" We are forgetting the epic story, we are, tuned for."Martin Shaw.

 " Be extravagant and protracted and real in your grief.... This is a time outside of time,

                                   and extraordinary things can happen."  Martin Shaw.

  "Come, Holy Spirit, transfigure and transform this hardened, and faithless heart, of Your beloved" 

" You cannot be, pro life,  and approve the inhuman treatment , of,  immigrants." Pope Leo.

   Us Irish, are a people, emerging from the  mists of, time and eternity.. We are a lyrical people, writers of myth, and mystery. Always leaving the reader, to wonder, in their  continued wanderings,  into what has been left unsaid , just intimated.( If you have the privilege of catching a Jessie Buckley interview  you will be in a reverential awe of the lyrical and poetic way she uses, the English language. Pure poetry !!! )What mythical, and mysterious, lands are we destined to venture into ?  When we are faced with the realities of life, the periphery will not contain the answer, and the truths essential for a healthy spiritual journey. The knowledge and understanding necessary, does not come from what is seen but from what is unseen. 

      The journey, hidden in the mystery of life journey is your real journey. Life is container, the channel which  The Unknown,The Ineffable has chosen to be the place of revelation. Each channel is unique. There cannot be two, of the same. The Gracious Creative Spirit does not do ,spin-offs. There are no duplicates. Why ? May I suggest, there is so much to say, so much to be revealed, each incarnation is the manifestation , of what which is not yet said.  The revelation is embedded in the depths. Unless we respond to The Historical Jesus, "to launch out into the deep" there will be  no the fish, essential for our nourishment, and encouragement . The dark depths are foreboding. They have no attraction, except for some brave souls. Yet, we must face the fact, that the epic story we are tuned to broadcast, originates not on the, seen, surface, but is awaiting for our courageous leap, into The Unknown. 

 We have been blasted into the excruciating pain, into the witnessing  of continuous persecution, suffering, and  unexplainable murder.  Our encounters, confrontation with death, ALWAYS leaves us radically changed. There never has been a celebration of The Anointing Of The Sick, especially on a death bed, that does not leave something intangible, but so very real. One never becomes immune to the depth of feelings that spring uncontrollable, from? ( From your own life's story, what is the REAL truth, that is breaking into your consciousness, now !! HONESTY is tough, but progressive)  )I wonder how many on seeing children ripped from their necessary routines, to be incarcerated with trauma that will effect every aspect of it's  life's journey. Who will pay for the rehabilitation of the tens of thousands of individuals and families, as they face their daly encounter with crucifixion, and resulting physical and emotional challenges ? 

  " Be extravagant, and protracted and real in your grief". The Christ in His body, yes is suffering again, as His Body is beaten, bruised, and betrayed here in These United States Of America. These are not pre-civilization times. We are supposed to be civilized ? I guess "supposed" is the operative word. The power collective unconscious of America is weakened. The source of real help, is now seemingly helpless. WE, that is WE, are not collectively helpless. Those brave souls in Minneapolis are braving extreme freezing conditions to voice their disapproval of the atrocities perpetrated on their neighbors. Notice when they speak they refer to, "their neighbors", they do Not use the word immigrant. I wonder where that truth originated? Do You ? When yo are challenged to face your metaphorical Minneapolis, be assured that source of help, health and strength is,  ACTUALLY WAITING within you, for you.? Where does it lie ? Openness to its proddings ????

  The protracted Golgotha will of necessity challenge your essential beliefs. As I have written previously, " today's challenging, life orientated questions CANNOT be answered with yesterdays answers." The answers cannot be found in the  unenlightened, thought process of, MAGA. There must be metanoia, a complete turning around from where we are going,  so as to encounter the challenging depths of, Gospel Values. Your personal  Social Gospel  tenants, are ? 

  The depths are calling you. Mystery, is beckoning to you.  Those voices, singing "Hold On, Hold on my dear ones here comes the door.". We all need new lenses to recognize that depth of meaning being expressed here. Are we the door, opening up and dazzling those oppressed, with the light of HOPE. ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR HEALTHY CHANGE, both personal and communal Is.....

