I will be honest. I am new to the Catholic faith, which has become the cornerstone of my life, and I am very much in love with it more than anything. It seems God has chastised me. It’s beautiful but at the same time very heartbreaking, which I guess is the point. Silence terrifies me, but I guess that’s the point. I will have to give this a try. Maybe this is a phase we all must go through who earnestly seek God. The dark night of the soul. St. John of the cross, pray for me. Pray for me brothers and sisters. I have come to see believing in God is a blessing when you don’t hear Him, feel Him, see Him. It’s believing and making Him our LORD of life regardless of His presence, and in that we experience a breakthrough of His true grace, and majestic wonder. Still….it hurts. We all want our cup to overflow. But we are called to love God for His sake. Not our own. Blessed Mother, pray for me. Weep with me O mother of God as I weep, and lament for our LORD Jesus Christ your Son to deliver us from this exile. Let me feel thy head laid on my back and thy arms wrapped around me as I cry out to Abba. God is so great. There is none other, there is no love more real than that of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen.
Be patient. When I moved to my own place many years ago, I realized how much I enjoyed silence. Now as a father, morning silence is one of then things I miss the most. / Let it grow slowly. You can start by simply eating in silence. No music, or TV, no phone. Enjoy the present. God is there. Again, patience…
😊James I am so happy you are in this Holy phase of your love for God. I was born into an Angican Catholic family so Mum brought my sister and myself up in the Catholic faith. I am so very grateful too for the priceless protection of Holy Mother Church, St Michael and Mother Mary. Keep praying, fasting, attending Holy Mass, avoid worldly people and love God the Holy Trinity above all else. Ideally have blessed water and blessed salt in your home and wear a St Benedict medal to deter evil influences. It is a spiritual battle so stay equipped. Treasure your Holy Bible and find long lasting Catholic friends you can trust to share the good and difficult times.. Wear the Spiritual Armour every day. It is outlined in Ephesians. Satan attacks true believers but I discovered he hates the word Mercy so the Jesus Prayer deters him. It is this. Dear Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have Mercy on me a sinner. You can say it in the morning or before bed on the Rosary beads. I say The Three O'Clock Prayer and have read St Maria Faustina 's diary. Invoke the saints you feel can help you. Keep loving God, stay humble. Be kind and forgiving as Jesus forgave us by His Blood on the Cross. I pray the Holy Rosary daily and offer it up for the Holy Souls, myself and my husband Paul, family and friends, conversions to Christ's Kingdom, and good Holy priests. You are chosen to love and serve God and embrace the path to Heaven and that is really a blessing. Silence is obedience to Jesus. St Francis said he experienced The Lord as a still small voice within. If we are ego led we are too noisy. It takes humility to quietly wait to hear from God and it develops patience and wise discipline and discernment. It is flowing against the toxic tide of the lower carnal nature and the world energies to be a committed Christian but then we seek heaven and life eternal with God and His saints. Peace and joy
Look at Henri Nowen 'Reaching Out' ,the three steps to the Spiritual.and Fr James Martin,S.J. 'Learning to Pray' These two are no arm chair Theologians, but struggled and,for Fr. James,still struggle, for living Faith.
My difficulty is the massive tinnitus I am dealing with. I can never have silence. I pray for it to be cured but I have to accept it as a suffering to be offered up. But I will keep asking for a miracle to have it cured.
I am not Catholic but God led me to your videos and now i have binge watched several of them. I am enjoying the lessons. That silence seems elusive to me as i have struggled to calm my mind and focus on prayer for quite a while but i want to thank you for doing these videos. They are helpful
same here I'm not Catholic not another branch of christianity, but I so much love your words, your humor. I try to connect to Jesus but my band width seems insufficient so far.. Being brought up intellectual pretty much anti religious might make it less easy to. So many people that come to Jesus after having been atheist often come from a christian upbringing is my feeling
I started bringing my noise cancelling earbuds to adoration. There are so many people making noise and some praying out loud that my scheduled time in silence with the Lord was not as fruitfula as I'd like. This has helped me a lot.
Humility of simply accepting the noise of your brothers and sisters seeking to adore our Eucharistic Lord can also be beneficial for the discipline of the soul. Maybe alternate using and not using them regardless of what noise there is as a bit of a slight discipline gaining the benefits of both and let go of some control as well.
Silence, this is why I love the LOW Latin mass. It’s honestly one of the only places in life that allows me to slow down enough to really talk and hear God. That or prayer in my prayer room in the middle of the night.
There is quietness, but we also need stillness. The stillness of night is when I can get the most profound thoughts, so much so that I now have a pen and paper handy. It feels like God can reach me easier when I'm least distracted.
So glad to hear other Catholics experience this too. God sometimes reaches me during the work day in between tasks, but the flood gates really come out in the stillness (not necessarily absence of sound) of the night.
To me ,silence is the absence of thought . If only for a little while seconds, minutes. Being still in the presence of the Lord, is hopefully what I’m endeavouring to achieve.
