World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Seasonal Reflections | Strengthening family unity
Imagine your family as a garden. Sunlight streams through the windows, warming the soil where seeds of love, trust, and forgiveness have been planted. But remember, these seeds won't sprout overnight. Just like rain patiently nourishes the earth, God's love works steadily within our families, coaxing our relationships to blossom in their own time.
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Among my most cherished memories in grade school and high school were when classmates or cousins would invite us to their homes to celebrate a birthday or enjoy the seasonal fruits in their backyard. We not only filled our stomachs but came to know more about our host classmates and their families. In turn, I would invite some of my classmates and cousins to our home, especially during harvest season or during some special celebration, which gave them the opportunity to know me and my family better.
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Return to the Church | Strengthening family unity
In our gospel today, the Lord responds to some of the criticism He faced from the Scribes and the Pharisees. He uses the example of children’s behavior to illustrate His point. He said that his critics seemed like children playing in a village market. One group invited the other, ‘Come let us play weddings!’ and the other said ‘We don’t feel today like playing happiness.’ The first group said, ‘Alright, come on, let us play funerals!’ The second group said, ‘We don’t feel like playing sadness today.’ No matter what was suggested, the second group did not want to do it; and no matter what was offered, they found fault with it.
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Celebrating family life | Strengthening family unity
Today, as we delve into the Gospel's teaching, “Remember Lot’s wife,” we find a profound message for our times, especially when we consider the concept of the domestic church in light of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary's example.
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Love thy Neighbor | Strengthening family unity
A husband kept pestering his wife about the way she drove the family's car. The husband had reasons to do so because the wife, fresh from driving school, had just gotten her new driver's license. At every turn and bend, every traffic light, overtaking and being overtaken by other vehicles, uphill and downhill, the husband unceasingly reacted with fear and panic and kept giving her directions. Fed up, the wife remarked angrily, "Better keep quiet! It is your lack of trust in me that's going to lead us to an accident."
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Love thy Neighbor | Strengthening family unity
Back in the old days, in the Quincy public schools, grades 7-9 were called junior high. In ninth grade, many of my classmates and I had Mr. Jack Buckley for history class. Mr. Buckley was a gifted teacher and storyteller who could draw you into any historical period of time, causing you to boo the villains, root for underdogs, and cheer on heroes, and have you wanting to know what happened next, even after the bell had rung. But his greatest gift was how he convinced each of us that we had some talent or gift that we should share with our class and the wider community.
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