Each week one of our Sisters contributes a reflection on a topical subject, or a theme in the Liturgy.
Wednesday 2nd April 2025
Come back to me: Lenten Thoughts
‘Come back to me with all your heart. Turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all
tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to
relent.’(Joel 2:12-13)
There are many scripture passages with similar messages in both the Old and New
Testament. What are we human beings meant to make of this and how are we meant
to respond?
If you are blessed to have the opportunity to attend Mass or read the psalms and
scriptures daily this is a recurrent message. We are called during Lent to take an
honest look into our own hearts and there we will probably see our faults/failings as
well as our good points and our desire to do good.
The crux is, if God is so generous and merciful with you and me then it seems only
right that we need to try to be generous like Him. We need to be tender hearted and
compassionate, ready to forgive others. We have heard many stories of people who forgave others who did great damage
to either themselves or a loved one. It is a grace and gift from God to forgive but to begin the healing process we need to
make this journey into forgiveness. It may take a long time for our feelings to change. We need to show compassion to
ourselves in this regard and to be patient.
Some people have transformed the hurt by doing something positive with it. Recently I read about a woman whose young
son was murdered. It may have been a drugs related crime but she forgave that person who took her son’s life away. She
prayed for him. She then decided to go to schools to share her story and also to warn the children about the dangers of
getting involved in drugs and above all about forgiveness.
We may not have such an enormous challenge in our lives to forgive like this woman but the daily small things are
important too.
During these days we read the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’. The Father in the parable is longing and waiting for his son’s
return not to scold him for his foolishness, but to show him love, forgiveness and compassion. It is there for us too.
Pope Francis has this to say ‘God’s gaze has ‘mercified’ us –has blessed us with kindness empathy, mercy and love. God is
always first, first to wait for us, first to love us, first to help us.”
Spend some time in prayer this Lent and let God gaze on you with his Merciful Love.
BACK TO TOP
Monday 10th March 2025
Come back to me with all your heart
The great season of Lent in the Jubilee Year of Hope is upon us. As I began this blog,
news came that Chi’s beloved grandfather in Saigon has slipped away to heaven to be
with God whom he loved and served so well for 95 years. He died surrounded by his
loving family and Chi accompanied him in prayer from Kilmacud Carmel. He gave
her every encouragement to follow her Carmelite vocation. May he rest in peace
forever and watch over his loved ones especially Chi, our postulant.
The refrain of a hymn we were learning seems to me to capture the heart of Our
loving Father as he gazes on His children preparing to live Lent.
Come back to me, with all your heart.
Don’t let fear keep us apart.
Long have I waited for your coming home to me in love
And living deeply our new life.
Dear Sr. Kevin of happy memory loved the hymn– “Come as you are” by Paul Gurr. It too captures the heart of Our Abba
Father as he sees into the hearts of His children.
Come as you are, that’s how I want you.
Come as you are, feel quite at home.
Close to my heart, loved and forgiven.
Come as you are, why stand alone.
I came to call sinners, not just the virtuous.
I am to bring peace, not to condemn.
Each time you fail to live by my promise
Why do you think I’d love you the less?
Come as you are, that’s how I love you.
Come as you are trust me again.
Nothing can change the love that I bear you.
All will be well, just come as you are.
Sr. Kevin knew that secret in her heart. Let her smiling face from heaven help us to trust in God’s power to bring peace to
our troubled world. She too lived in tumultuous times. She was born when our country was torn apart with civil war and
her parents saw her as the little olive branch heralding future peace.
Lent is a time to pour out our hearts to our Loving Father imploring His help to cast light on how to end the terrible wars
that are destroying our world. Let peace come and let it be a just peace and let us all strive to be peace makers.
At a recent Carmelite Formators course we learnt new little chants which we prayerfully sang at the end of the sessions.
This one stays with me –
Take, oh take me as I am. Summon out what I can be.
Set your seal upon my heart and live in me.
To finish with God’s own living Word to us this Lent.
