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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Celebrating family life | Holy lives of inspiration
Last week on Monday, the staff at the Father Peyton Center organized and celebrated a small and beautiful surprise birthday party for me. We were all together in the same space. It was a wonderful time—there was cake, donuts, and drinks; everyone was relaxing and laughing. In addition, I got all sorts of messages from around the world. The online East African Catholic community overdid itself with beautiful graphics and messages! In celebrating birthdays, we offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of the life of the person whose birthday we celebrate. We are telling God that we don't take the gift of the life of that person lightly. We are telling God that we are grateful for the gift of that life, and we deeply value it.
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Our gospel today focuses on the power and authority of Jesus. He demonstrates that in the way He spoke and in the way He acted. Preaching in the synagogue in the city of Capernaum, the people were amazed at how He spoke with personal authority, unlike other teachers and prophets who came before Him.
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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.
Learn more about our faith | Return to the Church
From the gospel that we have just listened to, Our Lord challenges the Scribes and the Pharisees about how they went about practicing their religion. He employs a powerful comparative metaphor to drive home His point. He tells them that they are the kind that spends so much time, so much careful attention, to strain tiny, almost invisible, flies out of their drinks, but on the other hand, they swallow the dirtiest and biggest camels one could ever find. How can you compare a tiny little fly in your drink to a big and dirty camel?
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It is one of the most important Feast Days of Our Blessed Mother. This day is also important to me personally because I was ordained on August 14, 2005, and I celebrated my Thanksgiving Mass on August 15. My vocation story has Our Blessed Mother somewhere in the mix. Possibly you wouldn’t have me as a priest without her intercession. Keep praying for me!
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons in Rome during the persecution of the Christians by emperor Valerian in the year 258 AD. He was responsible for the church’s monies, and he was in charge of ministering to the poor whose patron saint he has become. He died a very painful death of being grilled on a fire – like goat meat, and somehow, he has become the patron saint of cooks!
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