I have come to realise that inner darkness is quite common. I am not talking about being in grief. I am not talking about having received bad news. In fact one of the core characteristics of the darkness that I am speaking of, is the problem of not really knowing where the feeling has come…
Let’s go in reverse order and begin with St. Brigid! She is of course our secondary patron. This in effect means that she is second only to St. Patrick in our liturgical, or holy calendar. Given the time and perhaps the place in which she lived maybe it’s no shock that there’s plenty of folklore…
‘Sit there and keep quiet!’ How often did you hear that as a child? Or a variation of it. ‘Children should be seen and not heard’. Sometimes it might have been more specific. ‘You haven’t a note in your head’ or ‘you can’t dance, you have no rhythm’. Most of us have some experience of…
Once again we find ourselves with that little footnote in the Church or liturgical calendar reminding us that we have arrived at Church Unity Week. WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY (18-25 JANUARY) In fairness it is not a ‘little footnote’ for everybody. It will be celebrated officially by the diocese as it will be…
We have been talking about you in the past few days. I guess it’s important to be clear who the ‘we’ is. By ‘we’ we mean those of us here in the Faith Community of St. Matthew’s in Ballyfermot, I include myself, here in the Bunker, from where I write every week. I think this…
Wise men? The three kings? Astrologers from the East? This can all sound a bit vague. Today, January6th, is the day we remember them. ‘A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey:’ The Journey of the Magi (1927) T.S. Eliot Actually…
(If you could manage it, there’s a lot of winners in it!) NOTE: This is only for girls and boys who are over 15yrs, three months and two days old. Everybody else should be just let get on with munching on reindeer cakes and guzzling drinking chocolate! However this is for the rest of us!…
How many shopping days left? How many sleeps? Still time left to get Confession Not sure yet which Mass, maybe Midnight in Matthews! Do you remember last year? To think that all that started over soggy sprouts Trying to remember that it’s about making others happy Going to surprise a few people with a little…
Just fifteen shopping days left! Just fourteen sleeps left! We are all familiar with this type of countdown but I have been wondering about a different type of countdown. How about: Just fifteen days left to get the ‘soul weeding’ done? Just fifteen days left to get the ‘cradle of my heart’ ready? Just fifteen…
‘What is this Roncalli thing that they are talking about?’ ‘It’s a new thing. A fella said to me the other day he thought it was a new take away like Macari’s or Fuscardi’s, or maybe a pizza place, but it’s not, it’s something to do with the Church’. The Archbishop was asked could Roncalli be…