TEXARKANA — Ever since 1987, the Our Lady Queen of Peace prayer group has been a quiet force for good.
“There have been a lot of prayers for a lot of years,” said Sophie Richardson, leader of the group.
Richardson, a member of St. Edward Church, knows there is power in prayer. Through the years she and the others who pray together have witnessed countless answers to prayer.
“It has been awesome,” she said. “The prayer group has borne a lot of fruit.”
Every Monday night the faithful members gather to pray.
Richardson said, “I cannot imagine not going to prayer group every week. It’s like a shot in the arm that gets me through the rest of the week. It is very strengthening. You have to feed your spirit just like you do your body.”
Richardson and her husband Mack also feed their spirits by attending Mass every morning.
The prayer group was started by Sisters Margaret Tracy, Kathleen Egan and Estelle Barron, OSF. They held the prayer meetings in their convent. The sisters welcomed people from any denomination, and Richardson said the group is still open to anyone from any denomination who wants to pray. At present, all members are Catholic.
When the sisters who led the group left Texarkana in the early 1990s, they asked Richardson and another prayer group member, Patsy Rowe, to keep the group going. “We really didn’t have a place to meet,” Richardson said. “I had an extra room in my home so I turned that into a prayer room. Everybody started coming there.”
So from its beginning, weekly prayer has arisen from the members of Our Lady Queen of Peace prayer group. The three sisters’ desire that the group continue was realized.
The group is not as large as it was in the early years, but that does not discourage Richardson.
“Jesus said where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is there,” she said.
At each meeting, the first thing the group does is to pray the rosary together. Parti cipants then sing songs of praise for several minutes and then share Scriptures. Also included in the format is the opportunity for members to tell what God has done in their lives that week. The meeting closes with everyone voicing their own intentions and those of others not present who have asked for prayer.
Along with Richardson, Patsy Rowe has been a longtime member of the prayer group, faithfully attending for about 18 years. Rowe said attending Mass is the most important thing in her life, and the second most important thing is the prayer group.
“It has sustained me through good times and bad times,” she said. “It is a phenomenal group, and we have seen unbelievable answers to prayer.”
Richardson and Rowe agree that one of the most important answers to prayer has been the establishment of perpetual eucharistic adoration at their parish. Rowe noted with a grateful heart, “We are celebrating our fifth anniversary of perpetual adoration.”
One of the fruits of prayer for Richardson has been the growth of the virtue of patience in her life. For example, she and the others in the group prayed for years that her husband, Mack, would be able to stop smoking.
Richardson said, “Mack quit smoking in October. He struggles with it, but he did it. It is an answered prayer.
“We have to be patient,” she added. “There is definitely power in prayer. Prayers are answered — maybe not in the particular way we want them to be or when we want them to be, but they are answered.”
