x Close
World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Learn more about our faith | Return to the Church
From the gospel that we have just listened to, Our Lord challenges the Scribes and the Pharisees about how they went about practicing their religion. He employs a powerful comparative metaphor to drive home His point. He tells them that they are the kind that spends so much time, so much careful attention, to strain tiny, almost invisible, flies out of their drinks, but on the other hand, they swallow the dirtiest and biggest camels one could ever find. How can you compare a tiny little fly in your drink to a big and dirty camel?
Share
Learn more about our faith | Return to the Church
Many good Christians may find today's gospel shocking because it might look like it presents an unjust and unfair image of God. Reading the parable for the first time, we might conclude that God is suggesting unfair labor practices.
Share
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.
Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It is one of the most important Feast Days of Our Blessed Mother. This day is also important to me personally because I was ordained on August 14, 2005, and I celebrated my Thanksgiving Mass on August 15. My vocation story has Our Blessed Mother somewhere in the mix. Possibly you wouldn’t have me as a priest without her intercession. Keep praying for me!
Share
Celebrating family life | Learn more about our faith
Below is the beautiful “Exhortation Before Marriage” from the 1962 Roman Ritual. In the Catholic marriage rite before Vatican Council II, many priests used this to form at least part of their sermon.
Share
I am at a loss what first to admire in this passage. Is it the foreknowledge that Jesus had that the coin required to pay tax was in the mouth of a fish and that the first fish to be taken? Or is it to admire Peter's faith, who was obedient in no easy matter, to go fishing, catch a fish, open its mouth and find a shekel just enough to pay the tax for two.
Share
Today we celebrate the Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, one of the four principal churches in Rome. Someone might say: there you go, you Catholics, with all these weird devotions – even to the point of a devotion to a building!!! How do we explain to him what’s going on here?
Share