Father, thank you for this video. I suffer from anxiety and OCD/scrupulosity but through lectio divina and more contemplative prayer I have been able to see the immense difference between the presence, love, and consolation of the Lord vs my anxious thoughts. I drive a lot, and instead of listening to podcasts recently I have been driving in silence, listening to the Lord as he warms my heart, sometimes just thanking Him for all of the graces I have received. I feel closer to Him more than ever.
I love this. One thing I've learned over the years dealing with ADHD is that boredom can be very loud. When your brain is craving stimulation, it can overwhelm you just like hunger or thirst. And sometimes we're called to fast, and sometimes we aren't. Sometimes I feel that nourishing loving silence in my soul when I'm still doing stuff, like idk cuddling my dog watching him watch squirrel videos on youtube or something. Whether you're sensing lots of stimulating things or not, it's like being content and filled up and immersed in God's love without worrying about where your next meal is going to come from. God doesn't want you to be bored, He just wants you to trust Him.
I found out only recently at the age of 70+ that I am on the Autism Spectrum. I watch a lot of videos about autism in women and one mentioned that Stimming is also helpful for ADHD sufferers. If you don't know what it is, google it because it is just a way to regulate your brain activity with actions that are sometimes small but can help. Some people might call it fidgeting but it's not really. I was in a class last week and it got too loud and I had a meltdown. Once I calmed down, I found an app on my phone that helped me block out everything but what the teacher was saying. It's an Italian advanced conversation class so some of the people were talking amongst themselves and it was too much. They were out of order actually.
Boredom is a pattern of thinking we can overcome. Set the intention to be present and to love God 24/7 . Write down or bring to mind a few, perhaps 5 things each day God has gifted freely to you. Gratitude is a more positive attitude and can nurture love and happiness.
@@wendyflanagan5738 yeah it's no different than hunger/thirst. when you don't have enough food, your brain creates a drive to seek out food. when your brain is understimulated, your brain creates a drive to seek out stimulation. This keeps your brain healthy. ADHD is where the brain is chronically understimulated, as in there are neurotransmitters that are not present in healthy amounts. when you don't have enough to eat it makes you rely on God more... ADHD absolutely makes your soul cry out to God. It definitely is a cross, patterns of thinking can lead to accepting crosses and allowing God to use them to make you holy. Also, CBT is one of the mainline treatments for ADHD, and it's all about retraining your patterns of thinking. Boredom doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong, but that doesn't mean God doesn't want you to live a full life where you're not a slave to boredom. It doesn't necessarily mean He won't allow you to struggle with it for your own good though and it's important to realize it's not your fault. There is a physical limitation at play, and sometimes it glorifies God when He does miracles and makes you able to overcome it, and sometimes it glorifies God when you are weak and limited and you can't do everything you wanted to do.
Again, a new Catholic. This is some impressive teaching Father Columba! I pray for you right along with Bishop Barron and my parish priests each night. Your ministry is such a blessing! Real tools we can use in our day by day lives Mark Indianapolis
Loved this lesson! I used to meditate when I was a buddhist, but now I've retuurned to the faith I don't feel the need to meditate. But II do feel the need for silence. Much love from a greek christian. Thank you.
The Silence is Meekness. When you do not defend yourself against offenses; When you do not claim your rights; When you let God defend you; The Silence is Meekness. The Silence is Mercy. When you do not reveal the faults of your brothers to others; When you readily forgive without inquiring into the past; When you do not judge, but pray in your heart; The Silence is Mercy. The Silence is Patience. When you accept suffering not with grumbling but joyfully; When you do not look for human consolations; When you do not become too anxious, but wait in patience for the seed to germinate; The Silence is Patience. The Silence is Humility. When there is no competition; When you consider the other person to be better than yourself; When you let your brothers emerge, grow and mature; When you joyfully abandon all to the Lord; When your actions may be misinterpreted; When you leave to others the glory of the enterprise; The Silence is Humility. The Silence is Faith. When you keep quiet because you know that the Lord will act; When you renounce the voice of the world to remain in the presence of the Lord; When you do not labour yourself to be understood; because it is enough for you to know that the Lord understands you; The Silence is Faith. The Silence is Adoration. When you embrace the cross without asking "Why?"; St. John of the Cross
I think one of the greatest experiences we can have is when we step off this planet and into the profound silence of space where we cannot even hear our own heartbeats or silva swallowing or even the blinking of the eyelids. Then I open my eyes and I'm in the perpetual Adoration chapel. Sometimes in the journey I capture a useful word from the Lord and sometimes full sentences and even full stories. It happens so often and not only to myself but thousands. Locutions are real and may they ever always humble us in amazement.
Silence is an opportunity to know God without the mediation of our preconceptions. However, the process can be heartbreaking. I have found comfort in these words from Psalm 119: Support me according to your promise, and I will live; May my hope not be frustrated. (V. 116) Greetings from Chile, I hope I have expressed myself well, because English is not my language.
