9/8 Day 19: North-Ireland to Knock

(Written at bright and clean internet café in Killarney between 9-11pm 10/8)

I really rested well and after breakfast I felt to explain to my hostess what I am doing. She is a good Catholic but as it turns out she has a living relationship with Jesus and I felt that was good enough. When I finished telling her what I’m doing she was very touched and thankful that I had slept in her house and she hasted to find a nice little stone for me. She asked that I would send her a card from Jerusalem when I get there to let her know if I made it. On leaving I thanked the dog. I really felt that this little creature had some angelic qualities.

I went to a place by the waterside where the beaches of Northern Ireland and Ireland on both sides of the bay that goes to Londonderry almost touch. There I found a little cove and read revelations to both of them at once. It was one of the easier readings even though it sometimes rained a bit. I really felt safer on the Republic of Ireland side and I felt like the patients of the day before had been left behind. My sense is that the Island considers itself as one, and that the political division is somehow causing discomfort in the land. Disunity makes it hard for peace and blessing to reside.

Halfway through the morning I got an SMS from my brother who got Ps 19 for me. He felt that God would use the foolish things to make wise the simple. I thought of how He used the dog the night before, and I asked the Lord to give me the courage to share where I need to share in what ever way he wants it.

After the reading I went to Malin Head, the most northern point of the island. There I found the weather cloudy and sometimes rainy. I found a place at the edge of the cliff and waited for the Lord. When He came He came with a horse. A big white one. (I only remembered later that Trudy had seen a horse). He also touched my feet, and much of the conversation was about becoming one with Him in His suffering. I was wishing for a rerun on the north of Scotland, but this was a very solemn affair – intimate as it was.

From there I drove towards Galway. I decided not to leave looking for a place to sleep till too late so I Started looking at about 7pm. By then I was close to a town called Knock. I checked in at a B&B called Eden a few kilometres before the actual town, and tried to follow the little proprietor’s directions to a place where she thought I might find Internet access.

On the way into town I passed another B&B called Grace& Mercy B&B with a big typically Catholic looking picture of Jesus on the side of the house as high as the roof. I drove past with a pang of doubt if I had missed God in my B&B choice. I stopped the car to discuss the matter with Him. He said I didn’t and that I could visit the lady in this house if I wanted to.

I knocked on the door and a lady opened. It didn’t take her half a minute of hearing my story, before she invited me into her sitting-room where five people were gathered for a prayer meeting. It didn’t take me half a minute to discover that Mother Mary was very present and that the type of charismatic Catholicism practiced was a mixed grill of every good and bad thing in the church today. But Jesus was there too. They were very excited about the way it all worked out and very happy to pray for me and bless me.

Love ruled, and I went back to the B&B a bit confused but convinced that these were the people God is working with in this place.