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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Jesus' early disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. He called them to become his followers, promising to make them fishers of people. When Jesus was crucified, and all their hopes in him were dashed, they returned to Galilee and went back to their fishing. Today's Gospel reading suggests that they had lost their touch as fishermen. Perhaps their hearts weren't really in it. It is hard to go back to what we once did when, in the meantime, we have found something much more fulfilling.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
There was a professor in our seminary who was teaching us homiletics. He was trying to impress upon the students the importance of using facial expressions to express feelings when preaching. "When you speak of heaven," he said, "Let your face light with a heavenly glow, when you speak of hell, your everyday face will do." Sometimes, our "everyday face" reflects the hell we are going through. For the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus after hearing their Master's death, the facial expression reflected a "hell" of deep sadness and disappointment they were going through.
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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.
We are still in the Easter Octave—the eight days that extend the celebration of Easter Sunday. The Octave starts on Easter Day itself and ends on Divine Mercy Sunday. The six days between Easter and Divine Mercy, from Monday to Saturday, all have the title “Easter” attached to them. So, we celebrate Easter Monday all the way to Easter Saturday.
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Happy Easter! In this season of renewal and hope, I am moved to share a profound story that has touched my heart deeply, imparted to me by one of the Holy Cross priests. It is the story of a community member who, in his final moments, shared a revelation that resonates deeply with the spirit of Easter. As he lay on his deathbed, he whispered with a serene smile, "I rejoice," expressing his joy and anticipation for what awaited him beyond this life. His words, "I am so happy to see what awaits me," remind us that in the journey of faith, death is not an end but a gateway to a new beginning.
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The Lord's Resurrection provoked many emotions. It was fear and joy for His followers who first knew of it, the women who went to His tomb. Upon seeing the tomb empty, the two Marys went away quickly, "fearful yet overjoyed." They ran for fear, they ran for joy, and they ran for love.
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Easter season | Light of Christ | family prayer
Not too long ago, our seven-year-old grandson was looking through some 1950s family photo albums. We explained to him how he was related to the various family members in the pictures. At one point, he asked why wasn’t there color back then. We assured him that the mid-twentieth-century world was full of color. We then described how technology had changed photography over the last seventy years.
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