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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Labor | Parenting | catholic family life | family prayer
In St. Benedict’s rule for living monastic life, Debra Black finds many pearls of wisdom for living in our domestic church. Whatever good work thou dost begin, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect. (Rule of St. Benedict, preface, p. 3, 5) How the Catholic Home Should Run I was in a Catholic bookstore several decades back when a man pointed to the book of St. Benedict’s Rule and said to me, “This is how every home should be run.” Intrigued, I bought the book. Back then we didn’t hear about our home being the domestic church, but the saints do teach us to turn our heart and mind to God as we go through the day. A life which melds prayer and work sounds inviting, even dreamy! Then the reality of the daily grind sets in, and it seems like everyone needs a piece of you, leaving little to nothing of your heart to give to God.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
Those who suffer in accord with God’s will hand their souls over to a faithful creator as they do good. (1 Peter 4:19) I have always been an optimistic person. For me, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if a situation seemed unfixable, I believed God would eventually make things ok. The downfall to my optimistic nature was over-confidence in my own ability to straighten crooked paths and less reliance upon God to do this for me. A Loss of Optimism, But Not of Hope Then a situation arose that literally tore my heart in two. In doing so, I lost my perpetual optimism and struggled to understand hope. I quickly came to realize that faith is what keeps us going forward when our heart is frozen in pain. Optimism is a natural sentiment of the human heart. We hope that our actions and choices, and those of the people we love, will turn out as planned or hoped for. Optimism is “hope that sees for itself” (Romans 8:24). It is temporary and deficient. In contrast, true hope comes from God, has its focus on God as its ultimate end, and it hopes for God’s intercession in daily life. Faith births hope.
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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 Women's History Month | Lenten Reflections | catholic mom | women's history month
Bees are more honored than other animals, not because they labor so hard, but because they labor for others. (Patricia Banker) Names are important. What we refer to as a “first name” is actually our given name, the second gift given to us by our parents (the first gift was their openness to life). Yet I never cared for my name in grade school. There were too many Debbies. I was around age 10 when I read a newspaper article on naming babies. It said that the most common names chosen between 1959 and 1961 were Mike and Debbie. My brother Mike was born in 1959 and I was born in 1961. I told my parents, “Thanks for being so original!!” During those years, the Hallmark card shops sold these pretty laminated cards for each name with its meaning on the reverse side. For Debra, the cards always said either busy bee or honeybee. How LAME! Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!
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Hope | catholic family life | prayer
Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you great things beyond the reach of your knowledge. (Jeremiah 33:3) Tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, smelling … I learned of the five senses as a small child but could never have imagined how integral these are in our life. Our senses play an active part in the creation of memories and can trigger those memories too. The lyrics and mood created by songs often reflect our emotions, attitude, and perspective at a certain stage of our life. Scents of certain foods might remind us of special meals or celebrations—for me, rainy days always remind me of my mom’s baking. Family photos evoke visual memories that also bring forth with them sensations and emotions.
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Debra Black suggests ways to make Lent the foundation for new growth toward Easter.
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