by Anne Marie Kenny AMMM                                    USA                                05.02.2024 

At this point in my 71st year experience on this good earth, my communication with God has changed.  Today, the rote prayers, which in the past brought me closer to my spirituality, seem to fall flat.  Instead, I pray in a mostly unspoken, soulful manner, seeking the Divine in all whom I meet, in the nature around me, in the work I do, and the circumstances I encounter.

The last one is the hardest, because when the circumstances are difficult, or seem involuntarily thrust upon me, I would rather run or turn a blind eye.  Until I realize that it’s God’s communication with me, asking me to at least say Yes to looking closer, to answering that metaphoric knock on the door.  Yes to trusting that I’ll be guided.

So, my life is my prayer, a humble and very human one.  But I feel God’s acceptance, so long as my intention is sincere.  And it is.  So far, however, in the beginning of my elder years, I’ve yet to be tested by a debilitating health situation, or by struggling in parts of the world where war, climate, and violence are devastatingly rampant.  Some of our Sisters and Associates are facing these kinds of hardships now.  May our prayers for each other be felt and alleviate the burden.

On the last AMMM zoom call, where we U.S. Associates gather remotely each month, the topic of the MMM Mission Statement arose quite spontaneously.  We shared with each other how profoundly inspiring its message was for us.   At the end of the zoom session, we read it aloud together as our closing prayer.  For me, it is a prayer that not only comforts me internally with peace, but also sets me in motion as a call to action.  Each time I say it, one of the phrases will jump out — something different each time — and will get my attention, lift me up, answer a question, or affirm my intention.

“As Associate Medical Missionaries of Mary, in a world deeply and violently divided, we are people on fire with the healing love of God.  Engaging our own pain and vulnerability, we go to peoples of different cultures, where human needs are greatest.  Our belief in the inter-relatedness of God’s creation urges us to embrace holistic healing and to work for reconciliation, justice and peace.”