The Enemy of Focus | Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Mike's Homily)
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- Опубликовано: 12 авг 2023
- The Enemy of Focus
A distraction issue or a decision issue?
In order to achieve any worthwhile goal, we need to focus. Yet, distractions abound in our world and in ourselves. A distraction is anything that takes our focus away from what we need to be doing. But in order to know what a distraction is, we first have to know what it is we need to be doing.
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Развлечения
Great Homily. Thank you!
thank you!!!
Thank you Father
Exceptional homily! And for someone who gives great homilies, that”s saying something!!🙏🏼
Amen
Fr.Mike...Thankyou...Our prayers 🙏
Gracias querido Padre Mike saludos cariñosos desde Cd de Merida Yucatan
Thank you for saying “yes” to God, through which you become a gift to God’s people.
Please pray for my sister, she is in the hospital as of right now fighting for her life
Here I sit trying to listen and learn from this, and guess what is happening. Please pray for my ability to stay focused.
Thank you for telling the truth that the vast, vast majority of "focus" issues are actually just an overabundance of distractions and a lack of discipline.
He with ears, hear:
Through the Holy Spirit, God has put it on me to preach to those lost in the devil's deceit!
Hear me when I say, ye that are Catholic have been deceived and know not God. Ye worship Mary, praying to her; when God tells his to worship none other than him. It is idolatry.
Catholicism has its own Bible and teachings, which are blasphemous to the word of God: the Holy Bible. As ye follow the teachings of man and not God; ye hear the pope, but not Jesus, yet ye claim to be his disciples!
These are but a few things I named ye dwell within; there are many more. I tell you now to repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon asking the Father!
There are *NO* sub-divisions of Christianity. You're either a disciple of Christ or not. A Christian is someone who follows God's word, not a religion. Who obey the Father and follow his will; not man's nor their own heart's. Unless you keep Jesus' commandments, think not the Holy Spirit will dwell within you!
They who heed this message and did what was stated with an open heart to God...
Read the Holy Bible (KJV) daily and every time before you read, pray to the Father and ask:
"Lord I ask that you give me understanding of your word, that I interpret it the way you want me to, and none of my own. I ask you in Jesus' name, amen."
Revelation 22:8-9 KJV
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Acts 2:38 KJV
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 11:13 KJV
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
John 14:21-24 KJV
21 *He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.*
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, *If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.*
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and *the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.*
3 John 1:11 KJV
11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. *He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.*
1 John 3:6-10 KJV
6 *Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.*
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: *he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.*
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 *Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.*
10 *In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,* neither he that loveth not his brother.
9ji 😅😊😊
Are you sure? And don't you mind that this man repeats himself all the time and talks about his family all the time, which is a strange thing actually? Just asking. After some time I hear the same things on repeats over and over again.
Fr. Mike, seems the Lord has made you my Spiritual Director, without your knowledge or consent. When I was in formation to be a Redemptorist priest, I had great difficulty focusing. It’s one reason why I failed, the other being, I really didn’t want to be a priest. Had I paid better attention to my chaotic feelings, I wouldn’t have waisted so much time in formation. Yes, paying attention to feelings, thoughts, etc is a great and necessary gift for discernment of the loving Will of God for each of us.
Embracing silence is the hardest thing I have ever faced in my life.
He that is weary of sin, come:
Through the Holy Spirit, God has put it on me to preach to those lost in the devil's deceit!
Hear me when I say, ye that are Catholic have been deceived and know not God. Ye worship Mary, praying to her; when God tells his to worship none other than him. It is idolatry.
Catholicism has its own Bible and teachings, which are blasphemous to the word of God: the Holy Bible. As ye follow the teachings of man and not God; ye hear the pope, but not Jesus, yet ye claim to be his disciples!
These are but a few things I named ye dwell within; there are many more. I tell you now to repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon asking the Father!
There are *NO* sub-divisions of Christianity. You're either a disciple of Christ or not. A Christian is someone who follows God's word, not a religion. Who obey the Father and follow his will; not man's nor their own heart's. Unless you keep Jesus' commandments, think not the Holy Spirit will dwell within you!
They who heed this message and did what was stated with an open heart to God...
Read the Holy Bible (KJV) daily and every time before you read, pray to the Father and ask:
"Lord I ask that you give me understanding of your word, that I interpret it the way you want me to, and none of my own. I ask you in Jesus' name, amen."
