The OLA Blog
Stories, reflections, and updates from our mission and community life. Here we share reflections, insights and experiences, believing that the simple act of sharing can inspire, connect, and open hearts.
A Small Corner of a Widening War
The war in the Middle East has widened. Iran is now part of it, and the region that was already exhausted has lurched further into uncertainty. Sr Paoula Mourad is from Lebanon. She has been in Ireland for several months now, working on the OLA Justice Desk, and she...
Three Trees in Abuja
When Sr Kathleen McGarvey OLA stood in the grounds of Ireland's new Embassy building in Abuja on 19 March this year, she was there as a guest of the Embassy – but the connection she represented is older than any building. The congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of...
Standing at the Threshold
Scripture: Luke 19:37–40 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” The final days of Lent bring us to a crowded road. Palm branches are raised. Cloaks are spread across the ground. The air carries expectation. Yet within days, the voices will shift....
How We Choose to See One Another
History is not only about the past. It also shapes the way we see one another today. A ship sets sail from the African coast. Below deck, hundreds of men, women and children are chained together in darkness, pressed side by side on wooden planks. They cannot stand....
Ordering the Heart
Scripture: John 12:24 "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." By the fifth week of Lent, something has been happening; slowly, beneath the surface of daily life. Listening has...
Renewal Within Community
Scripture: Nehemiah 9:1–3 “They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.” In the Book of Nehemiah, the people gather to hear the Law read aloud. They stand together. They remember their history. They speak honestly about where they have...
Diamond Jubilee Celebrations
On Saturday, 7 March 2026, we gathered with families and friends who had travelled long distances to celebrate sixty years of religious life — the Diamond Jubilee of Sr Philomena Mulligan, Sr Josephine Cox and Sr Agnes Haverty. OLA Sisters from other communities...
The Discipline of Speech
Scripture: James 3:1–12 “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.” (James 3:5) Words shape the world we inhabit. In his message for Lent 2026, Pope Leo XIV names a form of fasting that is often overlooked: abstaining from words that offend and...
A Word from Pope Leo XIV and What It Met in Us
Our Plenary Council in Rome is coming to a close, and undoubtedtly, the highlight of these two weeks was last weekend when our Sisters were received at the Vatican by Pope Leo XIV, together with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. They entered that audience as...
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