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		<title>Standing at the Threshold</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/standing-at-the-threshold/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[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. Praise will give way to accusation. Welcome will [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
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		<title>Ordering the Heart</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/ordering-the-heart/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 08:22:30 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Scripture: John 12:24 &#8220;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.&#8221; By the fifth week of Lent, something has been happening; slowly, beneath the surface of daily life. Listening has trained our attention. Fasting has exposed the habits [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12622</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Renewal Within Community</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/renewal-within-community/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:37:45 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[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 failed. The moment is shared. No one stands outside it. Lent carries [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12617</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>The Discipline of Speech</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/the-discipline-of-speech/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 10:47:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[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 harm. He places the discipline of language alongside [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12602</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Fasting as Reordering Desire</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/fasting-as-reordering-desire/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 09:20:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Scripture: Isaiah 58:6–9 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice…?” (Is 58:6) Fasting can easily become reduction: less food, fewer comforts, smaller habits, but scripture widens the meaning. Through the prophet Isaiah, God challenges a form of fasting that leaves structures of injustice untouched. Abstaining from food while [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12548</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Listening as the Beginning of Renewal</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/listening-as-the-beginning-of-renewal/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:47:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Scripture: Exodus 3:1–12 “I have observed the misery of my people… I have heard their cry.” (Ex 3:7) Lent begins with attention. In his 2026 message, Pope Leo XIV places listening at the heart of renewal. Before fasting, before repentance, before action, there is listening. It’s a deliberate making of space, a turning toward. At [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12538</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Message of the Holy Father Leo XIV for Lent 2026</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/press-releases/message-of-the-holy-father-leo-xiv-for-lent-2026/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:48:44 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[Message of the Holy Father Dear brothers and sisters, Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">12543</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>St Brigid: Presence Across Centuries</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/st-brigid-presence-across-centuries/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:45:46 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[St Brigid of Kildare belongs to a time when faith was carried on foot, tested by weather, hunger, kinship, and land. The Ireland she knew was still finding its Christian language, still learning how belief might live among fields, hearths, and shared labour. It was a period when Christian belief, older religious practices, and local [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
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		<title>In the Current of the Year</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/in-the-current-of-the-year/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[&#160; It’s a cliché to say that time seems to pass more swiftly each year, and yet, the cliché doesn’t make it less real. Each day brings its own demands and surprises, and the world demands attention and action. Justice, peace, and the dignity of every living being requires engagement. Small gestures, deliberate choices, and [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
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		<title>Love in the Flesh &#8211; Advent Week 4</title>
		<link>https://www.olaireland.ie/spirituality/love-in-the-flesh-advent-week-4/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Robertson - OLA Communications Officer]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:12:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Prayer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reflections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Love in the Flesh 📖 Scripture: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” &#160; ❤️ Reflection Love is the heartbeat of Advent. It’s the reason for the waiting, the joy behind the promise, and the light that breaks into the world. In this final week, we reflect on [&#8230;]]]></description>
		
		
		
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