Une Minute avec Marie
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Scott Kieffer, the director of discipleship for St. Joseph the Worker in Maple Grove, is 29 lakes away from completing his endeavor to pray a rosary in the 250 to 300 lakes in the Twin Cities urban metro area.
Kieffer set out to accomplish this goal in 2017, looking for ways to connect with nature while praying. Eventually, this endeavor became a source of rest and peace for Kieffer, who described the experience as a personal spiritual retreat.
“I had learned that creation or nature might be one of the pathways to help me connect a little bit more with my faith and open up more easily in prayer,” Kieffer said. He began kayaking in the lake behind his house and praying there. But when he went to a different lake, he thought he might as well pray there, too. “Then I started going on a few more and thought, ‘It’s kind of fun going and trying out new lakes, trying out new spaces and knowing I’ve prayed on each one.’”
Kieffer doesn’t usually bring a physical rosary out onto the lake because that means having to stop in the water for long periods of time. Instead, Kieffer uses his fingers and counts each bead by applying pressure on the oar with each subsequent finger. This way, Kieffer can continuously paddle and move.(...)
“I think when you’re out in nature, that’s God’s world,” Kieffer said. “I think God wants every one of us to have a good, rich relationship with him and relationship with our faith, so I just hope that people don’t settle for doing the same thing they’ve always done, if there’s something more they can do to really enhance that.” (...)
“I think there’s really good ways for us to connect with God more easily that we might not have discovered,” Kieffer said. “I love all other types of prayer I’ve been doing for years. I love being at Mass, adoration, everything. But it enhanced my life and my prayer life so much to realize that there’s some more unique things that really strike me.”
Keiffer said he hopes his experiences inspire others.
“I hope … that they’ll try something out, especially if they’re feeling like their prayer life is stagnant. Just get outside and try something different.”