Is This Man an Irish Ancestor?

 

Tonight I'm sharing a wee bit about the inspiration behind my first novel, "The Caveman in the Mirror" with my Ireland pilgrimage friends.  It's going to be interesting.  Spoiler alert... It's biblical.  All I can say right now is that when I saw this man you see pictured here, the resesemblance to the main character in my story was uncanny.  

Yesterday we visited a museum in Cobh, Ireland featuring the Titanic where the prisoner you see here was on display from Spike Island.  That's where the Irish prisoners were sent to pay for their crimes.  By the way, my father-in-law was nicknamed Spike.  I'll share more later about our adventures when I have more time. Once again I'm on a super tight schedule and I need to check out of my hotel.  We're headed to the Blarney stone.  According to legend, kissing the Blarney stone results in the gift of gab.  Maybe this will help when I'm sharing about my own personal caveman encounter.  Have a great day.

Lightning Blog Today

 Departure in 4 minutes.  Whoops.  We both slept through the alarm.  I'm writing this before we depart Limerick for another action packed day.  Yesterday we visited the Cliffs of Moher before dining in a midevil castle.  More updates later.  Have a great day.

Old Friends Meet New Friends

 The pilgrimage continues.  We did an overnight in Galway.  20 years ago we promised our longtime friends from Ireland we would visit them.  Last night we introduced our old friends to our new friends who are on a ten day pilgrimage with us.  We are a bit sleep deprived but it was worth it to be reunited.  Here is a picture from our evening.  Have a great day.

Out of This World

 I'm writing this message from a small town in Ireland that was pretty much off the map until something out of this world happened at one of the lowest points in its rich history.  Our Lady appeared in Knock on a rainy evening on August 21, 1879.  She didn't say anything.  The first person to see her was the church secretary.  She wondered where the new mural outside the building came from.

The apparition stuck around for a couple of hours, long enough for others to see.  Even though it was raining, the image remained dry.  15 witnesses reported what they saw during two investigations.  Over 300 miracles were documented.  

All I can say is the veil separating Heaven and earth is thin in places.  This place, in my opinion, is about as thin as it gets.  There are flowers everywhere.  An airport was built on top of marshy land.  The people in the area thought church leaders had lost their minds.  Heavy fog made landings nearly impossible.  With God, nothing is impossible.  A lighting system was installed to make the landing strip visible.

Our pilgrim group was treated to a mass in the chapel where the apparition was replicated in 3d.  When our bishop offered the host he held his hands up underneath the lamb which was part of the apparition, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  I have no words to describe what I witnessed.  This morning we depart from Knock.  The pilgrimage continues.  Stay tuned.  Have a great day.

Did We Meet Jesus?

 

Today's story is a wee bit out of this world.  My wife and a friend, Linda, from our pilgrimage decided to take a walk after dinner.  Another couple on the pilgrimage had the same idea.  We followed our wives and walked several blocks where we met a man who looks like Jesus.  I asked him, "Have you ever watched The Chosen?"

"No," he answered.

"You should check it out," I said.  "You resemble the actor who plays Jesus."

We told the man we are on a pilgrimage.  He shared that he is Greek Orthodox and he is from Palestine.  The conversation gave me goose bumps because I felt like I was talking directly to Jesus.  I asked permission to take a group selfie so we could share the photo with the 33 pilgrims on the adventure.  Also, I wanted proof for my blog readers who are curious about Ireland.  Maybe we didn't really meet Jesus on the road to Searsons but we sure came close.  By the way, Jesus does promise that when two or more are gathered in his name, he is there.

If the evening had ended with our Jesus look alike it would have been near perfect.  We returned from Northern Ireland where we visited St. Patrick's grave and the walk was a great way to end the day.  Our new friend pointed to a pub at the end of the street and the six of us headed there for a round.  The man at the door, Bill, showed us to a table and connected us with Patricia for our beers. I know what you're thinking.  Hey Michael, you're in Dublin.  Of course you're going to meet people with that name.  Well,  Patricia, like us, isn't from around here.  She is from Brazil.  Patricia came to Ireland to learn English and study marketing which happens to be what I do at my day job.  She is from our denomination.  I asked the girl sitting next to us to snap the photo you see here.  It turns out the girl next to us lives three hours away in Knock.  That's where we're going today.  More on that tomorrow.  Have a great day.  

The Spirit of Wilson is Here in Ireland

 Please pardon my tardiness with these posts.  Our schedule is a wee bit topsy-turvy.  No, it doesn't have anything to do with the local spirits as we scratched our Guiness tour due to time constraints yesterday.  I'm doing my best to navigate across the pond in Ireland.  I was hoping to bring my sidekick, Wilson, with me on this pilgrimage but the timing didn't work out and he's still in New York City.  That's okay because the spirit of Wilson is still with us.

Last evening our bishop asked us to share something about ourselves that the group didn't know about us.  I talked about how Wilson dribbled into my life at my day job.  All I can say is that while I was sharing I was overcome with emotion.  I could feel Wilson's presence in the room where we had just consumed the best food I've eaten.  It was a feast.  I'll share more later.  Have a great day.

Pilgrimage Underway

 

We made it to Dublin.  Our Bishop from Iowa is leading our pilgrimage.  We may need a couple of days for our bodies to adjust to the six time zones we crossed on our red-eye flight last night.

We were told we will never be the same.  I love the people here.  This is a must see place.  More updates to come.  Have a great day.