It’s been a week which could be summarised by the song with which Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest many moons ago. I’m sure she hankered for these old days when she struggled to keep in contention in the Presidential election stakes. All kinds of everything appeared, as skeletons were dragged out of the cupboards and put on display, usually by a competing candidate. No better man than Martin McGuinness who, having been tipped off, had the front runner Sean Gallagher on the ropes. The spectre of brown envelopes frightened voters who switched back to Michael D. Higgins in the same numbers that had deserted him the week before. Michael D, the eventual winner, managed to maintain his composure and in the absence of anyone of the stature of our last two presidents, romped home without any last minute challenge. All kinds of everything were on display in the Mind Body Spirit bi-annual Festival in Dublin. This New Age Fair is in danger of becoming a respectable part of the landscape. The Psychics were in tune with the culture by diagnosing “stress” as the cause of their clients ails. The €50 to €70 charge added to their stress and the remedy of an altered state of conscientiousness didn’t seem to grab the imagination like it once did. This left the floor mainly to the feel good therapies of Alternative Medicine with their holistic approach that so accurately matches the needs of the many lonely and disillusioned people who hanker for someone to take an interest in them. What help can we get from the Bible? This week’s snapshots of the lives of our Presidential candidates reveal flaws shown up by an earthly court how much more would be revealed by a heavenly one! What if we were in the dock – but we better not go there! Those attending the festival would not deny the existence of a God simply see him or her as irrelevant to their everyday lives. Having denied the possibility of any overall meaning or absolute truth, there is no faith or ideology worth living for, so living for self and feeling good about oneself becomes the central purpose in life. “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” St Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30. And Jesus` yoke is easy because He bore the ultimate burden of our sin on the cross so that whither we are a Presidential candidate with a past or a modern person who ignores Him in the present, Jesus` advice is to the point. Come to Him, in prayer, believing and receive Him into your life. “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” St John 1:12-13.