The beautiful irony of this video is that Fr. Barron displays intellect, cleverness, and reasonable arguments (and conclusions) to the topic - the very opposite of what secular, anti-religious arguments say religion, faith, and the faithful don't have. Thank you for making these videos, Fr. Barron, and please keep making them! They are planting more seeds and increasing faiths everyday!
Bishop Barron. I'm a Protestant who "faithfully" makes every attempt to catch your presentations wherever I can find them! I attended church related schools and I've heard a fair number of excellent teachers. I without hesitation rank you among the very best. You are a superb communicator and instructor. I look forward to your lessons daily. There is a permanent spot for you on my prayer list! God bless you as you continue to serve Him and spread His Word 😃. Stella McDonald, Tennessee
Fr. Barron, your videos are a breath of fresh air. Very inspiring. I am not a Catholic but I respect the Catholic faith tremendously because I have seen it put into action. I worked with Catholic brothers in relief efforts at the time of the Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and the South Asian Tsunami in 2006 in India. I saw faith in action. I saw compassion in action. I saw intellect in action. And yes, I also saw God in action.
@@robertlight5227 Humans face an existential crisis and it relates to our becoming self-aware as a species. The story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is a poetic way of expressing this timeless truth. The Bible is full of truth. It covers everything from the mundane details of how to make bread and calculate the value of pi, through handling higher level concepts like interpersonal relations, going all the way through to complex abstract mysticism. I highly doubt you've read very many of the 1200 or so pages. " I have studied the opinions of those who claim to believe in your alleged deity." Ok, so as I suspected you have *_NOT_* studied God. Why then do you feel that you are able to construct a valid argument about something you have never studied? You might as well be a flat-earther lecturing me about how timezones work. "have you studied logic, philosophy, and science?" why yes, yes I have. Care to dance?
Father Barron, I am going through doubts about my faith and about God's existence. You are an inspiration to me right now, and I ask that you pray for me. Thank you.
As a former agnostic trying to grapple with Christianity, what faith is and what it would mean to "have faith" - this was really illuminating. Thank you.
The greatest single proof of God's existence, at least to me, is the irrational and violent opposition I see in those who refuse to acknowledge Him. Thank you Fr. Barron for these videos, and Catholicism series.That series is directly responsible for leading me across the Tiber, and away from my shipwrecked fundamentalism.
It's true, and specifically the Christians are the most violently opposed and persecuted. Also comparing to the other religions is not even close the difference of persecution. Also faith and reason go together, being faith above reason
Thank you bishop Barron. This reminds me of the woman at the well in John 4 when Jesus says to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is Who speaks to you, you would ask Him and He would give you living water welling up to eternal life." I've pondered so much about what that gift is He mentions and I believe it's faith. And looking back on it I realized this is what praying with scripture does which you can't make someone who relies on his own reason understand because he doesn't experience it. Jesus' living words address me the reader now. We enter the story and now Jesus is speaking to us. If I know the gift, and I know the Giver then I ask Him and trust Him because I have come to know Him, trust Him and love Him. He invited me into a relationship with Him and He gives me living water from within that nothing else can compare to.
@BalladoftheWindfish I am not Catholic but I was born into a faith, had questions and crisis' of faith and through it all remained in my faith and became stronger because of it. I think a part of faith is humility. I don't mean giving up your self or your intellect. But a healthy humility that most questions have been asked and answered by smarter people that you or I. I found as I searched for answers through prayer, study, and service to others, these answers satisfied my intellect.
Fr. Barron, you lead me like a gentle sheppard. I am so grateful to be able to listen to your insights. When I have an inner question, I look to you. You are a gift to the Church. Thank you for all of your efforts. They are making a world of difference.
I read something once that said we have faith every time we drive that the car coming toward us won’t cross the yellow line. It really made me realize that we use faith way more than we think everyday. It is very accessible and a part of our lives whether we want to admit it or not.
