I remember getting out of the military with 4 children and no job. We took a leap of faith. Our furniture went into storage we stayed with my husband's father crowded into a 950 square foot house. For 2 months we helped his Dad fix up his house, it was really needing help. Then my husband went to the unemployment office, they set up an interview. After which he came home said he got the job but needed a tool box and tools! 3 months later we had bought our first home. Was it wise? Looking back a lot of people would have said 'what the heck are you doing?" but I had faith we would manage and we did, never looked back either.
Sounds kind of like a certain military vet in my area, though he was single at the time. There were layoffs everywhere, nobody was hiring, and his parents' house was in disrepair since he'd been away. He took care of that during the week, and on weekends he earned cash by helping his parents' friends with their handyman projects. One of the friends' neighbors saw him working and said he needed work done on his dock, could he do it? He said "Sure," even though he'd never done underwater construction. But he armed himself with information from the library (before the internet), bought or borrowed tools, and did an excellent job. After that, he had requests coming in so fast he couldn't keep up, and 30 years later it hasn't died down. His attitude then was, "If nobody's hiring, I'll hire myself." He also had faith in God's providence -- surely God wouldn't set him up in a situation where he couldn't find a regular job and become destitute. Rather, God had other plans for him.
"Avocados are great!" +1 sub. I made the decision to stay and listen and I don't regret that at all. I'm so grateful for people like Fr. Mike who so willingly pour our their hearts to help us be better. I'm not ashamed to say that I've been binge watching Fr. Mike's videos and those from the other wonderful people on the Ascension channels.
HI FATHER MIKE THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT MAKES MY LIFE MORE ENJOYABLE. I AM EXCITED TO SEE 👀 AND BE PART OF THE FINISH. I WANT TO JUMP BY FAITH INTO THIS BIBLE STUDY AND KEEP SEEKING 🙏
Fr. Mike thank you, for your You Tube video's. I'm 59 yrs. of age and find your homily's so useful in my life. Thank you, for paving the way to my soul's salvation. You will have a seat, in heaven. Father.
Thanks be to God! I am currently at a crossroads and in a big dilemna. Without asking, I stumbled upon this video by God's grace. Praying for God's guidance is very valuable as he knows what is best for us; He also wants the best for us and we need to ask Him to guide us to do according to His Will. AMDG
You were obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit to discuss this topic, as it seems to have resonated with so many people in the comments section below - and I include myself here as well. Exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you for posting!
Recoil 403, I'm curious if you actually began a Catholic club at your high school? Sounds like a wonderful idea & very courageous :) May God Bless you with the special graces you need to share your faith with others...
Where was Fr Mike 10 years ago when I desperately needed to hear this? On another note, Avocados are a great source of good fat, which...the body desperately needs.
Fr Mike, How are Christians supposed to know if an ambition or goal is ok to pursue? When I pray and meditate and talk to God I keep having this dream of fulfilling this particular goal. It's a creative ambition. The problem is before I believed in Christ this goal was all I had and now it doesn't seem as important because it was all about status and recognition. But now I believe I can still pursue this as a Christian. The problem is I made mistakes in the past that made me end up in my 30's with no solid career or work. I can't get this creative ambition out of my mind.
Hey, perfect timing. I'm going on a vocation retreat this weekend. I've been having a lot of doubts about going, but it's just a step like you said so it's all cool
Gather information Seek council from someone wise Pray about it Take action even small, pull the trigger Test it out - it’s wise and courageous without being reckless! Evaluate Do it again
I so needed this! Reverend Father Mike your videos are so inspiring as a young adult returning to the Catholic faith. God bless you Reverend Father 🙏✨✨
Thank you Fr Mike. I invested in a really expensive item under pressure because the price would go up by 3k within 4 hours. Wish I had watched this video first. One of my biggest regrets purchasing it 😣
This was great Father Mike; I NEEDED to hear this. Also, side note, I like that you specified that you’re not just Catholic, you’re Christian. The latter is what counts, and we can see that you love Christ.
Hi Father Mike, I enjoy watching your videos 😊 And this Decision Making 101 has come at the perfect time in my life as I am wrestling through an important decision. I have been gathering information, seeking counseling and praying about this: I know God is calling me to be a missionary overseas for a year, which means I have to postpone Graduate school. I feel at peace with this discussion. My parents, however, want me to still go to Graduate school and wait to pursue this calling. If I decide to go overseas, my parents have told me they would not support my decision. How do I honor my parents in this decision when we are called to honor God first?
The freest version of me right now would thank Dear Jesus and you as well Father Mike along with Bishop Barron and all my loved ones today and all kinds of other blessings that are too numerous to name... however that first tomato that has formed upon my cherry tomato plant I’m super excited about and grateful for...can’t wait till God forms it into the size of edibility for that juicy bite of bites...🤪
Watching this video 4 years later… trying to decide if I need to pursue law school (when I just paid my student loans off and I make more money in my tech career than I will in law 🙄). It doesn’t make secular sense, that’s for sure. Cheers to discernment!
