Prayer for me is giving each day to God through greeting each person I meet; recognizing God is present each minute whether it is exciting fun or a challenging moment. It includes formal prayers like Hail Mary, Mass, prayer books, singing or just including God all day as I move around, work, dream, and even get discouraged when things go wrong. Prayer is a presence to others and an attitude. It is a joy and beauty seen in celebrations, a new baby, a beautiful rose. It is excitement in seeing God's creatures jumping, running and playing. It is the brilliance of a cardinal or the stateliness of an eagle and knowing these are creations of our God. 

Prayer is also in the sadness of losing a family member or a friend and yet knowing that their life has prepared them for their next step. It is crying and laughing and praying with those "left behind" and encouraging each other in our total belief that our loved ones are with God yet still a presence in our daily lives until one day we will meet again. 

In other words, prayer is life and all of life is prayer. This includes the good times and the hard times, the joy and the sorrow; the peace and the frustration...God is present always and everywhere and our life of prayer reminds us of this fact. 

As a sister surrounded by other religious sisters it may be easier for me to live this way, although, I have met many inspiring lay people who have dedicated their lives to prayer and encouraged me to have more in-depth prayer. With that, silent and contemplative prayer has become more a part of my prayer life.

Through the years, I have increasingly become aware of the need for praying always plus the joy of sharing vocal and musical prayers with others. The creativity in special prayer times has especially appealed to me. More often now, I share different ways of prayer with others. The openness and opportunity of sharing prayers, such as group prayer during a retreat, event or a meeting have become an uplifting experience for me.

Below, Sister Greta participates with a group praying for Earth.