I WILL BE FAVOURABLE TO YOU

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The days are overtaking us and departure beckons again. Moving on, not remaining in one place is the pilgrim journey. Spirit of the Camino. There are strong emotions stirring for all sorts of reasons and there is also a quiet peace in me.

This morning I brought the car back to the community in Dundrum, stopping at the service area near Athlone to use the vacuum cleaner.

The token I was given wouldn't fit into the slot so I went back into the shop where the young girl behind the counter looked perplexed, as if she didn't know what to do. But that was just momentary. Maybe she had been daydreaming. She came out to the machine with me and, to my vain relief, she couldn't fit the token either.

Then she kicked into a knowing, efficient action, opening the padlock and unbolting the machine as if it was a gun. Got the machine going. A clean car again.

It was good to sit around the table with the community for lunch, to sit a while in the tranquil chapel of Pallotti House. A final chat with the Provincial whose blessing I requested. A hug. Then out the door again to the Luas.

At Heuston station I'm more than an hour early and, seeing that a train was about to leave for Galway, got a new ticket, taking a chance on getting a seat. All of them booked of course. So I stand in the aisle, hoping - and along comes a young woman who had booked seats with three of her friends who had taken an earlier train. She welcomed me into their space.

Before leaving home this morning I reached into the small room where books are piled and took what came to hand, An Ignatian Pathway by Paul Coutinho SJ. It's my reading on the train and I've come to the place when St Ignatius stopped to pray at a chapel in La Storta, Rome. There he had a vision of God the Father and Jesus who said to him, "I will be favorable to you in Rome". This experience is celebrated on the second Sunday in November and the place is about an hour from San Silvestro. Being a Sunday might not be possible to get there but there is something about that statement of Christ that touches me, like He might be saying it to me.

It has long been central to my prayer, the voice of God the Father saying to us in Jesus, "...my favour rests on you." More recently I have sensed the Father's favour coming upon me from Sean Moore, in whose presence I feel favoured.

At the doctor's surgery yesterday, as I was leaving, I told Carol I was moving to Rome and the reaction in the waiting room was one of instant delight. People looked up, smiled and a mum with a baby on her lap said, "congratulations, it's great to hear good news!"

As a family we would not regard ourselves as five-star kind of people in the material sense and I always feel a sense of unbelonging upon entering posh hotels but I was recently invited to breakfast at the Hawthorn and there saw their lovely afternoon tea restaurant. China table ware. A class looking place. I love China cups and saucers ever since my days working at Royal Tara in Mervue.

It gave me the thought that we should treat Rose in honour of her 70th birthday, which I will miss. It was simply a fabulous experience. From the warm welcome we received as soon as we walked through the front door, through the ritual of the tea making and all the delicious, dainty food. For all of us there was the first time tasting sparkling, non-alcoholic tea which is very nice indeed.

Another precious memory created. And I go back in thought to those who cannot experience such pleasures and I am all the more grateful for it. As St. Paul wrote:

"I know how to live modestly, and I know how to live luxuriously too: in every way now I have mastered the secret of all conditions: full stomach and empty stomach, plenty and poverty.

There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:12-13)

These days have been marked by abundance, the emotional and material generosity of so many people. And the weather too has come to our aid to keep our spirits up when emotion of parting tugs at us.

Spectacular days of sunshine and one last walk for now in Ballyloughán with Harry, Evelyn and Katie and Laura. We went there after lunch in the Connacht. Just perfect.

Perfect too are the sentiments of the two girls which they wrote in a card. You think at times that you have lost them to their own unfathomable teenage world, but no - the love that has aluways been remains.

So the day has arrived, the sun shines, I've been up since 5.30 and ready three hours too early! And I am slightly apprehensive because it will be a daunting task to function through the medium of Italian but Jesus, in today's Gospel has the last word and in this I trust:

"... do not worry...the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say." (Luke 13:12)


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