The freest version of me would be to go back to 12 when my Pop left us due to this and that and start over before I went on the wrong track of that Chugga Chugga Choo Choo.
Hi Father Mike. I have a question that really doesn't pertain to this video and I apologize. But I don't know where to ask. Is there any way that you could do a video on Bibles and Bible journaling in the Catholic community. Bible journaling which entails not only journaling in your bible but coloring and painting in it as well. Just type in bible journaling on RUclips. My daughter crecently went on a women's Catholic retreat. They were to take their bibles with them. When she took her bible and opened it during reading the sisters were appalled. It was her St Joseph Edition. She messaged me and was so upset. My question is, is it okay to journal, paint and color in our Catholic bibles? Not just high light but really journal , color and paint. I know bible art and journaling became very popular in the protestant community. But Catholics also started jumping on the band wagon. It is so popular that Guideposts just came out with the first Catholic journaling bible set to release in Jan. My daughter's bible looks like a colorful rainbow. As does mine. But my husband also has a problem with it, He says its defiling Gods Word. I know a few people who are also coloring painting in their Divine Liturgy of the hours . If you can can you please go on RUclips and search bible journaling and if its acceptable for Catholics and if its acceptable with the church? Help! Thank You
Hi Mrs. Gutierrez I hope you don't mind me commenting here. I am a young adult and when I recently returned to my Catholic faith, I loved reading my Bible. In time, that girly creative side to me seemed to want to see God's Word in literal living colors, more than just my imagination when I meditate. I had bought a NSRV Catholic Prayer Bible with a large middle margin with supplemental Lectio Divina notes. Some of the notes helped but some were too liberal for me so I just started covering them up with bible verse stickers, colorful sticky notes of lectures, pictures of saints, etc, which I then proceeded to do for the rest of pages I have read. I've also used almost 12+ crayons to highlight key passages during my readings so that at a glance I could pick out what I need to focus on. Then I saw these Bible journaling videos on RUclips and wondered maybe I should start actually colouring in the pages, they looked so pretty. But something held me back. You see my Bible has gotten pretty beat up since I started reading it, so naturally my instinct was to make it look colorful. But when I took out my watercolour set thinking I can put a light artwork wash over the crayon highlighted fonts, I started thinking. Why do I need to do this over God's literal words? So I stopped, I gathered info, as Fr. Mike said, read and watched videos of Catholic lectures on why we put so much importance on preserving God's Word. I talked to good nuns who had the same reaction as those in that retreat of your daughter. They told me there are lots of colouring pages out there, why should I make a colouring book out of the Bible? I even tested my theory. I got a colouring book with pretty Bible passages to colour, coloured that and stuck a few passages between some Bible pages. I admit that the splashes of colour does brighten the next page turn, but in time I found them distracting to my meditations. I even saw some ladies on RUclips actually colour most of the page leaving behind only the passages they liked. They literally covered up God's word, you could hardly read the rest of the page. I looked at their work, their pretty colourful but admit it, fallible artwork, and I thought 'Do I really want to do that to His inspired teachings?' I decided No. I want to be able to read, study and learn from my Bible without any distractions. I kept the Bible colouring book though. Sometimes I would put in some of the finished pages at the start of my Bible, where my introductory prayers are, look at the pretty colourful page and get inspired by the message, then I flip to my chosen passage for my Lectio Divina. So you see I understand that feminine and crafty side to make the pages pretty. But: if my artwork distracts me when I read His message; when I just open my Bible to finish my artwork instead of getting in my time of Lectio Divina; when I just open my Bible to show others my pretty colours instead of sharing God's Word with them, then the answer is No, No and No. I would suggest instead you could get a simple journal and make that beautiful instead. A slim one that measures the exact width and height as your Bible, to fit with it as you carry both with you to write and make pretty as you read God's Word undistracted. I hope I've helped in your decision making. May God bless you and your family.
Reese DChatch Yes!! Your comment is so appreciated. I feel so so much better. Im not crazy. You made a good point. "Why would we want to cover up God's literal word". We can purchase a journal and decorate it!! The wheels in my head are already rolling. LOL There is so much sacredness , beauty and tradition to our Catholic faith and I don't want to defile it. Myself or my children. Thank You Reese. And Blessings
Take my opinion for what it's worth, but way I see it, I don't see the books themselves as being anything special. What is within the book is very special, but it physically is just a book. We're reading it to learn the Word of God and praise Him, not praise pieces of paper. It's the Word of God that is important, not the literal ink on the pages. If what you're doing you see as something that is helping you, why not? That's my $.02 anyways.
