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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 | Strengthening family unity
Today’s gospel continues Jesus’ instruction to His Apostles for their mission. Jesus wants to prepare them and us for the real world, which will involve persecution. He compares the Apostle’s situation to sheep being sent out among wolves. However, Jesus doesn’t want them to have the passive posture of sheep.
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I’d like to invite you to close your eyes, if you feel comfortable, and imagine this scene: a beautiful summer day, like it is at this time of the year here in Massachusetts. You are in a beautiful countryside, as is Galilee, with other disciples. Jesus is teaching and leading you all in prayer. Then He chooses the 12 apostles … Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip …. You know something important is going on and you have a sense that nothing will ever be the same. Sending the 12 is just the beginning. Eagerly you wait your turn soon.
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I sometimes wonder if wonder and skepticism are, ultimately, the two primary emotions available to us when we encounter the unknown. The crowd demonstrates the first as they are amazed by Jesus’ acts of healing, culminating most recently in casting out a demon that restored speech, health, and community to the one possessed. The Pharisees, on the other hand, react with skepticism. Unable to explain Jesus’ healing power and unwilling to acknowledge his relationship to God, they not only dismiss His miracle, but even accuse Him of conspiring with the prince of demon.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Love thy Neighbor
In the first of the two Scripture readings today, Amos continues to rail against the abuses inflicted on the poor by unscrupulous people, cheating them in the sale of wheat that was so essential to their daily diet. Fake baskets with a false bottom were used to hold wheat. It was not uncommon to touch the scales to inflate the weight while items were being weighed. Evil and greed on display.
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Yesterday, Father Boby John using the gospel account of the disciples being tossed about at sea, encouraged us to follow their lead and awaken Jesus for our own needs in prayer. A few hours later, while standing at a hair salon with my Mom, a woman approached and said Father, can I have a blessing? I could really use one!
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As I reflected of the words of the prophet Amos today, my thoughts turned to the committee that is investigating the violence that occurred on January 6 at the Capitol of the United States. People who were enlisted to witness before the committee spoke of the egregious abuse of power. In the words of the prophet Amos, “They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way.”
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