Prayer is both a private and a communal activity. We pray as a community at Mass and at the dinner table with our families. We pray privately in the silence of the Church and at any moment when we lift up our minds and hearts to God.

Rating: 4.8/5

"This wasn't what we signed on for," was my first thought. My son was on a ventilator, blood pressure dropping, and we needed to decide immediately whether to place a central line to administer blood pressure medication. After a difficult surgery, he was already on painkillers, plus sedatives to keep him from removing the vent tube on his own. And they'd given him eight transfusions of whole blood and plasma. "His surgery was bloodier than expected," offered the doctors. Bloodier, but necessary. It had corrected a rapidly progressing scoliosis that was impinging on his organs and affecting his breathing. So far today, there hadn't been much time to think, and praying was a moment to moment, "Please God..."

Rating: 4.1/5