Sr. Sue's Thoughts on Prayer

I had quite the travel adventure this week with storms disrupting my flights multiple times. In the midst was a reminder that whenever things are uncertain or chaotic, it is important to keep your eyes open for God's presence in the middle of it all. As I found a quiet corner to wait out the delays, I found a sparrow fluttering around the area. The sparrow was calm and I was calm…and we simply spent some time together. I remembered the passage that says if God so cares for the sparrow, how much more does God care for you? I knew in my heart that whatever happened with my travels that day, God was with me.

May you, in moments of uncertainty, have the ability to open your eyes and notice the "sparrow" God is sending to reassure you!

Be well and be at peace!

Today is the Feast of St. Dominic, founder of a family known as an Order of Preachers. So, as we celebrate with our Dominican Sisters and Brothers throughout this world, I would like to share a prayer from our Dominican tradition.

A Dominican Blessing (13th Century)

May God the Father bless us,

May God the Son heal us,

May the Holy Spirit enlighten us and give us eyes to see with,

ears to hear with,

and hands to do the work of God with,

feet to walk with,

and a mouth to preach the word of salvation with,

and the angel of peace to watch over us and lead us at last,

by our Lord’s gift, to the kingdom.

Amen.

Be well and be at peace!

Many areas of our country are recovering from floods after a deluge of rain. So let us pray:

~ For our police, firefighters and other responders who worked so hard to attend to our safety and to all those in need in the midst of the storm.

~ For all those dealing with damage to their homes, business, schools, and places is worship as a result of all the water.

~ For all of those working clean up - restoring power lines, collecting debris, checking the safety of roads and bridges.

~ For farmers who have lost crops or livestock as a result of the flooding 

~ And for our earth, may we respect the power of the elements and tend mindfully to this one precious planet that sustains us.

Be well and be at peace!

When it comes to laundry, there seems to be two ends to the spectrum. On one end, everything goes in together. On the other end, care is taken to sort like things together so that light stuff is separated from dark items; delicates are not mixed in with work clothes... you get the idea. Either way, you give it to the washing machine to clean it all up.

I think our conversational prayer, with God can go either way as well!

Sometimes my prayer thoughts are all mixed together- one thought leading to another as I talk to God about life.

At other times, my prayer is more sorted, so to speak: I might pray about what's going on in my life at the moment, then move onto all the people I'm concerned about or who have asked me to pray for them, and finally I might spend some time sharing all the things I'm grateful for. 

How do you converse with God? How do you share the aspects of your life with the One who can clean it all up and give you some clarity? 

Be well and be at peace!

Many areas of our continent are being affected by the wildfires in Canada.

Let us pray for all affected:

~ For all those working to extinguish the fires by land or by air, may they be successful and stay safe in the process.

~ For all that is destroyed by the wildfires – the trees and plants and animals, may we honor their existence.

~ For the tens of thousands affected by the smoke and ash in the air, especially those who have health conditions that already make it hard to breathe, may they have places where they can breathe easily.

~ For anyone who has lost their homes, business, school, or place of worship to fire, may they find a community of support in the rebuilding.

~ For each of us, that we be conscientious of the conditions around us and the things that might spark a fire in dry conditions, may we always treat the gift of fire with respect 

Be well and be at peace!

Some days, things just happen - like the maintenance truck stops working in the parking lot of a store. Then you have to call AAA and wait for roadside assistance... watching and waiting until help arrives.

In the course of our day or week, unexpected things happen. The prayer becomes, "Help" and then we wait and watch for assistance. God always answers, but maybe not in the time frame we would like or in the manner that we hoped.

God, give us the grace to wait and watch for your presence with us whenever we are in need of help.

Be well and be at peace!

On this July 4, 2026 let’s pray for our country:

~ May the values of freedom, equality, justice and democracy be the guiding principles for all our governing bodies.

~ May we be mindful of the common good in all decisions that we make.

~ May we treat every other person with dignity and respect.

~ May we welcome those seeking a safe place to live.

~ May we cherish and steward wisely the natural resources that the land, waters, and air provide for us.

As we honor 250 years, may God give us the grace to celebrate what we have done well, acknowledge where we have caused harm, and commit to doing our best to create a country where all have enough and are able to live with each other in peace.

Be well and be at peace!

I don't know if any of you are composters.  We belong to a service that picks up our compost and takes it away, to allow it to go through its process.  The interesting thing is what goes into the compost - an array of scraps, peels, over-ripe fruits and veggies, things that are past their prime, coffee grounds and tea leaves to mention a few. Often, it looks bad and smells worse! This collection of undesirables, over time, becomes a nutrient rich material that replenishes the soil and feeds new growth.

So I wonder...what am I composting in my prayer?  

What scraps of experiences, frustrations, challenges, sadnesses, disappointments have I discarded without a second thought...or purposely tried to forget about?

God, give me the grace to see and understand. Help me to learn from them so that they may enrich my life and become food for new growth, no matter how uncomfortable or undesirable they may be at the time.

Be well and be at peace!

Have you noticed how hard many salespeople push you to buy something that is more that you want or need? The concept of "enough" seems to be lost and even frowned upon.

Let's pray with enough: 

~ God, give me the grace to see and understand what is enough for me in a particular situation. 

~ Help me to be content with enough so that others might have enough. 

~ Be with those who do not have enough to make ends meet...or to survive. 

Be well and be at peace!

It has been a really rough allergy season this year. For those of you affected like I am, you know what I mean. So as I was watching the clouds of pollen floating through the air and covering everything, I decided I needed to pray with the pollen and find something good in all of it.

So we pray for all the plants that send their life-force out into the wind as a means of survival and fostering new growth.

We pray for all the pollinators (bees and butterflies and more) that move from plant to plant, carrying the pollens that need more than wind to end up in the right place.

We give thanks for the beauty of the flowers that attract the pollinators.

We give thanks for the fruits, vegetables and new plants that result from successful pollination.

God, help us always to see the good in the wonders of creation around us! 

Be well and be at peace!

Last year our Japanese maple tree in the courtyard was dying... except for one branch with a few leaves at the end of it. Apparently, this was the effect of an early warm up followed by a severe frost in a previous year. I decided to wait one more year to see what happened. 

Talk about resilience! That one trunk has all sorts of new growth on it. So, we cut away what was dead and will continue to see how this part progresses.

Prayers from a Japanese maple tree: 

God, give us the grace to let go of that which no longer gives us life - old habits, ideas, desires which no longer serve us.

God, help us to nurture the gifts you have given us - bringing new energy to our life, and beauty to be shared with those around us.

God, help us to see the little signs of hope that are hidden all around us, waiting to be noticed! 

Be well and be at peace!