We don't worship the Bible, certainly, but the words contained therein are sacred, and by extension, so are the letters, and the ink, and the pages. It's from a Jewish tradition. Even today, many Jews refuse to write out the full name that we call the Creator by in English - "G-d." Small g "god" is just generic, but when we speak of G-d, we speak the Sacred Name (even though it's not YHWH, or I AM, it's the name of our Creator in English). When we speak the Sacred Name, we speak with reverence (or should). The Jewish thought is that when we write the Sacred Name, we must take care not to destroy any part of it, or allow it to come to destruction, even if we don't act with malice, because it's irreverent and offends G-d. Since written words are often destroyed even if great care is taken to protect them (and even if they're typed out electronically), Jews only write part of the Sacred Name, so that the whole written Name cannot be destroyed. Most Christians and certain schools of Judaism don't think it's irreverent to write or type out the full word, "God," even if the work is later destroyed, because they look at the word "God" as His title, not His Sacred Name. But the whole of Scripture is a different story -- all of it is sacred, so it's treated with reverence, not marred or cut up, or (as some druggies do) used as rolling paper to smoke weed. When a bible becomes tattered so much that it must be disposed of, you don't just throw it in the garbage. Even hymnals and misalettes are disposed of reverently: they're burned, buried, or shredded and recycled to make new paper. If burned, the ashes may be scattered on the ground, but not tossed into the trash; if buried, it must be in a location where people don't regularly walk (such as flowerbed). I'm not sure of the requirements for recycled bible paper, or hymnals or misalettes -- our parish maintenance workers (who are parishioners trained in proper reverence and piety for the Sacred as they work to maintain it) take the old ones to the city's recycling center. I haven't heard or read the reasoning on that. It'd be interesting to find out.
I looking for information on the Courage program the Catholic church has ... I am nerves to attend a meeting, I have not been to a Catholic Church before. Only on RUclips ..
Miguel: I ask you to please attend church this following Sunday, or at any given mass. You will find comfort in the Lord, and I assure you will be glad you’ve made this decision. It takes courage to go to church and to seek the Jesus, but I guarantee you will not regret this. I will keep you in my prayers that you will attend church and receive communion in the near future. May God Bless You.
Yes, do attend Mass, but please go through RCIA before receiving Holy Communion. That is really the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and communicants must be fully initiated into the Church to lawfully receive Communion. Those who receive unworthily "eat and drink death [hell] unto themselves," so please learn about the Faith and know that you are welcome to worship with us, and I pray that you are brought into the Church as a full brother. As for the COURAGE group, it's not well-advertised everywhere, so you might have to go online to look for a chapter in your area. If you attend one of their meetings, you will be welcomed and supported.
So, I’m ten years old, and I’m going to fifth grade next year, and I have two really good friends and this one kid that has known me since kindergarten at this public school and a lot of good friends at this catholic school. Both of the schools would be about the same price because my mom works there. Anybody have any suggestions?
What if you do not know what Jesus would do? Example as a catholic, im dating a buddhist girl that wants our future kid to be a buddhist however we both will give our kid freedom to choose weather to be a catholic or buddhist. Would Jesus walk away from this relationship?
Do remember this, it's very important to remember. You are all fundamentally eternal spirits, it's not that BiG of a deal, you always exist and you always will. THE BiG SECRET about ALLLLLLLL the things that are fundamental to all the different religions and faiths on this planet, THE BiG SECRET is the REEAAALLLL TRUTH, is that everybody actually goes to heaven, no matter what, everybody goes to heaven no matter what. Hell is not a place you go to, it's a state you pass through on your way to heaven, that's all there is. Remember, darkness does not exist by itself, darkness is not a thing unto itself, darkness is just the absence of light. Cold is not a thing unto itself, it is just the absence of heat. Evil, is not a thing unto itself, it is only someone operating without feeling the connection to GOD, but that connection is always there and that all there is 😉
The best decision a person can make in this life is to trust in Christ alone for their salvation, and not His mother or His saints or any other man made philosophy. A theology that adds to the finished work of Jesus Christ is a theology that can't save. I love you all, God bless
bob polo - Have you read: 1 Timothy 2:1-4 "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Praying for one another is biblical and in no way contradicts the one mediator-ship of Christ. It can't because it Christ has given us the express command to pray for one another. This is why Catholics ask Mary and the saints to "pray for us." Note: Catholics regard pray in 2 ways: 1) Worship - for God alone 2) Request - asking others to pray on our behalf before God. It can both in the case of prayer to God i.e worship and request. If you think about it, if you ask a person to pray for you, that shows that you don't worship them - because they themselves will then need to direct their own prayers before another - that other being God. Consider this as well: James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Who (aside from God) is more righteous than Mary and the saints? Jesus said that even John the Baptist would have been considered least in the kingdom of God. Does this explain why there is so much emphasise on Mary and the saints?
