World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Contemplative Prayer | Father figures | catholic family life
Helen Syski’s toddler shows her that true spiritual childhood is seeing all the terrors of the world from the safety of our heavenly Daddy’s arms. The peace-shattering BOOM resounded across the harbor. My toddler screamed in fright as the first celebratory sparkles snapped and crackled above us on the Fourth of July. He had been proudly a part of the cousin pack enjoying dessert until shock and fear sent him running for the arms of his father. The rest of the fireworks display was peaceful. My husband turned so that our toddler, peeping shyly out over his daddy’s bicep, could gaze in growing wonder at the sparkly dandelions exploding into the sky. Snuggled deep in Daddy’s arms he was able to process this new situation, knowing and trusting that Daddy could handle it. If Daddy wasn’t afraid, he didn’t need to be either.
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Life is full of limitations. As a mom of young children, I will not be founding a hospital in a leper colony or fasting on the Eucharist alone. Days—sometimes months—pass by without the opportunity for all those faithful devotions and Holy Hours our hallowed predecessors fulfilled. How are we to live our lives? Rather than becoming downcast at our constraints, what if we saw them as the Mercy of God? The love notes of our loving Father?
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