by Dympna O’Daly SSL

May 29, 2024

A very strong wind last night was sheer delight for the variety of trees in my back garden. It is Maytime, the trees are in full leaf. The greenness of the tall sycamore is in striking contrast with the rich burgundy of the Japanese Maple. Each tree responding to the wind with wild abandon, expressing sheer joy in a vibrant dance.

by Úna Agnew SSL

April 25, 2024

Scattered liberally throughout his work, the poet Patrick Kavanagh finds extraordinary affinity with the names and moods of the calendar months. He seems to revel in their musicality and meanings. ‘April’s ecstasy’ infuses himself and his spring landscape with a renewed desire for life. This is undoubtedly his favourite month, when as an apprentice farmer he is excited by the natural instinct to scatter seed on ‘the black eternity of April Clay’. Much later in life, when he most needs it, it is April that offers him ‘incredible’ healing and the ‘flowering of his catharsis’, in the manifold setting of a ‘cut-away bog’.

by Dympna O’Daly SSL

April 10, 2024

It is the Easter vigil our local church. As the ceremony begins, there is almost total darkness outside, apart from the lively flames of a small fire created by our Parish Sacristan. Inside the church is total darkness.

by Michelle Ankrah SSL

February 14, 2024

I am a photographer; I love to create memories with a click from the shutter of my camera. Photos are tangible and they leave everyone with memories of an event or occasion whether sad or joyful. Photos remind us and communicate with us. They tell a story; they are poems without words. When I take photos, I take them from all angles and all views so that the story will fall in line.

by Marion Reynolds SSL

December 20, 2023

I often use my small globe as a symbol during prayer. It helps me to focus on our beloved world with its diversity and terrible suffering. Yesterday I experienced the ‘globe’ in a human way. I attended a Christmas party for about 80 people who have travelled from many countries to live in Ireland.

by Úna Agnew SSL

December 13, 2023

Kavanagh’s poems suggest a man fascinated by God. He found God in the fields, in the hedgerows, “in the swamps and marshes…”, in short: “in the bits and pieces of every day.” Few writers, secular or sacred, have more persistently engaged in figuring God out. He had learned his Reilly Catechism at school, and over a lifetime, had mulled continually over its meaning. The mysteries of the Catholic faith and the unfolding liturgical seasons are liberally interwoven throughout his writing. References to the Holy Ghost and to Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter abound.