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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Some years ago, I read a story about a little boy named Eamon, who was gravely ill and being treated in a children’s hospital. His parents kept vigil by his bedside day and night. One nurse recalled walking past his room in the small hours of the morning and finding his mother singing softly to him, holding his frail hand. She said it was the most beautiful thing she had ever witnessed: in that dimly lit hospital room, it felt like she had stepped into holy ground. The boy Eamon eventually passed away, but his parents said they felt surrounded, carried even, by a strength beyond their own, the kind you can’t explain but only receive. That, I believe, is the quiet work of angels. Not always with trumpets and fire, but with presence, with consolation, with a reminder that God is near. When we hear Daniel’s vision in the Bible—thrones set in place, rivers of fire, the “Ancient of Days” clothed in glory, it feels like something out of a movie. You almost expect special effects and a booming soundtrack. Daniel wasn’t writing a screenplay. He was trying to put into words an experience of God’s majesty that words can hardly hold.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
One of the most fascinating things when you visit the Mediterranean lands such as Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Turkey are the historical sites of castles, temples, and cities that now lie in ruins. Each of those sites tell a story of a “golden age” when these places were sites of glamor, wealth, and influence. In their current state, they tell of a past, an end, and a death. In our first reading today from the book of the Prophet Haggai, we continue reflecting on the return of the Israelites from exile in Babylon. They found their influential city and magnificent temple in Jerusalem all in ruins. Everything had fallen apart while they were in exile. Before them stood a depressing state of hopelessness when they looked at what had happened to the city and especially the temple that King Solomon had spent so much on building.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings speak to something every family wrestles with: how to find true contentment in a world that constantly insists we need more. The Trap of “More” St. Paul, writing to Timothy, warns us about the desire for riches. He doesn’t condemn wealth itself, but the restless hunger for more—a hunger that never satisfies. How true this is today. Our culture whispers: “You need a bigger house… a newer car… the latest gadget.” Social media makes it worse. We see perfect posts, and suddenly our own blessings feel too small. Parents push themselves to exhaustion, not only to provide, but to keep up. Children begin to measure their worth by what they own, instead of who they are. But Paul tells us something different: “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
As a child growing up, were you ever at a special family dinner where an important guest was invited and other high-level guests were to be in attendance? Do you remember the level of preparation that went into the dinner? Do you recall the type of cleaning that was done prior to the visit, the careful choice of food and drink, and the thoughtful setting up of the space? Do you remember the kind of talk at the dinner and the decorum in behavior that was expected of all the family members given the kind of guest who was being hosted? Now imagine in the middle of such an important dinner an uncle with a drinking problem and who didn’t keep himself so neat burst into the room, at the top of his voice greeted everyone, and straight away went and gave a big hug to the guest of honor! Imagine the discomfort or restlessness that took over the room.
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Learn more about our faith | Why pray? | rosary rally
If you were to ask a bunch of Christians what the oldest heresy faced by the Church is, I’d bet that most would guess Arianism, an early 4th-century heresy that said Jesus wasn’t really divine. In fact, the threat of Arianism led to the great councils and the Nicene Creed. But the first major heresy goes back centuries earlier, almost to the beginning of Christianity itself. That heresy was Gnosticism, which said -- among many things -- that Jesus wasn’t really human, but only appeared so. And, interestingly, if we meditate on today’s Gospel passage, we can see how Gnosticism itself is a kind of wrongheaded, misguided defense of Jesus from criticisms that Our Lord faced in His own lifetime. Is Jesus Too Human Today, we hear Jesus lamenting how His critics simply can’t accept that a true prophet, especially the Messiah, could eat and drink freely and socialize with sinners. This is all too ordinary and human! A figure from God should be more other-worldly, separated, and inaccessible. And the Gnostics, accepting these kinds of premises, said, “You’re right; the Son of God could not actually be so lowly. That’s why all this human stuff was just an act.”
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For many of us, the date 9/11 will always evoke a wide range of emotions and memories. Everything from shock and sadness to anger and fear and many more. Even though it has been twenty-four years since that tragic day, watching the news this morning can bring us back to where we were, what we were doing and who we first called.
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