Rector's Note: Emily Malbone Morgan, Pray for Us - 2.26.26

During our Wednesday morning Eucharist, we often dedicate the reflection time to learning about the saint whose feast or remembrance is appointed for that day. Yesterday the Revised Common Lectionary Lesson Calendar directed us to remember Emily Malbone Morgan. Her feast day is also listed in Holy Men and Holy Women as today.

Morgan’s particular charism was organizing women to pray for one another. So, it’s apt to consider what she might be saying to us at this time.

Morgan, born to a well-connected family of Hartford Episcopalians in 1862, founded The Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross when she was 22 years old. She was inspired by her friend Adelyn Howard, who was confined to her home because of a long-term condition and sought Morgan’s spiritual companionship and prayer support. Morgan responded by gathering a group of local women together for prayer and companionship. Members have called themselves “companions” ever since.

 According to the book Holy Men and Holy Women, Celebrating the Saints, the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross would grow from a small group of laywomen to a national force for social justice reform by the turn of the 20^th century. It has become a global gathering of women committed to pray regularly for people’s needs. According to the group’s website, about 750 Companions meet regularly in 32 chapters across the U.S. and in India.

Yesterday I was reminded just how connected this group is even in our local area. A fellow priest asked me how my daughter, Hannah, was feeling. She had been holding her in prayer after seeing her name on the companions’ prayer list. Another friend of mine had put her on the list after she suffered a particularly rough bout of Mono a few months ago, and this network of praying women has been interceding for her ever since.

Hannah’s illness has long passed, but I hesitate to take her off the list, considering the power that so much prayer may be having in her life, unknown to us both.

But this is the power and the mystery of intercessory prayer. We don’t always know who is praying for us. And we can never fully see how God uses the loving intention that we put out in the world for people we’ve been asked to pray for.

At the end of our reflection on Emily Malbone Morgan at liturgy yesterday, Deacon Bob reminded us that our weekly Wednesday gathering is dedicated to the same kind of prayer. Every week in our 9:30 a.m. liturgy we read all of the names on the parish prayer list, which is also sent out as an attachment in the newsletter.  That long-term prayer list is much more extensive than the one we read at Sunday worship. When a name has been removed because someone has recovered, we get to celebrate a little as well. Over time, we watch the prayers of our parish develop and change, and we are even somewhat aware of how prayer is answered.

As a Lenten practice, consider praying with this list once a week, or praying with sections of it each day. If you are available on Wednesdays at 9:30 am, join us in the chapel for Eucharist and healing prayer.

Finally, as we consider the importance of praying for healing, I encourage you to attend the Pastoral Care Team’s Healing Retreat “Gathered, Cracked, and Made Whole” from 6:00–9:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. The evening will include Eucharist with healing prayer, followed by stations to explore healing through art, movement, and intercession. It will end with a time of musical reflection.  It will be a lovely way of bringing your own need for healing before God, as well as offering prayer for the companions in your own life who need God’s loving touch.