Happy Christmas

Dear Readers,

Just a few words to wish you and your families a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Have a good rest over the next few days and may you experience something of the joy of this season.

I will remember in prayer all of you are discerning your vocation in life.

Best wishes,

Br Ray.

Asleep in the Hay...

Our Christmas Crib in the Hallway in Glasthule

Well, I'm back in Glasthule again after my Christmas holiday with my family in Cork. I escaped the worst of the weather in Dublin by being down there. The thaw is in full swing and all the snow has melted now in front of our house here.

Our crib is still up and I thought I'd share a pic of it with you. And while we're thinking of cribs, here's a meditation on the shepherds from Pope Benedict's Christmas Eve homily...



"The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch – they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean? The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His “self” is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one’s own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people."



Are you awake to what Christ might be calling you to in 2010?

A Blessed Christmas!

Adoration of the Shepherds, Gerard van Honthorst, 1622.

All the hustle and bustle is coming to an end. Christmas has arrived!

To all of you who are discerning your vocation in life and feel called to religious brotherhood - in the peace of these days, I hope that you will be able to hear the whisper of Christ all the more clearly.

A happy Christmas to one and all.

Christmas is Coming...

Br Bernard gives me a hand with the decorations outside our front door in Glasthule

I love Christmas time and here in the Brothers' House, we put up our decorations just like anyone else.

The Advent Wreath has been up for a while and this morning we put up the wreaths and put out the poinsettia plants.

As Perry Como would sing, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

If you'd like to find out more about our way of life as Presentation Brothers give me a shout at prescall@eircom.net

It had to be just right...

Christmas Lights

With friends from the local Harold N.S. at the switching on of the lights

The parish of St Joseph here in Glasthule was a hive of activity when we switched on the Christmas lights. A huge crowd filled the front yard of the presbytery, across the road from our own house for the annual event.

Hymns sung by the students from the local Harold National School brought a bit of warmth to a very frosty Advent night.

It's a reminder for me to put up the Christmas decorations here too...

With the Maddens outside St Joseph's Presbytery in Glasthule