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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Catholic Motherhood | family prayer | pray the rosary
Carmen Lappe considers how certain Mysteries of the Rosary are more applicable to certain seasons of life, and creates her own meditations on these Mysteries. The Rosary has been part of my daily prayer routine for quite some time now. I still struggle to quiet my mind and fully enter into the Mysteries, and yet I would be lost without these rhythmic prayers to start my day. Recently, I’ve noticed certain Mysteries pulling me in, inviting me into a deeper focus and reflection. For example, whenever I get to the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Presentation in the Temple, my heart aches. I wonder how Mary must have felt as she received Simeon’s prophecy that her Son would be the rise and fall of many. Then I wonder how I would have felt if, during our son’s Baptism, someone told me Damien would be diagnosed with a brain tumor and vision challenges in just a few short years.
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Praying with images | Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary | family prayer | pray the rosary
Artful depictions of Christ's life, especially His Passion and Death, offer families a unique opportunity to engage in discussions of faith that can often be difficult to begin. From the youngest member of one's family to the oldest, everyone can look upon the beauty of art and share what they see and how it makes them feel. Visio Divina, or "sacred seeing," is an ancient form of Christian prayer that utilizes the imagination to enter into prayer. Visio Divina is an effective method of praying for families looking to begin or deepen a practice of family prayer in their homes. We recommend starting your time with these images, calling upon the Holy Spirit to guide your discussion. Your prayer can be as simple as, "Come, Holy Spirit," or you may wish to recite or write a longer one, such as: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth. This collection of images of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary includes short reflections with each picture to illustrate the variety of ways sacred art can be viewed and discussed. We pray your family is truly blessed by your time together immersed in the beauty of the art, these words, and your precious time with each other.
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Mother Mary | brokenness | pray the rosary
"I'm just that little shepherd dog," says former radio personality Kevin Matthews, who once ruled the airwaves in Chicago. "If I can get them to God, if I can get them to Christ Jesus, He does the rest. He's the shepherd." Matthews takes a particular route to bringing people to Jesus. First, he urges them to take the hand of His mother. "If I can get all you broken people who need your mom to clean you up," he says, "if I can get them to Mary, she does the rest. And when I say, 'She does the rest,' she sends them to Christ. "We've just got a little conveyor belt happening, and eventually they all get to God, our Father in Heaven." On Oct. 7, for just one night, Fathom Entertainment presents the documentary Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story. It tells the story of just how Matthews came to be what he refers to as "Mary's Roadie."
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Catholic womanhood | peace | pray the rosary
When a friend suggested adding the Rosary to her day, Laura Vazquez Santos found a spiritual lifeline.
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Blessed Virgin Mary | Catholic Faith | pray the rosary
Meg Herriot looks back on how she has grown in praying the Rosary and the ways she and her husband have made the Rosary the center of family prayer.
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Family Rosary | Psalms | catholic devotions | pray the rosary
Here is a prayer method that combines a Psalm, a Rosary mystery, and a Canticle. This way of prayer creates a “liturgy of the present moment,” fostering emotional connection, contemplation, and praise throughout daily life. During a visit to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., I picked up a small paperback from Magnificat Press, The Abbey Psalms and Canticles. This booklet inspired me to a new way of prayer. While the Psalms and Canticles prayerfully express emotion in the movement of the human spirit, the Rosary, developed from these, is a prayer of contemplation.
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