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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 | Love thy Neighbor
The book of Judges, from where we have the first reading today, covers a turbulent period in Israel’s history, after the death of Joshua and before the rise of kings. Without a central ruler, the tribes often drifted into moral and spiritual chaos.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
There’s an old Irish saying, which goes; “The most beautiful road is the one that leads you home.” We are on a journey, with a destination in mind. But if we’re honest, most of us pack for life as if this world were the final destination, extra baggage, emergency snacks, a few “just in case” projects. We live as if we are settling in for good, when in reality, we are all just passing through the departure lounge. And speaking of travel, let me share with you a story my friend forwarded to me. There is this couple from Minnesota, they were experiencing a freezing and severe winter. And so they decided, well, why don't we go down to Florida to experience some good weather? And they said, well, why don't we see if we can stay at the same hotel where they honeymooned 20 years earlier? So they made the arrangements. With the last-minute bookings, the only little hiccup was that they couldn't get on the same flight. And so they agreed that the husband will fly down on Thursday; the wife was coming on Friday. And the husband arrives safely at Florida.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
If you’ve ever been stuck in the slowest line at the grocery store, you know a little of what Moses felt. Forty years of leading Israel through the wilderness was like being trapped behind a customer with 20 coupons, a cart full of melons, and a personal chat with the cashier. Just when you think you’re finally getting out, the lane closes. Moses led the people for forty years, through wilderness, disasters, rebellions, and at the end, God shows him the Promised Land from a mountaintop and God says, “Beautiful, isn’t it? But “You will not enter it. Thank you very much, Now Joshua will take it from here.”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
There is something interesting about how we remember things. When I was a child, we had a steel trunk under the bed, packed with old clothes, letters, books, old silverware, and photographs. On some days, my mother would open it, sit on the floor, and start pulling things out: a yellowed shirt, a broken pair of spectacles, a letter written in ink so faded it looked like fog. Every time she opened it, we kids would groan, “Not again!” because we knew we were about to sit through another episode of The Dusty Chronicles, staring at silverware from 1972. But she’d sit on the floor like a museum curator, holding up the silverware, “Shhh… This is who we are.” She wasn’t preserving junk. She was preserving meaning.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
A sunrise or a sunset over still water. The silence before a symphony begins. A child laughing in sleep. A blessing whispered from the deathbed. These are moments that do not ask to be explained. Only received. These are not events to be intervened, but mysteries to be knelt before. The Transfiguration is one such moment. The mountain is where the veil thins, where the ordinary gives way. “Mountains in Scripture are never destinations, they are thresholds. From Sinai to Tabor, they are where God speaks so we can descend changed. The climb is not about escape, but a preparation for everything waiting below.”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Today’s first reading includes one of the more painfully honest moments in Moses’ leadership journey: “I cannot carry all these people by myself, for they are too heavy for me.” We don’t get the grand miracles, the parting of seas, or thunder from Sinai. No, today we get Moses at his wit’s end, exhausted, frustrated, and frankly, ready to resign. This might be the first recorded case of clergy or leadership burnout. This might be the most relatable passage in all of Scripture for anyone who's ever had to lead a group trip, a parish committee, or even wrangle hungry kids at dinnertime. The Israelites are in the wilderness, and what are they doing? Complaining. Loudly. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt… the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic!” It's like someone handed them a review for their time of slavery in Egypt: “Two stars, poor working conditions, terrible boss, but the food was great.” They’re nostalgic for oppression, simply because the food there had better sauce and seasoning.
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