Revelation 22:8-9 KJV
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Acts 2:38 KJV
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 11:13 KJV
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
John 14:21-24 KJV
21 *He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.*
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, *If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.*
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and *the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.*
3 John 1:11 KJV
11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. *He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.*
1 John 3:6-10 KJV
6 *Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.*
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: *he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.*
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 *Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.*
10 *In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,* neither he that loveth not his brother.
After a lifetime of noise and distractions from everything from my job, fire, sirens are loud. To my children and videos video games and boom boxes full of music that was played way too loud to having lived most of my life in apartment buildings where people don’t really care what happens when they’re above you or below you they only care about their life, the days that I have silence are my gifts. I love those days I don’t need the television, it’s a good thing I don’t only one. Anything that is important I can get on my tablet. That’s where I am now and it’s a Saturday afternoon and it is so quiet in here it’s just this is it gonna make sense but music to my ears. I know the evening will come in about four hours and the bar across the street will be buzzing until about 11 o’clock, but that’s OK because I will have enjoyed a whole day with no noise. Usually on the weekends, I am with my sister-in-law and her house is quiet and silent and we both love it. I consider it a gift when I get to go there I know some people think the silence is deafening, but to me, I do my clearest thinking, my clearest, praying, and my clearest conversations with Jesus. To me it is the perfect day.
Thank you! Focus is a problem as we age and I need to focus. So I focused on the lyrics Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me....before going out to do something I lose focus doing. Yay! Success. Thank you. Praise the Lord.
Fr Mike, bringing up the "behavior" grade made me remember my "A-4" in Senior Honors English..thanks. My parents were not happy....I survived. Thank you for all that you do.
Absolutely incredible homily. I had to take notes, so many lasting and applicable nuggets!!! Thank you 🙏!!
In Thanksgiving: (USA ) : btw: The Presentation ( Information ℹ️ Fabulous ~ Eucharistic Celebration) : { Roman Catholic} is outstanding: again: outstanding
Thank you FatherMike. God bless you.
Thank you for this message. I get distracted a lot.🙏
Father Mike? You have no idea how much this has been a conduit from God for me, in answer to my prayers.
Hahahaha. This is perfect. I remember the same report cards. I still have them. While my grades were good A’s and B’s andddd the occasional C+. My behavior was horrendous with U’s for uses time wisely, attention, classroom disruption and outbursts etc…. That really hurt as a kid and I literally lived up to those expectations into high school and college until I discovered these were the opinions of teachers from grade school. It didn’t mean it was true. By Gods grace, after my first born I found patience, used my time wisely while she was napping, etc. praise Jesus. Thank you Fr. Mike for reminding me on this. It’s only led me closer to my Father I’m heaven who loves us all perfectly. Amen.
You never miss. Never. May God bless you always Father 🙏🏻🫶🏻
Besides sloth and lust, I swear I struggle with this more than anything. The amount of times I’ve restarted a rosary because I got distracted and lost my place, is insane. The 4 steps make so much sense and are achievable. Great homily Fr. Mike!
Thank you so much for this explanation, Father Mike. May God bless you forever and ever. Amen. 🙏
So good 🙌🏻🙏🏼 summary of my key takeaways. Anything missing?
1) the enemy of focus is distraction
2) anything can be a distraction, even if the thing is good (eg cleaning too much, working out too much)
3) the goal isn’t focus, it’s a thing needed to reach the goal
4) you have to decide what’s The goal - the goal is Jesus
5) as disciples of Jesus we are asked to do what is humanly impossible
6) maintain our focus on Jesus 🙏🏼
7) Jesus will give us the desires of our heart
8) we need to learn to prevent ourselves from being distracted by anything that takes our attention our way for the goals we want to accomplish
9) what you don’t do determines what you can do (Ie narrow your focus on the most important goals)
10) the opposite of distrAction is ACTION
Most distraction is interior, what is the distraction trying to reveal, what wound is Jesus revealing, what is Jesus trying to reveal to you from the first disactions?
Focus - notice - act - listen
Oh thank you. Focus has been a problem. You have helped me realize how very important it is. Thank you. May God bless you forever Fr. Mike Schmitz.
Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it:
Through the Holy Spirit, God has put it on me to preach to those lost in the devil's deceit!
