Crannóggy Island

  You Raise Me Up - Selah. Please offer your prayers for my brother who is in hospital gravely ill with pneumonia. He has suffered with MD for several years as well as a significant heart and lung condition. I fear he is facing his last days in this life.  Blest are You, God of the Universe, We thank you and praise You for life. Bless John with patient endurance. May mercy and compassion be with his family during this time of transition. Remember the good words and works of John and forgive his sin. Bring him into a relationship with Jesus. May the holy Angels be with him both now and forever. Amen. Also, please offer prayers for a very dear friend whose husband has recently suffered a massive stroke and she herself is experiencing a serious battle with cancer.  God of all goodness, Look with mercy on my dear friends who are experiencing major illnesses. Let your hand of healing and protection be upon them. When they are fearful, ease their fear and an...

 

                                                           Israel must stop " killing babies and women in Gaza" , French President Macron has told the BBC. He said there was "no justification" for the bombing, saying a ceasefire would " benefit Israel ." While recognising Israel's right to protect itself, "we do urge them to stop this bombing" in Gaza, he said. When asked if he wanted other leaders - including in the US and the UK - to join his calls for a ceasefire, he replied: "I hope they will." US secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters: "Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks." Not a blogger I generally follow, but on this he is right -  Mundabo r: "The evil men who staged the attack are now using their own children as human shield, hoping that their own little ones di...

We live in a dramatic moment in history. This can be said for every generation as it faces its own unique challenges. However, this doesn't soften the blows we feel every time we open our laptops, turn on the news or witness the great suffering that surrounds us. It helps to focus on the good things in life. This story is from 2020 and was reported in the  Belfast Telegraph . It lifted my spirit when I read it.   A two-year-old boy with a cleft lip has become the proud owner of a puppy with the same birth defect. Bentley Boyers’ father came across the dog, named Lacey, when he went to a shelter in search of chickens to add to the family’s small collection of farmyard animals. Ashley Boyers, Bentley’s mother, told PA: “He looked at the puppies just because, and he called me on FaceTime and said ‘hey, I think this puppy has a cleft lip’ so I looked at her and I said ‘you need to get her, we need her’. “So he ended up as...

  O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son shed upon the wood of the cross, especially from his most sacred Hands and Feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular family members for whom I am most bound to pray; that no neglect of mine may hinder them from praising Thee in Thy glory and blessing Thee for ever. Amen. November is the month the Catholic Church traditionally dedicates to prays for the those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified;” for those who are undergoing the purification necessary to enter the joy of Heaven. Purgatory, while it may seem to be a place where souls go to, is much more complex, as explored below, though we will never know fully what it is like until we experience it ourselves. Catholic teaching is contained in three short paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church – here . Some argue there are different ‘models’ of purgatory/purification based on ways of understan...