Photo was taken yesterday evening at Tooreenbawn, Millstreet, Co.Cork (IrL)

A bumblebee was busy at work on these Cotoneaster flowers. Notice the yellow pollen it has gathered on its leg. This will provide protein to feed its young.

Thought on Tuesday – June – 12/06/2012

‘The Eucharist gives us the surest way to be close to God. There is no way that I know of being closer to God. And there is no more powerful prayer.’ ~Sally Read


The Eucharistic Congress is in full swing this week at the RDS in Dublin. Many talks, lectures and workshops are taking place. The main focus of course is on the Eucharist which is often misunderstood and certainly taken for granted. For many years we simply had too many Masses. Mass became so routine and ordinary. ‘Getting a Mass in’ became a duty and something to get through. We lost a sense of celebration, meaning and what it was all about. Today things are very different with reduced numbers of priests and masses. Many people have walked away because they are fed up, disillusioned with the church and feel it is out of touch. Others feel their local church is hugely important and going to Mass is a meaningful event.

When we celebrate Eucharist we do it as part of a community. God built us for relationship and when Jesus gave us the gift of the Eucharist he wanted to pull people together. At Eucharist we come together during happy and sad occasions. We come when we are searching, when we are feeling down, when things are going great and when we are uncertain. When we go to Mass we are not going to an isolated event and then returning back to our normal lives. Eucharist and our normal everyday lives are so connected and interwoven that you cannot separate. Through the Eucharist Jesus wants to hold our everyday lives, the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the trivial and the special moments. Not just a few things of our lives but simply everything.