Celebrating the gift of God's creation

1st September – 4th october 2025

It is heartening nowadays that most household gardens and public parks have a wild patch reserved for the bees and butterflies. Over the summer months I had the good fortune to have time to sit in solitude and follow the sound of the bees and observe the gentle flight of the butterflies as they flitted through the colourful array of wild flowers. 

At a time of constant news of natural disasters and human distress, a quiet space of beauty not only provides relief but restores wonder, gratitude and confidence in the goodness of creation. We hope and pray that the stillness and harmony of such moments release a flow of life-giving energy that touches all living things and especially our sisters and brothers in grief-stricken parts of the world. 

Nothing and nobody is outside the embrace of Divine love. The psalmist assures us,  “The earth is the Lords and everything in it.” (Ps. 24).

To grow in love through contemplation is to throw oneself into the embrace of God.   It is only when we can weep over what is not yet loved can we live into a new reality.  Love is waiting to be born all around us. 

“Our whole life can become an experience of God.

We will encounter him in joys and difficulties as well as in moments

of silence and recollection.” (B. 1:14)

Catherine O’ Sullivan IJS