August 9, 2026
“Water & Fire – Elemental Prayers” Photo by LKV Walsh
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Everywhere and for all time, people have experienced what I grew up calling “prayer concerns.” Humans and animals get injured or sick, jobs are lost, natural disasters and wars unfold. Things fall apart. I was lucky enough to grow up in a faith tradition that taught me sharing my troubles with God through prayer, as well as with others by asking for their prayers, could be a path to healing. And it was…it still is…even if not for the reasons I was told. Far from my childhood belief that I could say the right words and get the right outcome, the truth is even more amazing. As Søren Kierkegaard said, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” Indeed!
As we learn more about human brains and neuroplasticity, it is easy to see how this observation of Kierkegaard’s is true. When I am willing to see, name, and become s0ft (maybe even vulnerable) about that which needs healing in my life, the acknowledgement does something powerful to my brain’s functioning. It changes how I understand and accept my own concerns, how I value my own needs, and how I receive care from others. And when I pray for others’ needs, it changes how I understand my connectedness, how I treat others, and how I understand the world in which I live. The shifts are a bit of mental magic! And luckily, I now live in a place where prayer is the mother tongue.
Walk into any Catholic church here in Ireland, and you will find multiple places to light candles and say a prayer. Even the smallest villages have at least one, and every one of them is open from early morning to late evening every single day. Wander in the woods and you will stumble on holy wells or yew trees decorated with framed formal petitions, prayer beads, strips of fabric and more. In every conversation (whether at the pub or in the doctor’s office), hopes or desires spoken aloud are followed by an exclamation of “Please God!” And in Irish Gaelic, simply saying “hello” translates literally as “God be with you” – a prayer of protection that is met with “God and Mary be with you!” This place reminds me daily that my needs, the needs of those I love and the needs of the world matter. Better yet, this place reminds me that I have a role to play in my, their and our healing.
I’m trying to take full advantage of it. I pray for you who are struggling with job loss, for you who are saying goodbye to family members, for you who are fighting cancer, and for you who are nursing all who are hurting all these ways and more. I’m lighting candles, I’m collecting holy water, I’m tying ribbons and speaking incantations of love. And I do it all in the hope that the prayers will change me…for the better this time. Please God!
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