"Does this explain why there is so much emphasise on Mary and the saints?" Not at all because there is absolutely nothing in those Scriptures that mentions anything about saints in heaven or mary. And that's bad exegesis, friend. We are commanded to confess our sins to our brethen on earth, not in heaven. And we make prayers for people on earth, hence God wanting all people to be saved. How can that include people already in heaven? We just gotta face it: catholic theology is clearly unbiblical
Perhaps I should elaborate: In Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" So those in heaven pray with us, as indicated above. But they also pray for us: In Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). So we've got the saints in heaven offering to God the prayers of the saints on earth. Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4). The most convincing evidence is the Early Church Fathers: "[The Shepherd said:] ‘But those who are weak and slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask him. But you, [Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having obtained from him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do not you ask of the Lord understanding, and receive it from him?’" (The Shepherd 3:5:4 [A.D. 80]). Believed to have known the Apostles. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage and other Fathers also believed in the intercession of the saints.
Here is what Saint Athanasius had to say: "For though we have a succession of teachers and become their disciples, yet, because we are taught by them the things of Christ, we both are, and are called, Christians all the same. But those who follow the heretics, though they have innumerable successors in their heresy, yet anyhow bear the name of him who devised it. Thus, though Arius be dead, and many of his party have succeeded him, yet those who think with him, as being known from Arius, are called Arians. And, what is a remarkable evidence of this, those of the Greeks who even at this time come into the Church, on giving up the superstition of idols, take the name, not of their catechists, but of the Saviour, and begin to be called Christians instead of Greeks: while those of them who go off to the heretics, and again all who from the Church change to this heresy, abandon Christ's name, and henceforth are called Arians, as no longer holding Christ's faith, but having inherited Arius's madness."
But it is true that when the Sisters Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Cresson, Pa. turned on EWTN in 1990, and Mother Angelica was crying the blues about how Bush was going to war in the Middle East , she bothered me psychologically. Why? President Bush already bothered me with Hitler, Nqueen Elizabeth 1 etc. whoile she just sits in her cloister her whole life acting out liuke she knew the most. She will never know the most. Evne St. Stephen, Pope Joihn Paul tyhe Great is himself,not St. Peter the rock at the gAte this time around.
I love you, Father. Please pray for my girlfriend and I. Please pray that my prayers are answered. My prayers about my girlfriend must be answered. Please help and please pray for us. Thank you. God Is Lord God Is Good God Is Great God Is Lord.
I’m not catholic but I learn so much from you!
That's wonderful! We are praying for you!
I remember getting out of the military with 4 children and no job. We took a leap of faith. Our furniture went into storage we stayed with my husband's father crowded into a 950 square foot house. For 2 months we helped his Dad fix up his house, it was really needing help. Then my husband went to the unemployment office, they set up an interview. After which he came home said he got the job but needed a tool box and tools! 3 months later we had bought our first home. Was it wise? Looking back a lot of people would have said 'what the heck are you doing?" but I had faith we would manage and we did, never looked back either.
Sounds kind of like a certain military vet in my area, though he was single at the time. There were layoffs everywhere, nobody was hiring, and his parents' house was in disrepair since he'd been away. He took care of that during the week, and on weekends he earned cash by helping his parents' friends with their handyman projects. One of the friends' neighbors saw him working and said he needed work done on his dock, could he do it? He said "Sure," even though he'd never done underwater construction. But he armed himself with information from the library (before the internet), bought or borrowed tools, and did an excellent job. After that, he had requests coming in so fast he couldn't keep up, and 30 years later it hasn't died down. His attitude then was, "If nobody's hiring, I'll hire myself." He also had faith in God's providence -- surely God wouldn't set him up in a situation where he couldn't find a regular job and become destitute. Rather, God had other plans for him.
"Avocados are great!" +1 sub. I made the decision to stay and listen and I don't regret that at all. I'm so grateful for people like Fr. Mike who so willingly pour our their hearts to help us be better. I'm not ashamed to say that I've been binge watching Fr. Mike's videos and those from the other wonderful people on the Ascension channels.
Your timing is impeccable. Thanks for making this video.
Monique Ocampo omg samee XD
Ditto... The Lord has impeccable timing! Blessings Father😉
I CALLED THIS MARKET in 2013! Off to school with you. You're confusing the terms and can't tell what's valid or not.
"You are freer than you think"
HI FATHER MIKE THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT MAKES MY LIFE MORE ENJOYABLE.
I AM EXCITED TO SEE 👀 AND BE PART OF THE FINISH.
I WANT TO JUMP BY FAITH INTO THIS BIBLE STUDY AND KEEP SEEKING 🙏
Fr. Mike thank you, for your You Tube video's. I'm 59 yrs. of age and find your homily's so useful in my life. Thank you, for paving the way to my soul's salvation. You will have a seat, in heaven. Father.
