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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 | 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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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
We are a family of six with no family living in the same state as us, which means we are a road-tripping family! Every year, we take at least two road trips, and sometimes more, depending on holiday schedules. Visiting extended family is a priority, and driving is the only way to keep it affordable. Each day we spend in the car traversing this beautiful country is not complete until we’ve prayed a Rosary. Life is hectic, and we don’t regularly pray a Rosary together as a family. But during road trips, we never miss. Once we’ve finished lunch, it’s Rosary time. Sometimes we leave after breakfast and sometimes we arrive before dinner, but we’re almost always eating lunch on the go. Having a designated time to pray rather than just hoping that we get to it has made it easy to remember and actually pray it. Since we’ve been so consistent with our Rosary schedule, at least half the time it’s my kids reminding me that it’s time for the Rosary!
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The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
I have always struggled with the Rosary, but it wasn't until I received some healing that my struggle turned into a desire. I was often reminded of the words that Jesus spoke to the Apostle John while on the cross: “Behold, your mother.” These words profoundly affected me as I longed for Mary to be my mother. I began focusing more on the Rosary, and as I closed my eyes to pray, I imagined that with each Hail Mary, I was handing Mary a beautiful rose that she would gracefully receive. By the end of the Rosary, Mary would be standing before me with her arms full of roses and a flower crown I had placed on her head.
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