    " Here I am, Lord, I have come to do your will." Psalm 40.

   "We do NOT need magic to transform our world. We all carry all the we need'

                                                                 INSIDE ourselves already." J..K. Rowling 

 " The Body of Christ grows through the process of our awakening, to, the Divine Life" Keating.

" Come Holy Spirit and strengthen the weak,  restless fear-fill heart,  of this Your,  servant."(hij)

" The light of Christmas is an explosion of insight changing our whole idea of God. OUR CHILDISH WAYS OF THINKING OF GOD, ARE LEFT BEHIND.....our inmost being opens to a new consciousness the, The Babe,  has brought into the world". " The Mystery of Christ." Keating.

    An attitude of gratitude is essential for a healthy spiritual life. I must take this opportunity to say, "Thank You", to al of you who take the time to read this effort, when offered. Part of me, the false selfish self, wants to some week" SCREW UP "so badly, there will be a serious migration of readers. Then I will not have to face the deep challenge of a gradual awakening, and reawakening. I find I have become aware of a new, and often challenging, insight. Parts of me wants nothing to do with a journey into,  the unknown. I want that cozy chair, and all that complacency brings to satisfy the false self. That false self, sure offers, great challenges. By sharing my thoughts with you, I face my, fears. The result of this encounter with fear, security, and complacency, is coming right at you ??

     We are now aware of this old quote, " The questions of today, CANNOT , be answered with yesterday's answers". Today's mind boggling question and challenges, must be met and answered with new and always vivifying,  challenging answers. As Fr.Keating has written, "The Body of Christ grows through the process of our awakening" to what ? Being led into awakening is our choice of course. To day's existential challenges can lead to feelings of deep fear. What is the common wisdom of the ages, " Face your fears ." I read somewhere, " as one faces one fears, one grows into, intimacy." Intimacy, the often unspoken,  unwritten, wish, desire of,  ?????. 

   How easy, and comfortable it is to be an ostrich, with our head buried in the sand. How threatening it is to venture in the unfathomed depths of today's questions. Now, knowing that you have been chosen, from eternity, to be part of the cohorts who will explore the depths, of themselves and the collective unconscious. This journey into the unfathomed ocean of ,The Divine's nothingness , will shatter old concepts, and old comfortable answers. The cosy fireside, versus, the barren desert of searching ????

  We are challenged to, grow. To surrender again, and again,  to a journey. This journey can be ONLY TAKEN, one step at a time. We will live, not just ,exist, in the sacrament of the eternal now. No, other, way, of traversing these now challenging terrains , except by surrender and, gradual acceptance. The gradual awakening to the reality as I live, love, grow, so does the Body of Christ. A byproduct of all your constructive, and vivifying actions the strength, the wisdom of collective unconscious, is enhanced. People you do not know, are being affected by your awakening. Your individual efforts have a collective consequence. For now, and for eons,  to come. What is insignificant, WRONG, there is nothing that is insignificant. Wow !!! That stops me, so I bow to you to finish............. 

   Changing the diaper of your Christ Child, cleaning the toilets, cooking meals, driving to work, celebrating the sacramentality of your love, etc. etc. are all contributing factors to the growth of The Body of Christ. This Mystical Body of Christ, challenges us, to go ever deeper, and surrender to the awakenings, that lead you to become more aware of  The  Mystical Presence. By our seeking, searching, surrendering, and acceptance you continue, this  mystical journey. You are being lead, into the darkness of faith, into " new heavens, and a new earth". 

 HOMEWORK !!!!! now that you have read the above,  get a pieces of paper and a pen. NO TYPING !!! Now write out the  obstacles, road blocks, your false self is creating, so you do not believe the extent of your, belovedness ?  You have been chosen, uniquely gifted, and "in the fullnest of time", here you are. Can you really believe all that is being written about you, OH !! Body of Christ. Now place that list in a place that is convenient, so you are able to return, and return. In the returning  what challenges have been met ? Then the existential challenges are faced, with a deepening faith. This is how honesty, and intimacy, grows. Be prepared for, an awakening!!!  Be prepared for re-awakenings. that reveals the depths within. Take the advise of The Historical Jesus, " launch out into the deep".  Face these fears with your  Spirit driven, inherent strength. "We will never be tested beyond our strength", so St. Paul writes. I have to remind The Gracious, Mercy-full Creator I am not as strong as She/He thinks I am. So, BACK OFF. To have a healthy spirituality, a person must have a Divinity, one can fight with.  