It's not religion that connects you to God, it is the faith you have, no greater love in Jesus Christ Our Lord & Savior. Holiness... Thank you for your share. God bless...
I bought that book more than 20 years ago. The pages are well turned and yellowed by our damp climate as l dipped into it many times over the years. Now my much older eyes battle with the small print but the lessons l learnt from it are part of my life.
The Lord reaches out to us in so many ways. When you go through the dark night, you have to do the reaching. For some, that means realizing that you haven't thought of God once in the whole day. I went through some of that and finally noticed. I didn't like it. Where are you, Lord? His response seemed to be, "You forgot me." Now, I have moments of silence for Him to reach out to me when I am listening or just sharing silent time with Him, and other times when I pray specific prayers, or my own or just...worship ... it's like walking by and letting him know I love him. The silence is alive with listening or communicating. Some days or even weeks, it's so quiet. Some years. We have to maintain our love when He is quiet with us. So many saints went through it. Mother Teresa of Calcutta went through decades of it, and who would know? She had to tell us for us to realize. Many saints have endured and persevered through a dark night of the soul.
Silence? People get home and turn on the TV or radio just to avoid "hearing" the silence. Drive a car without the radio on? Do cars even work with the radio off? Silence use to be a common occurrence. Now it almost needs to be sought. Silence is well worth the effort to find. For all the reasons you mentioned.
In a perfect world we would go outside and be in nature although nature might be very noisy, but we would be like looking for a night full of stars and wonder about the Creation and how God set all the luminaries to guide us and divided the light and the night. We would be in wonder and we would let God to embraced us in silence and majesty. But sometimes it is just staying in your room with everything electronic turn down and with our eyes close and listening to the silence as you well said. Thanks Father for all you do, for evangelize because that is JC mandate - go and spread the word- the good news, and things have not changed much in all these centuries, actually I think we are in the dark ages and the dark ages were nos so dark, probably is all propaganda what do we learn about the past.
I came into the anthology church about 2 years ago after many years in the New Age teachings and practices. I can agree that it is very difficult to break free but I am so glad I did. Hearing your experience Father Columba really helped me as I don’t know many people who realise just how dangerous these things are. Thank you.
One can not hear God's voice, for God is far beyond the words of man. One can only "Feel" God's intentions. It is all about emotion and feeling the truth. Only true honest compassion can do this.
"... it's hard to give birth... so I hear"😆😅😂. Thank you for yet another great sermon. I honestly struggle with this. I do say some prayers, et al. but I'm scared of silence. I'm the guy that turns on tv just to hear it in the background. I'll intentionally seek these moments and remember the words "...do not be afraid."
Thank you Father, I crave silence and during the day when there is little of that, I try to find it within me, rather than by shutting myself away. This video has been enormously helpful 😊
I so needed too hear this. I'm not good at this at all! (I have adhd) Please pray for me Father Columba,so that I can find some quiet moments!🙏 Any advice....and I'll take it! Thank you Father!🙏😃❤
I"m not a priest but I also have ADHD and I think God made our brains this way for a reason. He speaks to us in different ways. Maybe you experience Him deeply when you listen to music. He is in the creative idea that flashes into your mind like a lightening bolt. He gave you your interests and passions and He with you in your struggles.
Try vipassana or any of the Catholic meditations (Hallow app). Focus on your breathing, as thoughts arise, simply observe and let go. Come back to your breath. Observe the breath and do body scanning. Try for 5min at first, as you get better increase to 8-10min, and keep increasing the length. Prayers or the rosary can be another method? All the best, friend.
It's not for nothing Silent is an anagram of Listen! To that, in Music - I'm a musician - is it Silence that shapes a sound; the unheard beat its buoyancy.
Amen, thank you very much! I've been struggeling with trying to get myself to listen to God.. At one hand I want to listen to Him, but at the same time I find it very difficult, for my head is so often filled with thoughts and I'm afraid that the Lord asks me to do something special, for which i really need to go out of my way, and I want to do His good will, but doubt enters my heart and I start thinking whether what I just heard was really from God or myself or some other voice. Becomming more difficult when I hear two completely contrasting things, neither thing is inherently wrong, but I don't know which I should do, or I hear something that would completely change the way i currently life. That when I look at the fruits and how i feel my life seems to be guided, it looks like i'm on the path the The Lord has meant for me. It's pretty difficult😅
I often find my head all too noisy at all hours of the day. I haven't had a true moment of silence since I was about 12 or 11, long before I converted. I desparately hope I can find that much silence again: this time WITH God.
Actually the longing for silence as a condition for practicing the presence of God is a crutch. God is our ground of being, the inseparable substance and inner radiance that makes us real and is our wholeness. The anointing is at all times and moments, we are awash in it. Joy and the flood of holy life blood is our nature. Reach and long in every moment and tell no one. You need not wait for the quiet times. They will wonder why you are smiling all the time.
