Milk of Human Kindness

The wise old Mother Superior from Co. Tipperary was dying. The nuns gathered round her bed trying to make her comfortable. They gave her some warm milk to drink but she refused it.
Then one nun took the glass back to the kitchen. Remembering a bottle of Irish whiskey received as a gift the previous Christmas she opened it and poured a generous amount into the still-warm milk.

Back at Mother Superior's bed, she held the glass to her lips. Mother drank a little, then some more. Before they knew it she had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop.

"Mother," the nuns asked earnestly, "Please give us some wisdom before you die". She raised herself up in the bed with a pious look on her face and said, "Don't sell that cow".
(From the Far East)

A Trócaire Lenten thought.

When Christ went to prepare himself for what was to come, he chose a dry desert place without river or water. As we enter the Lenten Season the Trócaire Campaign asks us to stand by those who live in such barren desert places. At a time when we recently responded so generously to those victims of such a torrent of water in Asia, we are also asked to reach out to those in places deficient of the water we all need to live. Remember - the tiniest ripple of compassion can reach the farthest shores.

Prayer Thought.
The sinless One who must suffer.
The Messiah was destined to suffer even death itself.
The harsh truth is tempered for his disciples by the glimpse of his true glory at his Transfiguration. That glimpse is encouragement for us, too, as we struggle to follow the way of the cross.
Love
When you love you should not say,
'God is in my heart', but rather,
'I am in the heart of God. '
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you must have desires,
let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night;
To know the pain of too much tenderness;
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
and to bleed willingly and joyfully;
to wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
to rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
to return home at eventide with gratitude;
and then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.
Kahlil Gibran