Thanks be to God! I am currently at a crossroads and in a big dilemna. Without asking, I stumbled upon this video by God's grace. Praying for God's guidance is very valuable as he knows what is best for us; He also wants the best for us and we need to ask Him to guide us to do according to His Will. AMDG
Avocados ARE great! 😁
Excellent!!! This is my highlight of every Wednesday ♡ pure gold for the soul!
You were obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit to discuss this topic, as it seems to have resonated with so many people in the comments section below - and I include myself here as well. Exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you for posting!
Just what I needed right now. Thank you Fr Mike!
Wow. Just what I needed! I've been discerning my vocation for so long and this video has helped me out so much!
Well, either this video is a sign that God wants me to begin my Catholic Club at my secular high school, or Fr. Mike is is a thought reading wizard.
Recoil 403,
I'm curious if you actually began a Catholic club at your high school? Sounds like a wonderful idea & very courageous :) May God Bless you with the special graces you need to share your faith with others...
Only counsel I need is my relationship with “The Trinity.”
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
This video was released during the perfect time in my life 🙏
Where was Fr Mike 10 years ago when I desperately needed to hear this? On another note, Avocados are a great source of good fat, which...the body desperately needs.
I like Fr Mike more than I like avocados though
don't we all?
As I’m eating avocado toast lol
Imagine hanging out with him WHILST eating an avocado
Same
You are one of a kind! Thank you Father Mike
Fr Mike, How are Christians supposed to know if an ambition or goal is ok to pursue? When I pray and meditate and talk to God I keep having this dream of fulfilling this particular goal. It's a creative ambition. The problem is before I believed in Christ this goal was all I had and now it doesn't seem as important because it was all about status and recognition. But now I believe I can still pursue this as a Christian. The problem is I made mistakes in the past that made me end up in my 30's with no solid career or work. I can't get this creative ambition out of my mind.
This is for thinking through things.
Thank God for my sister that I call Tank! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you Father!!!
Amen! Thanks Padre.
Thank you father Mike
You are fun and awesome fr mike
Thank God for your videos! Keep it up Fr. Mike
Hey, perfect timing. I'm going on a vocation retreat this weekend. I've been having a lot of doubts about going, but it's just a step like you said so it's all cool
Good luck
Gather information
Seek council from someone wise
Pray about it
Take action even small, pull the trigger
Test it out - it’s wise and courageous without being reckless!
Evaluate
Do it again
ur a goat
Thank you Father Mike! Michael
Fr. Mike thanks for making these videos. I enjoy them a lot.
Thank you for your great advice. You help and encourage me so much as a Catholic
I needed it really bad Fr. Mike! Courage to make a wisely decision...! God bless you!
Being confused is not bad, its a sign that you're ready for change.
I so needed this! Reverend Father Mike your videos are so inspiring as a young adult returning to the Catholic faith. God bless you Reverend Father 🙏✨✨
Thank you for this!❤️😍
Thanks Fr. Mike.
you are truly wise... a gift from God... wow... thank you... God is truly using you... again thank you...
Thank you Fr Mike. I invested in a really expensive item under pressure because the price would go up by 3k within 4 hours. Wish I had watched this video first. One of my biggest regrets purchasing it 😣
Needed this right now. Thanks Fr. Mike. May God bless you and your ministry.
Thank you...
Thank you 😇
Thank you very much Father Mike. Perfect timing as I needed to hear something like this, somehow. God bless always
All my life I had difficulty making decision masking
Now I ask God for Guidance. No anxiety and stresses now.
That is wise council in its self.
This is exactly what i need right now thank u fr. mike
thank you father Mike
I want to be a catholic nun but I still have financial problems at home, kindly pls pray for me🙏
Literally just praying about this. And then your video showed up 😃😱
Thank you for the good word 😊
This was great Father Mike; I NEEDED to hear this. Also, side note, I like that you specified that you’re not just Catholic, you’re Christian. The latter is what counts, and we can see that you love Christ.
I'm thinking about sending this to my math teacher. Look at father Mike and he doesn't need math! 😁
Isaac Roufs letters for sudoku... just great
It helps to develop your brain and thinking better even if you don't actually need it in life. That's why my teacher said.
Rocking that beard dude! :D
Best advice on indecisiveness ever, helped me a lot❤️❤️❤️
This is so cool!! Thank you so much Father!
As sad as this sounds, I get more from your short videos than I do listening to my parish priest here in Scotland.
Adam Thooft Yeah, in Minnesota?
Hi Father Mike,
I enjoy watching your videos 😊 And this Decision Making 101 has come at the perfect time in my life as I am wrestling through an important decision. I have been gathering information, seeking counseling and praying about this:
I know God is calling me to be a missionary overseas for a year, which means I have to postpone Graduate school. I feel at peace with this discussion. My parents, however, want me to still go to Graduate school and wait to pursue this calling. If I decide to go overseas, my parents have told me they would not support my decision. How do I honor my parents in this decision when we are called to honor God first?
Updates on this?
Thank you very much!! I needed to hear this.
