Pray with your body

On Saturday afternoon Fr General visited Cherryfield, to talk with those who in and through their sickness are praying. He thanked each man individually for their prayers for the church and for the Society, and quoted a Chinese saying, that we pray with our bodies, especially in suffering and pain, when other forms of prayer become difficult. He asked particularly for prayers this week when he is spending four intense days with his consultors, “tempo forte”, working on the implications of the last General Congregation. The brethren used a range of epithets for him: gracious, affirming, calm, human, open and friendly. You could sense his calming impact on the community of Cherryfield as for a short while he became part of it.