Come & See Inspirations (C&SI)

On this weeks podcast excerpt we are joined by Bishop Brendan Leahy to reflect on the beginning of the Lenten Season. Bishop Brendan shares with us his reflection from his Lenten Pastoral Letter 2026 on how we could reframe our understanding of the ancient call to fast during the period of Lent including how to translate it into action for the modern world. Fasting is always put before us in the Christian life.  and reminds that “Jesus' call to conversion and penance… does not aim first at outward works… but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion”. Without interior conversion our external works such as fasting“ remain sterile and false.” In Lent, fasting is never meant as something we do on its own. It is not to be separated from prayer and almsgiving as forms of Christian love. Each of us must decide in our heart and perhaps in consultation with others, what specific form of fasting we want to take on for Lent. And then, we need to persevere in our undertaking. 
He also shares on a Lenten resource that is being made available as part of the preparations for the National Synodal Pathway. Baptised and Sent is the Preparatory Document for the Pre-Synodal Assembly of the Irish Synodal Pathway, which took place on 18 October 2025. A key moment in the Irish Synodal Pathway it was a shared journey of listening, prayer, and discernment as the People of God. The document was prepared to support reflection and dialogue across parishes, schools, faith communities, and dioceses.
This Lent, parishes, schools and groups across Ireland are invited to journey together through a set of reflective resources inspired by Baptised and Sent. Grounded in the conviction that baptism is the foundation of our identity, dignity and mission, these resources help us return to the heart of Christian life, that through Baptism we are reborn in Christ and sent out by the Spirit in service of the Gospel.  Through these Lenten reflections, each person – lay, religious and ordained – are encouraged to rediscover who we are as God’s people, to listen to the Holy Spirit and to take concrete steps, individually and collectively towards living our baptismal calling more deeply.
You can also register to participate online HERE.
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

On this weeks podcast we are joined by Bishop Brendan Leahy to reflect on the beginning of the Lenten Season. Bishop Brendan shares with us his reflection from his Lenten Pastoral Letter 2026 on how we could reframe our understanding of the ancient call to fast during the period of Lent including how to translate it into action for the modern world. Fasting is always put before us in the Christian life.  and reminds that “Jesus' call to conversion and penance… does not aim first at outward works… but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion”. Without interior conversion our external works such as fasting“ remain sterile and false.” In Lent, fasting is never meant as something we do on its own. It is not to be separated from prayer and almsgiving as forms of Christian love. Each of us must decide in our heart and perhaps in consultation with others, what specific form of fasting we want to take on for Lent. And then, we need to persevere in our undertaking. 
He also shares on a Lenten resource that is being made available as part of the preparations for the National Synodal Pathway. Baptised and Sent is the Preparatory Document for the Pre-Synodal Assembly of the Irish Synodal Pathway, which took place on 18 October 2025. A key moment in the Irish Synodal Pathway it was a shared journey of listening, prayer, and discernment as the People of God. The document was prepared to support reflection and dialogue across parishes, schools, faith communities, and dioceses.
This Lent, parishes, schools and groups across Ireland are invited to journey together through a set of reflective resources inspired by Baptised and Sent. Grounded in the conviction that baptism is the foundation of our identity, dignity and mission, these resources help us return to the heart of Christian life, that through Baptism we are reborn in Christ and sent out by the Spirit in service of the Gospel.  Through these Lenten reflections, each person – lay, religious and ordained – are encouraged to rediscover who we are as God’s people, to listen to the Holy Spirit and to take concrete steps, individually and collectively towards living our baptismal calling more deeply.
You can also register to participate online HERE.
We have our regular run through the liturgical odds and ends in part one including the saints of the coming week.
In part three we have our weekly reflection on the Sunday gospel and this Sunday's gospel is Matthew's account of the temptations (or testing) of Jesus in the desert which is something for us to reflect on as we enter into our Lenten journey and how would we deal with the temptation to power, pride and testing of God in our lives. 
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

It seems like we have only just come out of the Christmas Season and we are down the door of the great season of Lent with Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent next week. So on this weeks podcast excerpt we are sharing a reflection from Bishop Robert Barron (from Word on Fire) on the three habits to get the most out of Lent.  Bishop Barron reminds us that during this time of preparation, the Church asks us to cultivate a deeper friendship with God through prayer, to control and reorder our desires for physical goods through fasting, and to show our love in the concrete way of giving alms. 
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

It seems like we have only just come out of the Christmas Season and we are down the door of the great season of Lent with Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent next week. So on this weeks podcast we are sharing a reflection from Bishop Robert Barron (from Word on Fire) on the three habits to get the most out of Lent.  Bishop Barron reminds us that during this time of preparation, the Church asks us to cultivate a deeper friendship with God through prayer, to control and reorder our desires for physical goods through fasting, and to show our love in the concrete way of giving alms. 
We have our regular run through the liturgical odds and ends for the coming week including the saints of the week (noting that the saints take a slight back seat during Lent) and a prayer reflection from Monica Brown.
In part three we have our reflection on the Sunday gospel where we continue with Matthews account of the Sermon on the Mount and what is a challenging gospel this week calling us to look ask ourselves about our deeper understanding of our relationship with anger, desires and truthful integrity in what we say. 

Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

On this weeks podcast excerpt we take a quick run through some of the main highlights from 2025 in the area of church life including things papal, worldwide, and at the national and local level here in Ireland. Usually we aim to do this particular podcast in January but it slipped out a bit on us this year - the joys of life and other events! From a global perspective 2025 was a Jubilee Year with two popes! This marks the third time in history this has occurred, following the Jubilees of 1390 (Urban VI and Boniface IX) and 1700 (Innocent XII and Clement XI). In Ireland we saw movement towards the Assemblies of the Irish Synodal Pathway in October 2026, anniversaries for St Oliver Plunkett and St Lawrence O'Toole and Dublin finally gets a catholic cathedral!
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]