Music and Prayer

Hi! This is Katherine. I want to start by saying that I feel that I have been given an amazing privilege by being on this trip. All of us have been welcomed into the homes and hearts of those we have met.

Today we were at the Hamilton Day program. We started by praying together and hearing the story of one of the Core Members. Something really special was that this Core Member later joined us, and I was able to see her beautiful personality shining through. We then broke up to make lunch, and, eventually, to eat a delicious meal of lasagna. Afterwards, people joined together to clean up. We had some free time then before the music therapist would arrive, so Laura went to the piano and began playing for us. There has been so much music during this trip, and I have loved being able to express that side of myself and connecting to others through music. I have found myself this week connecting to others through dancing and singing, and experiences like today when all of us have been able to band together to bring joy to others through our gift of music makes my heart sing! I will never hear "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" the same way again, and I know that others in this group feel the same way too.

After the Day Program, we went back to our houses for dinner, and then we went to The Ladies' Bungalow for prayer together as a community. Prayer with the L'Arche community is very special, because sometimes prayer can be pointing at pictures of loved ones that the Core Member wants to pray for, sometimes it's signing, sometimes it's said, but muttered into the person's hands, but it is always an honest expression of each person's faith. One of the Core Members was invited to stand up to light the candles on the center table, and my heart melted at the sight of this person's excitement at participating in prayer-- and I know this person to be quite the troublemaker! But when she was done, she turned towards me and crossed her arms, and she stood there until I crossed my arms back at her.

Today at prayer, we heard about how our brokenness allows the water to flow through the crack in the pot to water the flowers. This is an experience where all of us have felt our hearts broken by the people we have met so that our hearts can be put together again in a new way.