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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Charles Borromeo | Homily Video | Learn more about our faith | family unity
At the age of 24, young Charles Borromeo faced a crucial choice. He came from a rich and powerful noble family. As the younger of two sons, he had been set on the path to the priesthood a few years earlier. But in this crucial year, his older brother died, leaving the noble title and wealth to him, and with it, the family expectation that he would forego the priesthood, marry, and produce sons to carry on the family name. Charles instead chose to forego title, fortune, and family and continue on the path to priesthood, a decision that would impact not only his life, but also the entire history of the Church, as he soon would take the lead in implementing reforms dictated by the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant Reformation. Later in life, Charles Borromeo, then Archbishop of Milan, provided guidance for Catholics in Elizabethan England who faced their own life-or-death choice between their Catholic Faith and their obedience to the queen. When Jesus speaks about having to hate mom and dad, wife and kids, brothers and sisters to become his disciple, He’s not encouraging us to take the initiative to be controversial or destructive.
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Hospitality | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
Hospitality: An Expression of Love We do have someone here who handles hospitality for the Center. She welcomes visitors to The Father Peyton Center and ensures they feel genuinely cared for and welcome. She is charged with arranging hospitality meals and sending invitations weeks in advance so people can indicate whether they will attend. When those meals are finally served, we all agree that they demonstrate great attentiveness and wholehearted care in their preparation. We can say that her hospitality reflects no other nature than love. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is at a dinner with the Pharisees and the experts, who are always at loggerheads with Him because of their stubbornness and refusal to accept Him as sent from God, let alone His teachings.
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Jesus | Learn more about our faith | faithfulness
Yesterday we celebrated with joy the Solemnity of All Saints, and today the church gives us a special day to remember the dead with gratitude: our family, relatives and friends, and those no one else remembers, but who are still held in the memory and mercy of God. We do pray for the souls just in case they have not attained complete union with the Lord, that they would pass through the purification of purgatory and enter into heaven. This is a day also for us to remember our own mortality, that we are a pilgrim church on our way to the next life. The day invites us also to reflect on how we are currently living our faith.
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Advent | Family Activities | Sacred Heart enthronement
Make room for Jesus. As we prepare our hearts and home for Advent and the Christmas Season, we are invited to declutter our lives and make room for the Lord. Jesus offers us His most Sacred Heart of Jesus as a refuge for all. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation Sister who lived in the 17th century, was invited by Jesus to be the Disciple of the Sacred Heart and begin a movement of renewal through encountering His Most Sacred Heart, resulting in deeper faith and love. In this ongoing series, we will learn more about the Sacred Heart, Saints like St. Margaret Mary, and ways we can better live out this devotion so that this Christmas we give our hearts and home to Jesus in a new way.
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Homily Video | Learn more about our faith
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus performed seven healing miracles on the Sabbath. You would think that a man with such a record of helping people regain their health and their lives would receive much appreciation and love for what he had done. It was not so as we reflect on the gospels. To the Pharisees and the Scribes, that was strong enough evidence to show that Jesus was a dangerous, irreligious, and law-breaking character they had to take down at the earliest opportunity they could find. To the Pharisees interpretation of the law of God, no work was permitted on the Sabbath, and healing on the Sabbath was work, therefore it was a form of breaking the Law of God.
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Catholic Faith | Gospel Reflection | Homily Video | Learn more about our faith | saints
St. Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with the bottom line: “Brothers and sisters: Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.” He was helping them to be in the battle of life that we’re all a part of. As I reflected on this and the strong metaphorical speech that follows, I was reminded of growing up as a Boston Bruins ice hockey fanatic.
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