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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Be careful of birds landing on your head. That happened to Saint Fabian, and it was taken as a sign when a dove sat on his head, that he should be elected pope! Fabian was a Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as clergy and people were preparing to elect a new pope. So, he was! And he served for 14 years as a pope, until he was martyred in 250. It is an age-old argument: Do the events of history create the great (or evil) men who will change the world, or do great personalities come along at the right time to profoundly change history itself?
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Have you ever had this upsetting feeling that people are watching your every move and waiting to pounce on you when you commit even the slightest mistake? Jesus is presented to be in this sort of position in today's gospel. The time is the Sabbath. The place is the synagogue. A man is sitting there with a withered hand. Jesus is entering. The Pharisees are watching him closely to see if he will cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And sure enough, Jesus, who sees them and knows why they are there, says to the man “Come up here before us. Stretch out your hand.”
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
William Hutton, an English Poet and Historian says, “The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds ceases to be charity and is only pride and ostentation.” Jesus healed and cleansed the leper, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone” (Mark 1:43). But the Leper could not withhold his excitement. Why would Jesus tell him to say nothing about the miracle? Was he afraid of appearing to be proud? Was he afraid too many people would be coming to him?
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As we enter this First Week of Ordinary Time, we are given the image of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. And as He teaches, it's clear that there is something special about Him. He teaches with a new authority.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Jesus' story is a human story. Although He lived two thousand years ago in a culture and climate different from ours, His story is our shared human story. Who has not suffered discrimination because of our family history, education, status, age, profession, social class, ethnicity, or simply the color of our skin? Jesus was discriminated against too.
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“What does God look like?” asked Johnny in Sunday school. By now, the catechist knew the precocious boy for his unusual questions and thought it was time to make him search for his answers. So she replied, "Why don't you open your heart to everyone? Perhaps you will also catch a glimpse of God today?”
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