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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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“Abba Anthony taught that while a solitary person escapes the external wars of hearing, speaking, and seeing, the constant battle remains within the heart.” Put in different words, purity of heart is and must be the core goal of our spiritual life, our anchor for striving for holiness. The caution here is: we should not fool ourselves into believing that external purity habits do equate to a holy life. Experience teaches that religious performance can easily mask a prideful and spiteful heart. Our words and reactions are a reflection of what truly sits deep within our hearts.
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Rejection is something that is hard to deal with in our lives. And all of us are going to get rejected at some point in our lives. In relationships, at workplace and in family, in society, rejection is something we cannot escape. Whether it is being passed over for a job, or left out of dinner with friends, rejection hits hard. It can stir up shame, self-doubt, anxiety, and even physical pain.
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In the past, but even currently there has been debates as to whether God who is full of compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness ever set up a place where to eternally banish those considered evil and sinful. Some sections of people believe and preach that everyone goes to heaven, no matter what one does. This would suggest that it doesn’t matter if one prays or doesn’t, if one keeps or breaks promises, if one steals or doesn’t, if one is faithful to his/her spouse or cheats. Yet, in today’s gospel, Jesus presents the parable of the dragnet cast into the sea and once it is brought ashore there will be a separation of good fish from bad one. In otherwards there will come a time, when those who have lived a faithful life and those who did not, will be clearly distinguished and separated from each other.
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We have all been blessed in many ways from the families that raised us and contributed to the people we have become now. One thing that is so dear to me apart from my family of origin, is the new family I joined forty years ago and that is the Congregation of Holy Cross. It is family that has nurtured my relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong we share our difficult moments and crises at times, but the Congregation of Holy Cross has been and still continues to be a place where I have experienced a relationship of trust, commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, encouragement, support, strength and so many other qualities that bind people together in mutual love and unity. I am sure you can all give similar testimonies to different new families you belong to.
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It is possible that most of us in our families have had to deal with defiant people or defiant behavior. We have had people dear to us retorting, “Did I ask you to give birth to me?” or a son shouting back at his parents, “No.” Maybe you've experienced someone responding, "If you helped me, that was your choice; did I force you?” These phrases reflect a pattern of non-compliance, hostility, and refusal to cooperate with authority in whatever form it takes. These kinds of reactions and responses can indeed be heartbreaking for the recipient. Believing What You See In the Gospel today, Jesus had been healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and casting out demons in towns like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Despite these undeniable displays of divine power and God’s loving kindness, the residents refused to repent or accept him as the Messiah.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own fact” by Daniel Patrick. Why is that observation? Because sometimes we can have skewed interpretations of situations that distort the truth. Our interpretations to situations often highlight how subjective biases, Personal prejudices, and flawed perspectives can distort objective reality. Sometimes as human beings, what we observe is often a reflection of our own conditioning rather than the raw truth.
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