Photo was taken at Oceanworld, Dingle, Co.Kerry (Irl)

A clownfish is particular beautiful with its vivid colours. In recent years it has become a celebrity because of the Disney film ‘Finding Nemo’.

Thought on Friday – March – 30/03/2012

Our culture is saturated by the notion of winning, be it sports, in a relationship or in the courtroom. Our focus on personal victory sometimes can cause us to lose sight of the possibility that we could lose.’ ~Nadia Weer

The biggest sporting occasion during 2012 will be the Olympics taking place in London. Every country will we going for glory and honour. Nothing will be spared and everyone taking part will be hoping to peak during the games. The pressure on these sports people is really high. We are tolerant and inclusive today of many things. But there is one that we are slow to embrace and that is failure. Winning seems to be everything with little room for failure. Today many seem to have an inability to cope with failure particularly young men. It’s almost as if failure is a crime, shameful and something to be avoided at all costs. There seems to be no one saying: “It’s ok to fail too”. Failure is part and parcel of life. The older we are, the more we are in tune with setbacks, knocks and failure. In our Gospel stories Jesus had great words of comfort for those who failed. He used failure as an opportunity for growth, healing and a time to move on. He allowed each person see the bigger picture and that they were deeply loved. For him any failure should become a stepping stone to personal growth in our own lives. In the midst of failure is the knowledge that we are not on our own, that we can learn from the failure and that we can restart again.