And so 2024 has swung open for us all……..what with January nearly behind us and another long year of unexpected twists and turns outstretched before us…..I have spent my New Year’s month of unfolding recovering from quite a difficult bout of gastroenteritis and I kind of think I am most likely more prone to picking up these bugs here and there due to my already sea-sawing immune system which btw, is typical of Fibromyalgic/Chronic Fatigue sufferers like myself and so I had made the no-two-ways-about-it snap-bang decision to immerse myself in a full-on tennis watching binge for the entire duration of the month of January and the entire duration of the illness which struck me from Christmas Eve onwards.

And indeed while this whole tennis watching extravanganza may appear to some rather mundane, for me at least it was all I could focus upon and certainly far more excitingly engaging than succumbing to frighful fits of worrying about the bug I had as one of my major weaknesses is overt pre-occupation with worrying about this or that when something unexpected like this bout of gastro comes my way. So my only means of completely switching off from the negativity of the bug was to immerse myself in something which was a real no-brainer as the saying goes, and which simply involved my heart responding and reacting to the various highs and lows, and creative sound-bites and bit-maps of this thoroughly enjoyable soaking-up time immersed within a world of light-hearted as well as emotive rawness, and so for me this was a way God had actually configured for me to assist my healing process, without all the superfluous busy-bodying around, having to go out & about in order to get any formal diagnostic overview or whizz-bang pills to zap the bug. And besides, I simply did not have the energy for that anyhow. I could barely do anything except watch tennis, eat, sleep, repeat. The only other thing which I could manage and was absolutely essential was the beautiful necessity of tending to my Baby Ray’s needs…..Beyond these things, all else was put on the back-burner.

I find it interesting to observe that the Saints I feel closest to at the time of writing this are St José Maria eScriva and St Don Bosco. There must be something in this…..I think it may have something to do with St José Maria’s intercession while St Don Bosco’s feast is just around the corner on the 31st.

And of course, I need to mention the following video clip a friend sent to me from YouTube:

https://youtu.be/ltZxrt9LrsI?si=mtHYWB8_eq3HWQFA

It is from this btw, that this post’s feature photo was taken. For one thing, it is the perfect expression of new beginnings. For here in this unfolding light-hearted drama, filled with the nuturing bonds of feline family warmth is none other than the newness of LIFE at it’s best!! What an absolutely enthralling expression of life being lived O so beautifully! The sights & sounds on this clip are nothing short of superb. It is a full-on statement about how beauty will save the world. The joy & wonderment of God’s creation is so emblazoned within the seeming littleness of this scenario. It’s powerfully small in everyday terms and yet at one & the same time, incredibly huge in the sense of conveying a wonderment beyond the ordinary. Who first penned the quote “beauty will save the world”? Why, none other than the prolific 19th century literary genius Fyodor Dostoevsky of course!

Wishing you every blessing for the months ahead!!

May you have a safe and spiritually fruitful 2024.

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