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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Gospel Reflection | Homily Video | Learn more about our faith
Most of us want to make a good impression. Before we leave the house, we might look in the mirror, comb our hair, or make sure we look presentable. We pay attention to what people see on the outside. But how often do we stop and take a good look at what’s going on inside us? That’s what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel. A Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner and is surprised that Jesus doesn’t wash before the meal. Jesus uses this opportunity to make an important point: “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” In other words, Jesus is asking, “You’re paying a lot of attention to the outside, but what about the inside?” And that’s a question worth asking ourselves.
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Catholic Family Fun | Grandparenting | childhood memories
Discover simple ways for grandparents to create lasting memories with their grandchildren, ensuring love and connection across generations. A few years ago, I saw a special Mother’s Day meme. It basically said that moms are a lot like Moses in that we prepare our people to enter a place where we cannot go and will not be. That’s true to some extent for mothers and children, but it is most certainly true for grandmothers (and grandfathers) and their grandchildren. This became even clearer to me when my latest grandson arrived this year. I certainly intend to love this little one every chance I get. However, if I were to pass away sometime in the next ten years, he would have only a very faint memory of me, if at all. The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children. (Proverbs 13:22a)
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Brief and contemporary inspiration focused on hope and family prayer will be delivered to your inbox! Articles include live video, written word, and links to resources that will lead you and your family deeper into faith.
Family Rosary | Rosary with kids | family prayer
Learn how to pray the Rosary with children in a simple, engaging way that fosters a deeper relationship with God through imaginative prayer practices. Bring the Children to Me And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:13-14) Like all faith traditions, the Catholic Church has been losing its children to the secular world for the past 60 years. How would the world be different today if children and parents had learned simple ways to pray?
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Homily Video | Learn more about our faith
Today we reflect on a Gospel we have heard before about how “demons” or evil spirits operate. The Lord reminds that when God frees us from any bondage or oppression, we need to fill our hearts or lives with something new and positive. He warns us about the vulnerability of an “empty house” or heart.
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Gospel Reflection | Learn more about our faith | prayer
Last Saturday, during the Peyton Rosary Rally, Mr. Artie Boyle was the main speaker. He gave a very powerful testimony on how the power of prayer in his life healed him from two separate episodes of terminal cancer. He showed us that there comes a time when what you are left with is to pray as you have never prayed before. And in his case, the grace of God healed him from these two types of cancer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with a parable of a bothersome man who shows up in the middle of the night, imposing on his neighbor to give him bread for an unexpected guest. The story illustrates that even when the neighbor is reluctant to get up, he does so because of the man’s bold persistence to provide what is needed.
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Learn more about our faith | Video homily | Weekday homily
Something rather extraordinary has been happening around the world during these first days of October. On October 1, about 700 children gathered around Pope Leo XIV at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens and prayed the Rosary for peace. Five decades were prayed in five languages. The Pope asked them to imagine fifty million Hail Marys rising from children around the world asking God for peace. Then last Saturday, October 3, I had the privilege of being at the University of Portland Oregon, where students, families, faculty and friends gathered with Holy Cross Family Ministries for another Rosary Rally for Peace. The theme was Christ's words: “My peace I give you.” Then here, that same evening at the Father Peyton Center in Massachusetts, families gathered with candles and rosaries, and Arthur Boyle gave his testimony on “The Healing Power of the Rosary.” And on October 22, Holy Cross Family Ministries will bring people together across the world for the Global Rosary Rally for Peace, as of now well over 200 thousand people have signed up for it. And in fact Pope Leo has acknowledged this effort of Holy Cross Family Ministries and has given his apostolic blessings for its success. That is a lot of rosaries in one month. October is apparently the month when Catholics decide that if fifty-three Hail Marys are good, several million might be even better.
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