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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
Today, we remember and pray to St. Peter Canisius, priest and doctor of the Church. He lived in the 1500s and, as a Jesuit, worked in South Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Switzerland during the Counter-Reformation. He was a tireless and influential preacher and teacher for adults and children. One of his famous sayings was, “If you have too much to do, with God’s help, you will find the time to do it.” That’s good spiritual advice at any time, but especially with only a few days left till Christmas Eve!
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Over the past several days, while getting over the flu, I realized that this third week of Advent was going to be different and a little uncertain. I think most of us feel better when we have a plan—whether for the day, for the week, and definitely when getting ready for Christmas. But what about when something happens and suddenly our plan goes out the window?
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
In 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at Guadalupe, near Mexico City. Juan Diego was an Indian who first encountered our Blessed Mother as he traveled from his village to take part in divine worship and listen to God’s commandments. As he approached a hill named Tepeyac, with the dawn breaking, he heard someone calling his name. As he traveled up the hill, he caught sight of a woman, the likes of whom he had never seen, whose clothing was radiant as the sun. She said in the most kind and gentle way, “Juanito, the humblest of my children, know and understand that I am the ever-virgin Mary.”
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Healing the family | Holy lives of inspiration
Normally, when I read today’s gospel, I’m so drawn to the extraordinary act of love by the friends of the man who is paralyzed, that I miss the first line where it says, “One day as Jesus was teaching …”
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St. John Damascene, priest and doctor of the church, is quoted as saying, “Prayer is the raising up of the mind to God.” It was the phrase “raising up” that caught my attention as I reflected on the reading from Isaiah, where Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s house “established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.”
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Celebrating family life | Why pray?
As I read over today’s readings and began to reflect on their meaning, asking God to help me to write this homily, I was also thinking of Mrs. Howley, the mother of my friend, Joe, who is preparing to go home to God.
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