Not always, you can be silent and not be present. What makes silence an absolute act of listening is if your intention to being silent is asking God to make you listen to Him
Fr. Columba I have chronic and loud ear ringing and it makes it difficult to enjoy physical silence. I feel like I can never have perfect true silence. I wonder if I could offer it up. I WANT to listen but all I hear is my ears ringing. Please advise. Blessings and thank you
Theres always something going on regarding retreats in Ireland , cursillo weekends .....etc Theres a whatsap group that posts a lot of religious events north and south
Fr Jordan greetings from Miami. Any advice on how to find the solutide you are mentioning ? I am a mother of 4 , i get super busy during the day . Should i wake up early morning ?
Waking up earlier is a good idea ....God will see it and if you persevere i believe he wl reward you. But go to bed a bit earlier if you can so you still get adequate rest as mama bear needs her sleep to be a good mama bear
What happens when you stay in silence for 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes and no thought appears, no emotion appears, nothing. That happens. I can see the value of silence when a lot of bad thoughts or emotions are invading. Under those circumstances silence is desperately needed. But I wonder if silence is always good.
Good question. It is hard for me to practice silence as such because of chronic fatigue. I’m afraid I’ll just fall asleep! Silence works best for me when I am doing art or gardening.
@@michelemcdermott75 Totally understand. I wasn't able to do it either for a very long time. I was reading St. Teresa of Avila once a few years ago and she apparently really struggled to meditate. I never knew that, But she did and she knew there were many others that struggled too (even back then before the internet was invented! :) She says basically to get a picture of the Lord that you like and use it to make friendly conversation with him, gradually alternating times of speaking and more quiet listening. When I first started trying this I was very scared. I literally set my timer on my phone for one minute and that was it, I could do no more. But I gradually increased it and now I can do ten minutes. I never dreamed I'd be able to do that because my mind is a whirl most of the time. But also I think, even if you don't do that, it's like he says, just trying to be silent in those moments each day when we are moving from one thing to another. It's just little moments here and there, where we can shoot up a short prayer to God. It doesn't have to be a big long silence session either. So keep trying and don't give up!
I AGGREE WITH THE PRIEST, THE MECHANICAL I PHONES ARE HORRIBLE. WE HAVE LOST TOUCH WITH HUMANITY. NOW, IT´S ALL ABOUT PUSHING BUTTONS AND MAKING NO EMOTIONAL CONTACT WITH THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU
I will be honest. I am new to the Catholic faith, which has become the cornerstone of my life, and I am very much in love with it more than anything. It seems God has chastised me. It’s beautiful but at the same time very heartbreaking, which I guess is the point. Silence terrifies me, but I guess that’s the point. I will have to give this a try. Maybe this is a phase we all must go through who earnestly seek God. The dark night of the soul. St. John of the cross, pray for me. Pray for me brothers and sisters. I have come to see believing in God is a blessing when you don’t hear Him, feel Him, see Him. It’s believing and making Him our LORD of life regardless of His presence, and in that we experience a breakthrough of His true grace, and majestic wonder. Still….it hurts. We all want our cup to overflow. But we are called to love God for His sake. Not our own. Blessed Mother, pray for me. Weep with me O mother of God as I weep, and lament for our LORD Jesus Christ your Son to deliver us from this exile. Let me feel thy head laid on my back and thy arms wrapped around me as I cry out to Abba. God is so great. There is none other, there is no love more real than that of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen.
Are prayers are with you James, I’m also struggling with silence rn
Be patient. When I moved to my own place many years ago, I realized how much I enjoyed silence. Now as a father, morning silence is one of then things I miss the most. / Let it grow slowly. You can start by simply eating in silence. No music, or TV, no phone. Enjoy the present. God is there. Again, patience…
😊James I am so happy you are in this Holy phase of your love for God. I was born into an Angican Catholic family so Mum brought my sister and myself up in the Catholic faith. I am so very grateful too for the priceless protection of Holy Mother Church, St Michael and Mother Mary. Keep praying, fasting, attending Holy Mass, avoid worldly people and love God the Holy Trinity above all else. Ideally have blessed water and blessed salt in your home and wear a St Benedict medal to deter evil influences. It is a spiritual battle so stay equipped. Treasure your Holy Bible and find long lasting Catholic friends you can trust to share the good and difficult times.. Wear the Spiritual Armour every day. It is outlined in Ephesians. Satan attacks true believers but I discovered he hates the word Mercy so the Jesus Prayer deters him. It is this. Dear Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have Mercy on me a sinner. You can say it in the morning or before bed on the Rosary beads. I say The Three O'Clock Prayer and have read St Maria Faustina 's diary. Invoke the saints you feel can help you. Keep loving God, stay humble. Be kind and forgiving as Jesus forgave us by His Blood on the Cross. I pray the Holy Rosary daily and offer it up for the Holy Souls, myself and my husband Paul, family and friends, conversions to Christ's Kingdom, and good Holy priests. You are chosen to love and serve God and embrace the path to Heaven and that is really a blessing. Silence is obedience to Jesus. St Francis said he experienced The Lord as a still small voice within. If we are ego led we are too noisy. It takes humility to quietly wait to hear from God and it develops patience and wise discipline and discernment. It is flowing against the toxic tide of the lower carnal nature and the world energies to be a committed Christian but then we seek heaven and life eternal with God and His saints. Peace and joy
Look at Henri Nowen 'Reaching Out' ,the three steps to the Spiritual.and Fr James Martin,S.J. 'Learning to Pray' These two are no arm chair Theologians, but struggled and,for Fr. James,still struggle, for living Faith.
