A book of petitions for anyone to write in lies open in the main chapel at the Kartause. It was placed there at the beginning of the pandemic, and students and staff in lockdown here wrote daily intentions.
Now visitors to the Kartause are continuing to do so. Reading their petitions, I am struck by the universality of the cry of the human heart. Written in German and by travelers from many different regions of Austria, they echo the very same prayers written in English by the FUS and LCI students and staff from all across the USA and Eastern Europe:
For peace in the world
For health and love for my family
For confidence and hope for my family
What a nice reminder that we are all one family in God!
Psalm 61
1 Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.