It's a Hail Mary

It’s a Hail Mary

In sports, it’s when you take a leap of faith in your skills and the skills of the people around you to give it your one last best effort.  As a Catholic child growing up, it’s what your mom told you to say when you couldn’t fall asleep at night! 

Hail Mary is my go to prayer. It has truly become my meditation.  When I get overwhelmed and cluttered in my thoughts, I say a Hail Mary.  When I am too tired to do a creative prayer with the girls before bed, we pray a Hail Mary.  If I am on a run and forget my i-pod, I say Hail Marys.  If it’s around 4:30 and I can’t hear the word “mom” one more time, I say a Hail Mary (sometimes out loud and the girls just stare at me like I am, well…losing it)!

Praying and meditating is just like eating and working out, you have to find the prayers, meditations and practices that work for you.  Some people find their spirituality in their garden, others on a mountaintop or in the ocean.  I have to say that I find peace and spirituality all over the place.  In yoga studios, through journaling, in church, on hikes, and in good deep conversation are just a few of the places I find my connection with God and the Universe. 

About ten years ago, I was a pretty big Bible thumper and frequented church as often as I could.  I volunteered at the church and for a 26-year-old girl one might say I was abnormally active in my parish.  I remember at one point during this time my brother saying in a general conversation, “Church is for people who are weak.”  I never brought it up with him because it struck a chord.  At that moment in my life, I was weak.  I felt weak.  I felt lost and disconnected.  But I had God and I had prayer.

During that phase of my life I always found time to sit and pray and talk to God.  I would pop in at different churches. I took time out of my day to say the Rosary.  I was strict about Lent.  I prayed for others.  I was a good Catholic.  Now, a shadow of my former self (thanks to God), living the life that I had prayed for all those years, I barely carve out a minute before bedtime to pray.  I am a true on the fly prayer. I am not proud of the prayer I have become.  I do believe that a piece of the health and wellness journey requires a few minutes of uninterrupted prayer and/or meditation. But for now, my on the go prayers to the Blessed Mother give me peace in my moments of daily craziness and I am forever grateful to have Her and The prayer with me. 

Tonight, as the world reflects on the chaos of the past, the loved ones lost, and the troops still fighting, my prayers will not be on the fly.  Tonight with the TV and the computer off, in silence, it’s a Hail Mary.   

Love deeply,

Kim Gilroy