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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Strengthening family unity | Why pray?
I think there’s a part of most people that can identify with the Israelites in today’s first reading. They’ve been through a lot! First in Egypt and now in the desert after a long march and facing a legion of Pharoah’s warriors, they’ve reached a breaking point. (Can you relate?) This is why they remind Moses that they asked him to leave them alone when he first told them they were about to set out for a promised land and freedom.
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Yesterday, while preparing for today’s homily, I read a wonderful reflection on today’s first reading. It was written by a retired woman by the name of Eileen Wirth. For years she was a journalist and then taught at Creighton University in Nebraska. Now she is retired but not without purpose in her life.
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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.
Healing the family | Why pray?
I want to share a story that illuminates an essential aspect of our faith and the challenges we face in the world. It involves a preacher and a manufacturer of soaps who met on the streets. The manufacturer, with a sneer, questioned the effectiveness of the gospel preached by the preacher, pointing out the presence of many wicked people in the world. But the preacher responded with a thought-provoking analogy.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
British author Douglas Hyde once wrote for the Communist Daily. To smear the Catholic Church, he bought Avro Manhattan's The Catholic Church Against the Nineteenth Century. He read it, but something strange happened. He writes: "Instead of giving ammunition against the Church, I learned something about the Church's social teaching. Avro Manhattan wrote the book to make people anti-Catholics. It helped make me 'pro' Catholic instead."
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The Mass Readings of today seem all too familiar. The messages of "trust God" as Abram did and the "stop judging others" message from Matthew had been retold repeatedly. What is there new to say besides the same old storylines? As I read through the readings, I saw a connectedness between the readings that made great sense.
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After reading and praying over today’s Gospel, I thought of a question: “How’s your prayer life?” What would you say if you could answer that question confidentially? Would you say good, fair, not so good, or I don’t know?
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