Golden Rose

Praised be Jesus Christ!  And blessed be Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland!  What a weekend.  After lunch on Friday we loaded up the cars and headed out to the west of Ireland, to a little town called Knock.  Traveling is tough.  It takes a lot out of you to be driving from one coast of an island to another.  But, we always keep it in our heads that this experience is a privilege and a grace.  And, as usual, the weekend was packed.  On Saturday we celebrated the Holy Mass at a church that is celebrating it's 800th birthday.  That's old!  It was actually near a well where St. Patrick is said to have baptized hundreds.  And speaking of St. Patrick, went also traveled to the famous Croagh Patrick.  This is a mountain that  attracts thousands of pilgrims a year, some of whom climb the mountain in their bare feet!  This picture is from about halfway up.  The hour-long climb was a good time to recognize our human limitations and to offer up our sufferings to Christ!  And, boy did it hurt.

The other pictures are of the Apparition Shrine at Knock and some of our group.  In 1879, Our Lady appeared to 15 people during a vision at Knock.  If you don't know the story, I would encourage you to look it up.  Knock was a really peaceful town and grace seems to permeate through the area.  Our beloved rector, Msgr. Callahan has graced us with his presence the last few days and spent quality time with us at Knock.  His love for Our Mother Mary is infectious.  And so, we opened our hearts up to Mary this weekend- begging her to bring us to Jesus.  May we all take this moment to rededicate ourselves to Mary.  Who better to lead us to Jesus than the sweet, little one that brought Him into the world?  Our Lady of Knock, pray for us!