I thought that I knew Catholicism but I am finding out that I am like a small child with my knowledge of Catholicism. You are teaching me so much about Catholicism and God. I am a Rosary maker. Each day I am making two rosaries for your mission of evangelizing. Keep up the excellent work!
There are three things that I know with absolute certainty: that I exist, that I am conscious, and that I don't know everything. I take it on faith that certain phenomena in my consciousness represent sense data that tell me things about a world outside myself. I take it on faith that some of the beings I perceive are other conscious beings like myself. Without faith, my existence would be very small and trivial.
To say that God is a person is to imply that he has intellect, will, and freedom. To say that he is not a "chap" is to imply that he is not one being among many.
Just 8 years later I found Bishop Barron's video on FAITH. It was incredibly just what I needed and refreshed me in my personal journey with Jesus. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Yes I agree with Bishop Barron... we do not sacrifice our intellect in order to have faith! For my own part, I accept with faith what Jesus has taught. It has proven itself true over and over again.
This has to be one of my all-time favorite videos. The truth of it becomes more apparent and its beauty blossoms even more fully every time I watch. God bless you Father!
Thank you for this. Ive been slightly skeptic of full blown faith because I was raised to believe that faith was blind trust, forcing yourself to believe in something that logically doesnt seem clear, and constantly reassuring yourself that thats the way things are. Your idea that faith is superior to reason but doesnt dismiss it makes sense to me because living a life with the idea that reason and faith are polar opposites can create a lot of confusion and conflict in ones self. I think that logic and reason are tools given to us in order to live a more promising life, and faith provides us with the courage to keep striving to be better people and the reassurance that thats what god desires from us
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you answering God's call. thank you, I don't know how you could be a priest. I cry each time I receive the eucharist, so I would be a crying priest. Thank you Stick it out in the hard times the sheep need feeding, become the best you can be a priest.A bottom in the Pew, and a ex-protestant who heard Paul preached, not Christ. Thank you again
God speaks in a myriad ways, people can discern what comes from God. Faith is in the mind and the love for God is in the heart of the believer who knows that God exists and is alive. God lives. Viva Cristo Rei! 🕊
Oh My God.Today I have received so many graces and so many gifts! I liked you before. I trusted you before and now I am bursting with Joy! My eyes are closed. I am turning of this machine. I am going outside to look at the stars and listen to my Lord speak.
Thank you Father for this. Earlier this week, I purposefully locked myself out of my facebook and already I have discovered that I am seeing people on a different level than I had before. It's refreshing to not have all of these details about everyone's lives in front of me and seeing people as more than just a profile. Hopefully, I can apply this experience to my relationship with God, which up to now has been almost completely based on logic and reason.
I thought that was, in my opinion, the best analogy on faith I've ever heard. You've definitely put faith into words that would be easy for someone to comprehend. Even so, I expect many to be intolerable to it.
+alexsolis962 Yo tambien soy de Monterrey y soy gran admirador y seguidor del Obispo Robert Barron. Por si no sabias, en la Libreria Beityala es la unica que vende la serie Catolicismo y otros videos del Obispo Robert Barron en Monterrey. Disculpa eres estudiante de universidad o prepa? Lo digo por tu video que tienes subido jaja.
It is exactly faith in a relationship with a person. One of the most authentic people who ever lived on this earth. Your faith in the person of Jesus Christ is the exactly how your relationship with your wife, husband, brother, sister and on and on. It starts out like most do you become interested in things that you hear. And you pursue it; just like you would with any other relationship. However, the great difference is that in this relationship He happens to be The Son of God. And when you begin to pray for more and more faith, a wonderful thing happens to you, that little voice inside your head you heard your whole life whispering to you; well now it Screams, "This is the Creator of the whole world and He forgives you for the terrible person you have been." I wanted to run to my Church and prostrate myself in front of the altar in fear & trembling, in great awe and thankfulness, Now this is faith and it surpasses reason, logic, induction, deduction. You can keep all that; I'll take this faith to my grave and beyond!!! You don't know what you're missing!!!!!
