Photo was taken yesterday at Green Glens, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)

The place to be this weekend was at Green Glens, Millstreet for the All Ireland and International Sheep Shearing & Wool handling competitions. Competitors from New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland sheared some 3,000 sheep and entertained 15,000 visitors at the hugely successful event. It was hosted by Aubane’s St. John’s GAA club.

In our photo today a competitor uses a traditional shears to shear the sheep, taking more time than doing it electrically but also requiring specific skills and much practice! It is the first time that a round of the championships were held indoors in one of the best venue in Ireland, if not in Europe.

Thought on Monday – May – 27/05/2013

‘God is community, a community built on love in all its forms. As we bless ourselves today, remember that we are symbolising that great mystery of God, that community of persons, the relationships of love that we are invited into, relationships of giving and receiving, relationships of community and life.’ ~Jane Mellett


Yesterday Trinity Sunday was celebrated. We so often make the sign of the cross without even thinking. But it is a lovely simple prayer surrounding ourselves in God’s protection not once or twice but three times. One could get completely bogged down in trying to understand the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A much more practical understanding is that God is love and that God is a community built on love. There are many things in our world that we do not understand and there are darker forces out there that sometimes seem to dominate. But God’s love will always be visible and wherever its presence or energy is, we have nothing to fear. We are not in isolation but part of a community built on love in all its forms. Trinity may be surrounded in mystery but there is no mystery about the difference God’s love makes in our world and lives.