Beautifully said @jamesholt8516
My difficulty is the massive tinnitus I am dealing with. I can never have silence. I pray for it to be cured but I have to accept it as a suffering to be offered up. But I will keep asking for a miracle to have it cured.
I am not Catholic but God led me to your videos and now i have binge watched several of them. I am enjoying the lessons. That silence seems elusive to me as i have struggled to calm my mind and focus on prayer for quite a while but i want to thank you for doing these videos. They are helpful
So glad you’re enjoying them.
@@ctmcatholicPlease translate into Russian language( subtitles)😊😊
same here I'm not Catholic not another branch of christianity, but I so much love your words, your humor. I try to connect to Jesus but my band width seems insufficient so far.. Being brought up intellectual pretty much anti religious might make it less easy to. So many people that come to Jesus after having been atheist often come from a christian upbringing is my feeling
From one Protestant in the US midwest, thank you for this.
thank you father your so humble and kind god bless you our lord god is most powerful an high i trust in him
May God bless you Fr Columba 🙏
You are so very much appreciated ❤
Same to you!
I started bringing my noise cancelling earbuds to adoration. There are so many people making noise and some praying out loud that my scheduled time in silence with the Lord was not as fruitfula as I'd like. This has helped me a lot.
Great idea!
Good idea
Sometimes we need to accept distractions at adoration. Jesus doesn't wear noise-canceling earbuds. Adoration isn't a library.
I have been using mine as well. For the initial minutes, I listen to Gregorian chants. Helps me silence my busy thoughts.
Humility of simply accepting the noise of your brothers and sisters seeking to adore our Eucharistic Lord can also be beneficial for the discipline of the soul. Maybe alternate using and not using them regardless of what noise there is as a bit of a slight discipline gaining the benefits of both and let go of some control as well.
the lesson was the feeding of our souls
Silence, this is why I love the LOW Latin mass. It’s honestly one of the only places in life that allows me to slow down enough to really talk and hear God. That or prayer in my prayer room in the middle of the night.
Definitely my preference as well. It’s a beautifully quiet half an hour of raising the mind to God.
- Edward
(I sometimes reply to the comments)
"SILENCE IS ALWAYS THE ACT OF LISTENING"!!! THANK YOU FATHER!
Thanks for watching.
MAMA MARY THANKS FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS AND THE GRACES WE RECIEVE DAILY..MY FAMILY ALWAYS LONG TO BE WITH YOU..WE LOVE YOU MOTHER..
I've had these and I need to keep a small notebook to write them as they occur because some profound things I have forgotten over time.
Love how Fr reached and grabbed haha
I hear God best in when I do art and being in a tub of warm water is my fave place
There is quietness, but we also need stillness. The stillness of night is when I can get the most profound thoughts, so much so that I now have a pen and paper handy. It feels like God can reach me easier when I'm least distracted.
Me too. I believe God quite deliberately wakes me in the night and that is when I am most receptive His presence 😊
So glad to hear other Catholics experience this too. God sometimes reaches me during the work day in between tasks, but the flood gates really come out in the stillness (not necessarily absence of sound) of the night.
To me ,silence is the absence of thought . If only for a little while seconds, minutes. Being still in the presence of the Lord, is hopefully what I’m endeavouring to achieve.
Father, thank you for this video. I suffer from anxiety and OCD/scrupulosity but through lectio divina and more contemplative prayer I have been able to see the immense difference between the presence, love, and consolation of the Lord vs my anxious thoughts. I drive a lot, and instead of listening to podcasts recently I have been driving in silence, listening to the Lord as he warms my heart, sometimes just thanking Him for all of the graces I have received. I feel closer to Him more than ever.
I love this. One thing I've learned over the years dealing with ADHD is that boredom can be very loud. When your brain is craving stimulation, it can overwhelm you just like hunger or thirst. And sometimes we're called to fast, and sometimes we aren't. Sometimes I feel that nourishing loving silence in my soul when I'm still doing stuff, like idk cuddling my dog watching him watch squirrel videos on youtube or something. Whether you're sensing lots of stimulating things or not, it's like being content and filled up and immersed in God's love without worrying about where your next meal is going to come from. God doesn't want you to be bored, He just wants you to trust Him.
I found out only recently at the age of 70+ that I am on the Autism Spectrum. I watch a lot of videos about autism in women and one mentioned that Stimming is also helpful for ADHD sufferers. If you don't know what it is, google it because it is just a way to regulate your brain activity with actions that are sometimes small but can help. Some people might call it fidgeting but it's not really. I was in a class last week and it got too loud and I had a meltdown. Once I calmed down, I found an app on my phone that helped me block out everything but what the teacher was saying. It's an Italian advanced conversation class so some of the people were talking amongst themselves and it was too much. They were out of order actually.
