July 2026

In the summer of 1921, Mother Etheldred, OSA, sent a letter to the Associates of the Order of Saint Anne, writing “Please pray for us and for this very real venture of faith… Above all, give us your prayers, that through our House of Retreat many may come to know God, not merely to know about Him.”

Intellectual knowledge about God may satisfy the curious mind, but I’ve never found that it satisfies the heart.  Our spiritual journey often starts with thinking, reading, and exploring, but it never ends there.  God within is our nearest and dearest Friend; our Beloved.  When all else fails us, people included, God is closer than the air we breathe.  St. Paul had a very real experience of this, writing to the community in Rome:

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?... For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 35, 38-39)

The soul longs for our dearest beloved.  We were made for God alone.  In the well-known words of St. Augustine, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”

Bethany House of Prayer was founded in partnership with the Sisters of Saint Anne, Arlington, women religious whose lives are dedicated to God in prayer and service.  Without the vision, inspiration, friendship, and prayer of the Sisters, Bethany House would never have come into being. 

The monastic life of the Sisters of Saint Anne is founded on prayer.  In “Catch the Vision: Celebrating a Century of the Order of Saint Anne”, it says “The character of the religious life, especially in its contemplative form… draws its strength from the daily round of prayer… keeping up a steady, quiet rhythm that stands in sharp contrast with the hectic way in which much of the world is apt to run.” (p.68)

In the taking of monastic vows, you give yourself- your life, your work, your relationships- to the divine.  You affirm, in essence, “I was made for Thee alone.”  You commit to this sacred friendship built in listening and trust.  Listening, honesty, and trust in God is what we call prayer.  It is founded on the knowing that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

As we celebrate our partnership in ministry with the Sisters of Saint Anne, once again we echo the words of Mother Etheldred.  Please pray for Bethany House of Prayer and the Sisters of Saint Anne.  Pray for our continued growth and flourishing together.  Pray that we might grow in prayer, service, and love, and so respond to God’s call alone. 

We give thanks to the Sisters, who continue to inspire us in their chosen calling, and in a life lived with God, for God, and in service to God’s children.  May each of us follow God’s call in our life, and may you find the spaces of rest in which to deeply listen.

In divine friendship,

Rev. Matt Carriker and LaToya Staine Carriker