  

    Are you ready? Are you really ready, to face all the challenges, that lay before us. Challenges that demand a solution. The solution lies with in each person that The Creative Spirit choose to have existence at this point in time. Each person alive right is now, is not just an accident of birth. Each person, ST. Paul reminds us  " each person is in the place The Creator intended her/him to be." While we are at it, we might as well draw to mind another of Paul quotes," The gifts and abilities we are given, are, NOT, for ourselves but the building up of, the common good". The "common good' is not a priority for those who wild power in our towns, cities and beyond. Power is being misused, and the powerless, are being abused ,exploited, marginalized , denigrated,  their existence as fellow human being is ignored,  denied, and their rights cancelled. How those who are powerless, like The Historical Jesus on The Cross, how are their struggles experienced in your depths ? The response to the seen crucifixions, will be so tempered by our response to our own encounters with The Crucified One. As we minister to The Internal Crucified one, will we have the compassion to reach out,  and compassionately respond to those who will be placed on 'their way."

    These modern  day crucifixions, are being executed in plain sight. Golgotha, and The Contemporary Christs, is now available, in living color, and running commentary, on our social media screens. It is presented in living color, to highlight the atrocities. Where are the screams of protest, joining the screams of the victims, who are, in their deepest reality, our sisters, and brothers? Justice and morality, two words, but where are they uttered in today's, convulsing society. We are challenged to dig beneath the sufferings, of those who suffer, and face a reality that is, at present so ignored. For how long" ?? 

  We have been chosen, to be constructive members of, The Mystical Body of Christ,  the totality, of  the living family of,  humankind. Inclusivity in action is demanded.  The old  binary way of seeing and reacting has been consigned to the garbage pit.  The coziness of empathy, has to be replaced with acts of real compassionate action. We must again see, and respond with the Good Samaritans, on our streets and alley ways . The apophatic season, just celebrated has demanded  our  individual and collective actions. The action is not a merely, suggested, the social teaching of the gospels, DEMANDS a conversion. 

    A conversion, leading us  to actively, courageously  meet  the demands stemming from our individual and communal action. Actions, that will confront the lies, the misuse of power,  used to punish, persecute the most vulnerable, The Christ Child, and The Christic Presence. Please reread those last few words again. Allow them to sink into your depths. In the depths, an encounter will take place. Encounters, always, lead to a new way of  being, and seeing.  Lives of complacency and indifference can no longer be ours. We have been chosen to be the contemporary, Simon of Cyrene and the compassionate Veronica. 

      "Every blessing is, a curse, and every curse, is a,  blessing." We,  will we see the change in the collective consciousness, that is certain to emerge, from  these many encounters with death. Death never wins. Stored within the collective unconscious already are sewn the seeds of a new, vibrant Spring. I will not get to see and experience this resurrection. It will come. The Irish suffered for 800 years. Their abiding beliefs, and actual practice of those beliefs got them through. The essential core of the church and, America is, not powerless. Under the prophetic leadership of Pope Leo the church is exercising its required leadership, and the acts against humanity, are not going unchallenged. 

       The Holy Spirit has been the guide through many past experiences, and She is not going to abrogate Her  contemporary, responsibilities. The Spirit ,does not act, ALONE. The Spirit, does not act alone.  The Spirit has foreseen the contemporary challenges. Guess where the answers, solutions lie ? Within the collective, unconscious.  The solutions, are already in place, and working ?  Mrs.  Mary Ellen Hennessy, "The mills of god, grind very slow, but they do grind very true ."  This is her son signing off.