Boredom is a pattern of thinking we can overcome. Set the intention to be present and to love God 24/7 . Write down or bring to mind a few, perhaps 5 things each day God has gifted freely to you. Gratitude is a more positive attitude and can nurture love and happiness.
@@wendyflanagan5738 yeah it's no different than hunger/thirst. when you don't have enough food, your brain creates a drive to seek out food. when your brain is understimulated, your brain creates a drive to seek out stimulation. This keeps your brain healthy. ADHD is where the brain is chronically understimulated, as in there are neurotransmitters that are not present in healthy amounts. when you don't have enough to eat it makes you rely on God more... ADHD absolutely makes your soul cry out to God. It definitely is a cross, patterns of thinking can lead to accepting crosses and allowing God to use them to make you holy. Also, CBT is one of the mainline treatments for ADHD, and it's all about retraining your patterns of thinking. Boredom doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong, but that doesn't mean God doesn't want you to live a full life where you're not a slave to boredom. It doesn't necessarily mean He won't allow you to struggle with it for your own good though and it's important to realize it's not your fault. There is a physical limitation at play, and sometimes it glorifies God when He does miracles and makes you able to overcome it, and sometimes it glorifies God when you are weak and limited and you can't do everything you wanted to do.
Thank you
Thank you and God bless you, Father!
Same to you!
Wow……..so beautiful. Thank you for this teaching. I am going to order the book Poustinia.
Thank you father, very helpful in this too noisy world.
I tried this at the busy check-out today. It sort of worked but probably not enough. I need to learn patience to understand silence.
Again, a new Catholic. This is some impressive teaching Father Columba! I pray for you right along with Bishop Barron and my parish priests each night. Your ministry is such a blessing! Real tools we can use in our day by day lives
Mark
Indianapolis
Be still and know that I am Lord
Loved this lesson! I used to meditate when I was a buddhist, but now I've retuurned to the faith I don't feel the need to meditate. But II do feel the need for silence.
Much love from a greek christian. Thank you.
Excellent exhortation.
Thank you for your presence in the world 😊
Thanks for watching.
So beautiful!!!! Thank you very much Father🙏
The Silence is Meekness.
When you do not defend yourself against offenses;
When you do not claim your rights;
When you let God defend you;
The Silence is Meekness.
The Silence is Mercy.
When you do not reveal the faults of your brothers to others;
When you readily forgive without inquiring into the past;
When you do not judge, but pray in your heart;
The Silence is Mercy.
The Silence is Patience.
When you accept suffering not with grumbling but joyfully;
When you do not look for human consolations;
When you do not become too anxious, but wait in patience for the seed to germinate;
The Silence is Patience.
The Silence is Humility.
When there is no competition;
When you consider the other person to be better than yourself;
When you let your brothers emerge, grow and mature;
When you joyfully abandon all to the Lord;
When your actions may be misinterpreted;
When you leave to others the glory of the enterprise;
The Silence is Humility.
The Silence is Faith.
When you keep quiet because you know that the Lord will act;
When you renounce the voice of the world to remain in the presence of the Lord;
When you do not labour yourself to be understood;
because it is enough for you to know that the Lord understands you;
The Silence is Faith.
The Silence is Adoration.
When you embrace the cross without asking "Why?"; St. John of the Cross
This is beautiful!
Thank you Father! Poustinia is one of my favorites!! God Bless you and your work.
Thank you. God bless.
I think one of the greatest experiences we can have is when we step off this planet and into the profound silence of space where we cannot even hear our own heartbeats or silva swallowing or even the blinking of the eyelids. Then I open my eyes and I'm in the perpetual Adoration chapel. Sometimes in the journey I capture a useful word from the Lord and sometimes full sentences and even full stories. It happens so often and not only to myself but thousands. Locutions are real and may they ever always humble us in amazement.
Silence is the act of listening.❤️Father in Heaven, fill my silence with You.🙏❤️
Amen
Silence is an opportunity to know God without the mediation of our preconceptions. However, the process can be heartbreaking. I have found comfort in these words from Psalm 119:
Support me according to your promise, and I will live; May my hope not be frustrated. (V. 116)
Greetings from Chile, I hope I have expressed myself well, because English is not my language.
It's not religion that connects you to God, it is the faith you have, no greater love in Jesus Christ Our Lord & Savior. Holiness... Thank you for your share. God bless...
Cornelia I too will pray for you also.
You will get that have change.
🙏🏼
For someone like me, who lacks paying attention, i Will try It.
I bought that book more than 20 years ago. The pages are well turned and yellowed by our damp climate as l dipped into it many times over the years. Now my much older eyes battle with the small print but the lessons l learnt from it are part of my life.
What is the name of the book please Veronica
You nailed it Fr. Jordan! Beautifully said and realized. We’ll done!
