Mobile Phones

Mobile phones often get
a bad press –
leading to car accidents,
distracting students,
isolating people from family
and from the world around them.
But this week
my sister Brenda’s mobile phone
was a blessing in disguise
as she sat with Aunt Anne
for many long hours,
day and night,
as Aunt Anne lay dying.

Brenda knew that Aunt Anne
would take great comfort
from hearing the Rosary
but Brenda couldn’t for the life of her
remember how to say it!
But using her mobile phone
Brenda was able to find an “app”
to help her to say many Rosaries.
Brenda was able to use “Spotify”
to play Aunt Anne’s favourite hymns.
She was also able to “stream” morning Mass
from St Eugene’s Cathedral
and was able to “download” the parish bulletin
so that she could read it aloud
to Aunt Anne –
all using her mobile phone!

Thank you, Lord,
for the gift of a mobile phone
that enabled Brenda to comfort Aunt Anne
in her final days, hours and moments
by surrounding Aunt Anne
with the sound of prayer.

© Claire Murray, 19th March 2019

What do you want me to do?

It’s Ash Wednesday
and I’m at the Vigil Mass
to receive my ashes
and My God.
Before I set foot in the chapel
I know exactly what I will be praying for
during this Lent.
But as Mass unfolds
I have a sense that,
rather than telling My God
what I want this Lent,
I should instead be asking Him
what He wants me to do.

And so I sit
and I resolve to try to LISTEN
during Lent
(even though I’m half-afraid
of what I might hear).

© Claire Murray, 6th March 2019

Daffodil Tree

What would you think
if I were to say to you
that I saw a daffodil tree?
I suppose you might think
that I was bonkers
because daffodils grow in the ground –
don’t they?
In yellow clumps
and golden swathes?

Not these daffodils!
The daffodils that I saw
were growing high up
in the fork of a tree
in Musgrave Park!

Who would have thought it?
And yet there they were,
two golden daffodils
nodding their heads
in the spring breeze.
I have no idea how they got there
or how on earth they survive.

Sometimes in life
we find ourselves
overwhelmed,
struggling to keep our heads
above water.
Panic sets in
as we spin out of control,
wondering
whether we can get through this
on our own?

But the truth is
that we are not on our own –
God is right by our side
ready to help us
if we only just ask.
And sometimes in life
the seemingly impossible
is possible after all –
just like that daffodil tree
in Musgrave Park!

© Claire Murray, 5th March 2019