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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?
This week Fr. Fred’s and Fr. Charlie’s homilies connected for me as I read and prayed over today’s readings. Fr. Fred spoke about our baptismal call to be build up the Kingdom of God, each in our own way as missionaries of Jesus. Yesterday, Fr. Charlie spoke of the work of God in a family that was ruptured by jealousy but reconnected in a time of adversity, when Joseph’s brothers unknowingly stood before him. Father Peyton no doubt knew many stories of families that were going through challenging times and would have encouraged them to pray together for God’s assistance. I am sure that he would have spoken about how the grace of God is at work even before we recognize it as was in the case of Joseph and his brothers.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries to the world with the publication of Rosarium Virginis Mariae in 2002. It changed my life in many ways, and the foundation for that change was praying the Holy Rosary. I’d like to say that I took up the Rosary on my own, but it was an invitation to pray that I could not deny. My daughter came home from a retreat on fire for the Rosary and invited me to join her. My family life and professional demands created an undercurrent of chaos. I can look back on that time with a certain measure of nostalgia. It was the typical chaos one would expect from three teenagers in the house and two working adults. But chaos often picks away at the spirit, and while I wasn’t feeling hopeless, I didn’t have the experience in my faith to understand that the emptiness and yearning I was feeling would be ameliorated with hope in Jesus Christ. First, I had to get to that place of understanding that would lead to trust. The Rosary became the bridge to hope. I couldn’t remember the last time I had prayed the Rosary,
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Today’s first reading from Genesis is a crucial moment in the story of Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Jacob. This whole narrative, which stretches over fourteen chapters, is one of the true gems in the Bible. Even people who aren’t believers can appreciate its artistry. After all, they didn’t make a smash Broadway musical out of it for nothing! But it’s only as believers, with the eyes of faith, that we can appreciate the story’s deepest meanings.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
I was barely a teenager when I became chronically ill. It was just before my 13th birthday, lining up in the school hall, completely oblivious that my world was about to change and all my hopes and dreams were about to vaporize. Within 20 minutes, I was experiencing symptoms that gradually became worse, and I was eventually bedridden. I missed about three months of school, and although I ultimately returned to school, I continued to struggle with attending full-time. My friends informed me that the school had held a meeting with the entire Year 7 grade, during which the school counsellor explained that I was unwell and that when I returned, everyone was to treat me with kindness and say hello.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
In the last couple of months in the US, the country has been struggling with how to manage its immigration. There has been an effort to regulate the people coming in, and to deport those with no papers to some other places. However, it has come to the awareness of a section of policymakers that the country relies heavily on labor whose immigration status is irregular. The hospitality industry, the construction industry, and the agricultural sector are such areas that are labor-intensive and require many hands-on people. Think of the vineyards in Napa Valley and Sonoma in California with hectares and hectares of ripe grapes and strawberries with no one to pick them. Imagine everything just rotting and going to waste and the economic losses to the farmers who invested so much in these expensive vineyards and wineries. Fruit Ripe for Harvesting In our gospel today, Jesus uses an agricultural or farming image to speak to us about matters that are spiritual. He says, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Think of thousands and thousands of people with no one to reach out to them with the gospel, with no one to spiritually tend to them.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
There are times when life catches us off guard, and we want to shrivel and run from the messiness. In the moment, none of it makes sense — whether it’s a family illness, a miscarriage, a business disaster, or spiritual attacks. With our limited intellect, we want an explanation and a solution to the problems. It’s easier to simplify the problem, find a quick solution, and wrap it in a pretty box with a bow, only to hide it in a closet, than to see the bigger picture. But these “quick fixes” only push the problem down the road for a different day. Sometimes we find an earthly solution to the problem while ignoring the difficulties as gifts from God for the cultivation of our souls towards sainthood. It’s hard to imagine the loss of a baby, the illness of a family member, or financial strains as gifts from God, but it is in these moments that we are given an opportunity to trust in Our Lord, detach ourselves from the world, and to find hope where it is lacking.
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