by Vincent | Nov 13, 2016 | General Interest, Reflections, Religion, Photography
Over the few days in Honduras I took photos. I’ve already shared some of them in previous posts. I’m going to include a good few of them here now, without words, since photos tell their own story. I won’t mention Honduras or Trocaire again until Lent 2017. So this is it!!
Meeting with a youth group and its leaders
A village visited
Short video clip of the only road allowing access to this village. When the floods rise this road becomes totally impassible.
Shores and homes
Sharing Sunday Eucharist
Community Concerns
Should be Paradise
Farmers, farming, food and life
So that’s it! Many others took photos too and chances are I am in a few of them. These were from the other side of the lens. They don’t tell the full story but I’d like to think give a flavour of the places we visited, the people we met and the stories we heard. If there are sounds to accompany these photos, they might include, laughter, bits of music from time to time, an odd song, sadness in people’s voices as they related stories of fear, intimidation and uncertainty for their future, hope, solidarity, purpose, water and always welcomes with the sharing of food and kindness.
Someone jokingly asked if I’d be on next year’s Trocaire Box! The answer is no. The little girl who will be on it is found in these photos. I’d like to think that come Lent 2017 my heart will be in the Trocaire Box and that I can encourage people to maintain that level of generosity that comes so naturally to the people of Ireland and that I now see the necessity for in a way, truth told, I had not fully grasped until this week.
Thanks for sharing these days with me and allowing me share them with you in the words written and the photos taken.
Thanks also to the group I was honoured to be part of: from Trocaire; Kevin and Anna, from the dioceses of Ireland, Rose, Claudine, Eddie, Damian, Dominic and Paul, from Trocaire in Central America; Harvé, Alexis, Santiago and Kristian, members of the “partner” NGO’s we met, our bus drivers and all who cared for and welcomed us.
God bless the work. God bless the world.
Vincent
by Vincent | Mar 14, 2016 | Reflections, Lent 2016
This morning’s Scripture Passage at Mass (Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62) could find its place in any TV Soap plot line. A young and beautiful woman is attacked by two “judges” and when she rejects them and screams for help, they concoct a story that she was with a young man and though they chased him, he was too strong for them and escaped. They then sat in judgement over the young woman and, since she was married, sentenced her to death on the grounds of infidelity. (At this stage the theme tune would play and we’d have to wait another twenty-four hours or, God forbid, a week to see what happens next ….)
Enter Daniel. He is moved by the Spirit as the woman is led away for execution and he shouts that he is innocent of her blood. His cry is noticed and when questioned what he means, he says he has his doubts about the evidence given and the trustworthiness of the “elders”. It took courage to do this but it was courage rewarded and he was given the chance to question the two and explore his assumption.
He divides the two and asks each in turn what tree the young woman was lying under with the man, they each name a different tree in the garden and consequently their story falls flat and their dishonesty is exposed.
No … no theme tune yet ….. they are then sentenced to the same fate to which they had falsely sentenced the young woman. The story concludes: “An innocent woman’s life was saved that day …..”
We have changed very little through the ages. There are still those who seek to manipulate the truth (perhaps all of us, if we’re honest) and sometimes the manipulation brings heavy consequences. We need people, need to be people, of courage like Daniel who call out when we see wrong being done. Chances are that’s as much as we can do but, in the face of injustice, silence can never be an option.
Who knows how many lives – how many reputations – we might save?
by Vincent | Aug 18, 2011 | General Interest, Reflections, Religion
Yesterday I tried to find a few words to say on the gospel passage of the hiring of the workers for the vineyard. It seems a strange one! Employer goes out early in the day, hires workers, agrees a wage and sends them to work. Later he goes out again, hires more and sends them to work as well. He repeats this a few times and eventually hires some workers almost at the end of day. He pays all the workers the same wage, leading to grumbles from those who worked the full day. They expected to earn more than those who had worked for just one hour. The employer disagreed. He told them he had agreed a wage with them and paid that wage so where was the justification for their grumbles? Fair point! It was understandable though that they might have expected to get more or that those who were employed later in the day might get less.
It’s another reminder that God’s ways are not our ways. It is likely he admired the determination of those who didn’t give up but felt they had something to bring to the vineyard and that eventually their talents would be put to use. On realising they were not going to be employed, they could have just wandered off to day of idleness, gossip or maybe even destruction. But no, they held on – as I say – in the belief they had something to offer. They were right. They had and, in time, it was noticed and brought into play.
Could it be the attitude of those who started the day differed greatly? They entered into negotiation – a wage was agreed and they knew what to expect at day’s end. Those coming to the vineyard later, struck no deal but were happy to do something productive with their day. It was a bonus to them to be employed and, quite likely, a shock to receive a full day’s wage.
Is this story then as much about attitude as hours of work?
