By Sr. Christina M. Neumann

This afternoon, I met with a woman regarding the Eucharistic Adoration program we host here at St. Anne’s Guest Home.

We worked on a couple of projects and both were pleased with the results.

We now have a newsletter for the program and have copies available in the chapel. We also did a bit of planning for an upcoming article we hope to submit to our diocesan news magazine

As we were parting, I said to her, “Now we have to pray that it all bears fruit.” A couple of psalm verses come to mind for me in all of this, including the one quoted in my title.

The other psalm (127) that comes to mind, bearing the sentiments which I felt this afternoon is:

Unless the LORD build the house,

they labor in vain who build.

Unless the LORD guard the city,

in vain does the guard keep watch.

It is vain for you to rise early

and put off your rest at night,

To eat bread earned by hard toil—

all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.

All our efforts can be well and good, but without God’s blessing and guidance, what good are they going to be? They can seem to be for a good cause, but I want to make sure I am doing them prayerfully and not just following my whims.

(As a religious Sister, too, I have to make sure that they are in line with what is asked in obedience. I should not be taking on outside tasks apart from our apostolate without permission.)

I pray, as I alluded to with this woman today, that my work may bear good fruit, fruit guided and produced by God’s Spirit. I echo the psalmist’s ancient prayer: “Prosper the work of our hands for us! O prosper the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90)