by Vincent | Feb 2, 2022 | General Interest, Reflections
Hello there,
Once again I want to make a start on keeping this blog up to date! It is my space and I have enjoyed sharing it with you over the years. In more recent times, I find myself using Facebook a lot more and that surprises me because, those of you who know me, are aware that I was not always a fan:)
I want however to keep this space alive and will do my best to keep it updated.
Perhaps the beginning of February, the step in to Spring and the spring in our step is the way to go.
So, please be patient with me but keep in touch.
Vincent
by Vincent | Dec 21, 2021 | Reflections
The text from a friend – a classmate – said that he wasn’t sending Christmas Cards but wanted to wish me peace and blessings at this special time. I called him back and asked if he was getting mean in his old age. I continued to joke with him for a little while and then he said, “you mustn’t have heard that my mother died”. I hadn’t. He went on to say she died at the beginning of December. He told me his mother had been diagnosed with cancer and died shortly after the diagnosis was given. Needless to say, I was sorry for him.
I told him I’d not heard and of course he knew that because, had I heard, I’d have been there for him over those December days. The reality was the news never reached my ears and I was sorry about that too.
As we enter the final days of Advent, maybe we could remember him and how easy it is not to hear news. Gossip is all around us and seems to blow easily on the wind – easily and dangerously – but often the news we need to hear passes by unheard or untold. I wondered does God feel that way sometimes, not least around Christmas and wonder how it is that this Story, this very sacred story, can remain unheard and untold.
It’s the choice of this Season in many ways; to hear and be shaped by the news or to settle for gossip. I know which we’re called to and I know how easily we can ignore or park that call. We need to be people of the Good News, tuned in to what is real and important in life, otherwise we miss opportunities to be better people, to be with people when they most need us.
Share the news. Avoid the gossip ….
A MOMENT TO PRAY
Lord,
We were never closer to news – internet, smartphones, 24 hour news channels, local radio and so many more outlets and yet we can miss what we most need to hear. Place in me a deep desire to keep in contact with people so that in their time of need, I may be there for them. Help me to avoid, at all costs, the terror that is gossip for it is amongst the most destructive of weapons and leaves scars that run deep into the soul and long into the memory. May my words, thoughts and actions be aligned with yours, that I might cause no deliberate hurt to another.
Amen.
by Vincent | Dec 20, 2021 | General Interest
He was found dead. People spoke with genuine sorrow and more than a little regret. He kept to himself. He’d moved from England. He used sit on a park bench and some would say hello to him. His little house seemed so small on the evening news. The houses around looked bigger but the TV camera is focused on his. He’s not there anymore.
Someone walking the footpath in the middle of March noticed something and wondered.
The Emergency Services were called and they had to break in. The Christmas Tree was on in the kitchen and the Christmas decorations still up. He had been taken down but the decorations stayed in place. The camera focuses on a bit of tinsel.
It’s sad of course but sadly understandable too. It could happen anywhere. Some people are very private. They keep to themselves a lot. Maybe that’s the way they want it. We rush too and mightn’t always notice things.
What’s happening on Coronation Street? Fair City? Neighbours? East Enders? Home and Away? It seems strange that we might know the ends and outs of these fictional places but very little about our own neighbours and community.
A Mercedes hearse takes him away – I wondered was it the first time he was ever in a Mercedes? You’d hope he had a Happy Christmas – he must have wanted one – he put up decorations.
God rest his Soul.
There’s a thought here somewhere around “noticing” – not prying or interfering but noticing in a positive and caring way those around us.
A MOMENT TO PRAY
Lord,
As I put up Christmas decorations this year, help me to remember this man and to be thankful for those who will share my decorated home in the days to come. Direct my thoughts and actions that those who might all too easily be overlooked may know they are cared for and loved. Give me decency of spirit that I might respond to charitable appeals and help others to have something of the Christmas I hope for.
Remind me again that it is “in giving” we truly receive.
Amen.
by Vincent | Dec 17, 2021 | General Interest
Just watched the evening news and An Taoiseach’s address. Sad and challenging news for us all. I feel sorry for those in business who have had to endure so much over the past years. No doubt, they will find a way through this news as well and, please God, better days await them and us all.
I am not sure what impact this might have on our parish celebrations and liturgies but suspect some changes may have to be made. Again, we will find a way through this.
“Are we there yet?” Clearly, the answer is no but we are on the right road.
Let us continue to mind one another, make wise choices and edge ever closer to our destination.
In the midst of it all, best wishes to you all and God bless all people.
