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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Faith | Holy Saturday | Mother Mary
If you’ve ever had to scoop a child in a deep sleep off a couch, you know how hard it is to position them in a way that you can lift them, walk while carrying them, arms limp, head rolling here or there. The bigger your kids get, the harder this feat becomes. So imagine Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus. Imagine the strength it took to hold the body of her dead, adult son, and not only its physical weight, but also its emotional weight. Mary Has Incredible Strength The Pietà provides us with a grim romantic version of this scene. When you look at the Pietà, you feel the weight of the moment, but you forget the weight of the body. Mary’s face sorrowful, but serene. It’s her right hand, fingers sprawled, which you can almost miss, peeking through under his body, where you glimpse the strength it must have required to keep his body propped up. His head, weighing heavily on her forearm.
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Good Friday | Holy Week | catholic family life
Behold, behold, the wood of the cross, on which is hung our salvation. O come, let us adore. These familiar words are often intoned each year at the Good Friday service. On this somber day that we yet call "good,” what further words can be said? Perhaps just a few. Looking at the cross of Christ, we can say, “Thank you.”
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Good Friday | Holy Week | catholic family life
Do you struggle to find ways to observe Good Friday with your young family? It’s true that Holy Thursday (everyone can relate to a meal with friends) and Easter Sunday (who doesn’t like a party?) are much more “comfortable” for us, whereas Good Friday is definitely uncomfortable. The brutal torture that Jesus went through leading up to His Death on the Cross is too much for many adults to bear, much less young children. For good reason, we don’t want to scare our children by exposing them to the violence, brutality, and sadness of Good Friday. But, if we leave that part out of the Easter story, we’re missing a BIG part of the message of Easter.
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Catholic Motherhood | Holy Thursday | Holy Week
By now, most of us are eager to celebrate Easter. Who else can practically taste the deviled eggs and chocolate bunnies? But before the joy and songs of praise on Resurrection Sunday, we pause to reflect on what makes that fateful Friday “Good” — the day our Lord suffered and died on the Cross. While the events of Good Friday deserve a lifetime of meditation, lately, I’ve been lingering on the day before: Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday. What Does “Maundy” Mean? The term Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "commandment." It refers to Jesus’ words to His disciples during the Last Supper: “Love one another as I have loved you.” That’s another hard teaching, Lord.
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Holy Thursday | Holy Week | catholic family life
When Covid-19 hit my town, I was two weeks away from delivering my fifth child. Coming home to my other kids, with my husband off work for a short time, I honestly didn’t mind the stay-at-home orders initially. Winter melted away to warm spring air, and the loss of many material things and social isolation still held a feeling of hopefulness — maybe these sacrifices would prove fruitful. Yet amid the confusion and incredible pain so many encountered, we suffered incomparably with the closing of churches. Daily Mass was no longer offered, and Adoration chapels were shuttered. Jesus was hidden in plain sight, though for the first time since my conversion, he wasn’t accessible. There are many stories of people whose access to the Eucharist is limited. Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo (1848-1894) lived in Madagascar when the French Missionary priests left due to conflict. She was placed in charge of the faith of a Catholic community of around 21,000 people for three years. Without access to any sacraments, the community endured and became even more grateful for them when the priests finally returned.
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As we come closer to the heart of Holy Week, the tone shifts. It gets heavier. We feel the weight of what’s coming. The Gospel of Matthew brings us face to face with something uncomfortable: betrayal. And not just any betrayal—Judas, one of the Twelve. Someone who walked with Jesus, ate with Him, listened to Him preach, saw Him heal, witnessed His love … and still chose to walk away.
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