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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
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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There is a legend which goes this way. A destitute woman, reeling from the loss of her husband and engulfed in relentless agony, received a tattered pamphlet from her neighbor. The neighbor had stumbled upon it lying on the street and, upon reading it, immediately thought of the sorrowful woman. The pamphlet contained a captivating story of a Man who offered solace to the afflicted. The grief-stricken woman read it and found her entire life transformed by its profound message! Astoundingly, the pamphlet turned out to be a copy of the Gospel of Saint Luke, which brought an overwhelming sense of peace and relief to the woman with its powerful themes of consolation and comfort.
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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.
A busload of politicians was driving down a country road near Galway when suddenly a tire blew. The bus ran off the road and crashed into an old farmer's barn. The old farmer got off his tractor and went to investigate the accident. Soon he dug a large hole and buried the entire busload. Several days later, the sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus, but no bodies, and asked the farmer where all the politicians had gone. “Sure, and I buried ‘em.” The sheriff said, “Lordy! Were they all dead?” Said the old farmer, “Well, some said they weren’t, but you know how them crooked politicians lie.”
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Catherine Booth, co-founder with her husband, William Booth, of the Salvation Army, was an electrifying preacher. Wherever she went, crowds of people came to hear her message of hope: princes and nobles, beggars, and homeless people. One night, after preaching in a certain city, a certain well-placed lady invited Mrs. Booth to dinner. The lady's words of welcome as she arrived were: "My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was so dreadful." "What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Booth. "Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible that many of them were homeless. I do not think I shall sleep tonight!" "Why, dear, don't you know them?" Mrs. Booth asked. "Certainly not!" the host replied. "Well, that is interesting," Mrs. Booth said. "I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors!" The lady who had invited Mrs. Booth to dinner understood her "neighbor" was not to be limited only to those on her social and economic level.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today, as we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, we are invited to reflect on the theme of connection—connection to God, one another, and the whole of creation. Most of us know the term "conference call. But that may be a bit of an old concept; we now have Zoom or team meetings" It means having several people talking or having meeting together on the telephone or a computer. The people talking are online with each other. In this way, you can meet people from all over the world. It is possible you can see and interact with each other online as if you are speaking with someone or others face to face.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus whose feast day we celebrate today is one of the most beloved saints. But like most future saints, her life was not easy, and her plan to live it was different than God’s. After death of Therese’s mother when she was only four, she received a maternal care and faith formation from her sister, Pauline. However, Pauline felt the call to religious life and entered the Carmelite convent. Therese would recount how this caused her to want to follow in her sister’s footsteps. When Therese was fourteen, her sister, Mary, would enter the same convent as Pauline.
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