective Vulnerable before Risk seems strange to me - I think it should be ‘Mighty Risk Takers! But Pope Francis calls us to be authentic Risk Takers. It is the journey to risk speaking the truth even when we feel uncomfortable, unsure and vulnerable. To take the risk in stretching out the hand of friendship to someone with whom our relationship is fractured; to care for the weak and vulnerable, even when we are unsure how to relate to them. It is also changing our mindset and imagi

  It would take Christ to pass by with his Cross .  For years that ardent prayer has echoed in my heart.  It was my soul’s longing when I lived through the trauma of those early days of The Troubles in Derry.  Looking down from Creggan Heights over the seething Bogside, I used to repeat with many sighs... It would take Christ to pass by here with his Cross... That desire, that aching longing is intensified a hundredfold now as we weep over the bleeding wound that is Ukraine, over the gaping wound that recent earthquakes have opened up in Turkey and Syria, over the unstoppable human haemorrhage of refugees and the running sores of festering conflicts in Africa and throughout our world...   Yes, wouldn’t it take Christ to pass by with his Cross in all these situations? As we begin these graced days of Lent we find new hope and consolation because Christ is indeed passing by, or rather, He is right there in the heart of all this unspeakable suffering, just as Elie Wiesel could sa