Thanks for watching.
🙏🏻
The Still Small Voice !
Silence in the midst of Listening !
Thank you for listening and obeying. God Bless
Bless you.
The Lord reaches out to us in so many ways. When you go through the dark night, you have to do the reaching. For some, that means realizing that you haven't thought of God once in the whole day. I went through some of that and finally noticed. I didn't like it. Where are you, Lord? His response seemed to be, "You forgot me." Now, I have moments of silence for Him to reach out to me when I am listening or just sharing silent time with Him, and other times when I pray specific prayers, or my own or just...worship ... it's like walking by and letting him know I love him. The silence is alive with listening or communicating. Some days or even weeks, it's so quiet. Some years. We have to maintain our love when He is quiet with us. So many saints went through it. Mother Teresa of Calcutta went through decades of it, and who would know? She had to tell us for us to realize. Many saints have endured and persevered through a dark night of the soul.
Silence? People get home and turn on the TV or radio just to avoid "hearing" the silence. Drive a car without the radio on? Do cars even work with the radio off? Silence use to be a common occurrence. Now it almost needs to be sought. Silence is well worth the effort to find. For all the reasons you mentioned.
In a perfect world we would go outside and be in nature although nature might be very noisy, but we would be like looking for a night full of stars and wonder about the Creation and how God set all the luminaries to guide us and divided the light and the night. We would be in wonder and we would let God to embraced us in silence and majesty. But sometimes it is just staying in your room with everything electronic turn down and with our eyes close and listening to the silence as you well said. Thanks Father for all you do, for evangelize because that is JC mandate - go and spread the word- the good news, and things have not changed much in all these centuries, actually I think we are in the dark ages and the dark ages were nos so dark, probably is all propaganda what do we learn about the past.
I came into the anthology church about 2 years ago after many years in the New Age teachings and practices. I can agree that it is very difficult to break free but I am so glad I did. Hearing your experience Father Columba really helped me as I don’t know many people who realise just how dangerous these things are. Thank you.
Thank you Fr Columba 😊
Thanks for watching.
Awesome
This is an awesome video. Thank you Father. Praying for your continued vocation.
Thank you.
One can not hear God's voice, for God is far beyond the words of man. One can only "Feel" God's intentions. It is all about emotion and feeling the truth. Only true honest compassion can do this.
I love your teaching and your facial expressions 🙏🕊
Thank you.
🌺🌺❤❤🙏❤❤🌺🌺you always say what i need to hear x
So glad!
HE asked me for silence on Lent.. and I think I failed. This video really touched a button...
Keep going and try again! Pray for the grace to succeed.
That book is AWESOME!!!
God bless you too Father!
Loved the message!
❤❤
Thanks for watching.
"... it's hard to give birth... so I hear"😆😅😂. Thank you for yet another great sermon. I honestly struggle with this. I do say some prayers, et al. but I'm scared of silence. I'm the guy that turns on tv just to hear it in the background. I'll intentionally seek these moments and remember the words "...do not be afraid."
Thank you Father, I crave silence and during the day when there is little of that, I try to find it within me, rather than by shutting myself away. This video has been enormously helpful 😊
So glad to hear that.
Thank you Father Columba, beautiful meditation. God bless you always!
God bless you.
I so needed too hear this. I'm not good at this at all! (I have adhd) Please pray for me Father Columba,so that I can find some quiet moments!🙏
Any advice....and I'll take it!
Thank you Father!🙏😃❤
I"m not a priest but I also have ADHD and I think God made our brains this way for a reason. He speaks to us in different ways. Maybe you experience Him deeply when you listen to music. He is in the creative idea that flashes into your mind like a lightening bolt. He gave you your interests and passions and He with you in your struggles.
Thank you!🙏❤
riight?!?
Try vipassana or any of the Catholic meditations (Hallow app). Focus on your breathing, as thoughts arise, simply observe and let go. Come back to your breath. Observe the breath and do body scanning. Try for 5min at first, as you get better increase to 8-10min, and keep increasing the length. Prayers or the rosary can be another method? All the best, friend.
It's not for nothing Silent is an anagram of Listen! To that, in Music - I'm a musician - is it Silence that shapes a sound; the unheard beat its buoyancy.
🙏🏼
@@ctmcatholic Blessings!
Amen, thank you very much! I've been struggeling with trying to get myself to listen to God.. At one hand I want to listen to Him, but at the same time I find it very difficult, for my head is so often filled with thoughts and I'm afraid that the Lord asks me to do something special, for which i really need to go out of my way, and I want to do His good will, but doubt enters my heart and I start thinking whether what I just heard was really from God or myself or some other voice. Becomming more difficult when I hear two completely contrasting things, neither thing is inherently wrong, but I don't know which I should do, or I hear something that would completely change the way i currently life. That when I look at the fruits and how i feel my life seems to be guided, it looks like i'm on the path the The Lord has meant for me. It's pretty difficult😅
"The good enough is often the enemy of the best, when the best is available."
