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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Something rather extraordinary has been happening around the world during these first days of October. On October 1, about 700 children gathered around Pope Leo XIV at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens and prayed the Rosary for peace. Five decades were prayed in five languages. The Pope asked them to imagine fifty million Hail Marys rising from children around the world asking God for peace. Then last Saturday, October 3, I had the privilege of being at the University of Portland Oregon, where students, families, faculty and friends gathered with Holy Cross Family Ministries for another Rosary Rally for Peace. The theme was Christ's words: “My peace I give you.” Then here, that same evening at the Father Peyton Center in Massachusetts, families gathered with candles and rosaries, and Arthur Boyle gave his testimony on “The Healing Power of the Rosary.” And on October 22, Holy Cross Family Ministries will bring people together across the world for the Global Rosary Rally for Peace, as of now well over 200 thousand people have signed up for it. And in fact Pope Leo has acknowledged this effort of Holy Cross Family Ministries and has given his apostolic blessings for its success. That is a lot of rosaries in one month. October is apparently the month when Catholics decide that if fifty-three Hail Marys are good, several million might be even better.
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There is something wonderfully strange about today’s feast. We call it the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and yet the Cross was never meant to exalt anyone. Rome designed it to humiliate, expose, and crush. And yet we Christians take that very instrument and raise it above the altar. If a first century Roman executioner walked into a church today and saw a crucifix hanging over the sanctuary, he might think we had developed a very unusual sense of interior decoration. But we raise the Cross because God has completely changed its meaning. What was meant to reduce humanity has become the place where humanity is lifted up.
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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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In June 2025, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile released its first spectacular images of the universe. What fascinated me was not only the images themselves, but how long they had taken to arrive. The project had been dreamed about for decades. Scientists designed enormous mirrors, built a camera weighing several tons, hauled equipment high into the Andes, calibrated instruments, corrected tiny errors, and waited. For years, there was tremendous work and almost nothing for the public to see. Then one day, the images started appearing, filled with millions of stars and galaxies, and a look into the vastness of the universe. What looked like a sudden achievement was actually the visible result of years of invisible preparation. That is perhaps a beautiful way to understand the day of Mary's birth. When Mary was born, apparently nothing happened. No angelic choir was reported over her house. No star appeared. No emperor lost sleep. Somewhere in an ordinary Jewish family, a baby girl was born, cried, needed feeding, and probably kept somebody awake at two in the morning. Even the grandmother may have looked at her and said what grandmothers have been saying ever since: “She is beautiful. Of course, she looks like our side of the family.” Watch Video Here
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NASA has discovered something rather strange about astronauts: when they spend time in space, they actually become taller. Without gravity constantly compressing the spine, the vertebrae separate slightly, and the body can stretch by as much as three percent. A six-foot astronaut may temporarily gain nearly two inches. Apparently, if you want to become taller, there is still hope. The only small inconvenience is that you may have to leave the planet. But there is something beautiful in that image. When the environment changes, the body adjusts. It stretches. That is very close to what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel. New wine is still fermenting; it expands. A fresh wineskin can expand with it. An old, hardened one cannot. The problem is not that the wine is bad. The problem is that the container has lost its ability to stretch.
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There is something that happens in almost every family gathering. Somebody arrives late, sits quietly, hardly eats, and leaves early. Before the car has even disappeared from the driveway, the committee begins its investigation. “Something is wrong.” “He looked upset.” “She did not speak to me.” “They must be having problems.” Within ten minutes, people who have no actual information have produced a full documentary, complete with motive, and a conclusion with background music. Saint Paul says something today that should make all of us slightly less confident: “Who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within?”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
We are living in an age obsessed with authenticity. We want authentic food, genuine products, original brands, natural ingredients and we love anything that is organic. We examine labels carefully because nobody wants to discover that what they paid for as “genuine” is actually an imitation. When it comes to people, there are some people with whom you never have to wonder where you stand. They may not always say what you want to hear. They may not be polished. They may occasionally make you wish they had a small internal editing department. But they are real. What they say to your face is what they will say when you leave the room.
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