x Close
World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
A few years ago, my friend’s kitchen sink started leaking. Drip. Drip. His wife asked to call the plumber. For weeks, he ignored it. Finally, he thought, “I can fix this myself. He bought some tools, watched tutorials on YouTube, and dismantled the sink. Water sprayed everywhere; His children had a good laugh. His spouse sighed. His dog hid himself in the closet. Finally, he had to call in the plumper; a plumber arrived with his own toolkit, twisted a single valve, and said, “You just needed to tighten this.” The Plumper charged him 50 Dollars, but my friend had purchased tools costing more than $200 already. Lesson: Pride is expensive. That’s Naaman’s story. A decorated general but inflicted with leprosy, he’s told by the prophet Elisha to wash seven times in the muddy Jordan River. Naaman storms off, furious. “I expected a grand ritual.” But His servants—bless them— they nudge him: “If the prophet asked you to do something hard, you’d do it. So why not this?” Reluctantly, Naaman obeys. His skin heals. His pride cracks.
Share
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Today we remember and pray to Saint Cyril of Jerusalem. He was biblical scholar, cleric, and eventually bishop of Jerusalem in the 4th century. Saint Cyril gave this great instruction: “We proclaim the Crucified and devils quake. So don’t be ashamed of the cross of Christ. Openly seal it on your forehead that devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling away.” For those who feel like you’re up against it with our current political and secular ideology at this time, Saint Cyril had to contend with both political and doctrinal controversies following the Council of Nicaea.
Share
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.
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Picture this: a family road trip. The GPS fails, the kids fight over snacks, and Dad misses the exit—again. Mom finally snaps, “Whose idea was this?!” Silence follows until one child mumbles, “I lost the map.” Another adds, “I hid the snacks.” Dad sighs, “I ignored the signs.” Mom laughs, “And I didn’t pack patience.” Suddenly, blame turns into confession, the tension lifts, and they pull over for ice cream, ready to start over. That’s the heart of Daniel’s prayer in today’s reading. Exiled in Babylon, he gathers his people and says, “We have messed up—all of us” (v. 5-6). There’s no finger-pointing, just raw, family-style honesty. Lent invites us to do the same: ditch the blame game and clean up together.
Share
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Throughout life we have seen people who on the outside appeared calm and settled, then out of the blue exploded into a fit of violent anger. Some even ended up doing stuff of a magnitude that was simply unimaginable. The question on every one’s lips was “Where did that come from? What triggered it?” The implicated person was of course arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced for their actions. However, the question “Where did that come from?” was never properly answered.
Share
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
In 1943, German industrialist Oskar Schindler faced a moment that would etch his name into history. Initially motivated by profit, he employed Jewish workers in his factory to exploit cheap labor. But as the Holocaust’s horrors escalated, he began to see his workers not as pawns, but as people. Risking everything—his wealth, reputation, and life—he pivoted, spending his fortune bribing Nazi soldiers to save over 1,200 lives. When asked why, he confessed, “I could not just stand aside.”
Share
Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
A few years ago, a hospice nurse shared a story about a patient named Margaret. Margaret had no family, no accolades, no social media presence. But in her final days, she handed the nurse a worn-out journal. Inside were close to a thousand names—people she had prayed for daily, strangers she had read about in news clippings, neighbors she had silently helped. “I wanted my life to be a quiet, silent song,” she wrote, “not a noisy performance.” When she died, the nurse said the room felt holy, as if “the walls had absorbed decades of whispers to God.” Margaret’s journal is what Ash Wednesday looks like when it bleeds into real life: secret and sacred but surprisingly alive. Today, Jesus warns us not to turn faith into a theater act. “When you pray, go into your room. When you fast, wash your face. When you give, don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing.” In other words—Hide your holiness. Not because God is stingy with His grace but because love grows best in the dark, like seeds in the soil.
Share
