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

You can hardly see him in the crowd but right in the middle is Pat Kinsella who got a presentation from 2nd years to mark his retirement from the school. He has been the Principal for the past 25 years and all this week different groups are marking his retirement with presentations. The joke in school is that he will need an extension to his home to hold all the gifts he is getting!!

Thought on Thursday – February – 09/02/2012

‘If we really want to pray we must give it time. We must also learn to step back from the malaise of our age with its insistence what we must be constantly active and instead learn to view time in a different light, as something to be embraced as a gift rather than bought or possessed’ ~Joyce Huggett

How often we hear it said, “there is never enough time”. If only we had that bit of extra time, we would squeeze in more time for friends and family, more time to rest, more time to relax and unwind. But something else always squeezes out that extra bit of time whenever it comes our way. How do some people seem to have time for the essential and important things in life? How is that they also seem more relaxed, less stressed and more at ease? Clearly these people see time as a gift rather than something just forced on us. If time is seen as a gift then our priorities will clearly change. There will be time given to the essentials like quiet time, rest, prayer and a quiet acceptance that one does not always have to be sucked into the slipstream of getting everything done now. This is not the same as escapism or laziness. It is knowing that today and this present moment is God’s gift to you or me. I can enjoy the moment and make the most of it. Or I can lose it because I’m already thinking about the next one.