Great b-day present, Father! It was just what I needed to know right now😊
Wise Words
I loved this so much! Very helpful as i am a senior in High School
I was literally eating avocado on toast when this video played on my phone! Lol
Yer me too
Nooo! The beard is back, thank you father for this beautiful video :)
The freest version of me right now would thank Dear Jesus and you as well Father Mike along with Bishop Barron and all my loved ones today and all kinds of other blessings that are too numerous to name... however that first tomato that has formed upon my cherry tomato plant I’m super excited about and grateful for...can’t wait till God forms it into the size of edibility for that juicy bite of bites...🤪
Well timed!!!!
So good!
great.
Very insightful!
Watching this video 4 years later… trying to decide if I need to pursue law school (when I just paid my student loans off and I make more money in my tech career than I will in law 🙄). It doesn’t make secular sense, that’s for sure. Cheers to discernment!
1.) What would Jesus do? What would I do if I was 'free'?
Pray.
2.) Gather date
Pray.
3.) Seek out WISE counsel.
Pray.
4.) Test out small steps.
Pray.
Is it me or is fr mike always grow his beard nearing advent season? 😁😂😎👨🏻
Denise Choong My guess would be he's participating in the nazarite challenge but I don't know. If so, good for him.
No shave November
It's warmer that way in the winter months :)
I was here to revise for my r.e test but I actually found the video useful for real life so win win lol
The beard is perfect ☺☺☺
The freest version of me would be to go back to 12 when my Pop left us due to this and that and start over before I went on the wrong track of that Chugga Chugga Choo Choo.
good discussion....
I'm going to try an experiment for a week. Before I make every significant decision, I ask myself what would Jesus do?
yaaay
I think you confused Sudoku with Scrabble. Nevertheless, excellent video Fr. Mike!
Hi Father Mike. I have a question that really doesn't pertain to this video and I apologize. But I don't know where to ask. Is there any way that you could do a video on Bibles and Bible journaling in the Catholic community. Bible journaling which entails not only journaling in your bible but coloring and painting in it as well. Just type in bible journaling on RUclips. My daughter crecently went on a women's Catholic retreat. They were to take their bibles with them. When she took her bible and opened it during reading the sisters were appalled. It was her St Joseph Edition. She messaged me and was so upset. My question is, is it okay to journal, paint and color in our Catholic bibles? Not just high light but really journal , color and paint. I know bible art and journaling became very popular in the protestant community. But Catholics also started jumping on the band wagon. It is so popular that Guideposts just came out with the first Catholic journaling bible set to release in Jan. My daughter's bible looks like a colorful rainbow. As does mine. But my husband also has a problem with it, He says its defiling Gods Word. I know a few people who are also coloring painting in their Divine Liturgy of the hours . If you can can you please go on RUclips and search bible journaling and if its acceptable for Catholics and if its acceptable with the church?
Help! Thank You
Hi Mrs. Gutierrez I hope you don't mind me commenting here. I am a young adult and when I recently returned to my Catholic faith, I loved reading my Bible. In time, that girly creative side to me seemed to want to see God's Word in literal living colors, more than just my imagination when I meditate. I had bought a NSRV Catholic Prayer Bible with a large middle margin with supplemental Lectio Divina notes. Some of the notes helped but some were too liberal for me so I just started covering them up with bible verse stickers, colorful sticky notes of lectures, pictures of saints, etc, which I then proceeded to do for the rest of pages I have read. I've also used almost 12+ crayons to highlight key passages during my readings so that at a glance I could pick out what I need to focus on. Then I saw these Bible journaling videos on RUclips and wondered maybe I should start actually colouring in the pages, they looked so pretty. But something held me back. You see my Bible has gotten pretty beat up since I started reading it, so naturally my instinct was to make it look colorful. But when I took out my watercolour set thinking I can put a light artwork wash over the crayon highlighted fonts, I started thinking. Why do I need to do this over God's literal words? So I stopped, I gathered info, as Fr. Mike said, read and watched videos of Catholic lectures on why we put so much importance on preserving God's Word. I talked to good nuns who had the same reaction as those in that retreat of your daughter. They told me there are lots of colouring pages out there, why should I make a colouring book out of the Bible? I even tested my theory. I got a colouring book with pretty Bible passages to colour, coloured that and stuck a few passages between some Bible pages. I admit that the splashes of colour does brighten the next page turn, but in time I found them distracting to my meditations. I even saw some ladies on RUclips actually colour most of the page leaving behind only the passages they liked. They literally covered up God's word, you could hardly read the rest of the page. I looked at their work, their pretty colourful but admit it, fallible artwork, and I thought 'Do I really want to do that to His inspired teachings?' I decided No. I want to be able to read, study and learn from my Bible without any distractions. I kept the Bible colouring book though. Sometimes I would put in some of the finished pages at the start of my Bible, where my introductory prayers are, look at the pretty colourful page and get inspired by the message, then I flip to my chosen passage for my Lectio Divina. So you see I understand that feminine and crafty side to make the pages pretty. But: if my artwork distracts me when I read His message; when I just open my Bible to finish my artwork instead of getting in my time of Lectio Divina; when I just open my Bible to show others my pretty colours instead of sharing God's Word with them, then the answer is No, No and No. I would suggest instead you could get a simple journal and make that beautiful instead. A slim one that measures the exact width and height as your Bible, to fit with it as you carry both with you to write and make pretty as you read God's Word undistracted. I hope I've helped in your decision making. May God bless you and your family.
