Henry Shefflin is a household name when it comes to sport and hurling. He has recently retired having won a record 10 All-Ireland medals on the field of play, 3 All Ireland Club medals, as well as 13 Leinster medals and 6 National Hurling League medals. It is a record that will not be broken for many years. He spoke to a captivated audience of young people during the week. As a teenager he spoke about how he played underage but struggled to get onto the team and was constantly on the substitute bench. Even when he played at minor level no one believed he would make the senior team. But Henry Shefflin believed in himself. He never gave up, worked at sharpening his hurling skills, worked hard on the small things and believed that every challenge was a ladder to something better. He could easily have packed it in but he knew deep within that he had more to give. How right he was and he now stands among the elite of Irish sports men and women in terms of achievements.

There is a lesson there for us too. How often have we struggled with things we do and what we would like to get done. It doesn’t help sometimes when others do not believe in our ability and that we can do it. But if we believe in ourselves and always strive to do our best, then we are in a really good place. This is also a constant theme running through our Gospel and Easter stories. We are encouraged to be ourselves, to let our light shine, to be the best we can be, to learn from our mistakes and to do our best in everything, particularly the ordinary and down to earth moments that make up our everyday lives.