Fr. Joe’s writings and rumblings.
A Virtual Pilgrimage to Knock with the Archdiocese of Dublin – this Sunday April 26th In these times when travel is restricted, the internet can assist us to reach out to churches that we can temporarily no longer visit. We had planned to hold the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Knock this month and, unfortunately, we…
Though I did not always see it, and I certainly was not always thankful for it, I have realised with the passing years that I was blessed in my parents, and indeed in their parents, my grandparents. Yes in all six of these special people I have much to be thankful for. With the exception…
I guess for some people it was a good example of me making a big deal out of nothing. In some ways I was a bit surprised at myself. Not mind you, that I made a big deal out of something that many would think was quite trivial, no, more that I reacted to something…
‘Are you going away with no word of farewell ‘Will there not be a trace left behind? Well I could have loved you better, didn’t mean to be unkind, You know it was the last thing on my mind’ In any experience of closure, of goodbye, of an ending, we are left with the inevitable…
‘Mammy! Mammy! I’d walk a million miles for one of your smiles….’ ‘You never miss a mother’s love until she’s buried beneath the grave….’ Think Al Jolson….think the old Irish song, ‘A Mother’s Love’…. Add to this the scene in the old movie, ‘Going My Way’, the old mother at the end, and you’ll get…
According to those who know about these things it is one of the most stressful things you can do……. …………Moving House………. There’s no doubt there is something about it. It’s not just the physical effort of packing and lugging stuff downstairs and off to the new place and then when you get there up more…
‘It goes against my grain’, was one of my mother’s phrases. One of those sayings we now call a ‘bridism’! A bridism was either a phrase, unique to our mother, or at the very least, one that she used often. Against the grain was one such phrase. ‘Do you think I am the Ali Khan?’…
At times there can be a little confusion about what a prophet is. The most common mistake is to say that they are people who foretell the future. Now, there can of course be an element of that. However to reduce a prophet, or indeed a prophetess, to that is to miss something very important.…
‘I see his blood upon the rose And in the stars the glory of his eyes, His body gleams amid eternal snows, His tears fall from the skies…’ (Joseph Mary Plunkett) Most of us will remember this beautiful poem, The Presence of God, from our childhood. It is a memorable comment on God’s magnificence infusing…
About this time thirty-five years ago I left home. Thus began an adventure that has taken many twists and turns. I have been a Brother, a teacher, a retreat giver, and now a priest. It has been very exciting and I have really enjoyed it. Of course there have been sad times and even a…