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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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We are in snow season here on the East Coast. Having grown up in the African tropics where the sun comes out almost every day, snow season is something to behold! From the abundance of snow, people created snowball games. From the snowball, people created the analogy of a “snowball effect.” Out of the snow one can create snowballs, and when you throw a snowball downhill, it rolls and picks up a lot more snow, becoming big and bigger, and gaining even higher momentum as it rolls downhill. The “snowball effect” is an analogy about something that starts small and speed yet grows larger and its speed accelerates.
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We have at some point told someone you are just or someone told us we are just. Justice presupposes both inner disposition as well as outward expositions. It is how I view myself and others inwardly that generates my actions towards myself and others. Thomas Aquinas will say justice is a capability of doing what is just and of being just in action and intention. That means my deed presupposes fulfilling my desire or interest. But our will which in a way generates justice is not perpetually just. It is only God’s will that is perpetually just. God will alone remain eternally just (Anselm). However, the desire to do good promotes the tendency of doing good. If I desire to do good always then the action to do that good will likely occur and be sustained in me. In desiring of doing good and attempting to do it I generate a virtue. If I desire to be just and try my level best to administer justice in my dealing I will be practicing justice.
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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.
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Miss Clara, a fourth-grade Catechism teacher told her kids one day: Children, let me tell you today about a quiet man, who used to be immersed into much reading and writing. This man was big and gentle, but because he stayed silent, people thought he wasn’t very smart. One day, his friends played a trick on him. As he was busy writing, one of them pointed to the window and shouted, ‘Look, there’s an angel!’ He ran to see, but there was nothing there. Everyone laughed.”
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From its origins in nineteenth-century France, the Congregation of Holy Cross has expanded around the world, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the farthest reaches of the planet in its mission to make God known, loved, and served. As of 2026, the Congregation of Holy Cross has a presence in 17 countries across 6 continents. The process of expansion took place gradually over the course of the community’s 190-year history. Below, in a snapshot, is a list of the countries where Holy Cross serves today, along with the dates of the community’s arrival:
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Normally on the day of ordination, parents or guardians walk the person to be ordained up to the bishop, they do a ritual of handing him over. Simple as that may appear, but it has great significance in both the life of the one to be ordained as well as his parents. He leaves his family of origin and surrenders to the authority of the bishop a representative of the wider spiritual family; to serve all as he shares in Jesus’ priesthood. For the parents, it’s an act of letting go and not holding on, much less the generosity of offering their child to God.
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In this installment of our Holy Cross Heritage month series, we reflect a little more deeply into the life, mission, and spirituality of Blessed Basile Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, particularly his vision on unity. Moreau's legacy continues to shape Catholic education, parish life, missionary work, and the formation of families rooted in faith. Moreau was an extraordinary figure of the nineteenth‑century French Church—an educator, a spiritual leader, and a visionary who believed deeply in the power of unity, love, and the renewal of society through faith. As we shared in an earlier reflection, Basile Moreau was born in 1799 in Laigné‑en‑Belin, a rural region of northwestern France marked by its resilience and deep Catholic identity, especially during the persecution of the French Revolution. The ninth of fourteen children, Moreau grew up in a tightly knit family whose hardships and fidelity helped form his lifelong conviction that the family is the “domestic Church,” the seedbed of unity, holiness, and Christian virtue.
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