When you pray, go to your private room and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place and your
Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.(Matthew 6)
BACK TO TOP
Friday 21st February 2025
Broken Things
A few weeks ago one of our Sisters fell and broke her wrist. (She is
now well on the way to healing, thank God). In the aftermath of the
accident, the usual procedure was followed: first aid, transport to
hospital, x-ray and diagnosis, resetting the injured bone, and
wrapping in a protective cast to promote full healing. But that was
only the beginning, and since then Sister has been receiving lots of
TLC and assistance with various needs that are difficult to do “one
handed” and we are all happy to aid her recovery in whatever way
we can. Isn’t it true that when a family member or friend has such an
accident, it brings out the best in us?
These days the daily news is reporting on the inquiry into the 1998
Omagh bombing which killed 29 people plus unborn twins. Many more were left maimed and scarred for life, not only
physically but emotionally and mentally. This opportunity for them to tell their story may help to bring some healing of
wounds carried for decades.
Often we do not know the hidden wounds carried by others secretly in their hearts. These wounds are not visible like an
arm wrapped in plaster, and so the person often does not receive the TLC and assistance he/she needs to heal. Emotional
and mental suffering is an inner brokenness that is mostly unseen, deeply painful and often carries with it a certain shame
or stigma. None of us know what pain another person carries in his/her heart, what heartbreak, trauma or emotional
wounds, and so we cannot aid their recovery or help them to heal.
At the memorial service after the Omagh bombing, Juliet Turner sang a song called “Broken Things” a song about a human
person all out of ability to fix themselves, just offering what is left to God to heal, transform and make new. The powerful
lyrics, like a prayer and plea to Christ, have never left me. I often sing these words in my own heart at difficult moments.
You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my heart, if you don’t mind these tears
Well I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces all to you
If you want it, you can have my heart.
As Scripture says: “Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you”. (1 Peter 5:7). Christ is the Healer of our
souls, our Saviour and Restorer. He knows us better than we know ourselves and he promised to be with us always to the
end of time (cf. Mt 28:20). At difficult times, let us remember to turn to Jesus with our inner brokenness, trusting him
entirely and open to the healing that he desires to give us.
BACK TO TOP
Friday 8th November 2024
Shel-ebrations!
Last week my team, Shelbourne FC (whom I have followed and
supported for 30 years) won the league again! What joy and
celebration there was amongst all the supporters, team and
management of the club. The scenes I was able to view online were
so uplifting and made me smile and my heart pump with happiness!
It was the first time in 18 years since they won the league… eighteen
long years… it makes me stop and think…
Eighteen years ago I joined this community at Kilmacud, and so
much has happened in my life in that time – ups and downs, joys
and sorrows.
Eighteen years ago my nephew was born, and over all these years,
through the normal ups and downs of life (thank God more ups than downs) he is now grown into a wonderful intelligent,
healthy, caring and thoughtful young man.
And over the past eighteen years, that beloved football club, Shelbourne, that was my second home for many years before I
became a Carmelite, have been through such doldrums, such difficult times, barely surviving… but now have risen again!
This victory means a lot to so many people who stuck by them through all the bad times and it brings back memories to
me of travelling up and down Ireland in cold and frosty weather (when the season was played through the winter), of
games lost at the last minute, of frustrating 0-0 draws, but also so many good times witnessed as well, and all the many
people and friends I met there.
Having lived so many years in a Carmelite monastery, life events often bring to mind the words of a psalm or piece of
Scripture that seem to resonate with what is happening in front of me. That is the privilege of contemplative life, to become
so familiar with Scripture that it connects to everything that happens… it becomes the LIVING word of God. This past
week, the verse that has been repeating over and over in my head since the Shelbourne league victory is from Psalm 90:
Give us joy to balance our affliction
For the years when we knew misfortune
Yes, faith teaches me that joy and resurrection will follow affliction and sorrow. May we all remember this life lesson
through any struggle or difficulty that comes our way – God is good, and will send us the joys if we hang in and wait long
enough... and hopefully not as long as eighteen years!
