World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Easter season | catholic devotions | family life
Once Lent ends, it signals for most Catholics that they can resume doing whatever they gave up. It’s like an exhale of relief that it’s over. If your Lenten experience didn’t transform you, you can still experience a closer connection to Christ during Eastertide, the season of the Resurrection. While Lent was focused on sacrifice, as Jesus sacrificed His life for us to have everlasting life, Eastertide is 50 days of celebrating the glory of the Resurrection. Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days before His Ascension to Heaven. Then the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost, empowering them to share the Gospel and signaling the beginning of Christianity. As believers and followers of Christ, we are also empowered to model and share the message of our Lord Jesus as His disciples.
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Easter season | Family Dinner | Family Time
We hosted our family on Easter. There were ten of us ranging in age from seven to seventies. We are still harvesting the blessings of conversation, reminiscence, and eating together. We were at peace in our little corner of the world. Families are unique communities, sources of consolation, renewal, and healing. The relationship that binds us together transcends our differences, frailties, and challenges. Whenever we have a family gathering, the time seems to fly by. As the celebration comes to a close, we would like it to last a little longer.
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Easter season | Faith | Family Time
I’ve seen with seven grown children how the religion lessons and discussions about their faith come back to them when they are grown. Sometimes they help us to understand spiritual things. My son, Jarred, helped me to understand a profound truth about Lent and Easter and how to live this out through the liturgical year. He commented, “Mom, the Passion of Jesus strengthens our faith while the Resurrection increases our hope!” These words inspired much reflection.
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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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Easter season | Grandparenting | family prayer
With our youngest grandson preparing for First Communion, we recently had a three-generation conversation about Sacraments. The conversation included discussing what name the parents took for their Confirmation name. Everyone had a meaningful explanation of why they chose their particular name. The youngest asked what was Confirmation. The eldest explained that Confirmation confirms a mature choice to live in the light of faith in God, revealed by Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit. The seven-year-old immediately exclaimed, “I believe in God!”
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During this Easter season, we have been renewed in Christ. We have dug deep into ourselves and are now ready to continue carrying on the mission of preaching His Gospel to all peoples. While Lent was a good time to give things up or add in extra sacrifices and times of prayer, we can continue deepening our faith and relationship with Jesus with new Easter resolutions.
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