A prayer for peace

We’ve been popping into the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on our afternoon strolls.

It sits on the Seton Hall campus and provides the perfect respite for my companion and me. At just under three-months old, Ronni likes that it’s cool and dark inside.

I like the opportunity to say a few prayers in a formal setting that, I’m sure, has heard and transmitted many in its 160 years.

Faith is both intensely personal and comfortingly communal to me.

On our first visit, we shared that sacred space with Monsignor Reilly. I only know that because he chatted with us briefly as we walked through campus. Once inside, we left each other to our own thoughts and prayers.

I’ve been a mass-attending Catholic my whole life, and I appreciate the structure it offers me. I also like to toss a couple of prayers up to the Big Guy in less formal settings throughout the day.

I’ve been thinking about faith lately, and Catholicism in particular.

Like both St. Francis and Pope Leo, I pray for peace.

And let it begin with me.