This year we mark a Leap Year and A Leap Day on today Feb 29th. February of course is the shortest month of the year and always seems to go by so quickly. A leap year is added to our calendar to keep it working properly. The earth travels around the sun in one year but in fact it takes a little longer, 365 1/4 days.

The Leap year every four years corrects this. The chances of being born in a Leap year are 1 in 1500. Any year that can be divided by 4 is a Leap Year. A woman can propose to her partner on a leap day. Of course for anyone whose birthday is today, it is indeed a special day.

Spiritually we need to correct ourselves too on occasions. We steer off course, we lose focus and we drift. It is good to recheck and get going again. But most importantly a Leap Day is unusual. It is special and worth celebrating. So celebrate, do something special, treat yourself, celebrate everything good about you and enjoy the blessings of a Leap Day. Amen

I have just shared my new video below celebrating Feb 29th and our Leap Day today

Video for the Week🎥🎥

To mark our Leap Year, I have put together the following new video

 

Thought For The Week

We had a Lenten Talk/Prayer Service in Carrigaline last Thursday evening and it was led by Fr. Philip Mulryne O.P who is currently working in St. Mary’s Priory here in Cork. I was very touched by Fr. Philip’s talk and his story is impressive to say the least.

I am a big sports fan myself and that includes football. Since I was a child, I have followed West Ham United and I sometimes say: “Now you know why I am bald!!”. But no matter what team you followed, Man Utd under Alex Ferguson, were a powerful team with massive momentum and simply won everything all around them.

In his talk Fr. Philip talked about his dream coming true of playing for Manchester United. Alex Ferguson was his boss. He was in the same dressing room as Roy Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Schmeichel, Neville and all those great players.

As Man Utd was so competitive because of such great players, Philip wanted more game time and so he signed for Norwich City, where he was a key player in helping them to promotion up to the Premiership. But while Philip had everything, he wasn’t happy deep down. He had so much money he could buy a car and change it in two weeks if he didn’t like it.

But he talked about this restlessness that just wouldn’t go away. At a key time in his life at the age of 29 he took a break from Norwich City, came back home to Belfast, found his faith and the restlessness melted away bit by bit.

He kept searching and nourishing his faith and he went on to become a Dominican priest. Philip’s story can touch ours too. Our lives are restless until we connect with God. Once we connect with the spiritual, in whatever way works for us, the restlessness begins to melt away. This is the invitation of Lent too, to turn to God, to be open to something spiritual and to be open to something positive and good.

Does the melting away of the restlessness happen in a day or two? Of course not. But over time it most certainly does. The journey of Lent is such a lovely time to be open to the spiritual and see what happens.

(Thought For The Week is updated each Monday)