{"id":622,"date":"2012-10-08T14:05:20","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T20:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/?p=622"},"modified":"2016-05-02T11:20:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:20:46","slug":"let-my-prayers-rise-like-incense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/10\/let-my-prayers-rise-like-incense.html","title":{"rendered":"Let My Prayers Rise Like Incense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We burned prayer cards last night at my friend Michael\u2019s house, on a truly cold evening under a last-quarter moon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an annual ritual, one that Michael\u2014Director of the Stewardship Office of the Cincinnati Archdiocese\u2014started a few years ago. As part of our annual archdiocesan appeal, we send donors a prayer card with their thank you letter from the Archbishop. We invite them to list their intentions on the cards and return them, to be prayed for at the three regional Appeal Thanksgiving Masses held in late summer. A small but growing number of donors do respond. The envelopes with the completed cards are opened and screened by Michael and his staff (sometimes people include additional donation checks, or notes with complaints, er, suggestions on how to improve the campaign) before being passed along to the Archbishop. The cards are then placed in simple wicker baskets and placed at the altar at each of the three Masses.<\/p>\n

The first year this practice was initiated, Michael realized that it wouldn\u2019t be respectful to toss the cards out with the trash at the end of each year. So he burned them in the chiminea<\/em> on his back deck. It took forever, but he sat by the fire with a cup of Bourbon-laced coffee and prayed til the ashes were cold.<\/p>\n

The next year, he asked a couple of us who work on the campaign to join him. More coffee, more Bourbon, more prayer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Each year, the group has grown. There are family members and prayerful Catholic friends\u2014priests of the Archdiocese, prolife activists, a theologian or two, families with kids of all ages. The chiminea<\/em> has been replaced by a fire kettle as the number of responses has gone up over the years, and the Bourbon-and-coffee is now preceded by a barbecue with potluck additions. It\u2019s got a name now, this annual event: Holy Fire. I created kitchen chalkboard art for it, as I have for other events like Michael\u2019s daughter Sylvia\u2019s First Communion (her brother Leo, whose Confirmation sponsor I will be next spring, has already requested \u2018Jesus kickboxing Satan,\u2019 which I suspect may be beyond my abilities).<\/p>\n

Last night, we burned 4,000+ cards, handfuls at a time, stirring the embers and ashes, after the fire and the prayers had been blessed. We don\u2019t look at the prayers when we\u2019re burning them, but those who\u2019ve read the cards say they most often carry the intentions so many of us hold in our hearts. Please let my children \/ grandchildren return to the Church. For healing\u2014of cancer, of broken marriages, of the pain of losing a spouse to death or the living death of dementia. For jobs. For a light in the darkness of depression.<\/em> This year, there were prayers for the protection of our religious liberty. And more prayers for vocations, more prayers for others in need, more prayers of thanksgiving for blessings than anyone can remember. The Catholics of the Cincinnati Archdiocese are generous with their pocketbooks and<\/em> their prayers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a terrifically moving experience for everyone involved, and a special celebration of our solidarity as Church. As the smoke rose up in the cold night air, I breathed my own prayer of thanksgiving for being back home in this family of faith, and echoed the words of the psalmist:<\/p>\n

Lord, I call to you:<\/em>
\nquickly hear and answer me!<\/em>
\nMay my prayers rise before you like incense,<\/em>
\nthe lifting up of my hands as evening sacrifice . . .<\/em>
\n~ Psalm 141:1-2<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We burned prayer cards last night at my friend Michael\u2019s house, on a truly cold evening under a last-quarter moon. It\u2019s an annual ritual, one that Michael\u2014Director of the Stewardship Office of the Cincinnati Archdiocese\u2014started a few years ago. As part of our annual archdiocesan appeal, we send donors a prayer card with their thank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholicism"],"yoast_head":"\nLet My Prayers Rise Like Incense<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We burned prayer cards last night at my friend Michael's house, on a truly cold evening under a last-quarter moon. 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