One of God's great blessings to me, is that He gave me a love for science, math and engineering and the skills to understand it. For me, knowing the science give me goosebumps becasue I see it as a manifestation of Gods Power, glory and sovereignty. I have the impression that God actually understands the state of the Universe down to the state of the individual subatomic particles. I believe that God is pleased when we exercise the abilities and opportunities He has blessed us with. He blesses some people with a gift of hospitality and is pleased when they exercise that gift and give God credit. Similarly when the gifted police officer exercises his gift of being a protector of the weak, withye teacher, preacher and so on. The parable of the talents shows that when we exercise our gifts for God, he multiplies and enhances those gifts. The purpose of our gifts to to serve God and serve others. I find it rather comical, and a demonstration of deep arrogance, that many modern people, most of whom do not understand math and science, actually follow a religion I call "scientism" and treat scientists as priests and purveyors of "Truth." Engineering, my profession, is an applied science in which I apply the scientific methods to solve problems: I am very fallible.
Thank you Rev.Lordship for your wisdom and knowledge given to you Holy Spirit. I really admire your immense knowledge on scripture and the way you explain is amazing. May God bless you
Dear Fr. Barron; Thank you so much for your clear & grounded analogy, which helps my own struggles in recent years on Faith, Reasoning, intellectual learning, and ultimately trust. I'd love to have the opportunity to have a conversation with you. I thank God for the work you do, and may He continue to Bless you and your good work.
Fr. Barron, I love hearing you explicate the faith for us and your faith for us. I see no contradiction in saying that God is a person and also being--or, Tillich would say the ground of being. For me, faith is a verb and it is a relationship. Until you are willing to enter into that relationship, then it seems to me you won't be entranced by God, transformed by God, lit up from within. Thank you for all that you do. Je suis bouleverse!
Thank u Bishop Barron ..im a Catholic ....n your teachings are so lovely ...the Lord continue to bless u abundantly so that u continue to be a blessing to the nations in Jesus Name .Amen ..love ,from India
Did you hear Pope Francis recently? He articulated the official Catholic position that even an atheist who sincerely follows his conscience and does good can be saved. Please don't trade in stereotypes and caricatures of Catholic thought.
@@Name-le2cc You can read Pope Francis' "LETTER TO A NON-BELIEVER". Additionally you can watch a video called "Little boy asks Pope Francis: 'Is my dad in heaven?'", in which Pope gives little boy hope that his non-believing father is saved.
@@robertlight5227 I have some insights I'd like to offer. I hope they clarify things for you. The reason the Catholic Church can never ordain women to the priesthood has to do with the nature of what the Church is, and its doctrines established over time. In the Catholic Church, there is the doctrine of infallibility. This means that when something has been revealed through natural law, holy scripture or sacred tradition (or some combination of all 3), then it is officially declared infallible by the Pope or the teaching magesterium of the Church, and is consequently unable to be changed in the future. In 1994, Pope John Paul 2 wrote a piece to clarify confusion over the priesthood, and stated that because Jesus was male, and he ordained only men, and they ordained only men, etc etc, the model for a male priesthood was divinely established by Christ Himself. Despite being surrounded by many women who hold enormous esteem in Catholic Church and its history, Jesus never appointed one woman to the priesthood. Therefore, Pope John Paul 2 infallibly declared, on the basis of this understanding, that even if it wanted to, the Church has no power to change the priesthood, as it is a divine revelation from God, and therefore cannot be argued. The plane interview with Pope Francis went a little further than you have described. Pope Francis has obviously given some thought to the matter of female priests, because his answer was very articulately and carefully worded. When he was asked about it, he answered that, "Pope John Paul 2 seems to have closed the door on that". When questioned as to whether this teaching is infallible and must stand forever, he said, "It certainly appears that way" (indicating there may have been attempts by either Francis or others to work around Pope John Paul 2's writing, but there simply was no way around it). So your characterisation of a mean Pope Francis, beating down on the dreams of women, is incorrect and unfair. The reason has nothing to do with a man made decision, but a divinely revealed truth about the nature of the priesthood and the Catholic Church itself. I will also add, in reference to another comment on this thread, that the Church is not a democracy. It claims to be the mystical body of