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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Daily Family Prayer | catholic family life | pray the rosary
Praying the Rosary as a family has reshaped how we understand holiness in our domestic church. For us, daily family prayer was hard-won, and something I never believed we would be able to keep up. We deeply wanted to pray regularly, but desire alone did not seem enough to overcome our busy schedules, distractions, and the quiet discouragement that had settled in after years of trying to pray together. The turning point came through a simple parish invitation. Our church sends a traveling statue of Our Lady of Fatima home with a different family for one week each year. One Sunday, I noticed a sign-up sheet. My husband and I both felt the unexpected urgency that we needed the statue of Mary to come home with us. At that point, we did not have a statue of Our Lady displayed in our home. Years of moving had left some of our devotional items carefully packed away, and I will admit that our faith life, like our house, sometimes felt more “in progress” than settled. When I saw the waiting list, my heart sank—it felt impossibly long. I set a calendar reminder and nearly forgot about it until the message finally came that it was our turn.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
“Guard against the leaven of the Pharisee and Herod...” Anger is something we are all familiar with; it is all around us. It is expressed in various ways, quarrelling with those nearest to us, envying others, rejoicing in their ill-fortune, speaking disrespectfully or seeking victory that harms others or even us as individuals, failing people who are in danger. Anger is an emotion we all struggle with at one time or another. Even saints have been known to struggle with controlling their anger. Historians think Jesus nicknamed the apostles James and John the “Sons of thunder “because of their anger, if you read some of the letters of St. Paul there are occasions when Paul had some outbursts whenever he felt that the gospel he preached was being misunderstood, St. Therese of Lisieux, the little Flower had to work on controlling his anger.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
One of the key Pillars of Lent is Prayer. This is besides Almsgiving and Fasting. During this Lenten time, we educate ourselves more about prayer and increase our practice of it. In today’s readings we are invited to reflect on the Pillar of Prayer. Prayer as we might be aware can take different forms. There is a Prayer of Praise that celebrates God’s greatness and character; there is a Prayer of Worship or Adoration that celebrates God’s majesty or power, and there is a Prayer of Penance where we express sorrow for our individual and social sins and ask for forgiveness. There is also Prayer of Thanksgiving where we express gratitude for God’s blessings in our lives; there is also a Prayer of Lamentation where we express sorrow, grief, or distress, and call upon God’s intervention.
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Black Catholics | Holy lives of inspiration | saints
Janelle Peregoy introduces four prominent Black Catholics who are on the path to canonization. This Black History Month, enjoy the stories of four prominent Black Catholics who are on the path to canonization. Any of these extraordinary men and women may become the first African-American saint from the United States. Saint Martin de Porres, a lay Dominican from Peru, is widely recognized as the first Catholic saint from the Americas with African and mixed-race ancestry.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Years back, my home country struggled with the debate about the death penalty. One side argued it should be on our law books and regularly be carried out and another side argued that we should get rid of it altogether. The people who ended up shaping and tilting the final stand of the country on the matter were prison guards and officers. For some reason, many of them happen to be practicing Catholics.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Choices matter in life. Some are difficult and others are simple. Those hard decisions, especially on matters of faith, carry with themselves a lot of blessings, rewards, and eternal peace. God in the scripture is presented on many occasions as a father who not only awaits the sinner to return but also provides the means for return. The mercy and love of God seek out the lost, doubtful and despaired and leads them back to Him. God does not want to lose anyone. The readings today relate on how we walk with God. They provide a Christian roadmap that transcends beyond the physical world to eternity.
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