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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Saint Paul talks about his call: “God called me, the least of all his people”. The Melrose Suspension Bridge on the Niagara links the United States to Canada. The bridge was reportedly built in 1848 by engineer Theodore Elliot, in this fashion. First, a kite with a thread attached to it was flown across the Niagara River. Next, a cord was attached to the thread and pulled across. Then, a rope was attached to the cord. Finally, a cable was attached to the rope. The larger cables and the rest of the bridge were moved into place from the cable. Had Paul lived in our modern times, he might have used this story to make the point he stressed in today's reading. He, "the least of all God's people," was the tiny, fragile thread by which God began the conversion of the Gentile world. "I'm only a spark, / Make me a fire, I'm only a string, / Make me a lyre" said the poet, Amado Nervo.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
When I first started dating my wife, Anna, I quickly learned about her devotion to our Blessed Mother and her commitment to praying a daily Rosary. For some reason, praying the Rosary did not interest me. It seemed boring, and I felt that other forms of prayer were more fruitful. Don’t get me wrong, I loved our Blessed Mother and understood her role in the life of the Church. I often talked about her with others, and some would say I was Mary’s biggest fan. But a whole Rosary, five decades, was reserved for when I couldn’t fall asleep. In fact, during different seasons of my life, I kept a Rosary on my nightstand. As soon as I lay in bed, I would grab it, usually not making it to the end of the Creed, before waking up the next morning with the Rosary on my face.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray? | family prayer
After hearing the sermon "Let your light shine," little Jane only fully grasped its meaning when her mother explained that it meant being good, obedient, and cheerful. Later that day, after misbehaving with her friends, Jane returned to her mother and said, "Ma, sorry I have blown myself out! Can you light me again?" This heartfelt request serves as a reminder that every Christian is called to be a beacon of light in the world, shining a light on the darkness around them. Jane's simple yet profound question encourages us to contemplate the Light of Christ that we receive at Baptism. We are not only called to preserve this light, but also to nurture it and keep it burning brightly throughout our lives.
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
I’m so thrilled to be writing to you on this feast of Saint John Paul II. From the time I was born and up through college, Pope John Paul II was the only pope I knew. Looking back, he was the reason I started to have a love for the Rosary. Pope John Paul II’s last World Youth Day was in Toronto in 2002. As a thank-you to our parish for all the fundraising to go, I was inspired one day to write the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary into short scripts. I created a production where the young adults and youth at my parish performed each Mystery, and the audience would pray the decade’s prayers in between each one. It was a “Living Rosary,” and it was beautiful. All this came about because of attending World Youth Day. After World Youth Day, in October of the same year, Pope John Paul II released the Luminous Mysteries with the start of the Year of the Rosary. I fell in love with these new mysteries and inspiration struck! This time, my brother wrote music to go along with the scripts I wrote for the Luminous Mysteries. I cast a small group of young adults and high school students from across the diocese to take part in what I called a “prayformance.” It was an incredible experience as my cast, the audience, and I became completely immersed in the Rosary. I was the director and producer, and also played the woman who washes the feet of Jesus in the Third Luminous Mystery, “The Conversion of Sinners and the Proclamation of the Kingdom.”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray? | family prayer
Once upon a time, two families came to a Rabbi, wanting him to settle a dispute over boundaries over their land. He listened to the members of one family as they recounted how they had received this land as their inheritance from their ancestors and how it had been in their family for generations. They had maps and papers to prove it. Then, the Rabbi listened to the other family. Its members described how they had lived on the same land for years, working and harvesting it. They claimed that they knew the land intimately and that it was their land. They didn't have papers to prove it, but they had calluses and sore backs and the harvest and the produce of the land. The Rabbi looked at them both and backed away from between them. They turned on him and said, "Decide, Rabbi, who owns this land."
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Family Rosary | The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands
On first Communion day, each student in our second-grade class at St. John’s Catholic School was gifted a Rosary: black-beaded ones for the boys, white-beaded ones for the girls. Fifty-four years later I still have that Rosary. The clear plastic case gave up the ghost recently but the Rosary — thanks to the handiwork of a local Rosary repair expert — is going strong. That Rosary followed me from one move after another through the years. For the most part, it remained in its case, coming out for special occasions, like retreats and Catholic women’s conferences. For the most part, it sat tucked away in my nightstand drawer, waiting to be called into action.
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