Christ on earth, with doctrines it understands as infallibly revealed. It is not a man made democracy like most other institutions. In general, the Church teaches and the laity listens, not the other way around. This might go against the leadership model in most western countries, but it is the way it has always been in the Catholic Church. Also, I might add (in answer to your claim that the Church is misogynistic), that in the Catholic Church, the person who is held in the highest esteem above all other created beings, above all humans, angels and saints, and every living creature in the history of all creation, and deserving of all veneration and devotion, was a young uneducated Jewish girl from 1st Century Israel (this is, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary). The perfect example (not just the 'best' example, but the actual FULLY perfect and holy example) to worship God, is shown in the life of the Blessed Mother, according to Catholic teaching. Finally I'd like to address your reply to the other user that you will 'think' for them in answer to their offer to pray for you. Some of the smartest minds in history, with the fullest weight of scientific and philosophical understanding behind them, have been people of faith, and have shown that true faith is an extention of knowledge and thinking, not a replacement of it. I think this was the whole purpose of Bishop Barrons video. Thinking leads most serious believers to God, not away from it. Something for you to mull over. My friend I hope you find what you appear to be searching for. As a 36 year old lifelong atheist, the Catholic Church is where I finally,, and very unexpectedly, found the answer to every question about human life I had ever had, and where I found true peace, joy and understanding. I hope the same proves to be true for you some day. In the great Catholic tradition, I'll both think and pray for you. God bless.
@@robertlight5227 Catholic women don't want to become priests. They know that Jesus chose only men as apostles but that Jesus held women in high regard. Women can hold a lot of offices in the church, just not priesthood and the career that may follow. Modern feminism is cancer. Women and men are different and on average have different talents and interests. The Church is the church and not your leftist playground - if you don't like its teachings: Goodbye. There is a lot of evidence for Jesus' historical existance. Do your research. If you don't believe in it, then don't. If you don't even believe in Jesus, why should you have a right in deciding on the church's teaching? Mind your own business.
Although I'm an atheist (ex catholic), I must admit I really like watching videos. Hearing what you say and how you say it tempts me question my atheistic position. It's really interesting to watch how my mind works and how a part of it, which was planted in me at early when I was attending church, want's to fall back to default, and how I struggle not to give in! Capacity for faith is a part of human nature which keeps amazing me! Keep on the good work! I'll keep watching!
It seems to me that belief in atheistism is akin to being your own god which is antithetical to the concept of God as an omnipotent and omniscient creator being who is eternal and was never created.
Actually, I was thinking about this subject recently, and it occurred to me that there are three main types of faith; 1. Willingness to believe something 2. Trust in something/someone 3. Loyalty (keep the faith.) Then it occurred to me that none of these types require an absence of evidence.
@@nwosufrancis2870 I'll try, but RUclips has a habit of erasing my replies for no reason. 1. People have free will, over and above even the facts they know. This is how they can refuse to believe things that they have absolute proof of. A person can refuse to believe in blue eggs, even if they're shown a blue egg. They can come up with excuses not to believe it, or just refuse to justify themselves. Even the most obvious and proven facts can be denied and rejected by people with enough determination to do so. In order to believe any statement, therefore, one must have at least *some* willingness to believe. This is the first of the things that we call faith; a willingness believe a claim when presented with a certain degree of support for that claim. This can lead, in turn, to *actual* belief, when that degree of support is reached. 2. Trust is a very common type of faith, which can also be had when one has evidence to support it. I can have faith in my dog, or faith in my wife, and yet, there's plenty of evidence to support that faith, because I know my dog has always been loyal in the past, and I know my wife isn't running out to hang around with male friends. The fact that I have evidence of these things doesn't make it harder for me to have faith; it makes it easier. 3. Finally, there is the keeping of the faith; also known as *faithfulness.* This is a series of choices that we make, to remain loyal to God or to others, and therefore, we don't really rely on it for information, nor do we need to lack evidence in order to continue in this course of action.
