For centuries, women have been creating mantles of caring through their knitting, sewing, and weaving. They have gathered together while working to care and learn from each other all the while producing practical and beautiful items. The idea of prayer/healing shawls began with the first class of the Women’s Leadership Institute at Hartford Seminary.

The purpose of the shawls is to create a mantle of caring for the person who is going to receive it. A candle is lit when each shawl is begun and a prayer is said for the recipient asking God to bless the hands making the shawl and be with the one who will be comforted by it. Many women like to pray as they are knitting as well in order to weave prayers into the stitches adding additional warmth to the shawl. The recipient also receives a sheet on the meaning of the shawls and a card letting the recipient know that they are being prayed for and that the group hopes the shawl will offer a sense of God’s presence, comfort and love. <>

The following is one of the prayers we send with the shawls:
(written by Cathleen Murtha, D.W.)

Prayer for Healing

In the beginning, Creating God, you formed my being.
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
To my flesh and blood you gave the breath of life
O Loving One, renew me this day in your love.
Grant me life as a gift of your faithfulness;
Grant me light to journey by;
Grant me hope to sustain me.

May this mantle be for me a sign of your healing presence.
May it warm me when I am weary;
May it surround me with ease of my suffering;
May it encircle me with caring when I am in pain.

O Christ who healed the broken in body and spirit,
Be with me and all that suffer this day.
Be with the doctors, nurses, technicians, chaplains and all that care for the sick.
Be with the families and friends of those abiding with and comforting the sick.
May your gentle, yet strong touch, reach out to heal all the broken and hurting people and places in our world.