RHYTHMS | PRAYER, PRACTICE, PLACE
Vol 3. Issue 22
Friends,
This issue reflects on those who have gone before us in faithfully following the Way of Jesus.
Included is a Prayer of Remembrance for Julia Greeley, the Practice of All Saints Day, and the Tomb of Julia Greeley as a sacred Place.
May our remembering deepen the way we love our neighbors and neighborhoods.
All blessings,
Jared Mackey
PRAYER | REMEMBRANCE: JULIA GREELEY
By MiDian Z. Shofner
Father in Heaven,
We come before You today with gratitude
For the life of Your servant, Julia Greeley.
We thank You for the protection of her body—
Even through the pain
Of enslavement, scarring, sickness, and struggle,
She endured and carried out the call You assigned her.
We thank You for protection of her heart and mind—
For giving her the desire to love
When hate tried to take root;
For giving her the strength to keep serving
When the world told her to sit down.
It was You who kept her spirit from breaking.
It was You who gave her joy in giving.
It was You who instilled courage in her to move through the night
So others in our city could wake up with hope.
We honor You for the way
You made Julia’s life a witness.
Her little red wagon did not carry only coal and food,
But was full of the grace and protection
You poured into her.
Thank You for covering Julia
So she could cover others.
Now, we ask You would do the same for us.
Protect our bodies when we grow tired,
Protect our minds when despair tries to creep in,
Protect our hearts so we never lose the will to serve.
Let us carry Julia’s legacy forward into our city.
May we carry her legacy not in our own strength,
But in the power of Your love and protection.
We thank You through Julia’s life,
We see a life covered, called, and committed.
May her memory lead us back to You,
The One who shields, sustains, and sends us out in love.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
MiDian Shofner is the founder and Executive Director of The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership. She serves as the co-director of Histories of Christianity in Our City.
RESOURCE
Documentary
Born into slavery and later walking Denver’s streets with a red wagon full of gifts, Julia Greeley lived a hidden gospel of mercy. This short documentary invites you to discover her story—an ordinary woman who became extraordinary through love. Her quiet acts of generosity still ripple through the city today, reminding us that holiness often looks like hospitality, compassion, and courage.
Watch and wonder: What might it mean for you to love your neighbors with the same quiet strength?
PRACTICE | ALL SAINTS DAY
By Jaimie Morgan
“Death will not have the final word, so we need not fear to speak of it.”
Practice
Gather for a Meal. Set an empty seat with a framed photo and flowers. Use their dishware or prepare their favorite foods.
Tell Their Story. Share your favorite memories and celebrate how they shaped you.
Create a liturgy. Light a candle, read their obituary, sing hymns, or take communion. Every Moment Holy is a helpful resource.
Involve Children. Have kids participate. Invite them to draw on stones as they listen. Say, “These are our stones of remembrance to remind us how to live bravely and love well.”
On the anniversary of my grandfather’s death, I called my Mom to ask how she was. She said, “People don’t really mention my parents to me anymore. Maybe they are afraid it would make me sad, but I’m already thinking about them all the time.” I began to reflect on the loneliness of grief and how layered the pain can feel when we have no means of sharing it. Shortly after, I came across the ancient practice of observing All Saints Day—a day to honor all holy people who lived faithful lives in Christ. Not martyrs, but those saintly, hidden lives known only to God.
On November 1st, my mom, sisters, nieces, and nephews gathered in a dimly lit dining room. We set the table with an empty seat and a vase of flowers to honor our lost loved ones. We framed a photo of my grandparents sitting side by side, heads thrown back in laughter, enjoying a joke now lost in time. Together we sang, “Where is death’s sting, where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.” We took communion, receiving the embodied remembrance that suffering and death do not have the final word, but instead testify to God’s commitment to goodness, restoration, and resurrection for the whole of creation.
I spoke the liturgy: “In your wisdom and mercy, O Lord, you have decreed that it is not good for us to grieve alone. We who are called by your name are to suffer and rejoice, together.” My nephew read the words from Revelation: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” I marveled at how hopeful these words sounded in the trusting voice of a child.