Reese DChatch Yes!! Your comment is so appreciated. I feel so so much better. Im not crazy. You made a good point. "Why would we want to cover up God's literal word".
We can purchase a journal and decorate it!! The wheels in my head are already rolling. LOL
There is so much sacredness , beauty and tradition to our Catholic faith and I don't want to defile it. Myself or my children.
Thank You Reese. And Blessings
Take my opinion for what it's worth, but way I see it, I don't see the books themselves as being anything special. What is within the book is very special, but it physically is just a book. We're reading it to learn the Word of God and praise Him, not praise pieces of paper. It's the Word of God that is important, not the literal ink on the pages. If what you're doing you see as something that is helping you, why not? That's my $.02 anyways.
We don't worship the Bible, certainly, but the words contained therein are sacred, and by extension, so are the letters, and the ink, and the pages. It's from a Jewish tradition. Even today, many Jews refuse to write out the full name that we call the Creator by in English - "G-d." Small g "god" is just generic, but when we speak of G-d, we speak the Sacred Name (even though it's not YHWH, or I AM, it's the name of our Creator in English). When we speak the Sacred Name, we speak with reverence (or should). The Jewish thought is that when we write the Sacred Name, we must take care not to destroy any part of it, or allow it to come to destruction, even if we don't act with malice, because it's irreverent and offends G-d. Since written words are often destroyed even if great care is taken to protect them (and even if they're typed out electronically), Jews only write part of the Sacred Name, so that the whole written Name cannot be destroyed. Most Christians and certain schools of Judaism don't think it's irreverent to write or type out the full word, "God," even if the work is later destroyed, because they look at the word "God" as His title, not His Sacred Name. But the whole of Scripture is a different story -- all of it is sacred, so it's treated with reverence, not marred or cut up, or (as some druggies do) used as rolling paper to smoke weed. When a bible becomes tattered so much that it must be disposed of, you don't just throw it in the garbage. Even hymnals and misalettes are disposed of reverently: they're burned, buried, or shredded and recycled to make new paper. If burned, the ashes may be scattered on the ground, but not tossed into the trash; if buried, it must be in a location where people don't regularly walk (such as flowerbed). I'm not sure of the requirements for recycled bible paper, or hymnals or misalettes -- our parish maintenance workers (who are parishioners trained in proper reverence and piety for the Sacred as they work to maintain it) take the old ones to the city's recycling center. I haven't heard or read the reasoning on that. It'd be interesting to find out.
No-shave November? I like the beard.
Did I tell you of my dove hunting memory...ugh for another time.
Avocados are great jajajajaja
Do you think you could touch on the topic of self harm? It's really common in our culture and I just want to hear your thoughts on the topic.
I ask you counsel: 'Father, how can I be in Northern Minnesota where are lot of deer hunters arround?
I looking for information on the Courage program the Catholic church has ... I am nerves to attend a meeting, I have not been to a Catholic Church before. Only on RUclips ..
Miguel: I ask you to please attend church this following Sunday, or at any given mass. You will find comfort in the Lord, and I assure you will be glad you’ve made this decision. It takes courage to go to church and to seek the Jesus, but I guarantee you will not regret this. I will keep you in my prayers that you will attend church and receive communion in the near future. May God Bless You.
Thank you so much, I need it to hear that !!! God bless you too !
Yes, do attend Mass, but please go through RCIA before receiving Holy Communion. That is really the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and communicants must be fully initiated into the Church to lawfully receive Communion. Those who receive unworthily "eat and drink death [hell] unto themselves," so please learn about the Faith and know that you are welcome to worship with us, and I pray that you are brought into the Church as a full brother. As for the COURAGE group, it's not well-advertised everywhere, so you might have to go online to look for a chapter in your area. If you attend one of their meetings, you will be welcomed and supported.
Easier said than done Fr. If u could please say a word of prayer for since i can't get to u for Christian counseling. Thank you.
Go for a test drive.
