Little Words Mean a Lot
Photo: Anuja Mary Tilj, Unsplash
by Angela McCarthy, CSJP
We’ve just come through the 40 long days of Lent and are basking in the glory and radiance of the Resurrection Days. Among other devotions and services that close off that period of penance were those three long hours of Vigil on Good Friday. Year after year, we have meditated on what we call “The Seven Last Words.” Actually, they are seven sentences, not words. But Jesus did give us seven words: “Love one another as I love you.” Go ahead, count them. Just seven words, but if we live by them what a world of difference! And those seven words, I believe are what motivate the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace both in their ministry and prayer life. For, truthfully, ministry and prayer form one unit perceived from different angles.
Our ministry, whatever it may be, brings us in contact with others. And witnessing to the joys, pain, hopes, dreams, and frustrations of others automatically calls us to prayer. As stated in our Constitutions, “Our call to peacemaking permeates all aspects of our lives together. It seeks expression in mutual love and concern. It challenges us to accept and share our gifts and empower others to do likewise. It pervades our prayer and calls us to a life of simplicity and service.” (Constitution 15)
For me, and as I am sure for most of us, our life of prayer began in our childhood home. There, through simple prayers of petition, we learned to ask God’s guidance for ourselves but also to reach out and pray for the needs of others. My earliest recollection of prayer ministry is the frequent visits of neighbors of all faiths asking would our family pray for this or that intention. Part of that was growing up during World War II, when neighbors would be anxious about their relatives fighting in the war, especially if they hadn’t heard from them for a while. Their requests were simple: Please ask God to watch over him or pray that we’ll hear soon. We lived in a rural area of Northern Ireland, but our neighbors knew that we ended our day with rosary and night prayers. They knew we’d include their intentions, and we received many requests.
There’s a wonderful folksy Australian poem by John O’Brien called “The Trimmin’s on the Rosary.” I found this poem in 1955 and identified with it immediately. One line was almost a quote from my own mother, “Now it’s getting on to bed-time; all you childer get your beads.” And further on, commenting on the trimmin’s, “She would pray for kith and kin, and all the friends she’d ever known … For that little Irish mother’s prayers embraced the country wide; If a neighbour met with trouble, or was taken ill, or died.” It’s a long poem, but it describes what I truthfully think has happened with our modern accommodation of email. We are just widening the scope of what our parents and grandparents, worldwide, did before us.
When someone calls or emails me asking for prayers, my immediate response is to ask permission to widen the circle by inviting the prayers of my other friends and my entire community. By now, my family and friends will say, “Sister, would you ask your sisters to pray for …” Which brings me back to our Chapter Act, “To Be Who We Say We Are.” “Our prayer is a response in faith to God’s action in us and a vital expression of our lives together.” (Constitution 31)
As I and others in our community add on the years, our field of ministry shrinks. Knees may give out, eyes grow dim, hearing fades. But if God allows our mind to stay intact, then the ministry of prayer will indeed authenticate Mother Clare’s vision of promoting the peace of Christ both by word and work, and we will honestly be who we say we are. And we will live out that mission that Jesus gave us: “Love one another as I love you.”
This article appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of Living Peace.