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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Today we remember and celebrate martyrs in China that most of us don’t know much about. St. Augustine Zhao Rong was a soldier, not a Christian, when he escorted a missionary bishop from France, St. John Dufresse to his martyrdom. Augustine was so impressed by his witness he himself was soon baptized and became a priest - then captured, tortured and killed for the faith in 1815. With them we celebrate 120 named and many thousands unknown Martyrs for Christ over 4 centuries of persecution in China that still continues to this day. In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion, a brutal complicated international conflict in China took special aim at Christians and at least 40,000 Christians, mostly Catholics were killed.
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Healing the family | Why pray?
Some people are talking about positive changes happening in their families during this time of lockdown because of the coronavirus. We are not sure about tomorrow, the only thing that we have at our disposal is this present moment.
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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.
During quarantine, I had to cut my own hair four times. Fortunately, I have a great stylist, and just followed the pattern she’d already created. Besides, my hair is short and wavy. All I had to do was add a little product, scrunch it to curl, and any unevenness just got mixed into the whole. My hair actually looked pretty good, making me think I could permanently skip those $50 visits every six to eight weeks. There are so many other things I could spend that money on. Unfortunately, everything changed after the fourth haircut.
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Today’s 1st reading caused me to wonder: “Are we relying too much on man and science right now…given our current situation?”
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“My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hands on her, and she will live.” Matthew 9:18 In 1902, a child was martyred, Maria Goretti, not yet 12 years old. She was canonized in Rome in 1950 before the biggest crowd to witness a canonization up to that time. Her mother and her murderer were in attendance.
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Our first patron saints are, of course, our name saints, if we’re given saints’ names. In the old days, according to Canon Law, if a baby’s first or middle name wasn’t a saint’s name, the priest would bestow one at baptism. I’ve read some funny stories about priests’ choices! But the Code of Canon Law changed in 1983, and the new naming requirements are not so strict. Canon 855 states that, “Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to take care that a name foreign to Christian sensibility is not given.” That’s it. Basically, most names are totally fine.
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