For the first time, my sister told her oldest son about my grandfather’s bravery—how he got his teeth knocked out while smuggling rice to Burmese refugees in Thailand. We drank from my grandmother’s teacups as we told my niece about her elaborate tea parties, and how she would always remind us over banana pudding and Earl Grey: “People will rise or fall to the expectations you hold them to, so think and speak highly of others.” We ate my grandfather’s favorite pistachio ice cream as we recounted his corniest jokes, and my littlest nephew listened with wide eyes, throwing his head back in laughter again and again.
With each shared memory, we lit a candle, filling the darkened room with small, radiant lights. I caught my mom’s shining eyes through the fire’s glow. How clear and bright it seemed in that sacred moment: the quiet ways of a glorious life. In the practice of remembering together, we learn that grief need not be carried alone, and that even in death, love still kindles light.
Jaimie Morgan serves as the Pastor to Kids at Bloom Church in Denver. She lives with her husband Will and their four young sons in Littleton.
PLACE | TOMB OF JULIA GREELEY
By Jared Mackey
“Her charity was so great that only God knows its extent. She was constantly visiting the poor and giving them assistance from her own slender means. Her charity was as delicate as it was great.”
The tomb of Julia Greeley holds the bodily remains of the only person in Colorado who has an open case within the Roman Catholic Church for sainthood. It is not the tomb of a bishop or priest, clergy or civic leader, but a woman whose life reflected the selfless and sacrificial love of Jesus.
Fr. Samuel Morehead is the former Rector of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where Julia’s tomb is located. He describes Julia as “a strong woman of faith fueled by her love of Jesus and Jesus’ love for her.”
Julia Greeley was born into enslavement in Missouri between 1833 and 1855. While she was still a young child, Julia’s right eye was caught by a whip and destroyed by her enslaver. She would leave Missouri after the Emancipation Act in 1865 and move to work for white families in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Julia entered Sacred Heart Parish in Denver in 1880. She swept and dusted the Sacred Heart church every week and performed other small tasks. Whatever she did not need for herself, Julia spent assisting poor families in her neighborhood. When her own resources were inadequate, she would beg for food, fuel, and clothing for those in need. Often, to avoid embarrassing white families in poverty, Julia would carry on her charitable work at night delivering goods in a little red wagon through the dark streets of Denver.
Julia held a special care for firefighters, who she believed risked their lives daily when wooden homes and structures in Denver caught fire regularly. She would walk to fire stations across the city, praying for firefighters and distributing prayer leaflets each month, despite suffering from severe arthritis.
Julia Greeley died on June 7, 1918, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. As her body lay in state, it is estimated that over 1,000 people attended her funeral. The prosperous and the poor, the prominent and those society had passed over, all came to honor the life of a woman who embodied the sacrificial love of Jesus.
Julia’s life and legacy have gone unknown to many in our city. The Julia Greeley Guild is dedicated to having Julia’s story known and committed to supporting her case for sainthood. Mary Leisring, president of the guild, believes Julia’s life is a model to follow. “She stands out as a person that I would like to imitate…I try to think of Julia, and what would Julia do in a case like this?” said Leisring.
In 2017, her body was exhumed from its grave at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery to be moved to the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Julia’s physical remains now lie in a simple marble coffin. The Sacred Heart of Jesus—the symbol of the sacrificial love of Jesus that Julia gave her devotion to—is carved on the tomb with the inscription “Beloved Julia Greeley.”
The tomb of Julia Greeley is a place that reminds us of a woman who, fueled by the love of Jesus, selflessly and sacrificially loved those in need. It is a place to honor the life and legacy of those who have faithfully followed Jesus in our city before us. It is a place of prayer for our lives to reflect the love of Jesus for our neighbor. The tomb of Julia Greeley is a sacred place.
To learn more about about Julia Greeley visit juliagreeley.org
RESOURCES | AUTUMN
SEASONS | RESOURCES
The end of October and first days of November carry a spectrum of convictions and beliefs.
Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and Día de los Muertos arrive together with a mix of emotions—some of us grew up celebrating one and avoiding another. We may hold deep affection or unease toward these days of celebration and remembrance. But what if, instead of being divided, we made space to listen and learn from each other?
On sacredplace.co we provide a few ways to receive the season’s tensions as invitations—to love your neighbors, to honor those you’ve lost, and to root yourself again in the gift of place.
More rhythms to root your faith in place.
Sacred Place provides a beautiful bi-weekly publication to share the rhythms of a Prayer, Practice, and Place as simple ways to help cultivate love for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
