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Purity is the commitment of a person’s whole life to God
We seem to live in a world where the increase in affluence has led to a decreasing spirit of generosity – many people don’t mind helping people so long as it doesn’t impact their own comfortable lifestyle. Mary didn’t worry about what she was giving up to fulfil God’s will; neither should we.
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Depth of our faith truly put to test and eventual reward truly earned in suffering
It [the Creeslough tragedy] has also thrown renewed focus on the question we grapple with at times like this – “Why?” There is nothing new in that question; pain and suffering are often quoted by non-believers as the strongest possible argument against the very existence of God – why would an all-loving God allow good people to suffer?
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Climbing the Mountain
The Synodal Pathway has not been quite so arduous in physical terms but it has certainly been demanding both in time and in mental energy, thinking about and discussing the various issues. Just like the night climb of Croagh Patrick, it can be difficult at times to see exactly where we are going and where to take the next step but there is an underlying confidence that we will complete the journey.
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What Mary went through gives her a very real understanding of our difficulties and problems
I believe that the things Mary went through herself give her a very real understanding of the difficulties and problems that we go through in our daily lives and that when we pray to her, she can respond to us as someone who knows first-hand the things we are undergoing and how we can sometimes wonder why God does these things to us.
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God’s presence in me is as natural as breathing or eating
I can’t pinpoint exactly when God became an integral part of my life; I was born and raised a Catholic so God has always been there but in my teenage years, as many of my peers moved away from religion, my love of God and his importance to me became ever deeper; his presence in me became as natural as breathing or eating.
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Overcoming sheer lack of interest in faith values a major challenge
In order to thrive, our Faith has to be part and parcel of what we are, an integral part of the lives we lead. That, to me, is the real challenge we face – getting our young people to realise the value that our Catholic Faith can add to their lives. If we can achieve that then, we will see a genuine appetite for a better understanding of that Faith and that appetite is surely what drives education and understanding.
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Through care for environment can we show youth that our Church still has a message for the world today?
As part of our Synodal Pathway journey, is it possible that in this area of care for our environment, we, the older generation in the Church, can allow the younger generation to stand up and tell us what we should be doing?
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Walking together as foreigners
We need to find ways of showing that we truly are part of something very special, something that is more than the best that secularism has to offer.
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Divine Mercy and End of Life
At the same time, it is too easy to become so caught up with an act of apparent kindness, that it is considered as “mercy” without taking the wider context into consideration. It seems to me that the ‘Dying with Dignity’ Bill, currently being considered by the Irish Government, is one such example.
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Focusing on parish-as-family could really turn 2021 into special year Pope has called for
It is not, however, just our immediate families or our extended families. As Catholics, we are part of a much larger church family and especially our local parish family. Again, the importance of that family has been reinforced during lockdowns with the very high numbers of people who have engaged with Mass and other parish services online.