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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
In the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, we encounter a seagull who refuses to settle for the ordinary. While the other birds are content scavenging for dead fish along the shore, Jonathan yearns for something more—he wants to fly higher and explore the deep sea. He challenges his community and, through determination, eventually soars to new heights, discovering a world beyond what others could imagine. Meanwhile, his companions remain content with their routine, never daring to dream or fly higher.
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Love thy Neighbor | Return to the Church
In the classic novel "Alice in Wonderland," written in 1865, we encounter a whimsical and thought-provoking exchange between Alice and a mysterious cat. As Alice finds herself lost in a strange new world, she asks the cat, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" The cat wisely responds, "That depends greatly on where you want to get to." Confused, Alice replies, "I don't much care where so long as I get somewhere." To this, the cat says, "Then it doesn't matter which way you go!" The Gospel of the Day invites us to view life as a journey, recognizing that the Lord, "The Way," should be our road, direction, and destination. Life is full of journeys—short and long, inward and outward, toward God and away from Him. Each journey, whether a simple errand or a life-changing event, shapes who we are. Our earthly journey begins at birth and moves steadily toward its inevitable end, death. In today's Gospel—the raising of the widow's son in Nain—we witness multiple journeys amid death and life.
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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.
During Lent 2023, I started an adventure with a special writing project about Our Lady of Sorrows. As part of my Lenten practices, I prayed one of Mary’s Sorrows for each day of the week, which was so convenient since there were seven of them! That practice continued post-Lent, as did my writing project, and I still pray one of the Sorrows (most!) mornings. Each of Mary's Sorrows has its own inspiration, as we see how the virtues of our Blessed Mother shine through in the most traumatic moments of her life. Knowing how Mary continually leaned into God and trusted Him despite tragic circumstances helps me to try and do the same when life becomes dark and feels hopeless. It's also very comforting to know that I have a Mother who desires to console me and can understand what I'm experiencing when I face deep loss and grief.
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Marian Consecration | family prayer
On September 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we conclude our 33-day preparation of a Catholic Mom Marian Consecration to Jesus through Mary, which has been shared on our various social media platforms. We invite you to join in praying this special Consecration prayer for mothers. If you have been taking this preparation journey as a family, an alternative consecration prayer is included as well. *Free downloads available below.
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Eucharist | Gospel Reflection | Jesus heals
I have a question: “What do you need to hear from Jesus today?” Some of us could answer immediately: "I want Jesus to tell me if my loved one will get better." For others, we’d want Jesus to tell us whether to look for another job or school. Or maybe it is the perennial question: “Jesus, how do I get my life back on track?” We all experience times when we know we have things to decide or manage, but life has become so overwhelming that we either don’t have the energy to engage or don’t know where to start. This is when we need family and friends, like the Deaf man in Mark's Gospel. It says right in the beginning, “And the people brought to Jesus a deaf man with a speech impediment and begged Him to lay His hand on him.” Even if you don’t have someone to bring you to Jesus, we can always call on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to approach Jesus with the faith of that man’s friends.
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Most often people who are overly critical of others have a lot going on in their personal lives. By shining some light on the brokenness in the lives of other people, they hope they can deflect attention on the inadequacies in their own lives. It also makes them feel much better about their own situation. Friends, we don’t get any points by making someone else look so horrible. Our situation does not improve by putting down someone else. The Lord tells us in the gospel that we need to carefully address what is going on in our lives first before we shift our gaze to what is happening in other people’s lives. “Remove the wooden beam from your eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”
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