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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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There is something that happens in almost every family gathering. Somebody arrives late, sits quietly, hardly eats, and leaves early. Before the car has even disappeared from the driveway, the committee begins its investigation. “Something is wrong.” “He looked upset.” “She did not speak to me.” “They must be having problems.” Within ten minutes, people who have no actual information have produced a full documentary, complete with motive, and a conclusion with background music. Saint Paul says something today that should make all of us slightly less confident: “Who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within?”
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Today’s readings invite us to reflect on where we place our confidence. Since the beginning of time, people naturally admire intelligence, eloquence, success, and influence of others. And, so we’re easily tempted to believe that success comes from impressive words, clever arguments, or personal ability. But Saint Paul gives us a very different message. He reminds the Corinthians that when he arrived, he didn’t rely on lofty speech or human wisdom. Instead, he preached simply and poignantly only one thing: Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
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Today we commemorate the memorial of St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of Church. This comes after we just celebrated his mother Monica yesterday. St. Augustine conversion life is highly attributed to the prayers of his mother. There are many things that we take from St. Augustine given his extensive wisdom on Theology, Philosophy and Scripture. Augustine born from North Africa, Algeria today, was baptized by St. Ambrose, and later became a bishop. There is a famous saying of him that, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” This restlessness of not despair but of hope in waiting. Hope in doing all what is necessary, that we do not miss to be part of the wedding when the bridegroom comes. It is a calling to be alert, wise, and keep our lamp with oil always. The parable of ten virgins we heard was Jesus' teachings at Mt. Olive just few days before his arrest, and crucifixion. It is quite extensive, spiritually enlightening, and a warning of staying awake. In the Jewish wedding, it stretched for days. The bridegroom would come to the bride's home mostly after nightfall. The bridesmaids/virgins were required to meet the bridegroom on the road and escort him. Through the street the party would continue and so they needed lamps. Lacking a lamp and oil was a shame, failure and insult to the bridegroom.
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Every year when we remember and pray to St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, I think of how fitting a role model she is for parents who are worried about their children of any age… Over these past weeks, I’ve been, and I’ll bet some of you have been part of conversations with parents of adult children…parents who are worried about things like addiction, mental health, and drifting away from the practice of the faith. In one conversation, I was moved as the two people listened with great compassion to each other's stories and offered spiritual encouragement, treatment resources, and an invitation to meet their family at next week's Mass.
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I do believe some of us, if not all, have run into someone who becomes a friend for a while, helps you out, but all of a sudden something happens, and you realize the person you thought you knew is not actually that person at all. The saying goes; “Not all that glitters is gold” People can seem one way on the outside but are completely different underneath. For those who have experienced betrayal, it speaks to the fact that people can mask cruel ambitions behind loyal faces. In the gospel today, Jesus accuses the religious leaders of hypocrisy, comparing them to “whitewashed tombs” – outwardly beautiful, but inwardly full of decay, dead bones. How they appear to others does not correspond to reality in their lives. There is a disconnect between the outside and the inside. They care more about having presented a good image and reputation while having neglected the unclean inner life. They honor God with their pious life, yet they mask a hardened heart.
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Earlier this month, I was in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. You know what those hills have seen. Ten years of civil war. A blockade with no medicine, no fuel, no way out. Villages burned. Priests evacuated. Churches empty or in ruins. The faith did not die. It did not die because ordinary people carried it. Catechists walked. Mothers gathered children under a tree and prayed the Rosary from memory. No program. No budget. Only people who had received something and refused to let it fall. And then I saw what they handed on.
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