Unknown
I often find my head all too noisy at all hours of the day. I haven't had a true moment of silence since I was about 12 or 11, long before I converted. I desparately hope I can find that much silence again: this time WITH God.
It is worth pursuing!
Always the act of listening.
IS SILENCE. WOW HOW TRUE
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Actually the longing for silence as a condition for practicing the presence of God is a crutch. God is our ground of being, the inseparable substance and inner radiance that makes us real and is our wholeness. The anointing is at all times and moments, we are awash in it. Joy and the flood of holy life blood is our nature. Reach and long in every moment and tell no one. You need not wait for the quiet times. They will wonder why you are smiling all the time.
Buenos días! Saludos cariñosos Gracias!
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I'll tell you , if he has something to say to you, he'll open the heavens and say what he has to say. He's not afraid to speak his mind.
Beautiful and so true💗🙏🕊🐑
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Helpful, thank you. God bless you
God bless you.
Excellent talk. Many have never been exposed to this approach, etc.
Thanks for watching.
Not always, you can be silent and not be present.
What makes silence an absolute act of listening is if your intention to being silent is asking God to make you listen to Him
Good message. . .and your beard is awesome 🤭
Thanks. More beard: ruclips.net/video/kGZcyeX8QhM/видео.html
I love Poustinia
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Fr. Columba I have chronic and loud ear ringing and it makes it difficult to enjoy physical silence. I feel like I can never have perfect true silence. I wonder if I could offer it up. I WANT to listen but all I hear is my ears ringing. Please advise. Blessings and thank you
I would ask God to take it away but if it stays offer it up to him...
God wl do much good with it for others
🙏🕯🌹🕊❤️
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Does anybody know of any spiritual retreats in Ireland.....North or South.....for lay people? Tia 😊❤
Theres always something going on regarding retreats in Ireland , cursillo weekends .....etc
Theres a whatsap group that posts a lot of religious events north and south
How do I know if it’s my own mind or God?
Is there a way to live sometime with you the friars? As far as I know you have a convent in England. I would need some discerning time😅
You can get in touch with the friars vocation team here: www.cfrfranciscans.co.uk/contact-1
Yes purposely avoiding it. Why? What am I afraid of?
Fr Jordan greetings from Miami. Any advice on how to find the solutide you are mentioning ? I am a mother of 4 , i get super busy during the day . Should i wake up early morning ?
Waking up earlier is a good idea ....God will see it and if you persevere i believe he wl reward you.
But go to bed a bit earlier if you can so you still get adequate rest as mama bear needs her sleep to be a good mama bear
Father volume is very low. Findng it difficult to hear.
Pustinja means desert(like Sahara) in Croatian language.
Interesting!
You are correct, but in this case it's coming from Russian, Croatian's distant cousin.
What happens when you stay in silence for 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes and no thought appears, no emotion appears, nothing. That happens. I can see the value of silence when a lot of bad thoughts or emotions are invading. Under those circumstances silence is desperately needed. But I wonder if silence is always good.
Good question. It is hard for me to practice silence as such because of chronic fatigue. I’m afraid I’ll just fall asleep! Silence works best for me when I am doing art or gardening.
Father- I can’t be silent. Don’t know why. Maybe it is because I can drown out my thoughts with noise😢🙏
Not even for a few moments here and there when you look up at the sky for instance and utter a short prayer? That's all it takes.
@@bretstanley8931 I can do that🙏 But to sit in silence for an extended period is when my thoughts flood my mind🙏
@@michelemcdermott75 Totally understand. I wasn't able to do it either for a very long time. I was reading St. Teresa of Avila once a few years ago and she apparently really struggled to meditate. I never knew that, But she did and she knew there were many others that struggled too (even back then before the internet was invented! :)
She says basically to get a picture of the Lord that you like and use it to make friendly conversation with him, gradually alternating times of speaking and more quiet listening. When I first started trying this I was very scared. I literally set my timer on my phone for one minute and that was it, I could do no more. But I gradually increased it and now I can do ten minutes. I never dreamed I'd be able to do that because my mind is a whirl most of the time.
But also I think, even if you don't do that, it's like he says, just trying to be silent in those moments each day when we are moving from one thing to another. It's just little moments here and there, where we can shoot up a short prayer to God. It doesn't have to be a big long silence session either. So keep trying and don't give up!
@@bretstanley8931 God Bless You and thank you.
@@michelemcdermott75 You're welcome and God Bless you as well!
I AGGREE WITH THE PRIEST, THE MECHANICAL I PHONES ARE HORRIBLE. WE HAVE LOST TOUCH WITH HUMANITY.
NOW, IT´S ALL ABOUT PUSHING BUTTONS AND MAKING NO EMOTIONAL CONTACT WITH THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU
🙏🏼
🕍🛐💝🌹💞🙏🙏🙏😇🕯️🕊️
Just read the bible, that's Jesus talking to us.
I would love to hear silence, but the Lord has blessed me with tinnitus. 🎐 😊 It's okay tho, it's a gift from our Lord. 🙏