   

 The  Liturgical guide lines, announces conclusion of the  contemporary, "Advent-Christmas-Epiphany" annual, adventure, yet, not an ending, but, the beginnings. The beginnings of what,  of a  deeper spiritual immersion, into , The Mystery Of The Incarnation.  Our Immersion  into The Mystery Mystery, challenges us to get into action. To be a people, who see the  challenge,  and make the choice actively respond. Not just by reflection and prayer, but by an active participation in meaning-full responses to one of the most pressing challenges we are being faced with. One of the great complaints we hear is, " Why is it you pray a lot to Jesus, yet you do , NOT,  actively follow His example, requests, and teachings". Such is, a valid criticism of those who profess one thing, but are living out a life, that is so contradictory to the authentic, social teachings, of the Gospels. For those, who choose the path of indifference, lukewarmness, read Revelations 3: 15 and 16.

     Indifference, is one of the, great sins, of  the society we have been placed in. Take time to reflect, meditate, but, please, not for  long. Do not hide away in, the comfort of complacency , while today's Christ Child, Cosmic Christ, suffers in a way that is so, unacceptable to the point of being reprehensible. How can the obvious complacency, and criminal neglect, be justified ? The withholding, and denial of resources, both spiritual and material are headlines every place we look, yet the deprivations continue, with no hope of any immediate solution. The Christ Child was denied a comfortable, and hygienic place to be born. His life was immediately threatened, He and His family became immigrants. Immigrants in a strange country. There is a connection, between the two, The Christ Child of Bethlehem, and The Christ Child Who is starved, hunted,  deported when found.  To day's Christ Child is being deprived of so much. He is the victim of,  deprivation and neglect. We can hide behind many smokescreens, but this essential truth must to be faced, each child, IS, The Christ Child.  They are not two, they are a single presence, they are, ONE. Belief in that oneness, and Oneness,

 Our non binary thinking welcomes that, ONENESS. What  personal, and cosmic challenge ,do you see as inherent  in this way of seeing, ? Now for  the challenge !!!!! I cannot attempt to delineate  the chosen challenge you have been  uniquely gifted, for. Out of your encounter with silence, emptiness, and nothingness you will be led.  Let it bubble, up from within your, depths. It will. 

   That is why your presence has been planned. How personal your creation has been. You have been outfitted for the challenges of these moments.  Most are not called to be heroic, but all of us, cannot play the safe card of, indifference and disconnectedness, All we can do is our best, and The Creative Spirit, will do the rest.  We must face this challenging truth,The,Creative Spirit, is not codependent. Anything that we can do, will not be done for, us. Paul," The gifts , talents, and abilities we have been given, ARE NOT FOR OURSELVES, but for the building up, of, the common good," By the call, inherent in your birthing, we must be proactive. Read Matthew 25, if there is a desire to become complacent, dis-engaged.

               The Living Crib, which has chosen your depths to be it's dwelling place, will continue to offer you inspiration, and as a consequence, challenges. This is The Truth you have been called to, incarnate.  feed, nourish, house, and defend. It is not about the birthing of The Christ Child, we have no choice but to make sure He has all that he needs , to have life and have it to the fullest. You are our contemporary,  Mary. Yes !!! we rely on your "Yes",  to continue the sacred birthing, that makes The Mystery of The Incarnation a continuing reality. Non binary vision, presents us with  a oneness, in all of humanity. This echos Paul when he sees no Jew or Gentile, free person or slave. All are one, in The Body. Today that Christic Presence, is, us. Us, we, women and men alike, are called to give birth to the contemporary Christ. We are The Parents, called to protect, and defend, The Christ Child being born into these rather challenging, and for sometimes  terrifying conditions.. Today's Herods are seeking out, and searching for, The Christ,  in the most inhumane way possible. You have read the many documented accounts. They are a eye witness account of today's,  active , living Golgotha. As a result we do not have to go to The Stations of The Cross, in a church or places of prayer to have visuals of  a living, essential, Calvary. There are layers of meaning, to found and confronted. The Incarnation, lives, and cries out to you and I. The concrete results.......

     

 

   

 The continuation of The Advent - Christmas - Epiphany Season's celebration 2025-2026.

    " The Lord, bless you and keep you ! The Lord let His face shine upon you ! 