I've watched a lot of your videos. This one is one of my favorites. It very openly yet subtly spoke about the many objections of the world about God, Christianity, Catholicism, etc. Thank you for this wonderful video and keep the discussions coming. :^)) Stay safe and thanks for listening, -James
I was just pondering the parable of the rich man who went to hell, while the beggar at his doorstep was in the bosom of Abraham. I remember Abraham saying the rich man should not be brought back to life to warn his family because if they will not believe the prophets, then neither will they believe when someone comes back from the dead. I was pondering if true faith is more than influence by the prophets, and testimonies, because surely a brother coming back from the dead would have considerable influence on the family. I am starting to think that true faith comes from the relationship with God as you trust and explore His goodness and messages. He will reveal His ways to those who seek him, and those who demand evidence will remain ignorant. True faith is evidence that God exists and that He listens to those who seek Him with a humble heart.
When is this Man, in love with Christ, going to be a Cardinal? Are you listening Pope Francis? He is an incredible true son of the Church and an intellectual. A wonderful teacher as he explains the faith in a way that is so easy to understand. May God bless him and give us more priests like him. Please Lord we need them badly, stat. And please do not try to put him in a liberal or conservative box. He is neither as he preaches the TRUTH.
Your Grace, you would love Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's "The Orthodox Way". In it he talks about faith as defined in the Creed. We do not say "We believe that there is one God, the Father", but "We believe IN one God, the Father". It's not merely analytical reason. It's a relationship. It's the lens by which we see the world around us and breathe new life, not an analysis of some existence as we do with science.
I love what you do because you are humble and explain things so well, and in ways that resonate with me. Yes, faith is all about a relationship with Jesus, and what a wondrous relationship it is. The truth of your words make me thank God and rejoice in the relationship I have with him, because it is the base and root of joy and everything good. Thank you Lord! Alleluia!
This is great, it reminds me my Lecturer Fr. George Kocholickol SDB when He explained about Sensus Fidei and Sensus Fidelium. Faith is complete Trust in the Person of God. Thanks Bishop
@SecularMJ It doesn't contradict the doctrine of Hell at all--in fact, it reinforces it. If there are any human beings in Hell, they are sustained in their being by God and are loved by God. What lights up the fires of Hell, so to speak, is precisely the free resistance to that love.
Thank you Fr. Barron I really needed to hear this today. Faith is not a complicated thing beyond our reach, it is actually simple because it is something inherent in us.
My heart has finally , through “faith “ accepted the true meaning of what having faith in God is! The analogy was explained superbly in Bishop Barron’s video! God bless you ! Tom❤️Mercy
Faith is based on reason in nearly the same way as "trust is earned." There is rational evidence to suggest where to place faith. For example, a bank manage lends you money. He does this based on previous evidence that you repay loans. He has faith that you will repay this loan. You may repay or you may not. But there was reasonable evidence to support his decision. His faith is not blind faith.
Actually what he will do is check your income, your debts and your credit rating and based on these things make a detmination weather or not to vibe you a loan. And this is based on how reliably people in similar finacial situations to your have paid back loans in the past. Its an excercise in statistical analysis not faith.
The difference between one human trusting another without certainty and someone making the leap of faith towards believing in a deity is clear. A human's behavior is far more observable and far easier to draw information from. To be clear, Father Barron's comparing of these two actions is dubious at best. If my friend Amy tells me that her favorite band is Aerosmith and I take her word for it based on the fact that she went to an Aerosmith concert two years ago, that is very different from believing in a god whose existence is not supported by any scientific evidence. I'm dissapointed in barron's reasoning here.
Josue Moreno Well friend, if you're looking for "testable hypotheses" regarding a reality that cannot, even in principle, appear within the empirical realm, you're barking up the wrong tree. And why would you think that "modern science" is the only valid path of knowledge? Finally, for the moment, I'm just concerned with showing that there is a rational foundation for believing in a creator.
