MMM Blog
Shepherding the Shepherds
by Mary Coffey AMMM Ireland 25.05. 2022
Glencairn Cistercian Abbey in Co Waterford, Ireland is my favourite place to respond to God’s invitation to “come away to some lonely place and rest for a while.” It is a place of gentle silence but also a place where we, the guests, may share our faith journeys with each other, and our understanding of God’s call in our lives. This is often over a cup of tea, after the Great Silence has descended, and when we know that we should be in bed! The bell tolls at 3.50 for the nuns to rise from their slumber and to begin their prayer before dawn.
Rosemount
This is the story of a house, a very special house for the Medical Missionaries of Mary. A house whose name is heard far and wide. “Rosemount” was the first home in Ireland for Mother Mary Martin and her young Congregation when they started in 1937. It has been ‘home’ for many Sisters over the last fifty years. Daily they set out to hospitals, university and other places of ‘learning’ preparing for their future missionary work.
Divine Intervention
by Vera Grant AMMM Ireland 21.05.2022
I have known Sr. Jude Walsh since 2003 when I became an Associate with the MMMs. When I spoke of this decision to become an Associate Sr. Jude always said, 'It's Divine Intervention.'
Sr Jude saw God's hand in all aspects of daily living and the use of words like 'good luck, a coincidence, fortuitous, by chance were never in her vocabulary.
As Sr Jude approaches her 101st birthday in August she has been an inspiration. Her insight, her wisdom, her acceptance and her steadfast faith has been a wonderful motivator to all of us and especially the Associates.
Let me not forget her wonderful sense of humour and story-telling which I miss so much in these days when Covid forces isolation and restricts visits.
Let's hope this too will pass as I feel I have so much more to learn from one of the best.
Now, let me tell you what happened….
We misread the signals. The not showing up, the arriving late, forgoing the car to walk and a sense of distance from reality.
We thought she was grieving following the death of her husband.
We thought she was maybe depressed.
Prayer and Healing
by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM Ireland 19.05.2022
Did you ever wonder why some people seem to cope well with life’s difficulties and other people just can’t cope at all? I was thinking about this the other day when I was thinking about all the people I have cared for as a nurse. There was a young couple I looked after during the early years of the AIDS pandemic in Brazil. The young husband became positive, and then sick, due to a single use of an injection of heroin when he was a teenager. He met and married a young woman called Cynthia. When I met them, they had their first child and Carlos was beginning to have symptoms. Carlos just gave up on life and died within a few months, but Cynthia was more resilient. She had her baby daughter to care for. She told me once that she hoped to live long enough to see her daughter married. And indeed, she did. Along came anti-retroviral therapy and her health remained steady.
Healing Charism and Art
by Sr. Liana de Jesus MMM Brazil/Kenya 17.05.2022I am discovering that one of my strongest gifts is art. I was not even aware of how much I can be creative through art. This has enlightened me about the young people as I work with the youth here in Nairobi. I now see how powerful this type of work can be, and make a difference in people`s lives. It also brings beauty to where ever it is displayed. Besides beauty, it helps to bring awareness of how one can use recycled things and use them creatively in art work in order to bring colour to our environment. It helps to release stress and bring out positive emotions. It can also help to improve, in a way, one`s self-esteem.
International Nurses Day 2022
by Lisa Murphy MMM Archivist Ireland 15.05.2022
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12th which is also the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. The theme for 2022 is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Invest in Nursing and respect rights to secure global health. When we reflect on the history of MMM we can see that investment in Nursing and Midwifery was something that Mother Mary worked towards from the very beginning. Documents from the MMM Archive show us that as early as December 1941, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital was applying for recognition as a Midwifery Training School. While the hospital initially fell short of the requirements of the Central Midwives Board, Mother Mary was undeterred. She ensured that the hospital was brought up the standards required. The result was that the hospital was approved as a Training School for Grade I Midwifery on 23 June 1942 and Grade II Midwifery in 1944.
My Eyes to the Mountains
As I read the beautiful blog by Sr. Noleen Mooney with title “I lift up my eyes to the Mountains”, my thoughts ran back to the mid 1960’s when I was an intern in the IMTH, now known as the Lourdes Hospital. At that time, the hospital was not completed, and one could see the distant hills by looking out the windows along the staircase to the six floors. As a young, newly qualified Doctor, I felt overwhelmed by all the numbers of patients and duties to accomplish in a short space of time. I used to look out of the windows then and pray Psalm 121, trusting in God’s help to be as strong and as present as those hills.
A Rainy Day in the Woods
by Sr. Bernadette Fadegnon MMM Republic of Benin/ Brazil 11.05.2022
A rainy day in the wood
She peeped through her widow
It is raining, she murmured.
She wished the rain could stop,
So that she can go in the woods
To enjoy the company of trees, of birds, of animals, of insects.
She sat back for a minute.
She peeped through her widow again.
Ah, the rain is just dropping now
She decided to make her way to the woods.
Today - Grief
Today has been one of the hardest. 
Sit under a Tree and let God find you
by Eilín Teeling, AMMM Ireland 07.05.2022
My colleague was very clear when she said she could not pray or practise meditation or contemplation. She was not sure about mindfulness either. Sit still under a tree for twenty minutes, with no obvious task? No, this was not for her.
I needed some volunteers for my research dissertation, as part of a M.A. in Applied Spirituality. Many have forgotten or rejected the habits of prayer and traditional worship and become lost in a society focused on advertising, spending, and non-stop social media. How can we find a way to hear God’s whisper, bubbling up through our ego, busy thoughts, and self-doubts?
I wanted to explore what happened when we are quiet and still on a regular basis, in the presence of a tree, part of God’s creation, and allow our soul catch up.
My idea came from the Celtic tradition - to use all our senses, to give space to listen to our inner rhythm, and pause the outer busyness of life.
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