Our photo today goes back many years and is of a monk working in a monastery. It ties in lovely with all 800th celebrations taking place in Tracton Abbey Parish today

Today Tracton Abbey Parish, which is about 25km south of Cork city, celebrates the 800^th anniversary of Tracton Abbey. It was 800 years ago on the shoreline at Ringabella, where the first Cistercian monks arrived from Wales. They located their monastery very close to Minane Bridge and lived here for many years.

Their influence is still felt today. One of the stones from the old monastery can be seen as you walk into the church at Minane Bridge today. To celebrate the occasion a special Mass has been organised today at 12 O’clock in Minane Bridge and the main celebrant will be Bishop Fintan Gavin. Lots of planning has gone into the event by Tracton Abbey Parish Council. It will be a lovely occasion and after Mass there will be refreshments for everyone.

Tracton Abbey Parish is famous for its good land, its coastline with beautiful sea views and some of Cork’s well-known beaches such as Fountainstown, Robert’s Cove and Rocky Bay. Most importantly it has a lovely vibrant community, with a great community spirit and where you will find a welcome for everyone. Agriculture is of course the backbone of this rural parish.

Even though the Cistercian monks are long gone, it is good to remember their presence in Tracton. We can still learn so much from the life they lived. Our busy and modern world needs some of the basic principles they lived each day: prayer, work, study, hospitality and renewal. For the monks having balance was the key to happiness and to having a deep sense of meaning and purpose in life.

In the world we live in today, we are out of balance. Our lives are so busy today, there is little time for quiet prayer, for reflection, for reading a book, for a quiet walk, for relaxing mindfully and so on. It is all about finding the balance.

We congratulate Tracton Parish this weekend. We congratulate a close community, who are remembering an important part of their history, while also looking forward in hope. For all of us, we try our best to find balance in everything we do in life.