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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
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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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
We are living in an age obsessed with authenticity. We want authentic food, genuine products, original brands, natural ingredients and we love anything that is organic. We examine labels carefully because nobody wants to discover that what they paid for as “genuine” is actually an imitation. When it comes to people, there are some people with whom you never have to wonder where you stand. They may not always say what you want to hear. They may not be polished. They may occasionally make you wish they had a small internal editing department. But they are real. What they say to your face is what they will say when you leave the room.
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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.
Charity is the center and heart of the Church’s social doctrine. Every responsibility and commitment is derived from charity. This is synthesis of the entire law as Jesus teaches us. This is built in real substance of personal relationship with God and neighbor. This is a relationship that stems from the family and small groups to social, economic and political wellness. We know the condition to love God comes to us because HE himself is love and everything has origin in God’s love. All goodness in us is shaped by this reality and everything of and for love is directed towards God alone. As Jesus today reminds us that love of God and neighbor summarizes everything we can know from God’s commandments. Charity is the love we receive from God and give it out.
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St. Bernard, was an abbot and doctor of the Church. He lived in France during the 11th and 12 centuries and was known for his writings, sermons, and biblical commentaries. A central tenet of his teaching was that “real happiness…” comes “…not in gratifying our desires or in gaining passing pleasures but in accomplishing God’s will for us."
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At one time or another, as human beings we tend to compare ourselves to others, “I am smarter” or “he/she is better than me”, or “I am a hardworking and conscientious individual and they are not.” Constantly comparing ourselves to others can easily lead to feelings of pride, jealousy, resentment towards others, friends, colleagues, or even our loved ones. The habit of comparison can stain relationships and create a sense of competition rather than fostering genuine connections and support. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of Joy.” In today’s gospel, we have laborers who worked all day and received their payment, complaining to the master for paying the same wage to those who came later in the day. The issue being, how could those who did less than a day’s work be entitled to a day’s wage? Yet, all were paid what had been agreed upon prior to starting work. They are getting worked up because they are comparing the amount of time and energy invested in the whole day as opposed to just a few hours or minutes.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
Today, both our First Reading and the Gospel confront the dangerous illusion of self-sufficiency. They confront the notion that we human beings feel we have acquired so much power, fame, and wealth that we no longer need God in our lives! It is the illusion we see in the life of the Prince of Tyre who acquired so much wealth and power that he declared: “I am a god!” It is the difficulty the Lord addresses when he said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” Human history has shown that whenever individuals, families, and even countries become so successful in wealth, power, and fame, they grow so comfortable that they start questioning whether they still need God in their lives! It is at that point that you start to see celebrities who were raised in the Church, educated by the Church, and given a big head start in life, stop attending Church.
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