Time and seasons come and go, so far 2024 seems to have moved very quickly, it’s hard to believe, this week we begin the month of August. Traditionally August is associated with harvest and thanksgiving. The ancient Celtic festival of Lunasa was a celebration for all what had been gathered. People were grateful, to their The post August…. A Time To Harvest appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.

We live in extraordinary times; our world seems to be coming increasingly polemical. Looking at live news commentary of Donald trump’s attempted assassination seemed almost surreal. Extremism is part and parcel of life and indeed is very worrying. We must never become desensitised to the consequences of extremity. The plight of innocent children and vulnerable The post Doing The Little Things Well. appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.

You don’t just wake up one morning, light streaming in from the window, birds fluttering about, and jump from your bed with exuberance declaring “I have a faith!” No, it’s more like a slow crawl from your bed as you try to slam on the snooze button one last time. Getting faith isn’t easy, even The post Lord Increase My Faith appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.

It was a lawyer who asked Jesus in the Gospel, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ He was probably expecting a definition that would determine the limits of his obligations. Did ‘neighbour’ refer to his immediate community, or did it extend beyond that to the whole village? Should people living nearby in the countryside be considered neighbours The post The Good Samaritan appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.

As we begin the month of July, I pray in the brightness of summer all our families will be blessed with health of body and peace of mind. July traditionally is also a month when many take the opportunity for rest and renewal. I think especially of our school communities taking their well-deserved summer holidays The post A Fiery Sermon appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.

In many ways we have become desensitised to the horrors of violence, inequality and human suffering displayed on our screens every day. Politics has become increasingly polarised, not just in the United States but in many parts of Europe and throughout the world. Creating fear, is a key factor in the rise particularly of the The post Charlie Chaplin’s Wisdom appeared first on Portlaoise Parish.