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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Earlier this month, I was in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. You know what those hills have seen. Ten years of civil war. A blockade with no medicine, no fuel, no way out. Villages burned. Priests evacuated. Churches empty or in ruins. The faith did not die. It did not die because ordinary people carried it. Catechists walked. Mothers gathered children under a tree and prayed the Rosary from memory. No program. No budget. Only people who had received something and refused to let it fall. And then I saw what they handed on.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
My parents were farmers. I grew up working the land alongside them. Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my father's death — a man who sowed good seed in me long before I understood what that meant. Every farmer knows: good seed alone is not enough. The soil matters.
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My dear brothers and sisters, today's readings ask us one simple question: Is my heart still open to God? In the Gospel, Jesus says something that can sound puzzling: "To anyone who has, more will be given." He is not talking about money or success. He is talking about an open heart. The one who welcomes God's grace finds that grace keeps coming. The one who closes his heart slowly loses even the ability to recognize God's presence. The difference is never God's generosity — God gives freely to everyone. The difference is our receptivity.
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A father once told me about his teenage son who had stopped speaking to him. For three years there was silence. No calls. No visits. No conversation. The father had said something hurtful, and the son had walked away. But every week, that father drove past his son’s apartment. He did not knock on the door. He did not force a conversation. He simply wanted to be near. He wanted to make sure the lights were on and that his boy was safe. When they finally reconciled, the son asked him, “Why did you keep coming?” The father answered, “Because you are still mine.”
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Today’s readings give us two emotional farewell moments. In the first reading, Paul gathers the elders of Ephesus, knowing suffering awaits him. Yet he says with remarkable peace: “I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord.” In the Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father on the night before His Passion: “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” Both Paul and Jesus speak about one thing: finishing the work God entrusted to them.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says something very honest and deeply encouraging: “I have told you this so that you may not fall away.” Jesus knew that His disciples would face difficult moments—rejection, suffering, confusion, and challenges to their faith. So before those struggles came, He prepared their hearts. And that is how God works in our lives too. Very often, God prepares us long before we understand what He is doing.
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