By Maria Ferris | Correspondent

Nestled in the picturesque shore community of Sea Girt, the prayer shawl ministry of St. Mark Parish has a mission dedicated to providing comfort during trying times as well as joyful ones. By combining a love of knitting and crocheting and a genuine desire to help others, the members produce a gift with a meaning that transcends the physical shawl itself.

The ministry was started in 2007 out of a desire to help those going through chemotherapy stay warm in the hospital.

Each stitch in the shawl represents a prayer, and each shawl comes in a color that signifies a virtue. A red shawl signifies love. Thoughtfulness is associated with an orange shawl. A brown shawl symbolizes honestly. They all represent a sign of hope, and are accompanied by a letter explaining its meaning to the recipient.

More than 500 prayer shawls, blessed by the parish’s pastor, Msgr. Sean Flynn, have been gifted since the ministry’s inception and have gone to places like Jersey Shore Hospital, Neptune, and residents of Leisure Park Nursing Home. Msgr. Flynn brings prayer shawls to shut-ins and the sick and said it’s “a sign of the love, support, compassion and prayers of the community.”

Marion Reilly, a longtime member of the community, knows from personal experience what it’s like to be cold in a hospital. This ministry has about “30 of us,” said Reilly, and they each have their own reason for participating. The church is stocked with about 40 prayer shawls ready to go at any time.

Deanna Cernero, another active member, says that shawls are appreciated “as the rooms are kept cold and people need something to wrap themselves in.”

The prayers shawls could be used over the shoulders or as lap blankets and are made for infants as well as for adults.

They’re given in times of sickness and loss, for baptisms and weddings, for “comfort, peace and happiness,” said Georgeann Donatelli, St. Mark’s secretary.

Not all come to the weekly meetings but rather work from home. Others do both. Weekly attendance varies, depending on the time of year.

Whether they participate from home or during the Thursday meetings, “I think they also find it enriching for themselves.” Msgr. Flynn said. “They talk and laugh and have fun…[and] feel good about what they’re doing.”

The prayers shawls mean a lot to the recipients. “The response is unbelievable. It means so much to people,” said Cernero.

Donatelli said that throughout the years, the parish has accumulated enough “thank you” notes to fill four large binders.