Hear me when I say, ye that are Catholic have been deceived and know not God. Ye worship Mary, praying to her; when God tells his to worship none other than him. It is idolatry.
Catholicism has its own Bible and teachings, which are blasphemous to the word of God: the Holy Bible. As ye follow the teachings of man and not God; ye hear the pope, but not Jesus, yet ye claim to be his disciples!
These are but a few things I named ye dwell within; there are many more. I tell you now to repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon asking the Father!
There are *NO* sub-divisions of Christianity. You're either a disciple of Christ or not. A Christian is someone who follows God's word, not a religion. Who obey the Father and follow his will; not man's nor their own heart's. Unless you keep Jesus' commandments, think not the Holy Spirit will dwell within you!
They who heed this message and did what was stated with an open heart to God...
Read the Holy Bible (KJV) daily and every time before you read, pray to the Father and ask:
"Lord I ask that you give me understanding of your word, that I interpret it the way you want me to, and none of my own. I ask you in Jesus' name, amen."
Revelation 22:8-9 KJV
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Acts 2:38 KJV
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 11:13 KJV
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
John 14:21-24 KJV
21 *He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.*
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, *If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.*
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and *the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.*
3 John 1:11 KJV
11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. *He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.*
1 John 3:6-10 KJV
6 *Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.*
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: *he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.*
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 *Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.*
10 *In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,* neither he that loveth not his brother.
BTW- wishing you a pleasant day
🤜🏽🤛🏽 Your Grace, pray for us
Thank you for breaking it down into simplicity: focus/decision
Thanks!
Gosh... here I am listening to this while doing emails at work.
Funny… As I was listening to this sermon, I was multitasking, doing some ironing. But I my mind was totally focused on the sermon, but my body was doing something else. 😀 Truth be told I guess I could have been more focused on listening
Proceed with what you’re leading me to
Right I agree father Mike. I have my earbuds in I had something happen to me today that not only broke my focus just absolutely bummed me out. But I have my earbuds in and ironically I'm getting ready to do dishes. Lol. Hope you're doing well father mike. Take it easy and God bless
Trinity of Harmony Fill Our Hearts with Peace Amen 🙏☮️🕊️
This helped me so much. Thank you Padre.
Always profound homilies in my opinion….message as important as the messenger,God Bless you Father Mike,all Priests who are blessed with gift too preach the word……
3 reasons I clicked on this video:
- The title was relatable (issues with focusing on which video to watch, and doing my best to discipline my mind and distractions)
- the duration was shorter than 20 minutes (compared to an hour sermon)
- the production quality was clear
These factors might seem shallow, and none of them guarantee the content itself is going to be helpful. But I have to emphasize how important those three factors are. Please continue producing content like this. Thank you so much for the message.
Most of my school reports, which I still have, say "Tries very hard but can't get there". Or "Can not keep concentration". & I know that I am still the same easily distracted by all sorts of things. I must stay with what I am choosing at the moment. So I stayed on this video without checking something while watching.
This gospel passage on trust is portrayed in the season 3 finale of The Chosen. HOLY SMOKES-I cannot recommend that episode enough!
My exact sentiments!!!
I was thinking about it too.
That very episode has stuck with me so vividly - think about it every time I'm at Mass and when I receive Communion - asking Jesus to never let me go!
Two watches ? I had to close my eyes, and then I was able to focus. Thank you.
“The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be sound-minded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer [staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him.]”
1 Peter 4:7
WOW
In middle school, I first heard of phrase, “F for fantastic” 😅.
Right here...now...13:08
🌹🌹👌👌😍😍🙏🙏
It's a hard lesson. I'm very afraid that my attempts at main "goals" will fail or take too long (even if I were able to choose them), and if I put aside all the other activities I will lose them too.
please, Father, pray for me, cos' I want to, but I just can't, I'm not being able to turn my sight to God. I'm not strong enough in my heart to stop being fixated with distractions.
