In Cana of Galilee…


Today it is fulfilled!

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Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house’. (Mt 26, 18) There is something new and strangely beautiful about this Teacher’s request. The time is near, and this time it is in my house – it is in your house – that Jesus wants to celebrate Easter! Let’s make preparations then! The first week has gone by, our heads were dizzy, our hearts were heavy and our spirits have been down. Life as we knew it(…)

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Domestic Churches or online Churches?

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In these times of the corona virus pandemic, the creativity of many priests has brought us eucharistic celebrations broadcast on the internet. The enthusiasm surrounding this initiative is remarkable. The computer screen, say many of the faithful, has become our altar, our Jacob’s well, our church! Allow me a few thoughts (and let me say first up that I also watch mass services online). My apologies for disturbing the peace yet again! When the Gospel tells us that the time will come when we will worship in spirit and truth (cf. Jn 4:23), it is not saying that the time(…)

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A caravan to heaven

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This is the third in a series of articles on the charism and spirituality of the Families of Cana My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, … (Gn 33, 13-14). At the beginning of the Movement, as I was(…)

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My house, my monestery

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Second article in a series on the charism and spirituality of the Movement A few years ago, on a visit to Fatima, I went to the Carmelite convent to pray Vespers with the Sisters, according to the explicit permissionn set out in their schedule. I knelt in the welcoming church as a Sister emerged from the inner convent to prepare the altar and expose the Lord. She did everything with respectful, eloquent gestures, and then returned inside out of sight. A few minutes later, the shuffle of footsteps announced the arrival of the entire community to the church choir just(…)

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The Pope in Ireland, The World Meeting of Families and the media

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It’s Saturday morning. Pope Francis lands in Ireland, Niall’s native land. Niall is eager to switch on the computer. Through a live feed we can watch the Pope’s visit without filters or commentary as he goes through a day of meetings, speeches and journeys. With only the images and the sounds of the moment to see and hear, we manage to follow the visit as we do our usual household chores. Our children know that it’s a special day and only a worthy exception justifies us having a computer turned on during mealtime as we listen to the speeches of(…)

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The Blue Hour

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Family holiday at Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal. At five in the morning, Frankie’s alarm clock rang. Time to get up for an early morning hike to catch the sun rising over the waters of the lake. Frankie, who is almost 20 and has a passion for photography, had always wanted to photograph what’s known as the “blue hour”, the few short moments before the sun rises that delight photographers. The price to pay was to get out of bed at an unseemly time of the morning and make the half-hour hike to the exact spot as indicated on an app(…)

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Transfiguration

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Last Monday our family set off for a week’s holiday in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Peneda-Gerês National Park here in Portugal. We wanted to leave early in the morning, but packing bags, putting everything into the cars and generally maneuvering a large family and their two rather old dogs is not something that is done too quickly. In any case by 11 am we were out the door and on our way. “Are we going to stop for a picnic in Sameiro like we usually do Mum?” asked the kids. The pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of(…)

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This was the 2nd Cana Camping Weekend

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Early on Friday morning, around 6 o´clock, Anthony, who is 8, opened our bedroom door and whispered, “Mum, can I go ahead down to the park at the Cana Prayer Corner? I want to make sure everything is ready for the Camp tonight”. The excitement was so great, I really don’t know how he and his brothers and sisters managed to sleep at all during the night. From what other families told us, the excitement wasn’t only at our house. For weeks the children of Cana had been planning the event of the year with every bit as much enthusiasm(…)

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Patience

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With my eighth pregnancy, the question that people ask me most often has surprised me. No, not whether I’m rich – to which I always reply yes, I am, because anyone who has children is rich. Nor whether my house is a mansion – to which I reply no, it’s not, because we have a room for the boys and one for the girls, whatever their number. No, the question I hear the most is, “where do you get the patience for so many kids?”. I reply in a spirited tone, saying that patience comes with the child delivery kit.(…)

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