I have been trying to sit down and write this July. It’s been hard to think about. We all lose people we love. A great man was lost to us in July. My son’s papa. He was not a biological grandparent. He was a Papa by choice. He chose to give his heart and to love my son unconditionally. The love was returned for 18 years. Papa had been talking to my son about high school graduation since he was in kindergarten. As it drew closer and closer, he spoke about it and practiced calling my son’s name out like he was about to walk across the stage. There was no doubt he would be there, until he wasn’t. He was in the hospital when my son walked across the stage. He missed his graduation party but not by choice. He suffered 3 major strokes and then he was gone. The time he was in the hospital was eye opening. I have never been in and out of the hospital with a loved one. I did not go the amount of time I would have liked. There are many reasons; work, household; commitments that had already been made, and growing up with minimal interactions with those who were sick.
The first time I visited, I wanted to pray a rosary. I forgot my rosary. I wanted to invite the others to pray with me. I was too nervous. I decided that I would like to pray the rosary silently on my fingers. It was a challenge for me but I did it.
Praying in public is hard for me in places where I do not know how it will be received. While my prayer life is strong it takes place at home or church because that is where my routines are. I wanted to pray in public but I felt like I couldn’t ask and I shouldn’t ask. I shared this with some in my bible study. Many felt this way and many felt very comfortable praying in public. One friend from my bible group asked me if it would be ok if she stopped by the hospital and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I checked and she was invited to pray whenever she was in the area.
The next time I went to the hospital I asked before I went if grandma would like to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with me when I got there. She was very eager to pray together. Since I had asked before going, it was very easy to bring my rosary out and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Once we had finished, I asked if we could also pray the rosary. Everyone agreed and the prayers continued. This was the only time I was able to pray out loud at the hospital. Many more prayers were prayed before and after this in many different places. The experience of praying together is one that has brought me much comfort in the days, weeks, and months that followed.
While I wouldn’t say I am comfortable praying in public I am gradually experiencing it more and being open to pray when I would like too.
A few weeks ago we found a small business called Covered that wasn’t too far away. They sell bibles and then you have a variety of options to cover it and decorate it. It was great. I thought we would get to do it ourselves but that was a mistaken assumption. I also don’t have the skill and it would probably have taken many hours to accomplish this. We did have a lot of fun picking out the covers and badges for each of our bibles. It is not a catholic store and they did not currently have any catholic bibles so they worked with the ones we took with us (in fact they will cover any book you would like if you take it in). As we finished up, both of the store owners came out and asked if they could pray with us before we left. They asked for any intentions we gave them our intentions. The prayer they spoke was beautiful and led by the Holy Spirit. It encompassed many of the topics we had encountered and talked about during the morning and drive to this store. It was truly a beautiful experience. It was after this experience I was finally able to sit down and start on this post. It has still taken me a few days to write it. I still had to stop a few times but it was helpful. It doesn’t matter if you are catholic or methodist or non denominational or any other religion- asking to pray together should be a universal experience led by the Holy Spirit. I hope I have more courage in the future to offer prayers outside of my house and my church.