I just spent literally all evening doing statistics lol Just when I thought I was done solving for x....😑
So, I’m ten years old, and I’m going to fifth grade next year, and I have two really good friends and this one kid that has known me since kindergarten at this public school and a lot of good friends at this catholic school. Both of the schools would be about the same price because my mom works there. Anybody have any suggestions?
hello👋 help me to solve this problem (My classroom is not suitable to be a learning room
The best version of me became one of my main protagonists :D
What if you do not know what Jesus would do? Example as a catholic, im dating a buddhist girl that wants our future kid to be a buddhist however we both will give our kid freedom to choose weather to be a catholic or buddhist. Would Jesus walk away from this relationship?
Can I apply this to making a decision on marriage?
To shave or not to shave?
Do remember this, it's very important to remember. You are all fundamentally eternal spirits, it's not that BiG of a deal, you always exist and you always will. THE BiG SECRET about ALLLLLLLL the things that are fundamental to all the different religions and faiths on this planet, THE BiG SECRET is the REEAAALLLL TRUTH, is that everybody actually goes to heaven, no matter what, everybody goes to heaven no matter what. Hell is not a place you go to, it's a state you pass through on your way to heaven, that's all there is. Remember, darkness does not exist by itself, darkness is not a thing unto itself, darkness is just the absence of light. Cold is not a thing unto itself, it is just the absence of heat. Evil, is not a thing unto itself, it is only someone operating without feeling the connection to GOD, but that connection is always there and that all there is 😉
The best decision a person can make in this life is to trust in Christ alone for their salvation, and not His mother or His saints or any other man made philosophy. A theology that adds to the finished work of Jesus Christ is a theology that can't save. I love you all, God bless
bob polo ruclips.net/video/3K9yGNPaIcA/видео.html
maddie - Does nothing to explain away the facts of what worship is and how it's detected. But thanks
bob polo - Have you read:
1 Timothy 2:1-4 "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
Praying for one another is biblical and in no way contradicts the one mediator-ship of Christ. It can't because it Christ has given us the express command to pray for one another. This is why Catholics ask Mary and the saints to "pray for us."
Note: Catholics regard pray in 2 ways: 1) Worship - for God alone 2) Request - asking others to pray on our behalf before God. It can both in the case of prayer to God i.e worship and request.
If you think about it, if you ask a person to pray for you, that shows that you don't worship them - because they themselves will then need to direct their own prayers before another - that other being God.
Consider this as well:
James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
Who (aside from God) is more righteous than Mary and the saints? Jesus said that even John the Baptist would have been considered least in the kingdom of God.
Does this explain why there is so much emphasise on Mary and the saints?
"Does this explain why there is so much emphasise on Mary and the saints?"
Not at all because there is absolutely nothing in those Scriptures that mentions anything about saints in heaven or mary. And that's bad exegesis, friend. We are commanded to confess our sins to our brethen on earth, not in heaven. And we make prayers for people on earth, hence God wanting all people to be saved. How can that include people already in heaven?
We just gotta face it: catholic theology is clearly unbiblical
Perhaps I should elaborate:
In Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"
So those in heaven pray with us, as indicated above. But they also pray for us:
In Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). So we've got the saints in heaven offering to God the prayers of the saints on earth.
Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).
The most convincing evidence is the Early Church Fathers:
"[The Shepherd said:] ‘But those who are weak and slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask him. But you, [Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having obtained from him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do not you ask of the Lord understanding, and receive it from him?’" (The Shepherd 3:5:4 [A.D. 80]). Believed to have known the Apostles.
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage and other Fathers also believed in the intercession of the saints.
Can you do a video on murder?
Why are his eyes red all the time?
Are other Christian denominations really Christian? In your opinion
Here is what Saint Athanasius had to say:
"For though we have a succession of teachers and become their disciples, yet, because we are taught by them the things of Christ, we both are, and are called, Christians all the same. But those who follow the heretics, though they have innumerable successors in their heresy, yet anyhow bear the name of him who devised it. Thus, though Arius be dead, and many of his party have succeeded him, yet those who think with him, as being known from Arius, are called Arians. And, what is a remarkable evidence of this, those of the Greeks who even at this time come into the Church, on giving up the superstition of idols, take the name, not of their catechists, but of the Saviour, and begin to be called Christians instead of Greeks: while those of them who go off to the heretics, and again all who from the Church change to this heresy, abandon Christ's name, and henceforth are called Arians, as no longer holding Christ's faith, but having inherited Arius's madness."
But it is true that when the Sisters Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Cresson, Pa. turned on EWTN in 1990, and Mother Angelica was crying the blues about how Bush was going to war in the Middle East , she bothered me psychologically. Why? President Bush already bothered me with Hitler, Nqueen Elizabeth 1 etc. whoile she just sits in her cloister her whole life acting out liuke she knew the most. She will never know the most. Evne St. Stephen, Pope Joihn Paul tyhe Great is himself,not St. Peter the rock at the gAte this time around.
I love you, Father. Please pray for my girlfriend and I. Please pray that my prayers are answered. My prayers about my girlfriend must be answered. Please help and please pray for us. Thank you. God Is Lord God Is Good God Is Great God Is Lord.