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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 | Learn more about our faith
Many of us stay informed about current events by tuning in to radio news, catching snippets of TV broadcasts, or reading newspapers. However, a common issue with these news sources is their overwhelming focus on adverse events—illness outbreaks, civil unrest, international conflicts, extreme weather, fires, crimes, corruption, etc. Interestingly, bad news tends to grab our attention more than positive or uplifting stories. Today, however, we celebrate St. Mark, the Evangelist, the bearer of great good news.
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Healing the family | Holy lives of inspiration
In the year 1994 in the month of April, in the country of Rwanda, over a million people were killed in a mass genocide. Tensions between two ethnic groups or economic classes exploded into a mass massacre and mass destruction of property. The country was reduced to an ugly shell of its former self and the survivors of the genocide reduced to zombies, walking around without knowing who they were, where they were, what had happened to them, and why so few people were walking around.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Like St. Peter and the other Apostles, St. Stanislaus is an exemplary role model for courageous trust in Jesus. Born in Poland, Stanislaus lived in the 11th century and served as a priest and then bishop in Krakow. He was a gifted preacher, a compassionate benefactor of the poor, and a proponent of clerical reform. Like the Apostles, he faced opposition, in his case from the King of Poland, Boleslaus II, during his time as bishop. And, like the Apostles, Stanislaus refused to compromise his adherence to Jesus' teachings, which resulted in his being killed during the celebration of the Mass. Stanislaus knew the risk to his life and yet held to what Peter said in today's first reading: "We must obey God rather than men."
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
The Greek word for wind, "pneuma," is also used for the word Spirit. So, in this Gospel from John, Jesus links His teaching between the natural and supernatural worlds through His word choice connecting to both realities. But, just like yesterday's eclipse of the sun, at times, we only have a partial understanding of our natural world. This is the point that Jesus is making with Nicodemus when He says, "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes…"
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Jesus' early disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. He called them to become his followers, promising to make them fishers of people. When Jesus was crucified, and all their hopes in him were dashed, they returned to Galilee and went back to their fishing. Today's Gospel reading suggests that they had lost their touch as fishermen. Perhaps their hearts weren't really in it. It is hard to go back to what we once did when, in the meantime, we have found something much more fulfilling.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
There was a professor in our seminary who was teaching us homiletics. He was trying to impress upon the students the importance of using facial expressions to express feelings when preaching. "When you speak of heaven," he said, "Let your face light with a heavenly glow, when you speak of hell, your everyday face will do." Sometimes, our "everyday face" reflects the hell we are going through. For the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus after hearing their Master's death, the facial expression reflected a "hell" of deep sadness and disappointment they were going through.
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