Photo was taken at Fota Wildlife Park, Cobh, Co.Cork (Irl)

Fota Wildlife Park and Gardens have so many beautiful walks. It is always a great place to simply get away from the stress and busyness of life

Thought on Sunday – December – 18/12/2016

Thought For Today by Fr Iomar Daniels


“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” (Mt 1:24)

Joseph is the central character in today’s Gospel. Through his quiet heroics, unselfish spirit and generous and fearless action, Jesus came to be born. Joseph’s action means Emmanuel;
God-is-with-us. Throughout Advent we’ve sung ‘Come, O Christ, our Lord.’ We’ve exclaimed: ‘Stir up your power O Lord and come to save us. Let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.’ But if Christ is to be born for us we must look beyond the melting candles of the Advent wreath and see deeper than the clay moulded figures of the crib.

We have to seek the face of our new-born Saviour in the melting hearts of troubled and discontented people, in the brittle bodies of the sick and the poor and fickle light of innocent children needing our guidance and care. We must become the central actors in the Christian drama of life. The name Joseph in Hebrew means ‘let him add’. We too can add to the saving plan of God. As Pope Benedict put it: ‘Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return.’