Prayers
May Flowing Waters Quench The Parched Land
May flowing waters quench the parched land. May tiny tendrils push through the once hardened ground and blossom. May the grip of gloom be loosened to make way for joy. May the smallest spark of light shatter the suffocating darkness. May the tombs be empty and the gardens full. And in the groaning and straining…
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There Is Space For Your Story
There is space for your story. All the good, and all the gold. All the hard, and all the hurt. All the broken, and all the beautiful. There is room for the wreckage, room for the wounds and for figuring out: What went wrong, and who, and how, and what now? There is space for…
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For Days When We Get It All Wrong
God, there are days when I get this all so wrong. I lose my patience, I yell, I cry. I just don’t have the control I wish I had. Not over them, but over myself. I tell myself, “they’re just kids!” And then I battle with the patience I was never shown. I tell myself,…
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How To Hold Your Bones
Here is how to hold your bones, how not to leave the skin you live in how not to forsake the flesh that fails how not to scorn the cells that kill. Here is how to dig yourself out from deepest, darkest grounds and graves: You, the caged bird that you are, will sing and…
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Set Our Hearts On Fire
God Who is Love, When we are weary and empty and find it difficult to love Gently remind us we need not rely on our own power, that we cannot love the way we are called to love on our own strength. Renew us from our exhaustion. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit to overflow,…
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Your Joy Remains
At a local laundromat, I realized something. My mind is constantly racing. There’s not a moment when I don’t have thoughts running through my mind. More often than not, those thoughts are negative. More than I would like. But today I caught myself thinking and feeling something new. I have found joy here. Here, in…
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A Blessing to Begin
God, bless the hopes and anxieties, The joys and the longings Within us as we raise our children. Bless the late nights And the too-early mornings. Bless the daily chaos And the quiet moments, too. Bless the growing hearts and souls And their embodied hope. Bless the future so full of promise, And bless the…
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A Prayer for Infertility
God of Abraham and Sarah, wait with us and help us to believe. God of Rebecca and Isaac, hear our prayers and speak to our struggles. God of Jacob and Rachel, forgive us our envy and free us from jealousy. God of Hannah and Elkanah, hold our anger and weep with us. God of Elizabeth and Zechariah,…
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A Prayer for Families in Ordinary Time
God of Ordinary Time,
We bring our needs to You,
whether extraordinary or everyday.
For backyard barbeques and family reunions.
For back to school shopping and summer sports practices.
For college drop-offs and kindergarten jitters.
a prayer for morning sickness
Morning sickness is awful. At best it’s a nuisance for a few weeks; at worst it’s debilitating for months. I’ve had both scenarios, so my sympathies leap out to any expectant mother who suffers – and longs for a prayer during these hardest times. I’ve written ad nauseam (ha) about morning sickness: “In Which We Are All…
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a prayer for a new school year
Here is a prayer for all of us in the midst of transition: to a new season, a new schedule, or a new school year. A prayer to God who guides us all. You are Alpha and Omega. Bless the end of our summer and the beginning of our fall. You are Abba…
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A Prayer for the Sleep-Deprived
I am tired. How about you? I am tired all the time. I’m tired of talking about how tired I am. I know I was tired before I had kids – tired from college, tired from grad school, tired from work. But since my first child was born, I have been weary to my bones. This is the happy…
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Sometimes I ask St. Joseph to stand in the room with a brother or son or father I know who is going through something hard, or lonely, or maybe even unspeakable. I ask St. Joseph to place his calming, patient, loving hand upon the person’s shoulder so that they may know he is not alone.…
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Arm the children Arm them with a passion for life and each other. Arm them with gorgeous humans who consistently show up. Arm them with some sort of relationship to the Divine. Arm the children with beautiful experiences and honest ones, too. Arm them with gratitude, an ample dose of optimism and hope, the ability…
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Something I believe. . . Motherhood is Weighty and wonderful, Sometimes monotonous and boring, But also exciting and spontaneous, While being grievous and frustrating. It’s both stretching and structured, Straightforward and confusing, Tiresome and energizing, Painful and healing, Draining and lifegiving, Hopeful and despairing. // It’s playing the long game Though your finish line will…
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FOR THE WEEK AFTER MISCARRIAGE “Out of the depths I call to you, Lord; Lord, hear my cry!” (Ps 130:1–2) God of mercy, hear our prayer. From the depths of our grief, answer us. Our hearts break at the loss of our child. Our minds struggle to understand. Just days ago we held the hope…
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After birth, I am all at once at home and out of place. Every task now a luxury of time. I want to spend all day with the baby, I want to spend all day alone. This month I have done nothing but mother, my body given in service to a tiny human I just…
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Nourishing God, You make water spring forth from the rock. We come to you hot and thirsty. We praise You for the many ways we are refreshed, body and soul, by the gift of water. The rush of running through a sprinkler, or wading ankle-deep in a mountain stream, is a delight to the senses!…
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A Blessing for the September Mother: Who doesn’t make enough memories Or lives for the bucket list Who misses the first day of school Or performs acrobatics to get it off work Who holds milestones and grief in the same hand Or relishes in routine Who feels nauseous with anxiety Or notices she can breathe again Who despises making packed…
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I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. So when I see a trial an unexpected struggle an unfamiliar season a potentially hard thing anything new anything I’m not used to headed my way and uncomfortably close, when I see it and become tempted to hoard manna I remember: The Bread of life…
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God of new life, In this season of resurrection, help us to look for the little miracles. Shatter our disillusionment when the big miracles fail to materialize before us – Break through with your consolation when our Lazarus isn’t raised from the dead, Break through with Your mercy when our children aren’t healed, Break through…
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For mother-artists, writers, crafters and creators. Know that your work is holy, both in your art and with your family! God, I come to you today With a thousand prayers— For peace, for quiet, For inspiration and motivation, For the chance to meet You In the sacred space of creation. In this time You have…
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Father, Thank You for being the God who sees. The God who knows. The God who cares. Thank You that You see me, Your beloved daughter, in my frailty. Thank You that You know everything about me— including my internal struggles that threaten to strangle the life out of me. Thank You that You care…
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A Song of St. Anselm Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you; you are gentle with us as a mother with her children. Often you weep over our sins and our pride; tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgment. You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds; in sickness…
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