How long is it? Some I've seen you put over your head like a veil, but let the ends hang in front instead of your back while you are on your knees, that way you 'create' a 'room' for yourself while praying. Kinda like a monks hood. Another way is that you take the cloth and 'wrap' your praying hands in it and kneel down and pray. When you are done you take the cloth and hang it over the top edge of an icon, around the shoulders of a statue of our Lord or Lady. That way "your prayers stay with them". My daughter when she was 4-5 used to sit on my lap and we would take the big knitting needles and she would hold on to the ends while I knitted. We would pray the rosary or a chaplet. The scarf we would knit for someone 'had our prayers in it' and when we were done we would sew a miraculous medal on it, wrap it in a ribbon and give it to the person we prayed for. They were winter scarves so they didn't take long to do. It was such a good memory and the my daughter has never forgotten it!
You know I never heard of this before. When I was in Jerusalem I got friendly with a Jewish guy who atteneded the Iralian SYnagogue there and he handed over his prayer shawl which we we took home. I used to love putting it on my head to pray with, reminded me of Jesus. But I never heard of a prayer cloth before.
I know that they are sacramentals when blessed. Father Rookey blessed this prayer cloth. It's a small piece of lace about 1 inch by 3 inches. I just am not sure how to use it in prayer. When I was in Medjugorje many years ago, there were also prayer cloths, but I didn't know how to use them. This one, because it is so small, has me baffled.
I found this information on the Catholic Forums. About prayer cloths. In a nutshell, the prayer cloth is used in terms of healings. You are to touch the injury with the cloth and say a prayer of healing. Here's the link. http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=424440&highlight=how+to+use+a+prayer+cloth It's not a veil nor is it a prayer shawl. It is totally different.
What Rosebud said is my ditto...Fr. Rookey is a very holy and light-hearted priest and I have seen him in action (so has Lee). Of course all healings come from Jesus, but Fr. Rookey is quite a catalyst. He was part of our group when we went to Medjugorje in 2010. He is saught-after by the sick and troubled when he goes there.
