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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Today’s dramatic healing in the first reading takes place just outside the Temple at what was called the Beautiful Gate. We’re told it was named this because it was grand in size and ornate in design… something to behold, something fitting. But what took place just outside of it that we’ve just heard… brought a different kind of beauty…one that was wrought from the power of Jesus’ Name…one that was shared by Peter and John with that man begging for alms. The meaning of the Beautiful Gate changed…when a man born with a physical disability encountered Peter and John, who had faith in Jesus. If you think about it, the man whose life was changed forever, up until that day, had the same routine, which included being carried to the Temple gate to beg for alms to survive each day. And it must have worked; he must have received enough money or food from others to make it through the day, and then been carried home. That is, until he met two men who had something else to offer.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Can you remember the last time you needed courage to either do or not do something? It might take some thinking or it could come to right away…because you just faced it. I thought about this question in light of our two young heroes…David from the first reading and St. Agnes, virgin and martyr who despite their young ages overcame natural fear through their faith in God. In today’s gospel, Jesus, also displays the courage of his convictions when he teaches and heals the man with a withered hand. Jesus doesn’t let the Pharisees who were the key religious watchdogs enforcing Sabbath observance and who wielded significant popular influence deter Him from doing the will of His Father.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
One of my new favorite commercials involves a young woman talking to her friend, pouring out her concerns about her relationship with her boyfriend. Her friend, who sits across the table from her, is engrossed with her cell phone and whatever’s on the screen. She’s barely listening and gives the occasional uh-huh type of reply. That’s when the narrator calls for Tedy Bridgewater, a professional athlete, to take the friend’s place. Tedy immediately sits down and locks in, maintaining eye contact and using the type of affirmation that shows he’s really listening and cares.
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As I reflected on today’s readings and Father Peyton's life, I was drawn to Luke’s account of Jesus’ healing through both word and touch. St. Luke, who had a medical background, describes the man who approached Jesus as being “full of leprosy.” This detail tells us that the man suffered not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. In that time, leprosy rendered a person ritually unclean, cutting him off from family, community, and worship. He was expected to live apart, carrying the weight of isolation and rejection. Unlike everyone else, Jesus is not afraid to draw near. Filled with the Holy Spirit, He reaches out and touches the man. Though ostracized and suffering, the man believes that Jesus can heal him both physically and ritually, and so he cries out in faith, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus responds with compassion and authority: “I do will it. Be made clean.” Immediately, the leprosy leaves him.
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As we come down the homestretch of Advent toward Christmas, it’s good to pause and remember why December 25th is a holy and special day. The opening prayer says it all: “O God, who seeing the human race fallen into death, willed to redeem it by the coming of your only begotten Son…” In just one line, we recognize our need for a Savior and profess that one has been sent. The prayer then turns to our response: “…grant, we pray, that those who confess his Incarnation with humble fervor may merit His company as their Redeemer.” That phrase—“confess his Incarnation with humble fervor”—is a powerful reminder of what we strive for in our faith: to proclaim that Jesus, the Son of God, took on our human nature to redeem us, and to do so both humbly and with passion. That balance is not always easy.
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Learn more about our faith | Strengthening family unity
Can you imagine finding out that your neighbor—the one everyone considered a bad person—made it into Heaven? Whatever emotions or questions that might stir up in us pale in comparison to the shock Jesus causes in today’s Gospel. In His parable of the man with two sons, Jesus compares the first son—the one who initially said “no” to his father but later changed his mind and did what was asked—to tax collectors and prostitutes. That alone would have been scandalous to His listeners. Tax collectors and prostitutes were considered the most shameful, the most morally corrupt, people of their time. Most believed they were beyond redemption—that the die had been cast, that they could not change. Like that imagined neighbor…or even someone closer to home.
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