Thank you , loads and loads of little children and families, lovely to watch them Parents certainly need eyes on the back of their heads, even in the woods
Where are you this week, Padraig? We're spending the summer in the quaint inishowen village of Moville. Just reading through these texts reminded me to take a pilgrimage to Kerrytown in County Donegal - I have a bit of time off, so I'm going to take herself and the youngsters up a run, maybe next week. Our lady appeared there. And they have a small shrine built. Beautiful part of the world up round there too, if anyone fancies it. Doon Rock and holy well, as well as Ards Monastery (a working monastery - which offers retreats) and is set in the most stunning location, are all within a 20 mile radius or so. And the Wild Atlantic Camp is second to none... https://www.discoveringireland.com/kerrytown-rock-and-st-james-well/ https://ancientclans.org/heritage-site/doon-rock-and-holy-well/ http://www.ardsfriary.ie/index.htm https://www.wildatlanticcamp.ie/
Lovely Jack! I would really like to go there. Another wish list item. Enjoy your time with your family.
This is the big one... You've to fast and pray for the 3 days you're there, "doing Lough Derg". Anybody that's done it knows, wow! It's something else... I'd actually be up for a MOG visit to Lough Derg, if there was interest.. www.loughderg.org
Done it twice and totally on my own. It is really worth doing but my health or my knees are not what they were so don't think I will do it again
I was in Tollymore Forest once again. I visited Kerrytown Appartion Site a few years ago. There have been numerous little apparitions of Our Lady in Ireland down the years. I call them little because often they are not very well known. Also very often the Mother of God does not speak. I suspect they are only meant for a few people, a kind of flying local visit. If I am in the vicinity and hear of one I like to call. I don't have the least difficulty in believing, if Our Lady wants to visit where ever, when ever and who ever why not? So long as none of it goes against the Faith why not? I do notice in some of these places Our Lady's, 'Perfume' , lingers , so to speak.
I did the Lough Derg Pilgrimage with my brother and two of the gentlemen from MOG Site a few years back. I am humiliated to admit it was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life. To humiliate myself further everyone else there seemed to do it with great ease. I found it grim going. What's worse they all seemed far more penitential than myself, I could hardly wait to escape.
I wonder if many people are finding themselves under attack from the devil at the moment? I was walking through the woods the other day and feeling more than a little under the weather, which was not like me, I am usually very joyful. The cause of the grimness was incidents, sad, off putting awful memories from the past kept coming back to haunt me and make me feel down. Suddenly out of the blue it came to me that it might be the devil bringing up these awful memories to oppress me. At once it came to me to offer my sufferings up from these things to save souls. At once they went away. If the devil cannot bring us to sin he will not rest at that. If he cannot bring us sin, he will try to bring us sorrow,. He is implacable.
Padraig said the devil is implacable! 'Tis the bad fruit of his hatred toward us, as we, especially faithful Catholics, are reminders of the Son of God made Flesh on our behalf! Alleluia! Christ is risen and forever victorious!
I did, however, come under a fierce attack of self-condemnation about a month ago. It is fascinating that many of my inspirations and/or spiritual battles occur at night-time. Are Openness and susceptibility of the same ilk?
I sometimes think of the two demons Scripture warns about and their difference. The devil who lurks by night and the noon day devil. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/recognizing-noonday-devil/ I think Acedia or spiritual boredom could sometimes be described as anger at ourselves, or eating ourselves up, so to speak. I think this is a kind of self condemnation. The noon day devil. There is a scene from the film , 'The Exorcist', which reminds me of the noon day devil. Hermits are always warned that the greatest sin this must beware of is the noon day devil, anger against themselves.
They the Irish have a special Penitential bent, I can believe it having been to Lough Derg. However I must have missed out this gift when God was doling them out. One wonderful legend about Lough Derg is that it is the gateway of Purgatory. I can easily believe this, the whole place made me think of Purgatory.
Well away camping again. Hopefully Planet Earth and the Forum will still be here when I return. In about 8 days time. I can see myself winding up in a cave eating wild rabbits and watching mushroom clouds in the distance the way things are at the moment. Anyway miss yo all!. I will try to tune in on my smart phone of the forest lets me. God bless.
Sitting down to a triple whiskey and a tin of beer. It seems to be all granny's and grandads at the moment with the kids back at school So peaceful
