by Enda McMullan SSL

November 29, 2023

The water is calm and glistening with the rhythmic sounds of the tiny, nondescript breakers happening well out from the shore. I’m enjoying this scene of seagulls as they mew and caw call and interact harmoniously with one another.

by Úna Agnew SSL

November 22, 2023

Part 6. We Learn about Ageing from the Nautilus. The nautilus is one of the oldest sea-molluscs, spiral in shape and composed of many chambers that form itself into an attractive spiral. It begins as a tiny creature, that starts at its inmost centre, and grows through a series of ever-enlarging chambers. In each of these chambers, this sea creature lives for a season until it has outgrown its space and prepares to move into a new chamber. Its inbuilt instinct fashions a new space enlarging its shell as it goes, and thereby adding a new chamber suited to the next stage of its life. Because of its perfect symmetry and symbolic significance, the nautilus is given sacred status in ancient spiritual texts. 

by Michelle Ankrah SSL

November 15, 2023

One day I went for a walk in nature and ended up having a beautiful conversion with a pawpaw tree. As I strolled along the path, I came across a pawpaw tree that seemed to be calling out to me. I stopped and looked at it more closely and it appeared to be looking intently back at me. It seemed more confident in itself than I would have expected because, to my eyes, it had no beauty or attractiveness. Then, just as I was about to continue on my way, wondering what it was that was standing out about this tree, it spoke to me. To my astonishment its voice was female. 

by Veronica Afful SSL

November 8, 2022

I had the opportunity to witness the commissioning of the Atu Mould Conference Hall at the Arnold Jassen Spirituality Center, Botiano Hills, Accra, Ghana, during my sabbatical.

Atu Mould was a young billionaire and philanthropist who died of Covid-19 in 2020. He owned a fleet of expensive cars and motor bikes at the time of his death. His mother who had been wondering what she could do with all these vehicles had the idea of selling the vehicles and using the money for charitable works.

by Marion Reynolds SSL

November 1, 2023

When I walk on the banks of the Dodder River in South West Dublin I am reminded of Ilia Delio’s invitation, and indeed of many others including St Francis of Assisi, to seek the living God in the first book of revelation, the ‘Book of Nature.’  Ilia says, “For Francis, nature was a place of prayer, worship and community and spiritual transformation.”

by Úna Agnew SSL

October 25, 2023

Part 5. That was the River: This is the Sea. Learning from a popular song-lyric: There is a song entitled: “This is the Sea”, composed by lyricist and song-writer Mike Scott, lead singer of the Waterboys, which has made a strong impression on me.  I first heard it one Sunday morning, when the Welsh singer Tom Jones was being interviewed on radio at the launch of his latest album “Surrounded by Time.” Jones had been silent for some years in the wake of his wife’s death whom he deeply grieved. Realising that he is now in his eighties, he is struck with a new sense of his life “surrounded by time. “He is aware of the long fruitful innings he has enjoyed as a well-respected singer for over forty years. So, he selects songs for his new, and perhaps final album, with a renewed level of consciousness.