BACK TO TOP
Wednesday 30th October 2024
The Unstoppable Power of God
In yesterday's Gospel, Jesus says: “the Kingdom of God is like the yeast a woman
took and mixed in with three measures of flour ’til it was leavened all through.”
A few months ago, Dr. Jessie Rodgers, the Scripture scholar broke open this
parable for us. Do you know how much 3 measures of flour is? Well, I did
not. It is enough to make 52 loaves of bread!
Dr. Jessie does the Parables of Jesus with children sometimes and the
comment of one little girl on the 52 loaves of bread was – “ that Mammy
must have had very greedy children”! What strikes you I wonder? Maybe
that the good woman must have had strong arms to mix that amount of
flour? What grips me is that a tiny bit of yeast could make 52 loaves of bread
rise. Our young sister makes a large loaf of yeast bread and I love to see it
swelling up.
But what is so much more awesome is that Jesus uses that image of the tiny bit of yeast when He wants us to discover the
wonder of the Kingdom of God’s love and goodness. Yes and He tells us it is within you and me, in our little lives – this
unstoppable power of God’s love. Isn’t it a most encouraging image to latch on to when the news is full of wars and
rumours of war and hatred. The love of God, the yeast of God is rising up
in
us to create a new world of goodness and justice and peace.
See this little true story sent to us and you’ll get a flavour of God’s yeast:
This five-year-old girl from South Africa, the daughter of a single mother,
was sent to the store to buy a loaf of bread. On her way back, a stranger
took her photo, and it went viral on social media, capturing her pure joy.
Under public pressure, the bread company made her the brand
ambassador. Her photo is now on billboards advertising bread across
South Africa. In return, the mother/daughter duo received a two-room
house, and the company will also provide the girl's education expenses
until graduation.
So
take heart and rejoice. The yeast of God’s kingdom of love and goodness
is
rising up unstoppable in human hearts.
BACK TO TOP
Each week one of our Sisters contributes a reflection on a
topical subject, or a theme in the Liturgy.
Wednesday 2nd April 2025
Come back to me: Lenten Thoughts
‘Come back to me
with all your heart.
Turn to the Lord your
God again, for he is
all tenderness and
compassion, slow to
anger, rich in
graciousness, and
ready to relent.’(Joel
2:12-13)
There are many
scripture passages
with similar
messages in both
the Old and New
Testament. What are
we human beings meant to make of this and how are we
meant to respond?
If you are blessed to have the opportunity to attend Mass or
read the psalms and scriptures daily this is a recurrent
message. We are called during Lent to take an honest look
into our own hearts and there we will probably see our
faults/failings as well as our good points and our desire to do
good.
The crux is, if God is so generous and merciful with you and
me then it seems only right that we need to try to be generous
like Him. We need to be tender hearted and compassionate,
ready to forgive others. We have heard many stories of people
who forgave others who did great damage to either
themselves or a loved one. It is a grace and gift from God to
forgive but to begin the healing process we need to make this
journey into forgiveness. It may take a long time for our
feelings to change. We need to show compassion to ourselves
in this regard and to be patient.
Some people have transformed the hurt by doing something
positive with it. Recently I read about a woman whose young
son was murdered. It may have been a drugs related crime
but she forgave that person who took her son’s life away. She
prayed for him. She then decided to go to schools to share her
story and also to warn the children about the dangers of
getting involved in drugs and above all about forgiveness.
We may not have such an enormous challenge in our lives to
forgive like this woman but the daily small things are important
too.
During these days we read the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’.
The Father in the parable is longing and waiting for his son’s
return not to scold him for his foolishness, but to show him
love, forgiveness and compassion. It is there for us too.
Pope Francis has this to say ‘God’s gaze has ‘mercified’ us
–has blessed us with kindness empathy, mercy and love. God
is always first, first to wait for us, first to love us, first to help
us.”
Spend some time in prayer this Lent and let God gaze on you
with his Merciful Love.