                                                                                                             and be gracious to you.

         The Lord look upon you kindly, and GIVE YOU PEACE." Book of Numbers.

 " God sent The Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out ,"Abba, Father ! " Galations

" Come, O Holy Spirit, and transform the fear-filled, and hardened heart, of this faithless one."(hij)

" The Shepherds, went in haste..to Mary and Joseph...they made known the message that had been told them about This Child...and Mary kept al these things reflecting on them in her heart." Luke's Gospel.

The  lights will be soon turned off.  The Light in your depths, cannot be turned off. We do not have the switch, the ability to turn off, The Sparkling Diamonds Light. At the same time The Sparkling Light has not been given, to be stored up, to be hidden away, in some darkened closet, like a prized possession. This Gift if so treated, IS LOST. It is, ONLY, in giving it away, do we know what has been bestowed upon us.  (Is this, The Pearl, of great price. A Pearl so valuable, all other things must be let go of ?)  Paul reminds us,  in his letter to the Corinthians, " What has been given is NOT for ourselves, but for the building up of the common good" We have been, CHOSEN, to live in this particular time, planted in this particular place/space, to share The Light, that has been planted, as a living inheritance. This is, eternal. This is a Light, no darkness can overwhelm. OH !!! how our cosmos aches for This Light. We are in a constant vigil, for that which is already an essential, Presence. Let the waiting cease.  (What, where, is the action ?

      Mary entered a cave that was silent, empty,  filled up with nothingness. In that place of hospitality for animals, He, whom the cosmos cannot contain, becomes enfleshed in the silent darkened womb of the virgin. Each year we are offered the gift of being drawn ever deeper into The  Eternal Mystery  of The Incarnation.  The One, Who has eternal existed, Who been the source of existence, for everything that is,  is now among us. This gives new meaning to, Emmanuel ? ( Where will this take you ??)  Why this, constant repetition into, what seems, at a casual glance, to be such a simple story. Always, be ever on guard of anything that appears, simple. The longer you gaze intently at it, the less you will realize you will know about it. This, supernatural mystery, is no different. We must ever bring to consciousness, there is no division, in anything to do with, The Divine. I Am, is ever, Now.

     I can tell you this Advent-Christmas-Epiphany- Season is one that is so new, it boggles the mind. Out of the darkness of the cave, the darkness of the night, the darkness of The Womb, He by whom the cosmos was created, now enters our deepest reality. The One that is beyond everything, has joyfully come, to become enfleshed, in our humanity.  He too is now, " a spiritual Being, immersed in the human condition". The Prince of Peace is in, His, tabernacle. From there He is reaching out to His Abba, and our Abba. Our efforts at relationship at times fail, and fail miserably. The eternal relationship between Abba, and Son is always. So when we are helpless, and hopeless, in our nothingness, there is a birthing that takes place. A new and a more vivifying, vibrant ? the cannot be captured with finite words. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Do I hear an, AMEN

        In our nothingness, emptiness, and silence we are blessed, and blessed beyond measure. The All Power-full has taken pity on us, especially, in our lowliness, just like Mary. Just as in Mary, The Christ Child is newly given to all. No exceptions. So what vivifying, life enhancing meaning has those words found in you every moment reality ? What does it mean to encounter in the ,ever new, eternal now, The Christ Child that our world is waiting  for ? This Christ Child is to be born, within the womb, of your soul. The whole, world, universe,  and cosmos, is waiting for, " Not my, will, but Your will, be, done". The essential, Yes, for The Cosmic Christ Child to be born, ever new. Birthing is pain-full, mercy-full grace is also, ever present. This Mercy-full Power, incarnated in The Child, will be, the source of healing, a soothing agent, a comforting presence, a source of all necessary strength, all leading to transfigurement and transformation.

This is what awaits each beloved in this New Year. Let us all pray for the courage to meet our eternal destiny, in each eternal now. May 2026 be a guided journey, for  each of you. A mysterious journey, not guided by the false self, but by, your inspired answer  true , to the promptings of, the true self. The true self guided by the same Spirit that empowered Mary. So why are we delaying?  With love, great gramps.