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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Gospel Reflection | Homily Video | Learn more about our faith
I have a question for us to consider: “Do we really believe in what God can do for us?” There are moments in life when we look back and realize that God was doing something in us long before we recognized it. Sometimes we think our past disqualifies us from serving God and those He places in our lives. We remember our mistakes, our failures, our wrong choices, or maybe the years when we were far from the Lord. But today’s readings remind us of something important: God does not define or constrain us by our past. Instead, He sees the person He created us to become. That’s how the Lord sees us. St. Paul gives us a powerful example when he says, “You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.” Paul doesn't hide his past. He remembers it honestly. Paul wasn’t simply indifferent to Christ; he actively opposed Christ and persecuted His followers.
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Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
It is a question posed in today's gospel to Jesus by an expert in religious laws. Probably you have come across or heard people share about their encounters with everyday interventions; people who extend acts of kindness to strangers, like staying with an unhoused person in medical emergency until paramedics arrive, or people who open their home as foster parent for a child in crisis, churches or organizations that attend to or shield people from socially targeted groups who are in distress. We have fire fighters who risk their lives while pulling injured strangers from burning houses or cars. From the context of today’s gospel, we can probably say that those instances depict the essence of neighborliness. The parable of Good Samaritan takes us beyond the question “who is my neighbor?” to “What does it mean to be a neighbor” and definitely that is the question Jesus asked at the end of the parable,which of these three (Priest, Levite and Samaritan) proved himself a neighbor?”
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Guardian Angels | Homily Video | Learn more about our faith
Some of you, when you were young, learned a simple prayer that began: “Angel of God, my guardian dear…to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen. We probably prayed it at bedtime without thinking too much about what we were saying. But today’s Gospel helps us understand just how beautiful that prayer really is. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” They’re thinking about greatness in the way the world often thinks about it: Who is important? Who has power? Who gets recognized?
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Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
Back in East Africa people in the village always tease Holy Cross members, that you took the vow of poverty, but it is we ourselves who live it and not you. Why? You are driving a car, and you seem not to lack anything. Of course, the vow of poverty is a voluntary promise made to God by members of religious orders to renounce the independent ownership of material goods and live simply in imitation of Jesus Christ. It involves sharing everything within the religious community. In that sense, we do share one car with three to four members. They have the wrong assumption.
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Catholic Faith | Learn more about our faith
We know that many Saints are remembered because of their piety, virtue, and devotions they practiced. It is not the same for Saint Jerome. Saint Jerome whose memorial we celebrate today, is known to have had a very bad temper. He could turn that temper into a vitriolic pen. He could write strong criticism to those who taught or advocated erroneous teachings. This is because he loved Jesus Christ. For him, those who were erroneous were enemies of truth and God.
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Angels | Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
John writes in today's Gospel: And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Bishop Stephen Rotluanga, C.S.C., shares a short reflection on the gift of the three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, in our lives. He also encourages the faithful in living a life close to Christ and dedicated to prayer.
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