Spirit & Verse is a monthly column of original poem-prayers composed by Cameron Bellm, a Seattle-based writer and mother of two whose “Prayer for a Pandemic” went viral, bringing solace and comfort to many struggling during COVID-19.
A Prayer for Mary’s Month During a Pandemic
This month our prayers wrap all the way around the globe—
All of us affected, all of us connected—
Held together like the beads of the rosary,
Drawn in by the embrace of Our Mother whose help we seek.
From Brazil to Japan, from India to Algeria,
We join our hands and join our hearts.
Who better to understand our sorrow and loss
Than the Mother whose heart was pierced by grief?
Who better to cradle our faltering hope
Than the Mother who held her crucified Son in her arms?
Our Lady who appears to us in so many places,
Always in native garb and with native tongue,
Will you wrap us once more in your mantle
And speak to us anew your words of comfort?
May we entrust all our tears to you
And be consoled once more by your tender touch,
Most Loving, Most Gentle, Most Merciful Mother of us all.
Amen.
Previous Spirit & Verse poem-prayers:
St. Joseph Prayer
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
A Prayer for the Feast of the Epiphany
A Prayer for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
A Prayer for the Month of the Holy Souls
A Prayer for Living “Fratelli Tutti”
Our Lady of Sorrows
A Prayer for the Beginning of the School Year
A Prayer for the Feast of St. Ignatius
Cameron Bellm is a Seattle-based writer of prayers, poems, and devotionals. After completing her Ph.D. in Russian literature at the University of California, Berkeley, she traded the academic life for the contemplative life, informed by Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching. She is the author of “A Consoling Embrace: Prayers for a Time of Pandemic” (23rd Publications, 2020). Cameron and her husband have two young sons, and, blessedly, playing with Legos often nurtures her spiritual life as much as reading the lectionary. You can find her at cameronbellm.com and on Instagram, @cameronbellm.