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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Family Fun | family prayer | pray the rosary
Getting kids to sit down and recite a whole Rosary is not always met with cheers and delight, as much as I wish that were the case. If I am telling the truth, I am sometimes met with groans and eye rolls alike. But when you lay out a donut Rosary, suddenly your kids are rallying to lead more prayers than their siblings. There’s nothing complex about the Donut Rosary. The cross can be a construction paper cutout, or you can make a cross with donut holes. The Our Father and Glory Be prayers should be regular-sized donuts — whoever leads the longer prayers and Scripture verse for the Mystery gets a “big donut.” The Hail Marys should be donut holes — make a decade one flavor or mix them up. After you say your prayer or prayers, you get to eat the donut(s). You will be amazed at the complaints about how unfair it was that Sister 1 got to lead more prayers than Sister 2 —haha!
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Birds are generally nice to look at. Whether they are flying or perched on a branch, most birds look beautiful. Except one species – the vulture. These scavengers, with their scruffy, hunched appearance and their diet of decay, seem to embody darkness and death. Vultures don’t hunt; they gather where there is death.
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Brief and contemporary inspiration focused on hope and family prayer will be delivered to your inbox! Articles include live video, written word, and links to resources that will lead you and your family deeper into faith.
Who doesn’t like fireworks? Seeing those lights shooting through the dark sky, exploding into a multi-colored ball of gigantic sparks, is always fascinating. It seems that many Christians would like Christianity to be as full of surprises and as entertaining as a fireworks show. Many people desire dramatic events to occur in order to raise awareness about developments in the Christian community. However, it often seems as though not much is happening—at least nothing that would make headlines in newspapers. This leaves people asking in dismay, "Why not?"
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known, even to people with limited knowledge of scripture. It is a beautiful and encouraging song of faith and hope in God's role as shepherd of our lives. When I was in my final year of seminary, there were a lot of last-minute details to take care of, and one that had escaped me was to create a small ordination prayer card. Some of my classmates probably had theirs done at the beginning of the year, but there I was about two weeks before ordination, looking for an image of Jesus and a suitable scriptural verse.
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First Reading Reflection (Titus 2:1-8, 11-14) Beloved: You must say what is consistent with sound doctrine, namely, that older men should be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance. Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, so that they may train younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers, under the control of their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves, showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us. For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.
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November 11th is the Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, who was born in 316 AD and grew up in a military family. As a teenager, he also served in the army. He is the patron saint of soldiers. It is not a coincidence that Veteran’s Day in the United States is celebrated on the 11th of November in honor of those who have served, or who currently serve, in the military.
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