World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Listening to the extensive missionary travels of Saint Paul for the past couple of weeks, I was reminded that although his travels were far more extensive, I had my own share of missionary travels during my six years living in Rome. I visited Holy Cross religious in Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
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Those of us in this part of our world who are experiencing Spring, flowers growing, trees sprouting leaves and bushes revealing new growth, new branches, welcome these words of Jesus today when he says that he is the vine, and we are the branches. He talked about the need to prune the branches, to give way to new growth.
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What words of assurance are we receiving today from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit? What message might God and the Holy Spirit want us to hear today and to ponder. You can expect challenges, you can expect hardships as my followers, and some may find the challenges and hardships too much to bear but if you remain in me, I will remain with you.
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We meet the apostles Paul and Barnabas. Once again, they are attack. Not everyone appreciated their preaching, and we hear today they had to flee to avoid the crowd that was seeking to stone them. We heard about one of their healings, the cure of the cripple man. The crowds became ecstatic. It happens today. We hear of people going to different parts of the world once they hear that something extraordinary happened.
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Do I dare do what the synagogue official did that day that Paul was in the congregation, ask is there anyone among us who has a word of exhortation for the rest of us to hear? Would anyone like to speak in response to the Scriptures that have been proclaimed for us today?
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Some people listening to Saint Paul’s conversion story might be inclined to think that those things just do not happen anymore. Wrong. They happen every day. Every day people are falling to the ground and like Paul are helpless. They were powerless. Some unfortunately never get up. Like Paul, those who fell to the ground were able to get up with the help of someone else. For many that someone else was God, Jesus.
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