I took this photo at An Tairseach, Dominican Ecology Centre, Wicklow
It’s that time of year with the beautiful colours of autumn all around us at the moment. The transition into autumn colours is always gentle. It reminds us spiritually that there are some things in life that we must also gently let go of too.
I have just uploaded my new video below
On This Day
On October 17th 1972 the American rapper and actor Eminem, who was one of the most controversial and best-selling artists of the early 21st century, was born.
On October 17th 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize On this day in 1979, Mother Teresa, was named the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace for her work with the poorest of the poor
On October 17th 2020 the Labour Party headed by Jacinda Ardern was re-elected in a landslide in New Zealand’s general election. She stepped down as Prime Minister in February 2023.
Birthdays Today
Simon Harris (Taoiseach of Ireland) is 38
Leigh Arnold (Actress) is 45
Eminem (Rapper) is 52
Kimmi Raikkonen (Finnish F1 Driver) is 45
Significance of Today
Today Oct 17th is World International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Poverty as we know is widespread in so many parts of our world today. The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed to promote and acknowledge the effort and struggle of those living in poverty. We also think today of the flight of so many innocent Palestinian people who have had to flee their homes to avoid getting caught up in missile attacks.
Quote For Today
“Poverty is not just a lack of money, it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being.” ~ Amartya Sen
Did You Know
Did you know that nearly 1 billion people don’t have enough to eat. 615 million people suffer from water stress. And almost half of the world’s population has no access to the internet.
My Latest Video 🎥
This is my latest video and it is called ‘Crows in Song – United Together’. A new video is posted here every Wednesday morning
The video below I had up last week and it is called – ‘A Circle Celebrates You’. If you would like to see a selection of my other videos on Youtube you can click this link here. https://www.youtube.com/@JamesMcSweeneyFr/videos
Thought For The Week
‘Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.’ ~Rumi
We are surrounded by circles but of course we take them for granted. Our universe and our planet earth rotate in circles. The sun and the moon are circular in shape. Our ancestors built beautiful monuments in circular shapes from Stonehenge to Newgrange. Whether it is a ring, a coin or an orange, circles are never too far from us.
A circle is safe, gentle and its beautiful shape lends to calmness, peacefulness, and relaxation. The circle stands for totality, the infinite, timelessness and God whose centre is everywhere. The circle will always represent our journeys from beginning to end.
While a circle may have no sides, don’t forget it has an inner side and an outer side. Our world puts the focus on externals and on the outer side. But it’s what is inside that is most important, especially love, kindness, peace and goodness. You have all these within you which means a circle is always a celebration of the beautiful you.
You are invited to step into God’s circle of love. It is a good place and a safe place. The beauty of a spiritual circle is that it’s easy to step in or step out. All of our Christian tradition and the stories of our ancestors would indicate that the best and safest place to be is within the circle, where there is always healing, growth and love.
Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
