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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
catholic parenting | family life | power of prayer
Discover how to combat negativity in parenting by focusing on positivity and emotional armor, ensuring peace prevails in your family dynamics. One of the many benefits of our faith is the reminders that we are in a constant battle. We daily face the world, the flesh, and devil, as the adage goes. We have the admonition to put on the armor for the Lord in Ephesians 6:10-20. And despite Christ’s gift of peace during the Last Supper discourse (John 14:27) we know peace isn’t easy to find, even in our own families.
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Divine Trust | Podcast | catholic family life | power of prayer
Join Maria Morera Johnson and Inés Huber Mersch as they explore the journey of surrendering fears to trust in God in the latest Catholic Momcast episode.
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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.
Parenthood | power of prayer | prodigal children
Colleen Mallette shares Father Mike Schmitz’s answer for parents whose children have fallen away from the Catholic Church. Recently, I had the privilege of attending “The Hour that Will Change Your Life" with Father Mike Schmitz on his brief four-city tour through the Midwest. He spoke mainly about the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and how blessed Catholics are to receive God in a physically intimate way. He was a dynamic, funny, and passionate speaker, and our group received many valuable messages from his speech. However, what appealed to a lot of people in the audience was his answer to a question about what to do about adult children who have walked away from their Catholic faith. After pausing to think about the question, he gave a beautiful, detailed answer.
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Angels | Living the Faith | power of prayer
When I consider how many messages the Lord sent me over the years, I see that my soul must have been like the thorny ground in the parable of the sower. Unlike Mary, who quickly heeded God’s messenger, I was deaf to His promptings. It took decades for a tiny seed of faith to take root in a heart overwhelmed by worldly cares and distractions. I grew up in Eastern Kentucky – a land of bleak hillsides bordering the roadways, the scarred rockface on either side giving a severe countenance to the land where plain white crosses adorned churches, and Jesus was largely invisible. In these churches, the pastors often shouted their sermons, and people rushed up the aisle during altar call to rededicate themselves. The raw emotion inside the church walls matched the rough landscape outside. I had very little exposure to the Catholic faith.
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anxiety | power of prayer | pray the rosary
At the dawn of 2018, I experienced my first-ever panic attack. I was nineteen at the time, helping a student at my college campus writing center, when the chest-tightening, heart-pounding, head-spinning began. I felt fear seize my senses as I pushed back from the table, excusing myself to the restroom. Safely inside a stall, I fought for breath, squeezing my fingertips into my legs. What was happening? Weeks later, at my first of many counseling sessions, I realized what had overcome me: a panic attack brought on by overwhelming anxiety, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the last time I would encounter one. The harsh reality is that anxiety, panic attacks, loneliness, and many other mental crosses afflict our young people today, even those with a rooted faith in the Lord. I was no exception as I struggled with my sense of purpose and self-worth away from my family for the first time at college, struggling as a brand-new adult to discover my place in it all and come to terms with all the unknowns before me: friendships, career, vocation, hobbies, and mounting adult expectations and responsibilities. Being a young adult isn’t easy, as countless pathways call to us for attention.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
Does Family Change Make You Worry? We Tomlins are an Army family. Moving every two to three years is a reality of our family’s life. Each time that Permanent Change of Station season — “PCS season” as we call it — comes around, I feel a bit of hope but simultaneously dread of what’s to come. I find myself awake in the middle of the night, spinning with questions I can’t possibly answer or control: How much time will my husband spend deployed or in the field in this Army job? Will the kids have a good school? Will they make friends? Will they be happy? I definitely earn a gold star for pre-PCS worrying! Elizabeth Ann Seton Understands the Concerns of Your Heart Yet there can and must be room for hope in this life quasi-nomadic lifestyle, and over the years I have found hope with the accompaniment of the Church’s first American-born saint, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. I have looked to Elizabeth as an intercessor during times of change to shift from a posture of hand-wringing worry to hands-folded prayer. What worries me most about moving is how it will affect my children.
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