World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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My reflection comes from the Second Book of Kings. In that Book, we have heard about King Ahab and his pagan wife Jezebel—who instigated the murder of many people. Today's First Reading continues with King Ahab and Jezebel dead and their daughter Athalia (who was evil and a pagan like her mother Jezebel) at the center of things.
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Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This feast is the titular feast of the Priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross. If you know any priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, please wish them a good feast day! The founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Blessed Basil Moreau wrote, “To give one’s heart is to give love. Jesus speaks our language when he holds out his heart to us, which tells the story of his love for us. The primary purpose of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is to return love for love.”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Love thy Neighbor
Today in our gospel we hear how the disciples of Christ found some villager who was blessing the sick and praying for their healing, all in the name of Jesus, and how they tried to stop him because he was not part of their group or company. When the disciples told Jesus about this, He reprimanded them for their envy and fear. Jesus told them that, “No one can perform a miracle in my name and at the same time speak ill of me. Anyone who is not against us is with us.”
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Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Matthias the Apostle. He was not among the first twelve Apostles of Jesus, but was a substitute for Judas Iscariot who committed suicide after betraying Jesus, decreasing the number of Apostles to eleven. The number twelve was important in Israel because it symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve divisions of the priestly order, and the twelve doors of the temple in Jerusalem. The number twelve symbolized completeness and perfection.
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Today we begin the month of May, a month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. Today also happens to be the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, a day designated by Mother Church as Religious Brother Day. If you know of a religious brother, please wish them a good feast day!
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Our reflection today is taken from the Gospel of John. Today we hear some of the most reassuring words come from the mouth of Jesus. He tells his disciples that do not let your heart be troubled; trust in God, and trust in me too. These words are words that need to become a sort of a mantra for us, a repeated prayer for us. These are words that need to be engraved on our heart so that we can keep returning to them and keep reminding ourselves under different circumstances what the Lord’s take is on what is going on in our life. “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, and believe also in me.”
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