By now, we have all seen the horrifying photo of the three-year-old boy whose lifeless body washed up in Turkey, a victim of humanity’s neglect of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of refugees who are trying to escape Syria and other places in the Middle East to seek basic human needs. Among the many things we can do for these refugees, by far the most important is to pray for them, as the Holy – …

Q&A: What do I do when I don’t feel like striving anymore? I know I’m supposed to, but it’s brutal. Response: What an honest question. You’re right, sometimes friends and counsellors or others sometimes emphasise the need for us to strive. Often we know that we need to strive, but the issue is not knowing it, the issue is sometimes simply getting through it. a) Where there’s purpose, find it. Think of the flight of – …

Today, we are talking about teaching prayer to children. We need to develop a vocabulary to communicate the significance of prayer in terms that they can understand and apply to their own spiritual lives. And then, we’ll need to offer them opportunities to put it into action. We should pray with them and encourage regular family prayer times. Now, parents have a lot of control over this. We can personally implement family prayer time. As – …

The Concept Behind this Exercise These prayers are called “arrow-like prayers” by the Church for they are, in a manner of speaking, spiritual arrows that penetrate the thick veil that can exist between man and God, rises to the pinnacle of heaven and enters the sanctuary of the Lord and is most effective. When you repeat this prayer with concentration, you will experience the following: 1. You will feel that the Lord is opening you – …

O God and Lord of the Powers, and Maker of all creation, Who, because of Thy clemency and incomparable mercy, didst send Thine Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and with His venerable Cross didst tear asunder the record of our sins, and thereby didst conquer the rulers and powers of darkness; Receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master, these prayers of gratitude and supplication, and deliver us – …