Something powerful happens when we offer our daily challenges to God in a spirit of loving acceptance of whatever the day sends.
One mother had the idea to take this approach one step farther.
What if the private sacrifices of women in their homes could be a prayer offered to God to help and support priests in their public ministry? And what if women came together so that priests would be covered in a constant chain of prayer?
That’s the idea behind Magdala Grove, a small prayer group made up of seven women who each offer up one day a week to provide unbroken prayer support for a specific Catholic priest, deacon, or lay leader.
Here’s the story behind this beautiful ministry, and a peek into what it looks like in practice in one Chicago-area parish.
What is Magdala Grove?
Here’s how founder Jacqueline Van Hemert explains it:
Each of the seven women adopts her day of the week in a spirit of feminine receptivity, taking the day as it comes and praying it back to the Lord. She might offer a holy hour, or she might get a holy five minutes. She may make it through a Rosary, or she may get interrupted halfway through a Hail Mary. She could choose to fast, or she could end up with a cold cup of coffee and her toddler's leftovers. What she offers is less important than the spirit in which she offers it.
After all, the Lord loves hidden things. Little ways. Small acts with great love. When offered to the Lord, the mundane work of daily life can become a profound form of intercession.
There’s no detailed to-do list or prayer rubric. Instead, we trust that the Holy Spirit will guide you in how to pray the day. He might invite you to fast and pray. Or He might invite you to another day of chronic pain, another day home with the kids, or another day of that unfulfilled longing. The simple yet difficult secret of Magdala Grove is your "yes" to Christ's invitation, whatever it may be.
So it doesn’t matter if you’re a stay-at-home mom or empty-nester. Single, married, or widowed. Struggling with infertility or overwhelmed with more kids than you can handle. Traveling the world or homebound. Living your best life or stuck in a job you hate. When you are buried deeply in the soil where no one but God can see, consider your life a seed, bearing fruit and providing welcome shade to those laboring unprotected under the blazing sun of ministry. In this work, you (like Mary Magdalene) truly bring good news to the apostles!
Magdala Grove was originally inspired by Seven Sisters Apostolate, a ministry in which women commit to one Holy Hour per week to pray for a specific priest.
“I loved the idea behind Seven Sisters, but I also knew the needs of my own family in that season, and ultimately discerned that adding a weekly holy hour (as much as I wanted to!) wasn’t the right thing at that time,” Jacqueline said. “I did want to pray for my pastor, though, so I wondered if perhaps I could do something similar without needing to leave my house or find childcare. I figured that I had plenty to offer up in my daily life, so maybe I could take one day each week and pray for him in a different way. Eventually I invited a few friends to join me, and I found that they also liked the idea and wanted to pray, too. That’s how Magdala Grove was born.”
A Magdala Grove near me
I first found out about Magdala Grove when my friend Janice Weyrick started one at my local parish, for our pastor.
“My fear at first was not being able to fill in all seven slots,” she admitted.
But she was pleasantly surprised: “With God’s grace, we filled two groves with moms, plus one with children offering their day to God for our pastor.”
She feels that helping support the “anchor” of the parish, its pastor, blesses the whole church community. As she put it, “Happy Priest, Happy Parishioners, Happy Holy Trinity Life!”
I’m a member of Janice’s Magdala Grove, and I have found it a transformative experience to offer a day each week especially for my pastor. It helps me approach that day with intentionality and think carefully about how to support my parish priest.
Janice thoughtfully organizes events for the Magdala Grove members to attend Mass together and gather with our children at local playgrounds. It’s a really beautiful ministry.
If you’d like to bring together the women of your parish to pray for your pastor, check out Magdala Grove and plant your own group. It’s sure to bless you, your priest, and the growing community of praying friends.
