Photo was taken at Col√°iste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co.Cork (Irl)

My new book ‘A Year To Remember’ was launched in Col√°iste Choilm. It’s three years since the last book came out and it is a collection of pictures and thoughts (one for every day of the year) and many of them from this website. It will be in most bookshops by the weekend. It’s not often I get myself in a photo maybe every 3 years as I’m normally behind the camera!!! But today i’m allowing a pic of myself up on the website, with my family, Pat Kinsella (Principal, Col√°iste Choilm) and John Allen (who launched the book.)

Thought on Thursday – November – 25/11/2010

The following thought is included in the new book ‘A Year To Remember’ which will be in bookshops by the weekend.

Our life consists not in the pursuit of material success but in the quest for worthy spiritual growth. Our entire earthly existence is but a transition stage in the movement towards something higher. We must not linger fruitlessly on one rung of the ladder.’ ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

If we believe and can accept that each day is God’s gift to us, the chances are high that we will not perch on just one rung of the ladder. It is good to keep our lives fresh and open. Taking a step each time allows us to do this. But maybe like the game ‘snakes and ladders’, we are afraid that we will come tumbling back down, quicker and further than we went up. The same game is an accurate reflection on life, lots of up and downs and many of them unexpected. The ladders symbolise possibility, growth and potential. They are symbolic of God trying to help us out of and through life’s many obstacles. For some clinging to just one rung is all they can manage right now. We pray today for the strength to look up again. We pray for anyone today who needs direction and a sense of hope during difficult times. We ask God to help us in our quest for good healthy spiritual growth.