A Living Prayer

Eunice Schriver, who was born into a family that included a president (John F. Kennedy) and two senators (Robert and Edward Kennedy), made her mark on the world not in the halls of power but in championing the value and dignity of the powerless. She did this by establishing the Special Olympics for persons with physical and mental disabilities.

In scripture, we often hear that God lifts up the lowly, rescues the weak and afflicted, and treats all people with compassion. Eunice partnered with God in this work, which led her family to say after her death that she was “a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power.”

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, says that we should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). Perhaps the way to do this is to become “a living prayer” — that is, seeking to share in God’s life of love and compassion. We are each called to implement God’s vision in different ways, according to our gifts and passions and often prompted by people we encounter in life, as Eunice was influenced by her sister, Rosemary, who had mental disabilities.

We have many examples of how to be a living prayer — Jesus, the saints, and the innumerable people among us who shine with the determination to live fully and bring joy and justice to the world. Whether the prayer we embody consists of consistent acts of kindness and welcome or the establishment of a worldwide justice movement, let us live in such a way that people will say of us after we die, “She/He was a living prayer.”