Dia is Mhuire díobh go léir a chairde, and welcome to my weekly report.
The third Pascal Candle, a purple one, was lit on the Alter before Masses at the weekend, letting us know that the Season of Advent is moving on fast. This weekend the candle will be pink and the one for Christmas Brilliant white. So let us leave no prayer unsaid in the run-up to the great feast of the birth of Jesus on Saturday December 25th. But before then there are lots to be done. The level of fundraising has reached fever pitch as people some for the first time are throwing all their energies behind the effort to ensure that not one person will go without their needs this Christmas, whatever those needs may be. They say that nothing is ever all bad, that every cloud has a silver lining, that there is always another way and I think that the awful corona virus has proved all of these things to be true. When no way forward can be seen or achieved then it’s time to take a step back and consider an alternative. Life goes on, it has to. It’s not of our making, we can’t switch it all off so we must find a way or ways forward. It looks to me as if the world has looked at the less well off in a different way, taking the view that with a little help a great deal of situations can be brought up to speed, in a way that will give the have-nots to chance to become equals. The present situation has changed many people’s lives. None or very few foreign trips to visit family abroad or for loved ones to come home. At home there are mass cancellations of concerts, family parties, or hotel breaks. These things cost a lot of money and planning, but without them people have both time and cash on their hands, which sends them off in pursuit of something to do and what could be better than to turn their thoughts and energies towards the country’s human problems around them.
[read more …] “Eily’s Report – 14th December”
