World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Strengthening family unity | Why pray?
I think there’s a part of most people that can identify with the Israelites in today’s first reading. They’ve been through a lot! First in Egypt and now in the desert after a long march and facing a legion of Pharoah’s warriors, they’ve reached a breaking point. (Can you relate?) This is why they remind Moses that they asked him to leave them alone when he first told them they were about to set out for a promised land and freedom.
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In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus ends His instruction to the crowd by saying: "Whoever has ears ought to hear." Later, Jesus speaks to the disciples about the crowd, saying, "…they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand."
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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.
Can you remember back when Sundays were different? A day when you went to Mass, picked up a dozen doughnuts on the way home, or maybe went out to breakfast before heading home with the Sunday paper. That was just in the morning! Afternoons and evenings almost always included visiting family and friends, family lunch and supper, going for a ride, and being outside, including learning how to ride your bike or drive a car in the empty parking lots of banks and malls.
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Yesterday, while preparing for today’s homily, I read a wonderful reflection on today’s first reading. It was written by a retired woman by the name of Eileen Wirth. For years she was a journalist and then taught at Creighton University in Nebraska. Now she is retired but not without purpose in her life.
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Healing the family | Return to the Church
How do we make sense of Jesus’ statement that He “… has not come to bring peace but the sword?” The first clue is
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Holy lives of inspiration | Strengthening family unity
Having grown up in a city, Jesus’ instruction to “be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” only made partial sense to me. I get the idea of shrewdness in order to watch your back or anyone else’s who is part of your flock. But the "simple as doves" has always seemed to be a contradiction to the vigilance part of the instruction.
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