Ask God to guard your mind and to rebuke the lies of the enemy in the name of Jesus 🙏🏻
In the 60s when I was in school, we were graded on all of our subjects, but then there were also the grades that were character attributes. Could you sit still, did you raise your hand, did you talk to your neighbor a lot, were you loud or distracted in class ? so yes. I am well aware of what you are talking about and someways. Those grades counted more to my parents than the grades that we got in our subjects. I was the oldest I still am the oldest and I had the privilege of having my mom sister, who was going to school to become a teacher I was kind of like her person who she could practice on at home so I was blessed I knew my subjects I knew all of the things you’re supposed to know for your age level at school. So those grades were nothing knowing that I had a full-time tutor. Essentially, my grades didn’t matter when it came to subjects if I did well, they only mattered if I didn’t, because I had aunt Shirley. Deportment or character grades counted a great deal more where I was concerned because I was smart I had a in. I was a little chatty, didn’t really sit still, it was like it was two different people this incredibly smart little girl, who was bored out of her mind, and was hoping if someone else was too. We even got report cards in CCD. Prayers learned, how well we answered in class and once again, those wonderful character grades. I did a lot better there but then you have to figure in 1962. You were scared to death of the priests and nuns. I don’t remember anyone screwing around in school CCD on Saturday mornings. We just wouldn’t dare do it, so I saved all my miss behaving for the public school.
Proverbs 2:10-12
For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be at home in your soul,
Discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you;
Saving you from the way of the wicked,
from those whose speech is perverse.
Focus instructions to avoid ALL the UNNAMED above: no wisdom, no knowledge, no discretion, no understanding; IS WHAT WAS NOT GIVEN TODAY; AS ALL LISTED ABOVE: WAS IN LINE; ACCORDING TO PROVERBS 2:10-12. Focus is required:
TO HOLINESS - AND NOT A PERVERESE THING OF:
VIRTUES VS EVIL INTENTIONS:
IN ORDER TO RUIN PEOPLE.
Fr Mike, I am a mom the year begins in September. My husband, the year begins in January. School starts you get through the wind up, hustle through the holidays ( which are celebrated earlier and earlier) New Years you slide into a routine and then summer blows the routine up! And then September comes around. Ugh!
❤️
not that I distract a lot of people, but always in every circumstance, including the catechumenate, there was some soul mate with whom we started to laugh uncontrollably, so there was always a situation where they threatened to split us up. a soulmate was 60 years old woman during cathechumenate :D
In Thanksgiving: { USA 🇺🇸} : btw: The Very Reverend Father Mike Schmitz, priest { Roman Catholic} : btw: thank you 🙏: again: thank you 🙏
My biggest 'failure': distraction. So I tried to focus on every word you said, hoping for a magic sentence to 'cure' me of my shortcoming. If I kept my eyes open I'm distracted by my surroundings. If I shut my eyes, I almost immediately dozed off! 😢 Had to rewind it several times - but still the distractions persisted. :-(. I guess I'll try once more.
You might not be able to do it but offer this up to God and unite yourself to Him. Together you will overcome 🙏🏻
In Thanksgiving { USA 🇺🇸} : btw: Media Technical Support People and Staff at Presentation/ ( Roman Catholic) - information ℹ️ fabulous ( Eucharistic Celebration) : btw: thank you 😊: again, thank you 😊
Thank you Jesus Christ in Virgin Mary amen.( Family Thomas de Aquino, Tomaz de Aquino, e Severo Duarte, José Severo Duarte, Isabel Martins, Elisângela Cristina Duarte, Elaine Cristina Duarte, Henrique José Duarte, Bruna Patrícia Silva Penharol Duarte Noah LIMA Duarte Thank Peace. Padre Mike Schmitz Thank Peace ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Bady Bassitt SP Brazil Obrigada ❤️🙏 Elisângela ❤️
🩵🤍♥️🕊️
I suggested a, that it goes through a filter,..
Are we talking about Elijah in 2 Kings?
Yeah, but if they're cancerous it will flick distractions at them, it is not unhealthy,
Otherwise I feel that the majority of mankind is very happy to be in love with each other, with more or less awareness of this condition, but I'm in a state of "oh no you are not smart enough to do this I'm bored" and this ruins all the fun. Sad! Even if ppl don't want to "break my heart" for any reason( which I always hate, because my heart is too precious and soft, I see through every attempt and I'd bite everyone who'd try to do anything - the best result is to break their heart instead 😀 I can tolerate glances but if anyone tries to do this ridiculous thing "to be near by accident and to try to touch oh I'm sorry", like average ppl often do, I'm instantly disgusted and escape 😁
Do we still need Jesus if we have filters, er no, we have filters,..
Lol I struggled with both; had both bad conduct a distraction to others and the ability to focus 🥹🥹🥹🥹 until I found theater then I became a “great kid”
Amen