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RETURN OF THE BUMBLE BEE

I rejoice in the new cockiness of crowThe brazenness of blackbirdThe dips and peaks of birdsongThe warm sweet perfume of wallflowerOn a window box at my doorAll this I had stopped noticingOr at least not for many a dayIf ever I hadJust today though, no just this evening,No truthfully in the past hourCaw, coo and chirpSinging and dancingBuzzing and buddinTheir refrain is thanksThe verses relief and recoveryIn frenzied clatter of wing and whisper of glideGlide...

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REQUIEM FOR NORMAL

We lost you quicker than we could ever have imagined,little or no farewell,your going left us breathless,more brutal than we ever would have thought.Gone with you, the comfort of familiar.We now know not what we know –Less sure than ever of the sure.Hit harder than ever beforeWe got sick, sadly many died, and as sad again you robbed us of the gift of grief.As you exit stage eft, with a kick and shout,enter stage right...

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THE AGONY OF THE PASTOR

A pastor in isolationWell there’s a contradiction if ever this one!And you call yourself a priest!Some priestVery pastoral, what a joke… I minister on lineI reach out by phoneI zoomI pray more Safe and cosy in the big houseSplendid isolationYou should be in the trenchesInstead you are on the sofa I stay at home to keep me safeTo keep you safeTo give good exampleTo avoid death and embrace life Avoid death?You are a priestWhere’s your...

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Priests

As different as chalk and Cheese, as they say – These two priests of My Childhood Cool, hip and trendy Holy oil still wet on you. You wrestled us, boasting Fast Mass, Stale Beer, Faint hint of Unclean. In you strutted, pompous They said, plump in purple Bowed at crucifix in prayer, Then shook our hands, leaving Holy Scent of Old Spice. Yea, chalk and cheese. God forgive that sad sick Young man that ruined Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

A SONG TO CORONA

O Corona, you are wreaking havoc amongst usFrom minor inconvenience of no Big Mac, to stranded in PerthTo your more savage deeds such as, Granny going to God before her time,To little Sarah’s hard gasping!O yes Corona you are indeed cruel. Merciless.Yet your days are numbered, you too will be vanquished.Yes shocking is your reign, yet today we sound your death knell andWhilst we are hard pressed and suffering heavy lossesWe are resolute. We regroup. Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

DON’T FORGET TO TALK TO THE MONK

Today we must listen to the health professional,Tomorrow perhaps the doctor,Next week the economistAnd surely the following week the psychotherapist.Yet when all that’s done and we are still somewhat lostLet’s not forget to talk to the monk.Yes you see, to him, or indeed her, the nun, much of this is not so strange.He has been self – isolating since the twelfth centuryHe does not confuse loneliness and solitudeEspecially in sacred silence which in the monasteryNudges Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

THIS IS NOT GOING AWAY

We are not coming back from this. There will be no return to normality. Normality is being rewritten forever. Let’s say a sombre but sure farewell to what we called normal life. The ongoing debacle with corona is changing us. The change is happening as we speak. It is rapid, relentless and irreversible. The change that is being effected is deeper than economics and even deeper than health itself. Indeed the change is deeper still. Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

THE GIFT OF THE CORONAVIRUS

The arrival of the coronavirus may well mean we have our best Lent yet! Now before we begin a trip down a wacky road let’s be clear I did not say God sent the coronavirus. Whatever about debating God’s allowing it, let’s state at the outset sickness suffering and disease are not from God. God is Love. Jesus is the Great Healer. He is Lord. He is the Lord of Life. You and I as Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

CORONAVIRUS! IN THE NAME OF JESUS BEGONE!

AN INVITATIONAS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE CHALLENGE THAT THIS VIRUS PRESENTS TO ALL OF US, WE THE FAITH COMMUNITY OF ST. PATRICK AND ST. BRIGID UNDERTAKE TO INCREASE OUR PRAYER LIFE AND DEEPEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.OUR PLEDGETO THIS END WE RESOLVE TO GATHER IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD EVERY DAY AT 3PM FOR PRAYER. THIS WILL TAKE VARIOUS FORMATS.EVERYONE IS WELCOME, PEOPLE OF ALL FAITH, AND MOST ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO PROFESS THEY Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago

RONCALLI RANT 22

I THINK I’LL GIVE UP APPLES FOR LENT! I think I’ll give up apples for Lent! I guess to most people this immediately sounds a bit wacky. I mean if I loved apples such a statement might have some merit. The truth of the matter is I rarely eat an apple. I know I should. I mean we all know, myself included, eating apples would be a lot more healthy than eating… say… pancakes. A Read more…

By Joe McDonald, ago