The Vision of the Prayer Garden

The historic St. Nicholas church in Carver thrived over the past century by remaining authentic to old traditions and adapting with new ones. Like our Lady of Guadalupe welcoming Juan Diego on the hills of Tepeyac, you too will feel welcomed at our Prayer Garden.

Pope Francis deeply desires that all be soaked with God’s love. At this place of prayer, you will be drenched in God’s love. Whether you are physically present or visiting the St. Nicholas Prayer Garden online, you become part of the strength of this endeavor, just like the strength of the rocks that hold our Prayer Garden together. Your participation will enable you to be a spiritual and symbolic boulder.

Those who visit the St. Nicholas Prayer Garden return home smiling. St. Mother of Teresa of Calcutta often said, “Let no one come to you, going away, not feeling better and happier.” Your willingness to lovingly support this place of prayer makes other pilgrims feel better and happier. May the words of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe who spoke to Juan Diego, also be the words you hear in the garden, “Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Welcome to ‘God’s City set on the hill’.”

Pope Saint John XIII said, “Vox Populis, Vox Deus…Voice of the People is the Voice of God.”

The Prayer Garden is exactly this – people’s hands, help, desire, and devotion coming together, marrying each other. No doubt, we carried many crosses, faced obstacles of weather, struggled to find resources, etc. Just like St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, irrespective of her internal turmoil, she always had a smiling face. May Mary Our Mother, and our Patron Saint Nicholas intercede so we always keep our smiles alive as St. Mother Teresa did with the help of God. Today, as we see a smile on all your faces, that is the purpose of our St. Nicholas Prayer Garden. It is to put a smile on all of our faces and thus we can live the words of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta: ‘A smiling person is the sunshine in the eyes of God.’ It is great that the passion and love Fr. Magnus Mayr, the first pastor of St. Nicholas in 1868, and all the people at that time had the same passion we still have today. How else would you describe it except by calling it a miracle?