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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
The-Rosary-In-Our-Hands | family prayer
How’s your prayer life? Is it sporadic, on fire, barely started, or still at the "what is a prayer life?" stage? In my lifetime of practicing the Catholic faith, I have experienced all of the above and everything in between. I know I should pray, and I am fully aware of the blessing of regular prayer in my life, yet, some days, I am stuck! Where do I begin, how long should I pray for, and what’s the best way to pray — simply wondering: What does one say to the God of the Universe? First and most importantly, there is no wrong way to pray, and gratefully, God, through the Church, has provided us with a plethora of prayer options.
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Gospel Reflection | Sunday Mass | prayer
We live in a world of rules and protocols. Everywhere we look, there are guidelines, laws that must be followed, and traffic cops hiding behind billboards to enforce them. We are comforted, and kept safe, by laws. Yet sometimes laws that seem reasonable in one moment become self-serving in another. In yesterday's Gospel (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23), the Pharisees are back in the game of trying to trap Jesus for His lack of strict adherence to Jewish law, this time as it pertains to the washing of hands and ritual purification before eating. As usual, Jesus doesn't mince His words. He calls the Pharisees hypocrites, citing Isaiah's prophecies as specific to them: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts."
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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.
catholic mom | power of prayer | praying
Over the summer I had the privilege of attending a women’s retreat at a nearby parish. I jumped at the opportunity to grow in my spirituality and potentially meet some other faithful women in my town. During the retreat, our presenter, Catholic Mom writer Sheri Wohlfert, shared with us a formula for praying with people. Like out loud, spontaneous prayer. I don’t know about you, but this was a fairly foreign concept to me, reserved for the Evangelical Protestants who simply pray differently than we do.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today we hear Jesus ask his disciples what word was out in the public was about him. “Who do people say I am?” The disciples gave him the different versions of what they heard people thought he was. The question he asked though was a leading question. It was meant to lead the disciples to reflect on what they thought about Jesus. “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter appropriately answered that Jesus was the "Christ of God.” – The Anointed One, the Messiah.
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There are only three verses in the reading from Luke’s Gospel, and they describe rumors or gossip about Jesus that made King Herod curious. I think the last sentence has an important message: “And he (Herod) kept trying to see Him (Jesus).”
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The Gospel of Luke calls us to simplify our lives and embrace the mission of serving others. Jesus sent out the twelve Apostles, with nothing but the power of God, urging them to travel light and focus on spreading the Good News.
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