Photo was taken yesterday morning on the farm of Michael Cashman, Tullig, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)
Today is Mid Summer’s Day and is the longest day of the year. Today we will have 16.82 hours of daylight and just 7.18 hours of darkness. The exact time of the summer solstice today is 5.38 p.m
Recent fine weather has given farmers a great chance to bring the silage in. Denis Quinn Silage Contractor was in top gear yesterday morning bringing in some lovely silage
Thought on Sunday – June – 21/06/2015
Thought For Today is by Triona Doherty called ‘Travelling Solo’
The Gospel reading for today is from. Mark 4:35-41
With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘ Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’
In his poem Travelling Light, poet and theologian Padraig O’Tuama talks about the different ways we have of approaching life’s journey. At different times, he says, we can find ourselves travelling alone or in the dark, heavily or lightly.
Sometimes we ‘travel dark’ unable to conjure up an image of ‘sunrise or moonrise or starlight or fire’.
Sometimes we decide to ‘travel solo’, forgetting ‘all the others we’ve travelled with’.
The final verses remind us that there are times when we need to ‘travel lightly’: ‘Because sometimes we need to be travelling lightly. Sometimes we’re in need of regular reminding that light comes in circles and waves and small moments’.
The poem concludes: ‘and light comes to find us and light comes with hope.’
Life can be complicated and difficult, and it can weigh us down at times. We can end up thinking, feeling, and even acting as if we are alone on our journey.
Today’s Gospel reminds us that we are not alone. Even when God seems to be sleeping, and the storm is rising, and we are in danger of being swamped, he is there. At a simple request from the disciples in the boat, Jesus quietens the wind and allays their fears. All is calm again – all it takes is a little faith and trust that we are not alone.
