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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Parenthood | catholic family life | family prayer
“Come, Holy Spirit,” I said as I began a short period of daily personal prayer with my small kids. I closed my eyes, enjoying the momentary silence that fell over the room. Suddenly, I heard my toddler speak. “I’m going to talk to God. God, what do you need?” That simple, heartfelt prayer gripped my heart. Throughout the rest of the day, I continued thinking about this prayer. I marveled at my child’s beautiful simplicity and open vulnerability with God. Throughout Jesus’s public ministry, He looked upon children with love and reverence and held them up as an example: “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)
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Family Dinner | Family Time | Parenthood | family prayer
The New Evangelization is all the buzz. Savvy evangelizers pick the hippest of the ever-multiplying array of platforms, target their demographics, and employ slick production values. Well, I’m jumping in the game. Actually, the game jumped me, whether I willed it or not, about fifteen years ago when my first child was born. As a parent, I am responsible for teaching the faith to my kids. And as all parents are only too keenly aware these days, I can’t count on anyone else to do it, not in any school (private or public, religious or secular), church, sports program, youth group, or YouTube channel. So it falls to us.
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Parenthood | family life | prayer
I don’t know if I have been able to write ten lines without being disturbed … I am not telling any lies when I say that I am writing practically nothing. (Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul) She had snuck out to the convent garden to write, hoping to make progress on Story of a Soul in her very small pocket of free time. But she had been constantly interrupted, as usual, and the process was painfully slow. I underlined her words and sat back. “I am writing practically nothing.” Oh Thérèse, I thought. I feel you.
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Parenthood | Thanksgiving | family life
It’s a phenomenon you may know all too well. You’ve planned a big party, holiday, or project at work. It goes off without a hitch, but then you wake up the next day feeling blue with low energy. You wonder, “What’s wrong with me?”
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Parenthood | family life | raising kids in the faith
There is a perennial perplexity of parenting: discerning the best course of action from among many good contenders. Case in point, last night when I got home late from the last pick-up. We have five kids and there are lots of great activities they are involved in — cross country, volleyball, basketball, student council, space club, driver’s ed (our first! Yikes!), debate, etc.
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Parenthood | family prayer | praying the Rosary
When I hear the words, “Do we have to?” spill out of my children’s mouths, they are often linked with chores, homework, and sometimes even praying the family Rosary. Our house is one of constant motion and lots of frenzy with seven kids that range from preschool to college. I have come to realize that this question of “Do I have to pray?” lingers in all of us. The Rosary is a gift given to us by the very hands of the Blessed Mother to Saint Dominic, yet we can struggle to make time to pray the Rosary regularly.
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