I took this photo yesterday evening at 6.30pm. The skyline was particularly beautiful and I took the photo between Lissarda and Macroom in Co.Cork
A prayer to mark Pancake – Shrove Tuesday – Loving God, The simple ingredients of a pancake remind me also of the simple things in life. Milk, flour and eggs will not make the headlines on their own but put them together and you get a beautiful pancake. Help me to do things in my life in the spirit of simplicity. Help me to mix in enough love, kindness and goodness to make a difference each day. May Pancake – Shrove Tuesday focus me on my Lenten journey. Where ever that journey may take me, help me to keep it simple and to take it one step at a time. Amen
Video for the Week🎥
Today is Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday) and this video explains in simple language what it is all about
This is my new video below and it is called ‘A Spring Prayer in Lent’. With Lent beginning tomorrow, one part of the prayer has some lovely words…May you be gentle with yourself this spring and this lent🙏💕
With Lent beginning tomorrow Ash Wednesday (March 5th) – this video underneath that I put together last year still has a very relevant message
This video below was one of my recent videos called ‘Celebrate Your Light’
If you would like to see a selection of my other videos on YouTube you are welcome to have a look at some of them here: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesMcSweeneyFr/videos
Spiritual Thought For The Week
There is a beautiful line in Psalm 102, ‘The Lord is compassion and love.’ We all have a lovely sense of the word love and spiritually we keep saying over and over how God loves us and nothing can ever change God’s special love for each of us.
The word compassion is a word we don’t use much. It is another word for kindness but it’s more than that. Compassion is about feeling someone else’s pain and wanting to do something about it. Compassion is when we can walk in someone else’s shoes and we try to see, hear and feel what they are going through.
We all know what it’s like to walk with a tiny pebble in our shoe. It is most difficult. And sometimes someone else has a pebble in their shoe that we have no idea about. I am always touched and blown away by the sacredness of people coming together for Mass on a Sunday in their local church. I am hugely aware of how each person brings their own story and all that is going for them right now.
And for some of us there can be and there is a lot going on for each of us. We must never underestimate or take for granted what anybody might be going through right now. And at Mass we reach out in compassion and love and prayer to you, whatever may be going on for you.
Maybe today or during the week you could also contact someone you know who is going through a difficult time, and that is compassion at its best. We might especially need to receive this compassion and love today, or we might also be the one to share this compassion and love with someone who needs it.
I will finish by saying Jesus clearly knew compassion and love were so important. It is something he shared with so many. And often it’s the little moments of compassion and love that matter the most.
The Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
