Photo was taken yesterday at Grace Dieu Retreat House, near Tramore, Co.Waterford (Irl)

A farmer turns over a field and gets it ready to plant a new crop. Beautiful warm sunshine had everyone out and about yesterday.
The new furrows in the field are also symbolic of the week that’s in it. The invitation is to turn over all the dark and negative stuff to await the new growth and fresh start that Easter can bring to our lives.

Thought on Tuesday – April – 19/04/2011

The human ego hates change or a genuinely new experience. We prefer ideas. We can do anything we want with a new idea, including agreeing with it too quickly. But a genuinely new expereince does something with you. It forces you to reassess your terrain, find new emotions and realigh your life coordinates.’ ~Richard Rohr

This Holy Week that we are journeying through is all about realigning our life coordinates. It would be foolish to think we haven’t changed since Easter of 2010. A lot happens in a year and so have we. Our life story has moved on, we have had to cope with lifes fragile moments and those many moments that are often outside our control. Our journey through Holy Week helps us get in touch with where we are in life particularly the shadows, the darkness and the crosses. The invitation is to hold them during the week and as we celebrate Easter next weekend, the invitaiton will be to start a new journey with new beginnings. Our expereince of Holy Week will be different to last year because we have changed. We invite God to hold all that is going on in our lives today and we look forward to the new experience of Easter. We may resist, feel its not worth it, prefer our own comfort zone and want to remain closed to the blessings that this week can bring. But rather than slam the door shut, leave it ajar. The blessings of this week await you.