On Nov. 17, during “The Spirituality of Knitting and Crocheting” at Saint Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee, Brother Damian Whalen, O.S.B., discussed how the rhythm of knitting and crocheting can move hearts and minds to a prayerful reflection and a quiet place in God’s presence.
Brother Damian explained he was leading the conference because he too was a yarn crafter.
“I’ve loved yarn my whole life. Unfortunately, when I was a young boy, I listened to the peer pressure that boys don’t knit or crochet. Then, a few years ago, I decided I was old enough that I didn’t care what other people thought. And so, I started learning how to crochet and then joined the ladies at Project Gabriel here at the parish in town and have learned a lot from them,” Brother Damian said.
The idea of the retreat was to step away from daily distractions to focus and reflect. He began with prayer and then eased into the spirit of the day by having everyone work five minutes on a project.
Brother Damian asked the group of 31 women, “what is your experience like when you take time to pray? What challenges do you experience?”
Most of the group agreed the challenge was distracting thoughts, or as one said, “monkey mind.”
“Difficulty staying focused during prayer is a common human experience,” Brother Damian said. “God created us in his own image and likeness. That image is deep in our hearts.”
However, Brother Damian said, “we have this human tendency to look elsewhere. God is within us, but we forget that and what enters our lives is a restlessness. Even when we make the attempt to be still and know that God is God, we have that noise going on in our head. Our restlessness makes it difficult to be attentive to our prayers and God’s presence.”
Brother Damian spoke about early Christians who struggled with praying too. They worked on weaving mats, baskets and ropes while praying. What wasn’t used or sold would be unwoven and woven again as they prayed.
“Occupied hands calmed the mind, calmed the spirit. This is still true,” Brother Damian said.
While preparing for the seminar, Brother Damian discovered the book, “Knit One, Purl a Prayer” by Peggy Rosenthal. He quoted from her book, “The body busy with peaceful creativity is in harmony with the spirit creatively opening to the divine presence.”
The group focused on their projects, becoming aware of texture, color, and feel of the yarn. They chose a Scripture verse to reflect on and repeat while working.
“God is speaking to us through the Scriptures so constant contact with the words of the Bible is meant to be part of our growth. We need to remind ourselves that simple prayer combined with keeping our hands busy really can be a value to us as we go through the sometime crazy life we live,” he said.
Brother Damian remarked that many of the yarn crafts were being given to others.
Carol Reames and Marilyn Daniel from Bridgeview United Methodist Church make hats and scarves for the homeless. Betty Waggoner, who was one of several women from the local Project Gabriel ministry, said they receive donations for handicrafts and then use the money for diapers, formula and other baby needs.
“I just want to say, this has been marvelous to get together with all of you kindred souls, working together to help other people,” Waggoner said as the conference ended.
Judy Hilovsky is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
Prayer:
“As we gather today to share our pray, our stories, the work of our hearts and hands we pray for God’s blessings on our endeavors, a blessing to our minds to be free to enter into this time of contemplative activity, time a blessing to our hands to be a source of creating something of beauty and of love, a blessing to our souls to be open to the prompting of loving and caring, a blessing to our yarn to be shaped into patterns of love and caring, a blessing to our needles and crochets to be the holder of stitches as they become a whole garment, a blessing to our knitting and crocheting to be a work of heart and hands, body and soul and spirit. A blessing on the one who will receive the fruit of our prayer and our craft. May our work be welcomed in the spirit in which it was made. We join our blessings and our prayers and our knitting with all yarn crafters in this common effort to bring healing and wholeness, comfort and celebration. Amen.”
Photo: Jan Pasienski and Betty Waggoner enjoy the Crocheting Day of Reflection on Nov. 17 at St. Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee. Photo Theresa Bragg.