Whispered reminders to pray for others

Several years ago, I rid myself of a nasty habit: dog earing pages of books to hold my place. (Believe me, people who loaned me books were very relieved!)

No, I didn't take up conventional bookmarks.

Actually, a dear friend, who thought she was saying good-bye to me, perhaps forever, wrote me a beautiful note and enclosed it in an envelope. As it turned out, she didn't leave at all but the note was so lovely I kept it.

And used it, and continue to use it -- a bit tattered, I admit -- as a bookmark. And every time I pause in my reading and put the letter between the pages to keep my place, I whisper a little prayer for my friend.

These reminders surround me.

Some are outright gifts. I've an exquisite holy water font near my room. When I bless myself with its blessed waters, I whisper a brief but sincere prayer for the man who gave it to me.

Some are more obvious, I suppose...pictures of kin and kith, living and dead, are reminders -- wonderful reminders! -- to ask God to bless those they portray.

Relatives of a man I barely knew donated, upon his death and in his memory, a simple chalice to a small chapel I frequent on occasion. When I see the Precious Blood elevated in this vessel, I can't help but ask Jesus to remember this man, and his relatives, too.

When I'm alert, I remember to pray properly. But I'm not always "alert!"

It's at these times, I believe, that somebody -- my Guardian Angel perhaps -- whispers reminders to me...reminders to remember others in prayer.

Look around your room, your apartment, your house.

What simple -- or not so simple -- objects remind you to pray?