The following photograph was taken by Col√°iste Choilm, Transition Year student Angelika Lewandowska. She is part of a group learning the skills of photography and each week they are out and about taking pictures. This picture by Angelika came first in one of the recent competitions.

A lovely moment as the kitten explores the presence of the ladybird in front of it.

Thought on Saturday – November – 10/11/2012

‘Christianity doesn’t promise that we won’t die. It doesn’t call death “nothing at all”, doesn’t worship death nor consider it an antidote to life’s ills. It claims that death is overcome by life, not the other way around.’ ~Mary Marrocco

Tomorrow Sunday will see many graveyards busy with people visiting and paying their respects to their loved ones who have died. Some places will have a prayer service while other places will just be quiet places of prayer, as people come and go to remember and pray. Some might say what a morbid thing to be doing. But in fact it is something healthy and a good thing to do.

November allows us to connect with the losses of our own lives particularly with loved ones who have died. There are no easy answers, no magic wands to take away the pain of grief and no shortcuts to be found. But the tradition of visiting a graveyard and saying a prayer for our loved ones puts us very much in touch with our own mortality, our own fragility and that we are merely pilgrims passing through this world. As we remember our loved ones who have died we pray: eternal rest grant upon them O Lord, may perpetual light shine upon them and may they rest in peace. Amen