Invitation to pray

The natural beauty of the Trappist Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts inspires reflection with its wide-open fields and hills untouched by development. (Photo courtesy of Sandra Piwko)

AMONG THE MOST personal questions to ask someone is surely: How do you pray? What’s your formula for a successful encounter with the Holy Unseen? Possible answers to this question number about 8 billion, depending on the current count of the living.

While prayer is a kind of communication, it’s rarely about the words. Prayer is, most vitally, a mode of relationship. Of course it involves God, but just as essentially, it includes human actors. Prayer is communal as much as solitary. What we do in the hour of prayer, we do together: across the planet, across centuries, across countless walls and circumstances that vie to keep us apart.

Where do we pray? Everywhere we can! Since prayer is rooted in intention, our decision to pray is the doorway to sacred space. Cathedral or parlor, forest or back stoop, we arrive in the presence of the Eternal just the same. Vast caverns of consecrated space may enhance the experience, literally drawing our eyes and hearts heavenward. Yet intimate interiors invite the inward journey, where the indwelling Spirit waits. Wherever this activity takes us, the results are not about getting it right, not at all about having a mystical experience that’s one for the hagiographies. Quite simply, in this space, we find our place. When we pray, we are surrounded and held, yet liberated and boundless. Here, we know who God is, and who we are.

The places we choose to pray are hardly random. An element of invitation is characteristic of sacred space. A bench that calls our name. An open door. A beckoning tree. A window opening wide on natural wonder. A holy image that takes us by the hand, or perhaps the heart, with its benevolent gaze. We feel the spiritual saturation of a place that’s frequently prayed in. Sometimes you can see the worn stones where many knees have knelt. More often it’s just a quality of the air: buoyant, yet reverent. Sacred places aren’t just pretty interiors, or grand vistas—although beauty can be enough to launch us into the attitude of praise.

Sacred space is expectant. It is hospitable space that feels prepared for our arrival. It ignites the fire in our prayer, drawing the faithful and the curious alike. The play of light may exalt our prayer, or we may find consolation in the sheltering darkness. Our prayer may be vocalized, or we may plummet into mothering silence. Whatever our prayer becomes, it is never an end, but only a beginning.  

—Alice Camille

A version of this article appeared in VISION 2019.

Shoreline wonders

Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon

By Sister Adele Marie Altenhofen, S.S.M.O.

I enjoy praying on the Oregon coastline—specifically at Cannon Beach. I love to walk along the shore, listening to the rhythmic beat of the crashing waves, feeling the sand-speckled wind on my cheeks and looking for the occasional sand dollar or razor clam dimple or doughnut hole on the beach. All of this catches me up into the wonder of God and the creativity displayed. Just listening and observing in awe becomes a prayer of gratitude and praise!

A place to find peace 

Hospital Sisters of St. Francis

The Canticle Prayer Room at Chiara Center of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis in Springfield, Illinois offers peace and quiet to people of all faiths.

A daily dose of God’s glory 

Carmelite Friars, Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary

By Father Michael Joyce, O.Carm.

As a nature lover, I love praying outdoors, especially near water. I am blessed that my present home affords me the opportunity to be in nature by simply walking out the back door. Having learned to “have a cup of coffee with God” from one of my favorite Carmelite brothers, I often find myself watching the sun dance on the water, taking in the beautiful colors of each season, the sounds of the spring, or the silence of the winter. This prayer spot helps me to keep life in perspective. I’m filled with gratitude for all the beauty and love in this world.

Winter stillness

Benedictine Sisters, St. Walburg Monastery

By Sister Cathy Bauer, O.S.B.

My prayer place isn’t a chapel or a room, but a snowy path in nature, where I practice the Benedictine value of peace that fills the quiet winter air. Surrounded by the stillness of winter, the peacefulness of the snow helps me focus my heart and mind on God.

Retreat to silence 

Religious of the Assumption

By Sandra Piwko

The Trappist Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts is close to my office in Worcester. I have made two silent retreats here and have taken my volunteers for visits to experience the solitude. It is hard to find a place of true peace and quiet, and this is why the abbey is a wonderful spot for prayer. The natural beauty of the place inspires reflection with its wide-open fields and hills untouched by development. The structures are also beautiful, made with the field stones of the land that the monks used to build their chapel and monastery. Visitors are invited to Mass or prayer throughout the day too. It’s a place for contemplation and meditation to soothe the mind, body, and soul.

