World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Love thy Neighbor | Return to the Church | Why pray?
I have heard this story about the committal service of a man. As the casket was about to be lowered into the grave, a mourner came forward and said, "He was a very nice man; he loaned me a hundred dollars, and I owe him that money." He took a hundred-dollar bill and placed it on the casket. Another man came forward, stating that he also owed the deceased a hundred dollars and wanted to pay him back at that very moment. He also placed a hundred-dollar bill on the casket. Then, as the undertaker was about to lower the casket into the grave, another man came forward and declared that he owed the deceased three hundred dollars.
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Healing the family | Return to the Church | Strengthening family unity
In today’s gospel, we hear for the third time that Jesus goes to dine in the home of one of the Pharisees. And, once again, the controversy of healing people on the sabbath comes up.
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Learn more about our faith | Return to the Church | Why pray?
Today, we hear that St. Paul confesses that even though he wants to do “the good,” he falls short; in fact, he doesn’t just fail to do good; he sometimes does what’s wrong.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Return to the Church
Scott and Kimberly Hahn are an American couple who converted to the Catholic Church and who, in 1993, published a moving account of their spiritual odyssey in a book entitled Rome Sweet Home—Our Journey to Catholicism. Before converting, they were both active in the ministry as evangelicals, meaning they both had taken academic degrees in theology and were very committed Christians. Slowly they began to question the foundations of the Protestant creed. Scott was the first to convert to Catholicism, with Kimberly following suit sometime afterward. And during that interval, when the husband was a Catholic, they suffered tremendously from their division.
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Love thy Neighbor | Return to the Church
Eighteen times in his gospel, Luke mentions wealth and its dangers. Mary sings about the difference between the poor and the rich before Jesus' birth. Only Luke says the poor shepherds are the first to hear about Jesus' birth. He notes that Jesus belongs to the poorer class and that Mary and Joseph brought the sacrifice of the poor to Jesus' circumcision in the temple. He reminds those who had two tunics to give one to those who had none.
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Love thy Neighbor | Return to the Church
Today's Gospel opens with a furious Jesus accusing the Pharisees of paying their tithes to "look good" rather than acting out of love of God and love for their neighbor. Jesus is also challenging us to examine why we do what we do! Do we do something just because it is expected of us? Do we want others to think well of us? Or do we choose to do something because it is the "loving" thing to do?
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