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Petal a path to prayer Flower photographer Sister Elizabeth Thoman, C.H.M. created the collection “Healing Petals” as a spiritual ministry to the sick.
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LOWERS ARE “sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul,” observed American botanist Luther Burbank a century ago. Flowers can also open a path to prayer for cancer patients or anyone in physical, emotional, or spiritual pain, says Sister Elizabeth Thoman, a Sister of the Humility of Mary in Davenport, Iowa, and the creator of “Healing Petals: Images for Prayer & Reflection,” a collection of photographs of flowers in full bloom. “Healing Petals” combines color, lighting, and composition to draw viewers into each flower with the intention of touching the soul and facilitating prayer.
Personal experience Thoman discovered the healing power of images as she was recovering from breast cancer a few years
Sister Elizabeth Thoman, C.H.M. was the founder of Media & Values magazine, which she helmed for 40 years, in California and a pioneer in the media literacy education movement in the United States. She is now the membership coordinator for the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in Davenport, Iowa.
SEE THE COMPLETE “Healing Petals” collection at healingpetals.org.
Prompting prayer
install flower photos in patient rooms and emergency care centers. “Serious illness can be a transformative experience for many people,” she says. “Patients confront their own limitations, readjust life priorities, and reach out for spiritual nourishment.” But when you are very sick or in pain, traditional prayer can be difficult. “Praying with a visual prompt, like a beautiful flower photograph on the wall in your hospital room, can provide a profound and positive experience with God.” She believes that “Healing Petals” is a “ministry of spiritual photography” because of its emphasis on prayer. In addition to taking all the photographs, she has written a series of “prayer prompts”—reflective questions—to accompany her images. Her hope is that her photographs help others connect to God. “We know from research that images bypass the rational brain and speak directly to the heart,” she says. “If I spend time gazing at a beautiful flower, even a photograph of it, my spirit comes alive! Prayer is possible again.” =
As her inventory of images grew, so did her admirers. She now works primarily with hospitals and medical facilities to
Related article: vocationnetwork.org, “Created in community,” VISION 2011.
ago. “Cancer is not just a physical disease; it also takes a spiritual toll,” she explains. “When I started chemo, friends warned me about its many side effects—losing my energy, losing my appetite, even losing my hair. But nobody warned me about how hard it might be to pray.” Pray with words, that is. “Chemo-brain is real,” she says. “Words become a jumble and it’s hard to concentrate. Just when I needed prayer the most, it eluded me.” One day Thoman picked up her camera and started taking photographs of flowers in her backyard—roses, lilies, pansies, petunias. “The close-up allowed me to see right into the heart of each flower. Wow! My first discovery was that the act of photography itself is a prayer.”
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