Prayer Blanket Ministry

This week our ministry of prayer and creative craft shares some wonderful news from the recipient of a prayer blanket. Her experienced surgeons removed two tumors that, based on their years of experience had the appearance of malignancies. Uterine cancer was the feared diagnosis. Yet the pathology results indicated not one cell was cancerous - an unexpected and very happy surprise! The patient and her family were very touched to have received this soft symbol of our prayers and send their heartfelt thanks for your prayers. Thank you for praying for all on our Mass & Prayer Intentions list - it makes a difference.

We promised to share a statistic on the productivity of this group of talented givers. Here's that fun fact! They offered their time, talent, and prayers to create 29 Prayer Blankets in October alone at Prayer Blanket Ministry.

A note of thanks from a recipient who remains in need of healing prayers ~ "Thank you for being my Angels. You hold me up and help me along the way. In learning to accept my cancer diagnosis and learning to live with it. To fight the good fight every step of the way. And to be grateful for the chance to enjoy today, to love Lisa (my main Angel) and to be so thankful for our friends and family who care enough to check in and bless us with your prayers and blessings. I/we have already felt your love, God's love. Words simply cannot express ... but thank you so very, very much."

~ Gil and Lisa Roebuck

Miriam Mellon is pictured at the left with her son as they celebrated her recent birthday in San Antonio. It is Miriam who brought Prayer Blankets to our parish. The compassionately creative Prayer Blankets joined together for a celebratory reunion recently. They ask that we join them in prayer for our Miriam, and for her son and caregiver. Bring this mother & her family peace, comfort, and the solace of the love that binds them in a circle of care - first she cared for him, and now he for her.  

Please pray as well for all on our Prayer Blanket and Prayers for Healing lists, and for the members of our Prayer Blanket ministry. The beautiful work Miriam first invited them to do continues - the prayers with which the work is done are powerful indeed.

Late last week we received a note of thanks from a young man whose life was turned upside down when he contracted Lyme Disease after a weekend in rural Virginia. Lyme Disease is often very difficult to diagnose as symptoms can mirror a host of other ailments like MS, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibro-myalgia. It took a year of testing to hone in on a confirmed diagnosis, then more months spent in finding an effective treatment for his symptoms was a difficult journey. His chosen career path required physical strength and stamina, qualities his condition robbed him of. He’s starting life anew - exploring a new career, enrolling in classes toward that goal, and rebuilding his strength. He sends his gratitude for our prayers and the blanket that represents those prayers. It gives him “so much hope and peace.”

Last week we shared the first part of a message of thanks we received from Emili, a parishioner. Here's her family’s Prayer Blanket story.

I shared with his [Dr. Jacob’s] wife recently, how Fr. René came to ICU and would give us communion. He gave us one for Isa while she was very, very ill and almost didn’t make it. He also prayed over her and told us that others were praying for her. I had no idea there were people at St. Austin who were praying for us!!

We still have Isa’s blanket and she used it for years, even when she became too tall. We will keep it forever. It is white and has bright pink and green animals on it with green stitching. I can see it clearly in my mind even though it’s in the next room.

Did you know we call all of you “Our Church ladies”? (I know there are probably men too.) You all would wave to us when Ísa was born but it was Fr. René who told us that you were praying. And he named your names.

We were so taken aback by the community and overwhelmed with emotion. I still get emotional thinking about the support we had behind us. Without even knowing.

Thank you, you are so dear to us. Those of us who have needed prayer feel it deeply.

Perhaps you'll remember that for a several weeks we petitioned Heaven with prayers for Dr. Jack Jacob. WE also sent him a prayer blanket. The requester of that blanket, our parishioner Emili, shared this note of thanks to our PB Ministry, that her family call our "Church Ladies." 

I wanted to share with you and all who pray for the people on the prayer lists and who make the blankets.

Dr. Jacob sleeps with his blanket over his comforter every night. He gets up and goes to work everyday, even on weeks he has chemo. He is a very faithful and strong man. His family appreciates the blanket so much.

We'll share the other part of Emili's thanks with you next weekend. 

Wednesday, September 1, is celebrated by the Christian family as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. It begins the Season of Creation, which ends on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi on October 4. Our PBs weave bonds and build relationships like those within all of Creation. Consider the words of Pope Francis in Laudato Si, “Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth...” (LS92)

This week, we share the thanks of a UT alum who worshiped with our community in his student days. Just released from MD Ander-son after 9 hours of brain surgery to remove a glioblastoma, he returned home to find a prayer blanket waiting for him. He sent a photo, proudly wrapped in his UT themed blanket, with his thanks. The surgery was the first step along his road of treatment that will include chemo and radiation.

Please keep him, and all who receive our blankets, as well as those on our Prayer Intention page, in your prayers. Join us in thanking Heaven for our Prayer Blanket ministry.

Our prayer blankets bring comfort near and far! Recently we received a thank you from a prayer blanket recipient in New England along with a photo taken of her wrapped in the blanket in the chemo clinic. She shared, "I wear it at each chemo session and I feel hugged. I am grateful for the gift of artistry with the prayers that come with it."