I took this photo last Saturday at sunrise at my parish home in Carrigaline, Co.Cork (Irl)
This bantam hen was keeping a close eye on her young chicks. Every day they are growing and exploring the garden more and more under Mum’s watchful eye.
I have just posted my new video below
On This Day
On October 23rd 1998 American singer Britney Spears launched her pop career with her huge hit ‘Baby One More Time’
On October 23rd 2001 Apple introduced the iPod, a portable media player that became one of the most successful and revolutionary products of the early 2000s.
On October 23rd 2015 Adele released her single ‘Hello’ and becomes 1st song with more than a million downloads in its first week
Birthdays Today
Ryan Reynolds (Movie Actor) is 48
If Pele was alive it would have been his birthday today
Saint For Today
Today October 21st is the feast of Saint John of Capistrano
Significance of Today
Today October 23rd is International Snow Leopard Day. These beautiful animals prowl the mountains with grace and power, their stunning coats blending seamlessly into the snowy landscape. These animals are distributed sparsely across 12 different countries in Central Asia. They tend to be found in rugged, high mountain landscapes, at elevations between 3,000 and 4,500m. But their declining numbers due to loss of prey and poaching, has created cause for concern and that is why the spotlight is on them today.
Quote For Today
“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between people and nature shall not be broken.”
~Leo Tolstoy
Did You Know
Did you know that the paws of a snow leopard are wide and are covered with fur. They act as natural snowshoes, helping to distribute its weight over soft snow and protect it from the cold. They can also cover the distance of a marathon in one night.
My Latest Video 🎥
This is my latest video and it is called ‘The Floods One Year Ago – Then and Now’. A new video is posted here every Wednesday morning
The video below I had up last week and it is called – ‘Crows In Song – We Are United Together’. 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
There is a story about two men walking down a country lane and across some fields. One of them forgot to close one of the gates. After seeing some cows, he realized his mistake and walked back to close it. He said it reminded him about the words an old man shared with him many years before, “As you travel down life’s pathways, remember to close the gates behind you.”
Such advice is one we could also keep close. Life is never straight forward and there are many attractions, distractions, obstacles and challenges. We sometimes make mistakes, we could have made better choices and we sometimes regret not having done something completely different.
But we shouldn’t allow these to dominate or take over our lives. That is why it is so important to close the gate and simply move on. What gates in my life have I still left open? Can I close them, move on, knowing there is no need to reopen and go back.
Jesus in our Gospel stories closed many gates for people who were stuck in the past. By closing these gates he also invited them to move forward and to cherish each day as a fresh start and a new beginning.
We have just celebrated Mission Sunday. It is a celebration of so much good work done all over the world. It is a celebration of how the story of Jesus has been shared all over the world. How this story is shared has evolved over many years. Some gates are closing with the shortage of priests, sisters and dedicated missionaries. But definitely other new gates are opening and evolving. Mission Sunday is also a celebration of these new green shoots.
Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
