Photo was taken just off the coast of Gibraltar, southern Spain

The warm waters are full of bottle nosed dolphins. It’s great to have got a chance to see these wonderful creatures up close and personal. This one in our photo seemed happy to show off to us as it stood on its end out of water.

Thought on Wednesday – August – 03/08/2011

‘Things happen which baffle us, life has problems to which there seems no solution, many questions to which there seems no answer. It is inevitable that doubt, depression and failure of nerve will surface. While faith is a struggle it is also a powerful instrument in the generation of true joy, enabling us to cling to God so that we do not succumb to denial or cynicism’ ~Michael Neary (Archbishop of Tuam speaking at Croagh Patrick last Sunday)

While Mayo went on to beat Cork in the All Ireland quarter final last Sunday, another 15,000 people were climbing its famous mountain Croagh Patrick. In the annual Reek Sunday Pilgrimage which always takes place on the last Sunday of July, pilgrims from all over Ireland climb this famous mountain. It’s not done to keep fit but is done out of a genuine belief that it’s good to do a pilgrimage, to connect with a deeper spirituality and a sense of sacred all around us. For the pilgrims on Sunday and indeed all of us, we are so aware of how fragile life can be. Often there are no answers and this can be so frustrating. Our faith allows us to rise above this frustration and enables us to cling to something. As believers we turn to God and sometimes we just cling and barely hold on there. But so long as we are clinging and maintaining some connection we are in a good and safe place.