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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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Have you ever seen an unfinished bridge? I once visited a village where they proudly began building a beautiful concrete bridge over a river. Great foundation. Impressive pillars. It even had decorative railings on one side. But halfway through, the project stopped. Politics changed, policies changed, Budgets dried up. Now it just stands, suspended midair like a promise never kept. It’s funny until you realize: that’s what many of our relationships look like, half-built. We start with connection, trust, and love… and then something happens. A harsh word. A betrayal. Silence. Ego. Or like most of us, we don’t explode in rage, we freeze in silence. We master the art of polite distance, just smiling at people we secretly avoid. leaving that bridge hanging, unfinished, awkward, and unusable and slowly, quietly, we let the bridge rot. One misunderstanding at a time.
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While I was in India, I visited a school at the start of the academic year to bless their newly elected student leaders. As I arrived, a boy in a blazer two sizes too big marched up to me proudly wearing a badge that read: “Third Assistant Pupils’ Leader.” He gave me a firm handshake and said, “Father, I may not be the main guy, but if the main guy is absent and the assistant is late, then I’m in charge!” I smiled. It was funny, yes, but also profound. That boy had no delusions of grandeur. He knew his place in the order, but he stood tall, ready to serve.
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"You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world." — Matthew 5:13–14 These powerful words from Jesus are a direct call to each of us. Salt adds flavor, preserves what is good, and purifies. Light dispels darkness, reveals truth, and shows the way. But today, I invite you to consider: are we truly being salt and light—first and foremost—within the walls of our own homes?
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Blessed Virgin Mary | Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Years ago, I was called to the hospital for a woman in critical condition. Her son, a grown man in his forties, stood beside her bed weeping silently. He had always been the strong one, the no-nonsense, keep-it-together type. But now, seeing his mother barely able to speak, all that strength melted into grief. When she realized he was crying, she didn’t say much. She simply reached for his hand and said, “Shh… I’m still here.” That moment of motherly presence, even in her weakness, reminds me of another scene, on a hill called Calvary.
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We have just gone through the exercise of the election of a new Pope. The days preceding the election of the Pope were fascinating. Media houses spent a lot of newsprint and broadcast time analyzing and the predicting the kind of Pope we would get. They were filled with extensive analysis of who was suitable to become the next Pope. News anchors analyzed left and right who would suit the role. They analyzed the experience one needed to have to suit the job, the level of education they needed to have, the languages he needed to speak, his theological views he needed to espouse, what continent and color they needed to have. All the potential candidates were analyzed like you would analyze politicians running for public office. In the end, the Holy Spirit gave us Pope Leo XIV.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Today, as we reflect on the lives of the saints and hear the words of Scripture, we are called to consider the challenges to our faith, both the internal and the external. Saint Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, and Saint Paul, in his address to the elders at Ephesus and his testimony before the council in Jerusalem, offer us profound lessons.
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