Spiritual Reflection

St. Brigid of Ireland, Brigid also spelled Brigit or Bridget, also called Brigid of Kildare or Bride (Irish Bríd) was born, according to tradition in Fochart, near Dundalk, County Louth. She died c. 525, in  Kildare. Her feast day is February 1.  She is remembered as virgin and abbess of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. Little is known of her life but from legend, myth, and folklore. According to these, she ...

Speaking with the heart ~ “The truth in love” (Eph 4:15) After having reflected in past years on the verbs “to go and see” and “to listen” as conditions for good communication, with this Message for the 57th World Day of Social Communications (21 May 2023), the focus by Pope Francis is on “speaking with the heart”.  (See full text HERE) ...

The early annals of the Presentation Congregation record that the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple was the date chosen by Nano in 1782, to receive two young women into the novitiate. Nano’s choice of this day for this ceremony, indicates that this Feast had a special place in her spirituality. Following Nano’s death, her fledging Congregation ...

I was at a recent funeral of a friend of mine who was an avid fan of the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh.  But more than that, a person who saw in Patrick Kavanagh the life of the farmer, poet and mystic completely intertwined. Someone who communed so readily with God through Nature, and who through his words could open this ...

The title, Our Lady of Sorrows, given to Mary the Mother of God, focuses on her intense suffering and grief during the passion and death of her son. Traditionally, this suffering was not limited to the passion and death event; rather, it comprised the seven ‘dolors’ or seven sorrows of Mary, which were foretold by the Priest Simeon who proclaimed ...

The Angel of the Lord announced that you would love And creation was overjoyed And smiled in the walnut trees and danced in the flowers. And you, Mary, simple woman, woman of the people You said “yes” to the novelty of the Kingdom And the whole earth became pregnant with verses And dreamed of justice and distilled delicacies. “Behold the ...

Pope Francis has spoken many times about the value and gift of inter-generational relationships and on the meaning and value of old age as well as on the contribution of young people to our understanding of today’s world. In his continuing catechesis on the meaning and value of old age in the light of God’s word, Pope Francis reflected on ...

With his emphasis on integral ecology, Francis links care for God’s creation to our economic, political, social and religious priorities. In a lot of ways, with this pope, eco-spirituality has gone mainstream. The prefix “eco-” before “spirituality” comes from the Greek oikos, meaning home — a reminder that “this house is the only one we have, we’re all together, what happens ...

Today, we reach day eight, the final day of prayer in our ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’.  Praying together to understand better through  the light of the Spirit how we can witness and live fully to fulfil that prayer of Jesus to the Father: ” … that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and ...

At the conclusion of the Angelus on December 8, 2021, Pope Francis concluded the Jubilee Year dedicated to Saint Joseph. St. Joseph and his wife the Virgin Mary, the pontiff stressed, are “guides on the path of holiness.” He thanked all those who have brought to life these years of celebrations dedicated to Joseph and Mary—the Holy Family—in 2021. The ...