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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Book Club | Catholic books | Scripture Study | summer activities
CatholicMom.com announces our first-ever Summer Virtual (Zoom) Book Club featuring Jesus Heals: Finding Hope, Wholeness, and Peace with author Allison Gingras. Our Catholic Mom team felt the summer was the perfect time to try something exciting, interactive, and, well, downright fun! I have hosted virtual book clubs for years as part of my spiritual development. Initially drawn in by the convenience, since I had small children at home at the time, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted by the unexpected intimacy and vulnerability experienced through connecting with faces on my computer. I am blessed that the team chose my new book, Jesus Heals: Finding Hope, Wholeness, and Peace from Our Sunday Visitor for this new adventure. During my time in women's ministry, I have observed that everyone needs healing. For some, that healing is physical, but for most of us, it is emotional, mental, or spiritual. Jesus healed many people during His earthly ministry. Yet those healings weren't fancy magic tricks to show off His divinity. Every miracle healing reveals something about Jesus and teaches us about who He is and who we are in Him.
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Catholic Family Fun | Parenting | summer activities
It’s the first week of June! That means school is out (or will be soon), or, if you are a homeschooling family, the at-home schoolwork is done. Now is the time for the long, slow days of summer. Hopefully, that conjures up images of camping in the backyard, bike rides around the neighborhood, catching fireflies, and lots of running barefoot. But besides all these fun activities, summertime also offers us a chance to experience and grow in faith in unique ways. At the end of each religious-education year, I send out a few ideas to the families in my parish of how to continue to grow in faith during this season. I’m sharing four ideas below, and I hope you’ll find them helpful.
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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.
Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Saint Anthony of Padua {1195-1231} was a Franciscan priest and the best known follower of Saint Francis of Assisi and who was famous for his preaching, miracles and holy life, However, he is popularly known for his intercession when an item has been lost. He is often invoked with the familiar phrase: “Tony, Tony, come around, something’s lost and can’t be found.”
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Have you ever seen an unfinished bridge? I once visited a village where they proudly began building a beautiful concrete bridge over a river. Great foundation. Impressive pillars. It even had decorative railings on one side. But halfway through, the project stopped. Politics changed, policies changed, Budgets dried up. Now it just stands, suspended midair like a promise never kept. It’s funny until you realize: that’s what many of our relationships look like, half-built. We start with connection, trust, and love… and then something happens. A harsh word. A betrayal. Silence. Ego. Or like most of us, we don’t explode in rage, we freeze in silence. We master the art of polite distance, just smiling at people we secretly avoid. leaving that bridge hanging, unfinished, awkward, and unusable and slowly, quietly, we let the bridge rot. One misunderstanding at a time.
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While I was in India, I visited a school at the start of the academic year to bless their newly elected student leaders. As I arrived, a boy in a blazer two sizes too big marched up to me proudly wearing a badge that read: “Third Assistant Pupils’ Leader.” He gave me a firm handshake and said, “Father, I may not be the main guy, but if the main guy is absent and the assistant is late, then I’m in charge!” I smiled. It was funny, yes, but also profound. That boy had no delusions of grandeur. He knew his place in the order, but he stood tall, ready to serve.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
"You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world." — Matthew 5:13–14 These powerful words from Jesus are a direct call to each of us. Salt adds flavor, preserves what is good, and purifies. Light dispels darkness, reveals truth, and shows the way. But today, I invite you to consider: are we truly being salt and light—first and foremost—within the walls of our own homes?
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