As well as the fourth penitential Bed, one of the Lough Derg boats is named for St Columba.  He was born in 521, 1500 years ago this year.  Naturally gifted and a born leader, he founded his first monastery at Derry.  A dispute over a manuscript of the Psalms that Columba had copied escalated […]

With you on your Lenten Journey. This week’s reflection ‘At St Columba’s Bed’ is read by pilgrim, James McKenna.   Dear friends, as we pray on St Columba’s Bed, we are usually feeling relieved to be half-way through another Station Prayer.  At this half-way point on our Lenten journey, it might be good to recall […]

Deacon Martin Reflects on St Patrick   On holiday, I often stand at the statue of St Patrick in the Octagon in Westport and read the inscription ‘I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many’. As I reflect, I believe that Patrick was totally convinced […]

Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection is ‘The Rising Sap’.   On the radio recently I heard a question in a quiz: They say that in Spring the sap rises: true or false? Along the Path there are signs of Spring to be seen, […]

  The saint of the third bed is the only one from outside Ireland: St Catherine of Alexandria, in Egypt.    Catherine was a thinker and a scholar.  She was martyred for Christ about 310.  Her tomb is venerated in a monastery on Mount Sinai.  With the returning Crusaders, devotion to St Catherine spread to the […]

With you on your Lenten Journey. This week’s reflection ‘At St Catherine’s Bed’ is read by staff member, Maureen Boyle.   Dear friends, we are into the third week of Lent.  By the time we reach St Catherine’s Bed in the Station Prayer, we are treading on more level ground and the stones are smoother.  […]

Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection is ‘As if Brigid might forget’.   Going down today to Brigid’s Well these tokens took my attention. The tradition is to tie a rag or something else I have to hand, in token of my pilgrim’s prayer; […]

  With you on your Lenten Journey. The saint of the second Bed is Brendan.  His origins were in Kerry where he gave his name to Mount Brandon, and where there is a living pilgrimage tradition in his honour.  Brendan is remembered as an adventurer for Christ.  A medieval tale recounts his journey via the Hebrides […]

With you on your Lenten Journey. This week's reflection 'At St Brendan's Bed' is read by Pilgrim Mark McDonnell. https://www.loughderg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/St-Brendans-Bed-Master.mp4   As we settle into the routine of our Lenten journey we come in our imagination this week to St Brendan’s Bed. Many of us can well remember the ridges in the stone under our [...]

Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection is called ‘Pilgrim Waters’. Fr La reflects, In the drain by the Path the water was babbling along on my left, making its way to this place of encounter.   I never miss a pause at this spot […]