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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Picture this: a young woman named Sarah spent her entire childhood waiting. Her father whom she was extremely fond of, was a traveling salesman who would leave home for months at a time, always promising to return on specific days. Sarah would sit by the window with her mother, both of them dressed nicely, both of them ready for him. Her mother would prepare special meals, keep the house immaculate, and they would wait. Sometimes he showed up on time, sometimes a bit late. Sometimes he didn’t. When he did, he stayed for a few days and left again. Sarah’s mother taught her that love meant being perpetually ready, and perpetually disappointed.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
There is a scene I want you to imagine, it is not in Scripture, but it feels like it could be. It’s late at night in a family kitchen. The lights are dim. A mother sits at the table with a cup of cold tea in front of her. Upstairs, her teenage son has locked himself in his room again. The two haven’t really spoken in days. Every word turns into an argument; every silence feels like a wall. She’s exhausted, she’s tried counseling, prayer, conversation, but tonight, she’s run out of ideas. And yet, she does something quiet and holy. She sets another plate at the table. Just in case. She decides that even if he doesn’t come down soon, she will be ready when he does. That small act, invisible to the world, is an act of faith. Not the sentimental kind that expects a miracle by morning, but the kind that refuses to stop preparing for one. We have all been either that mother, setting the table for her son, or the teenage son who locked himself up in his room. That’s the spirit Paul is talking about when he says Abraham “believed against hope.”
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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.
Catholic Family Fun | Faith friendly media | forming children of faith
Family Theater Productions' new puppet series Guillermo & Will, now available on Minno, shows bilingual friends exploring God's world. While preschool kids may not be able to grasp the finer points of theology, two things that resonate with them (and their parents) are exploring God’s world and learning how to make their first friends. That's the goal of the puppet series Guillermo & Will, now available on Christian kids’ streaming service Minno. It's the creation of two accomplished Jim Henson Company puppeteers, and a co-production between Family Theater Productions and Minno. The kid-sized episodes were produced in FTP’s studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and follow the bilingual adventures of two colorful worms who are best pals.
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Marian Consecration | Marian devotion | pray the rosary
Who doesn't love opening your mailbox and discovering, amid the pile of bills and junk mail, the unexpected treasure of an invitation? Whether it is a request for our presence at a birthday party, a wedding, or some other event, receiving a colorful and festive invitation of any sort will often bring a smile to our faces. The Wedding Garment of Repentance When invited to a special occasion, we often plan to wear something new and appropriate for the event. Who can forget the fate of the man not dressed in proper attire in the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matt 22:1-14)? Because he was not clothed in the wedding garment of repentance, change of heart and mind, and a life of good deeds, he was cast out into the darkness, "where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth" (Matt 22:13). Each time we approach the Eucharist, we are responding to the invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). To be worthy of such a blessing, we remember to ask Jesus for our continued conversion and the deepening of our faith and love for Him. In this way, we are fit to participate in the Eucharistic banquet.
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anxiety | power of prayer | pray the rosary
At the dawn of 2018, I experienced my first-ever panic attack. I was nineteen at the time, helping a student at my college campus writing center, when the chest-tightening, heart-pounding, head-spinning began. I felt fear seize my senses as I pushed back from the table, excusing myself to the restroom. Safely inside a stall, I fought for breath, squeezing my fingertips into my legs. What was happening? Weeks later, at my first of many counseling sessions, I realized what had overcome me: a panic attack brought on by overwhelming anxiety, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the last time I would encounter one. The harsh reality is that anxiety, panic attacks, loneliness, and many other mental crosses afflict our young people today, even those with a rooted faith in the Lord. I was no exception as I struggled with my sense of purpose and self-worth away from my family for the first time at college, struggling as a brand-new adult to discover my place in it all and come to terms with all the unknowns before me: friendships, career, vocation, hobbies, and mounting adult expectations and responsibilities. Being a young adult isn’t easy, as countless pathways call to us for attention.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
We Christians in the 21st century have had to endure over 400 years of the debates between Protestants and Catholics, in particular the debates over faith and good works. And, as is often the case in these types of ongoing confrontations, I think we have allowed ourselves to be forced into hardened positions where we buy into characterizations that we shouldn’t actually believe. In particular, when you listen to these Protestant and Catholic arguments over faith and good works, both sides seem to depict faith as a mostly internal, almost intellectual state, a mental adherence to a set of doctrines.
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