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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray? | family prayer
Once upon a time, two families came to a Rabbi, wanting him to settle a dispute over boundaries over their land. He listened to the members of one family as they recounted how they had received this land as their inheritance from their ancestors and how it had been in their family for generations. They had maps and papers to prove it. Then, the Rabbi listened to the other family. Its members described how they had lived on the same land for years, working and harvesting it. They claimed that they knew the land intimately and that it was their land. They didn't have papers to prove it, but they had calluses and sore backs and the harvest and the produce of the land. The Rabbi looked at them both and backed away from between them. They turned on him and said, "Decide, Rabbi, who owns this land."
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There is a legend which goes this way. A destitute woman, reeling from the loss of her husband and engulfed in relentless agony, received a tattered pamphlet from her neighbor. The neighbor had stumbled upon it lying on the street and, upon reading it, immediately thought of the sorrowful woman. The pamphlet contained a captivating story of a Man who offered solace to the afflicted. The grief-stricken woman read it and found her entire life transformed by its profound message! Astoundingly, the pamphlet turned out to be a copy of the Gospel of Saint Luke, which brought an overwhelming sense of peace and relief to the woman with its powerful themes of consolation and comfort.
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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.
A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. One morning, while they were having breakfast, the woman noticed her neighbor hanging laundry outside to dry. “That laundry is not very clean,” she commented. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on but remained silent. Every time the neighbor hung clothes to dry, the woman repeated her observation about the dirty laundry. One month later, the woman was surprised to see clean clothes on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has finally learned how to wash her clothes properly. Her husband responded, “I was up early this morning and cleaned our windows! ”
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"I'll pray for you; keep me in your prayers." So often, those phrases are tossed out during a casual goodbye or especially when trouble is on the loose, or when some worry hovers in the air. They are perhaps forgotten as soon as the next person or crisis pops into our minds.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Catherine Booth, co-founder with her husband, William Booth, of the Salvation Army, was an electrifying preacher. Wherever she went, crowds of people came to hear her message of hope: princes and nobles, beggars, and homeless people. One night, after preaching in a certain city, a certain well-placed lady invited Mrs. Booth to dinner. The lady's words of welcome as she arrived were: "My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was so dreadful." "What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Booth. "Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible that many of them were homeless. I do not think I shall sleep tonight!" "Why, dear, don't you know them?" Mrs. Booth asked. "Certainly not!" the host replied. "Well, that is interesting," Mrs. Booth said. "I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors!" The lady who had invited Mrs. Booth to dinner understood her "neighbor" was not to be limited only to those on her social and economic level.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today, as we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, we are invited to reflect on the theme of connection—connection to God, one another, and the whole of creation. Most of us know the term "conference call. But that may be a bit of an old concept; we now have Zoom or team meetings" It means having several people talking or having meeting together on the telephone or a computer. The people talking are online with each other. In this way, you can meet people from all over the world. It is possible you can see and interact with each other online as if you are speaking with someone or others face to face.
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