BACK TO TOP
Monday 10th March 2025
Come back to me with all your heart
The great season of Lent in the Jubilee Year of Hope is upon
us. As I began this blog, news came that Chi’s beloved
grandfather in Saigon has slipped away to heaven to be with
God whom he loved and served so well for 95 years. He died
surrounded by his loving family and Chi accompanied him in
prayer from Kilmacud Carmel. He gave her every
encouragement to follow her Carmelite vocation. May he rest
in peace forever and watch over his loved ones especially Chi,
our postulant.
The refrain of a hymn we were learning seems to me to
capture the heart of Our loving Father as he gazes on His
children preparing to live Lent.
Come back to me, with all your heart.
Don’t let fear keep us apart.
Long have I waited for your coming home to me in love
And living deeply our new life.
Dear Sr. Kevin of happy memory loved the hymn– “Come as
you are” by Paul Gurr. It too captures the heart of Our Abba
Father as he sees into the hearts of His children.
Come as you are, that’s how I want you.
Come as you are, feel quite at home.
Close to my heart, loved and forgiven.
Come as you are, why stand alone.
I came to call sinners, not just the virtuous.
I am to bring peace, not to condemn.
Each time you fail to live by my promise
Why do you think I’d love you the less?
Come as you are, that’s how I love you.
Come as you are trust me again.
Nothing can change the love that I bear you.
All will be well, just come as you are.
Sr. Kevin knew that secret in her heart. Let her smiling face
from heaven help us to trust in God’s power to bring peace to
our troubled world. She too lived in tumultuous times. She was
born when our country was torn apart with civil war and her
parents saw her as the little olive branch heralding future
peace.
Lent is a time to pour out our hearts to our Loving Father
imploring His help to cast light on how to end the terrible wars
that are destroying our world. Let peace come and let it be a
just peace and let us all strive to be peace makers.
At a recent Carmelite Formators course we learnt new little
chants which we prayerfully sang at the end of the sessions.
This one stays with me –
Take, oh take me as I am. Summon out what I can be.
Set your seal upon my heart and live in me.
To finish with God’s own living Word to us this Lent.
When you pray, go to your private room and when you have
shut the door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place
and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward
you.(Matthew 6)
BACK TO TOP
Friday 21st February 2025
Broken Things
A few weeks ago one of our Sisters fell and broke her wrist.
(She is now well on the way to healing, thank God). In the
aftermath of the accident, the usual procedure was followed:
first aid, transport to hospital, x-ray and diagnosis, resetting
the injured bone, and wrapping in a protective cast to promote
full healing. But that was only the beginning, and since then
Sister has been receiving lots of TLC and assistance with
various needs that are difficult to do “one handed” and we are
all happy to aid her recovery in whatever way we can. Isn’t it
true that when a family member or friend has such an
accident, it brings out the best in us?
These days the daily news is reporting on the inquiry into the
1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people plus unborn
twins. Many more were left maimed and scarred for life, not
only physically but emotionally and mentally. This opportunity
for them to tell their story may help to bring some healing of
wounds carried for decades.
Often we do not know the hidden wounds carried by others
secretly in their hearts. These wounds are not visible like an
arm wrapped in plaster, and so the person often does not
receive the TLC and assistance he/she needs to heal.
Emotional and mental suffering is an inner brokenness that is
mostly unseen, deeply painful and often carries with it a
certain shame or stigma. None of us know what pain another
person carries in his/her heart, what heartbreak, trauma or
emotional wounds, and so we cannot aid their recovery or help
them to heal.
At the memorial service after the Omagh bombing, Juliet
Turner sang a song called “Broken Things” a song about a
human person all out of ability to fix themselves, just offering
what is left to God to heal, transform and make new. The
powerful lyrics, like a prayer and plea to Christ, have never left
me. I often sing these words in my own heart at difficult
moments.
You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my heart, if you don’t mind these tears
Well I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces all to you
If you want it, you can have my heart.
As Scripture says: “Give all your worries to him, because he
cares about you”. (1 Peter 5:7). Christ is the Healer of our
souls, our Saviour and Restorer. He knows us better than we
know ourselves and he promised to be with us always to the
end of time (cf. Mt 28:20). At difficult times, let us remember to
turn to Jesus with our inner brokenness, trusting him entirely
and open to the healing that he desires to give us.
