Photo was taken in Haiti

Elaine Cotter is clearly the favourite of the day in a local school in Haiti. Elaine along with fellow teacher Joe Dennehy from Col√°iste Choilm, Ballincollig went out with the charity group Haven and built 55 homes for the poorest of the poor, during the recent mid term break. Joe and Elaine, along with another group of volunteers were supposed to go out last year but the earthquake and the outbreak of cholera that followed meant it was postponed until now. More photos will follow in the coming weeks. In the run in to Christmas the reality of Haiti will put lots of things in perspective for us here.

Thought on Thursday – November – 17/11/2011

Is God’s love for us unconditional or is it dependent on our behaviour? And the answer is that the love that God poured into us when we were created remains with us throughout our lives, through death and into eternal life. And nobody and nothing, not even our own sinfulness can diminish God’s love for us one iota. God’s love for us is unconditional – it means what it says on the tin! ~Peter McVerry

If only we believed this what a difference it would make to our lives. We go around carrying so many heavy and negative burdens. We add to their weight by thinking that we are outside the circle of God’s love. We feel we are outside because of stuff we have done, mistakes made or a feeling that God has let us seriously down somewhere. But God’s circle of love goes way beyond our limitations and setbacks. We’re headstrong and we hold tough. We’re outside the circle and we feel there’s no going back in. But today God says to each of us that we are within this circle of love. We’ve got to take a step forward and we’ve got to believe that God is on our side. Nobody and nothing can take that away from us.