Photo was taken at Gougane Barra, West Cork (Irl)

From the archives I have uploaded a picture of the oratory at Gougane Barra in West Cork. In the midst of darkness it still shines as a place of beauty. It has been a very dark weekend in Paris that has sent shock waves across the world. Like so many others today, our prayers and thoughts are very much with everyone affected by what happened there on Friday night.
Today is also World Day of Remembrance for all those who have died on our roads because of a road traffic accident. We also pray for the injured and so many heartbroken families left to mourn the loss of their loved one.

Thought on Sunday – November – 15/11/2015

Thought For Today is by Jane Mellett

‘When you see these things taking place, you know that he is near.’ ~Mark 13:29

Next week we come to the end of the Church’s liturgical year and therefore on this Sunday the readings traditionally speak about the end of the world and the final coming of Jesus. There is a lot of symbolic language in today’s Gospel, some of it which may distress us. The opening verses tell us of great destruction of things that we know we cannot survive without – the sun, the moon. The Gospel goes on to speak about the gathering of a great community. People in Jesus’ time believed that the end would come in their life-time. Jesus says that no one will know when this is to happen and that it is not for us to worry about. What we should be concerned about is how to live every day in God%u2019s love and service.

Today, we might recall times where we thought our worlds had ended because we lost something so important to us or we were suffering in some way. During that time it may have seemed like nothing would be the same again, but it was temporary; a new or different way of life was opened up to us as a result. The parable of the fig tree in the middle of this Gospel speaks to us about life and hope. In the midst of winter a small sign of hope was there even though we may not have seen it.