BACK TO TOP
Friday 8th November 2024
Shel-ebrations!
Last week my team, Shelbourne FC (whom I have followed
and supported for 30 years) won the league again! What joy
and celebration there was amongst all the supporters, team
and management of the club. The scenes I was able to view
online were so uplifting and made me smile and my heart
pump with happiness! It was the first time in 18 years since
they won the league… eighteen long years… it makes me
stop and think…
Eighteen years ago I joined this community at Kilmacud, and
so much has happened in my life in that time – ups and
downs, joys and sorrows.
Eighteen years ago my nephew was born, and over all these
years, through the normal ups and downs of life (thank God
more ups than downs) he is now grown into a wonderful
intelligent, healthy, caring and thoughtful young man.
And over the past eighteen years, that beloved football club,
Shelbourne, that was my second home for many years before
I became a Carmelite, have been through such doldrums,
such difficult times, barely surviving… but now have risen
again! This victory means a lot to so many people who stuck
by them through all the bad times and it brings back memories
to me of travelling up and down Ireland in cold and frosty
weather (when the season was played through the winter), of
games lost at the last minute, of frustrating 0-0 draws, but also
so many good times witnessed as well, and all the many
people and friends I met there.
Having lived so many years in a Carmelite monastery, life
events often bring to mind the words of a psalm or piece of
Scripture that seem to resonate with what is happening in front
of me. That is the privilege of contemplative life, to become so
familiar with Scripture that it connects to everything that
happens… it becomes the LIVING word of God. This past
week, the verse that has been repeating over and over in my
head since the Shelbourne league victory is from Psalm 90:
Give us joy to balance our affliction
For the years when we knew misfortune
Yes, faith teaches me that joy and resurrection will follow
affliction and sorrow. May we all remember this life lesson
through any struggle or difficulty that comes our way – God is
good, and will send us the joys if we hang in and wait long
enough... and hopefully not as long as eighteen years!
BACK TO TOP
Wednesday 30th October 2024
The Unstoppable Power of God
In yesterday's Gospel,
Jesus says: “the Kingdom of
God is like the yeast a
woman took and mixed in
with three measures of flour
’til it was leavened all
through.”
A few months ago, Dr.
Jessie Rodgers, the
Scripture scholar broke
open this parable for us. Do
you know how much 3
measures of flour is? Well, I did not. It is enough to make 52
loaves of bread!
Dr. Jessie does the Parables of Jesus with children sometimes
and the comment of one little girl on the 52 loaves of bread
was – “ that Mammy must have had very greedy children”!
What strikes you I wonder? Maybe that the good woman must
have had strong arms to mix that amount of flour? What grips
me is that a tiny bit of yeast could make 52 loaves of bread
rise. Our young sister makes a large loaf of yeast bread and I
love to see it swelling up.
But what is so much more awesome is that Jesus uses that
image of the tiny bit of yeast when He wants us to discover the
wonder of the Kingdom of God’s love and goodness. Yes and
He tells us it is within you and me, in our little lives – this
unstoppable power of God’s love. Isn’t it a most encouraging
image to latch on to when the news is full of wars and rumours
of war and hatred. The love of God, the yeast of God is rising
up in us to create a new world of goodness and justice and
peace.
See this little true story sent to us and you’ll get a flavour of
God’s yeast:
This five-year-old girl from South
Africa, the daughter of a single
mother, was sent to the store to
buy a loaf of bread. On her way
back, a stranger took her photo,
and it went viral on social media,
capturing her pure joy.
Under public pressure, the bread
company made her the brand
ambassador. Her photo is now on
billboards advertising bread across South Africa. In return, the
mother/daughter duo received a two-room house, and the
company will also provide the girl's education expenses until
graduation.
So take heart and rejoice. The yeast of God’s kingdom of love
and goodness is rising up unstoppable in human hearts.
BACK TO TOP
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