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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 | Learn more about our faith
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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Feast of St. Stephen | Virtues
Let's remember St. Stephen today, who he was, and how he became the first Christian martyr. Why is his feast celebrated on December 26 and not today or tomorrow when we have the readings about his martyrdom? And following Stephen's story, let's examine what it has to offer us.
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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.
Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
When climbers set out to conquer a great mountain, say, Everest or Kilimanjaro, they begin with backpacks overflowing. Food for every possibility, extra clothes, comforts from home, maybe even a favorite book. But the higher they climb, the heavier every ounce feels. Oxygen thins. Steps slow. At the base, you own your things; halfway up, they own you. So at every camp, they leave something behind: a pan, a sweater, a photo. The mountain strips them down to the essentials. Because the only way to reach the summit is to travel light.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
You know what's fascinating about airport reunions? We've all seen those videos, People waiting to receive their loved ones after a gap of years. What is fascinating is Not the actual reunion, but what happens in the minutes before. Watch the people waiting at arrivals sometime. They're nervous, excited, checking their phones, craning their necks. They know the person is coming. The flight has landed. They've got confirmation. But that last bit, that walking through the doors part, that's the bit that feels endless. Today, on this remembrance day, we're standing in that arrivals hall. And the readings we've heard, from the book of Wisdom and from John's Gospel, They're giving us something to stand on while we wait.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Let me be honest with you: while preparing this homily I had to look up for more details about Simon and Jude the apostles. Not because I'm a terrible Catholic, okay, maybe partly that, but because these two apostles are essentially footnotes in the Gospel story. Simon gets just one description: "the Zealot." Jude gets confused with Judas Iscariot so often that he has basically spent two thousand years saying, "No, not that Judas. The other one." Yet here we are, celebrating their feast day. Not of the famous ones. Not just Peter and John. But Simon the political radical and Jude the perpetually mistaken.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Picture this: a young woman named Sarah spent her entire childhood waiting. Her father whom she was extremely fond of, was a traveling salesman who would leave home for months at a time, always promising to return on specific days. Sarah would sit by the window with her mother, both of them dressed nicely, both of them ready for him. Her mother would prepare special meals, keep the house immaculate, and they would wait. Sometimes he showed up on time, sometimes a bit late. Sometimes he didn’t. When he did, he stayed for a few days and left again. Sarah’s mother taught her that love meant being perpetually ready, and perpetually disappointed.
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