In Mary’s month, here on Station Island, bright Mayflowers offering their own kind of prayer and praise at the edge of the water. In memory and in hope, wherever we may be, we bring our humble praise and prayer, and we take our stand, or we kneel, at The Water’s Edge. Prior La Flynn

Prior La Flynn’s update on the Lough Derg May Retreat Season 2020 in light of  the ongoing Irish Government guidelines in relation to Covid-19.  

  Three April daffodils, blooming here on Station Island with no one to admire them, recall Patrick Kavanagh’s sense of God present in the energy of nature, celebrated again and again in his poetry as in these lines from ‘The Great Hunger’: …God the Father in a tree; The Holy Spirit is the rising sap; […]

Pilgrim Daisies Station Island, April 2020 April light on the empty path. The bare trees in silhouette. Bell tower and St Mary’s in profile against the sun.   But I look again and I see…  This path is not empty. Here are the daisies, lifting up their humble heads to the light.   For now […]

In the spring sunshine nature abounds. A reflection on the simplicity of the little blooms in this out-of-the-way corner of God’s creation.

Hello – not from Lough Derg itself, but from the safe social distance that we are all observing and sharing.  And Happy Easter to you wherever you may be. As I pondered what Easter thought I might share with you, the figure of the late Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân has been in my […]

The final station is held by Mary, depicted as Queen of Apostles. The moon under her feet recalls the crowned woman of the Book of Revelation, who plays her part in the great struggle with the power of evil. THE BODY OF JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB It was now evening; the long day […]

Last of the apostles is Matthias. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke recounts how he was chosen to take the place of Judas Iscariot. THE BODY OF JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS The crowd had left the hill.  A few friends remained, to mourn the dead and to […]

The Apostle Simon, nicknamed “the zealot” to distinguish him from Simon Peter, is depicted as a young man with the hair colour associated with the Celtic peoples. JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS From the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  Jesus said:  “Father, forgive them; they do not […]

The Eleventh Station from the Lough Derg Way of the Cross This apostle is known as Judas or Jude.  At the Last Supper he asked Jesus, “Lord, what is this all about?” His straightforward question drew from Jesus the promise of the gift of the Spirit and of the peace that the world cannot give. […]