My friend is experiencing
health issues.
He suffers from his illness,
he suffers from all of the waiting
and he suffers from worry.

I pray to Mary, my mother,
bringing my friend before her
and asking her
to pray for him
in his illness.

And so I pray the Joyful Mysteries
of the Rosary …

“Mary, my mother,
at The Annunciation
you had the courage
to say, “Yes”,
to God’s plan for you.
Please pray that my friend, like you,
may have the courage
to say, “Yes”,
to God’s plan for him.

“Mary, my mother,
at The Visitation
Elizabeth said to you,
“Blessed is she who believed
that the promise made to her
would be fulfilled.”
Please pray that my friend
may hear those words
spoken to him today
and that he may have the faith
to place his trust in God,
just as you did.

“Mary, my mother,
at The Nativity
you brought Jesus into the world.
Please pray that my friend
may welcome Jesus
into his life
and that he may discover
that, by putting Jesus
at the centre of his life,
everything else
falls into place.

“Mary, my mother,
at The Presentation you presented to God
what was most precious to you –
the Baby Jesus.
Please pray that my friend
may be able to present to God
all of the worries, fears and anxieties
that he holds so close to his heart
today
and that, in doing so,
he may find comfort.

“Mary, my mother,
at The Finding in the Temple
you found your lost, teenage, Jesus
(who had gone AWOL).
Please pray that my friend
may find, in God,
those precious gifts
of healing and peace.

Mary, my mother,
I bring all of these prayers before you,
knowing that you will pray for my friend,
who is one of your precious children.
Please keep him tenderly
in your loving care.

© Claire Murray, 23rd Sept 2020

Sunflowers stand-out
on our walk this morning –
dandelion-yellow heads held proudly
on slender, straight stems
that stand oh-so tall
in flower beds and flower pots
in gardens and in parkland
supported by bamboo cane.
So beautiful to behold –
almost regal!
A delight for the passer-by
and such a wonderful achievement
for gardeners who tended them
during the “summer”!

In my mind
one sunflower
stands out from all the rest.
It stands in the wasteland
and, like all of the other sunflowers,
its golden head tracks the sun
all day long.
But there is one huge difference –
this sunflower stands
only about 18 inches tall.
It’s a wee rogue sunflower
planted by the birds!
Growing wild
it had no support
when winds blew …
and was knocked over.
But still it reached up to the sun
on a stem that grew
in a zig-zag!

Thank you, Lord,
for this wee fighter of a sunflower
on its zig-zagging stem,
this miracle of your creation –
such a beautiful symbol of hope
in a wasteland!

© Claire Murray, 17th September 2020

We’re on a family holiday
in Sligo
but far away in Belfast
my friend is undergoing
medical tests
and I can’t get him
out of my mind.
No matter where I go
I keep firing prayers
up into the heavens
like fireworks
on a cold November night.

Sheep skip daintily
out of our way,
graceful as ballet dancers
as we circle Lough Easkey
on mountain tracks.
Lord,
please bless my friend
in his illness.
Grant him the wisdom
to face his illness
one day at a time,
one step at a time.

Walking round the green, velvet slopes
of Ben Bulben
which towers, imposingly, above us
in the rain.
Turning a corner
we spy a rainbow mist
suspended hazily
above the sea.
It couldn’t have formed
without all of this rain!
Lord,
please bless my friend.
Help him, in his illness,
to notice and to cherish
the many blessings
that you will send,
so unexpectedly,
his way.

The sands of Enniscrone strand
glisten in the morning sun
and dry sand slithers and swirls
like ghostly mists
across the beach
while the Atlantic ocean
twinkles in the sun.

This breath-taking beauty
calms the soul today
and yet it took millions of years
to form.
Lord,
please bless my friend
with the gift of patience
as he waits for test results
without the welcome distraction
of work.

Smells of autumn fill the air
as we dander along
tree-lined paths of Beleek Wood.
Sun filters through a canopy
of green and yellow leaves overhead.
The River Moy glides quietly by
while wading birds step lightly
on silver mud flats.
Such a sense of stillness here!
Lord,
please bless my friend with peace
deep down
at the centre of his being,
that deep-seated peace
that comes only
from you.

The heavens open
as we walk along the shore at Easkey,
drenching us
in early morning rain
while a curious seal
plays “peek-a-boo”
in thundering waves
of the Atlantic ocean.
Lord,
please let my friend
be drenched by my prayer.
Bless him with your precious gifts
of healing and peace.
Please send your Holy Spirit
to give him
all of the strength that he needs
to battle his illness.

And, in the meantime,
I’ll keep praying!

(c) Claire Murray

One day at Long Tower Boys’ school
my brother, Dermot,
was asked to write a description
of his Mammy.
After giving it some thought
Dermot wrote, painstakingly,
“My Mammy is a cooker”.
(What can I say –
it was the 1960’s!)

These words come back to me
tonight
as I attempt to describe
to a friend of mine
what sort of person Mammy is.

My conclusion is somewhat different
from Dermot’s.

Rather than describing Mammy
as being a cook-er,
I would describe her
as being a pray-er.

You see, when I think about it,
Mammy seems to spend
a lot of time
praying
for other people’s intentions
(usually ours!)

When something goes wrong
in life,
Dermot, Peter, Brenda and I
get straight on the phone to Mammy
asking her
to say a wee prayer
for whatever is troubling us –
driving tests or medical tests,
illness or injury,
worries about work,
mental health issues –
prayers for ourselves,
prayers for our children,
prayers for our friends.

Mammy’s response
is always swift
and is always the same,
“I’ll light the holy candle.”
Mammy then starts her prayers
and they continue
for a long, long time.

This morning it strikes me
that Mammy really intercedes for us,
a bit like Our Lady.

I turn to Our Lady
in prayer
and I turn to Mammy
for prayer.

Thanks you, Lord,
for the two mothers
you have given me –
Mammy in Derry
and Mary, my mother in heaven,
both of whom help me
so much
by their prayers.

I suppose I can say
that both of my mothers
are pray-ers
(not cook-ers!)

© Claire Murray, 17th August 2020

It’s that time of year again –
autumn –
when, after a windy night,
windfall apples lie strewn
across the grass
in our garden.

Today,
for the first ever time,
I actually see an apple
d-r-o-p
from a tree!

And while that was a first for me
it wasn’t the main reason
for my surprise.
Can you guess
what sort of tree
the apple fell from?

A CHERRY tree!

I just stared at the tree
in delighted puzzlement.

Thank you, Lord,
for this wonderful, tiny surprise.

A reminder
that, with you,
nothing is impossible.

A reminder
that life is always
full of surprises.

A reminder
that you work
in truly mysterious ways
(sometimes with the help
of our wee squirrel!)

© Claire Murray, 24th August 2020