“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.” Robert Binyon November is a traditional month of remembrance. It’s customary for us to wear poppies during this month to remember all those lost to us during wars and conflict. It is also, in the Catholic tradition, the month of ‘Holy Souls’ where we pray and remember all departed friends and family. November is also the month my mother died – on the 14th to be exact – three days before my birthday. So, each November since, when I celebrate and remember the day I was born, I also find myself remembering and mourning the ..read more

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Psalm 147:4 “Will you PLEASE come inside now, stargazer!”- was a refrain I would hear often when I was little. I used to spend hours sat in the field behind my house, looking at the stars. A born planner and a born dreamer, I would spend my time doing a bit of both. I was planning my escape (I had rather a lot to escape from) and I was dreaming BIG – one day I was going to reach the stars! “He also made the stars.” Genesis 1-14:16 For many people, when they contemplate space they are reminded of their insignificance: how small ..read more

“So, tell me what you understand of what I just said?” my driving instructor (who actually has the patience of a saint) asked me for the third time. “Ummmm….” I thought about it. I had heard his instruction, I knew what he had said, but my brain had ceased working; I had heard sound, but no meaning. After a long pause, I had to admit that I had understood absolutely nothing of the past ten minutes. I had nothing. Literally nothing. Unwilling, or perhaps simply unable, to bring himself to ask me a fourth time, my driving instructor proceeded with the lesson. “I am sure actually doing the&nbs ..read more

Are we there yet? The above sounds like an innocuous enough question, that is, until it is uttered by a child or even worse, multiple children! Add the following factors: being trapped in a car with said children; heat, and a 2+ hour travel time, and the question becomes a feared one! Driving to our recent holiday, I was treated to a splendid rendition of the ‘Are we there yets?’ by my children and, while I understood their excitement and perhaps admired their consistency (said on a loop for over three hours), it was with much relief and with very little patience left that I was finally able ..read more

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 This picture of my mum and my, then four-month-old son, was taken – on impulse – one Saturday afternoon in mid -November. And I almost didn’t take it! Waiting for my mum’s sisters (on a visit from Ireland) to arrive so we could go out to dinner, myself and my mum were just killing time really, chatting and playing with a very smiley Harry. Something made me pause, however, just before my aunts were due to arrive, go and get my camera, and take that picture. It’s a lovely picture. It’s also the last picture I have ..read more

“Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11  A couple of summers ago, I met up at a local park with one of my closest friends and our mutual children. We are very blessed, in that our children get on as well as we do, and our daughters – born a couple of weeks apart – are very close. On this particular day, the children decided to play on the monkey bars, and things did not quite go according to plan…. My daughter, having spent many an hour dangling from the monkey bars at her school, completed them with ease; my son ..read more

Returning and remembering   I can still remember the first time I returned to Church after a long absence. I had recently moved to a new area and I found myself, one Saturday afternoon, on what seemed like a random impulse googling my local church’s Mass times. I discovered that there was a Vigil Mass in just a few hours’ time and I remember announcing to my then boyfriend (now, husband) that I was going to go to Mass later that day. I remember his bemused expression; I had generally considered myself an atheist at that point in my life but, laidback as ever, he merely shrugged and ..read more

  Responding to crisis I’m privileged to be involved in leading the Alpha Course on behalf of my parish. Back in March, with one session left of our course, we were forced to cancel our current sessions, as the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic became apparent. One week later all church services were ordered to stop, and the week after that the whole country entered full lockdown. Back in March I had never heard of Zoom; I never watched an online Mass or thought about running a course like Alpha online either. Yet within a week of lockdown being introduced, our parish priest had manged t ..read more

  ” For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:6        Blogging beginnings On Friday, I received a ‘congratulations’ notification from WordPress to let me know that I had reached my first milestone as fledging blogger; I had now reached 10 published posts! Reflecting on my blogging journey so far – new as it is – I felt a deep sense of gratitude for all the process has granted me so far. Each of my 10 entrie ..read more

  “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3   NOUN Unease  anxiety or discontent. “public unease about defence policy” synonyms: terror · fright · fearfulness · horror · alarm · panic · agitation · trepidation · dread · consternation · dismay · distress · anxiety · worry · angst · uneasiness · apprehension · apprehensiveness · nervousness · nerves · timidity · disquiet · disquietude”   Watching the news during the last few months has, for me, been an unsettling experience, to say the least. Amid a global pande ..read more