janelle
07-18-2003, 11:42 PM
**VENICE, Fla. (CNS) -- With a prayer for Mary's guidance, the woman was wrapped in a soft tan shawl decorated with beads and charms. The shawl was an unexpected gift offered as a prayer that recent family troubles would soon come to an end.
Dangling from the fringe were beads with the letters of her children's first names, a tiny Bible, a decade of the rosary, a smiley face and a broken shell for the pain she was experiencing.
Then, several of her friends laid their hands on her, and the women prayed that she might find comfort in the shawl and the prayers of hope and love that accompanied it. The concoction of soft yarn can be called a peace shawl, comfort shawl or prayer shawl. But for this woman and thousands of others who have received one, the shawls are not only a beautiful piece of handiwork, but a tangible expression of prayer and comfort.
That is the concept behind the Shawl Ministry, created by Victoria Galo and Janet Bristow. According to the Web site www.shawlministry.com they originated the program in 1998, shortly after the two women graduated from the Women's Leadership Institute at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.
Dangling from the fringe were beads with the letters of her children's first names, a tiny Bible, a decade of the rosary, a smiley face and a broken shell for the pain she was experiencing.
Then, several of her friends laid their hands on her, and the women prayed that she might find comfort in the shawl and the prayers of hope and love that accompanied it. The concoction of soft yarn can be called a peace shawl, comfort shawl or prayer shawl. But for this woman and thousands of others who have received one, the shawls are not only a beautiful piece of handiwork, but a tangible expression of prayer and comfort.
That is the concept behind the Shawl Ministry, created by Victoria Galo and Janet Bristow. According to the Web site www.shawlministry.com they originated the program in 1998, shortly after the two women graduated from the Women's Leadership Institute at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.