Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In our journey through this Lenten Season, we’ve prepared for the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. In that spirit, I’d like to reflect on the theme of forgiveness with respect to the Sacrament of Confession and family prayer. Each week at the Father Peyton Center-Museum of Family Prayer, my brother priests, and I have the privilege of hearing Confessions. We encounter people of all ages seeking forgiveness from God; many times, they also long for reconciliation with family and friends. In addition, we’re blessed to receive prayer requests asking Father Peyton’s intercession to heal broken relationships. These heartfelt pleas to God are for themselves and their loved ones to overcome hurt feelings, guilt, and fear of being rejected or wronged again. All of this is natural and left to our human ability and resources; it’s understandable why we struggle to forgive and ask for forgiveness.

Each Lent, we are led by the Catholic Church toward a greater practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In Father Peyton’s childhood and throughout his life, he would practice all three. But, what I’d like to show is how the family Rosary prayer laid the foundation for his seeking forgiveness from God in Confession as well as seeking and granting forgiveness to family, friends, and all those God placed in his life.

Each evening, after dinner, the Peyton family would gather as one to pray the Rosary. No doubt, some disagreements hadn’t been settled by the time they knelt side by side. But, during those prayers, God’s grace was at work. During that Rosary prayer, as they said, the Our Father, six times, they said: “…and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Six times, they acknowledged their need for God’s forgiveness and responsibility to be like God and forgive others as He forgives us.

But, if they were left uncertain about this need, contained within the Rosary’s fifty-three Hail Marys are the words “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death.” Those words are also a plea to Our Blessed Mother to intercede on our behalf. They help us overcome our differences with God and each other. In the prayer of the Rosary, especially as a family, we hear one another say to God that we are all sinners: mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. All of us, including those declared by the Church to be Saints, have needed or need forgiveness from God, our families, friends, and neighbors. Moving forward from this Lenten Season to the Easter Season, let us draw inspiration from the example of the Peyton family and the fervent appeal of Father Peyton to pray together for healing and forgiveness from God that can be shared with each of our family members.

In Jesus and Mary,

Father David S. Marcham