Gathering on well-worn steps 

Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius

By Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M.

Four times each year, regardless of the weather, the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius gather outside the Adoration Chapel at our motherhouse to pray specifically for the needs of people around the world. Although communal prayer within our various chapels is a cherished tradition, Prayer Outside the Walls serves a deeper purpose: It is a visible expression of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in need. It is an invitation is to stand together in unity. Our SS.C.M. community first started Prayer Outside the Walls in 2012 in response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Since then, our sisters have continued to gather with associates and friends in the local neighborhood on these well-worn chapel steps. This is one of my favorite places to pray because steps can be easily overlooked. There’s not a single sign directing people to this sacred space, and for that very reason, these steps serve as a poignant reminder that we can pray anywhere, at any time.

Integrating mission and prayer

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

The Queen of Peace Chapel at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pennsylvania reflects the sisters’ desire for integrated lives of mission, community, and prayer.

Bridging a path to solidarity 

Sisters of Bon Secours

At the Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, “Each of us spends time in personal prayer to deepen and sustain our relationship with God. As women of God committed to providing justice in radical solidarity with the poor and suffering, we join in prayer with those we serve. As contemplatives in action, our service can become a prayer offering too.”

A garden with good bones 

Sisters of Our Mother of Divine Grace

By Sister Michael Marie Miller, S.M.D.G.

There are many places I love to pray, and of course, being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament is the best place anyone could encounter the Lord. However, my favorite place to pray is the Garden Park Fossil Area located in Canon City, Colorado. This is where I encountered God the most profoundly after my third year of college. At that time, I began discerning my vocation as to what God was calling me to do, and possibly putting aside my dream of becoming a paleontologist. Here I could clear my thoughts, but also at the same time see God's grandeur and beauty not just in the current mountain ranges but recalling the many magnificent fossils that came from this place. God even heard my heart-breaking cry by allowing me to find one last time a single bone well preserved in this area along with a single tooth. At this discovery I knew he wanted me for his own.

To this day, I make a yearly visit back to this place to help heal from wounds and to know that I'm still using paleontology in ways never imagined for the glory of God. This place is away from the city, noise, and even the highway. It brings about the wonder and beauty of God's creation both past and present. It brings one into meditation on how the world was before humans ever appeared and helps humans discover a world we never knew. By studying prehistoric life, a paleontologist can marvel at the creativity of something larger than themselves and acknowledge that even in nature there is something in greater control than the material elements themselves. God never changes, yet God is the one who can bring about the greatest change even in the smallest of ways. God only had to speak to change bread and wine into his Body and Blood. So too, could God speak for something new to grow or evolve.

The way I see it, paleontologists treat fossils with utmost care because they are very fragile. In the same way, God, the greatest paleontologist, treats each soul with utmost care because we are all fragile in His sight. If you want to mediate on the wonder of God, this is the place.

A place of mystery and movement

Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN

By Sister Joni Luna, S.P.

Though I can pray anywhere, for God’s presence fills every space, my spirit awakens most deeply when I am near water and beneath an open sky. The rhythm of the waves becomes my heartbeat, the endless sky, God’s gentle gaze. Water is life-giving—sky, ever-changing—together they remind me of the mystery and movement of the Divine. It is the harmony that opens my heart to prayer.

By the water’s edge, I feel both grounded and free—the Earth steady beneath me, the sky wide above. The sound of the waves calms my thoughts and draws me into a natural rhythm of breathing and being. The air feels alive with Spirit, carrying whispered prayers to Creator God. Here, I am reminded that I am part of something vast and sacred. The water reflects God’s purity and flow; the open sky invites surrender and trust. In this space, distractions fade, and I can listen—not only with my ears, but with my soul. This place holds me gently in God’s presence, where prayer becomes effortless, like the tide meeting the shore.

The cross that leads to love

Sisters of the Resurrection

By Sister Therese Grace Baillargeon, C.R.

My favorite spot to pray is before our Crucified and Risen Lord in the Eucharist in our Provincial House chapel. The ceiling lights accentuate the crucifix above the Eucharist, reminding me of God’s sacrificial love for me. As His spouse, this favorite place helps me to live the life I’ve been called to as a Sister of the Resurrection. I am able to meditate on our charism where we pass “through the cross and death to Resurrection and glory.”