This comment by Josue is confusing. You are saying that empirical evidence can provide information from a realm which is empirically unreachable? Sounds like Alice down the rabbit hole. Show me one unassailable argument why empirical knowledge can justify it's own assertions. Such assertions cannot be tested in a lab! You are still dependent upon faith in an unfailingly intelligible universe. How do you empirically "prove" such a faith postulate. Just because something has behaved a certain way in the past, this does not justify future behavior.
Fr. Robert Barron It's clear from most of the negative comments in this site that most doubters are empiricists. I doubt if any of them have ever investigated theories of knowledge or even begun to digest the implications thereto. They simply seem to swallow whole the idea that science adjudicates everything or that their limited human senses are the final arbiters of reality. For my part, Father, I want to deeply thank you for your wise insights. You are a very necessary bromide for the superficiality of the post modern world.
Nicholas Flamel We have excellent evidence via all of creation that there is "something" that is the origin of everything that has come into existence. "Something" does not spring from "nothing". If we understand God (or, however you might want to describe God or the Creator...however you choose) as that than which there is none greater, it's a good starting point. Throughout all peoples in all times, folks have responded to "something" and that "something" is ingrained in all of us.
Lee Lansford You are already committing a logical fallacy before you finish your first sentence. Saying "We have evidence via all creation..." presupposes a creator, which you have still provided zero evidence for. What you are doing is saying that a creator created everything and the proof for the creator is the creation. That is useless circular logic. You claim "something does not come from nothing". Do you have evidence for THAT? Where is the "nothing" that you have found to confirm this? Your final bit of "evidence" is that "folks" have responded to "something"....???? What does that even mean? "Folks" also thought the earth was flat, that Zeus caused lightning, and evil spirits caused disease. "Folks" were wrong. Again, do you have any actual EVIDENCE that a god exists?
"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth-in a word, to know himself-so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves" - Pope John Paul II - On Faith and Reason
Bishop Barron, may God bless you for all the good work that you do every day. Please, It would be a great joy to meet you, shake your hand and listen to you speak at the Church of St. Augustine in Gainesville, Florida or The Church of the Good Shepard in Miami, Florida. Have a blessed day.
The beautiful irony of this video is that Fr. Barron displays intellect, cleverness, and reasonable arguments (and conclusions) to the topic - the very opposite of what secular, anti-religious arguments say religion, faith, and the faithful don't have. Thank you for making these videos, Fr. Barron, and please keep making them! They are planting more seeds and increasing faiths everyday!
He is a bishop now.:-)
Bishop Barron helps me stay atheist
Well said, Julia! Yo speak for Manu of us.
@@ding9633 HOW! DO EXPLAIN
@@ding9633 You must be joking? LOL.
Bishop Barron. I'm a Protestant who "faithfully" makes every attempt to catch your presentations wherever I can find them! I attended church related schools and I've heard a fair number of excellent teachers. I without hesitation rank you among the very best. You are a superb communicator and instructor. I look forward to your
lessons daily. There is a permanent spot for you on my prayer list! God bless you as you continue to serve Him and spread His Word 😃. Stella McDonald, Tennessee
Fr. Barron, your videos are a breath of fresh air. Very inspiring. I am not a Catholic but I respect the Catholic faith tremendously because I have seen it put into action. I worked with Catholic brothers in relief efforts at the time of the Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and the South Asian Tsunami in 2006 in India. I saw faith in action. I saw compassion in action. I saw intellect in action. And yes, I also saw God in action.
Fr. Barron is a great warrior for God.
I try to listen to your talks regularly to increase my faith.
Chris Corcoran "Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing cometh by the Word of God"
Try the videos of Ted Nottingham to. Christos Anesti
@@robertlight5227 why do you say that?
@@robertlight5227 Have you studied God?
@@robertlight5227 Humans face an existential crisis and it relates to our becoming self-aware as a species. The story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is a poetic way of expressing this timeless truth. The Bible is full of truth. It covers everything from the mundane details of how to make bread and calculate the value of pi, through handling higher level concepts like interpersonal relations, going all the way through to complex abstract mysticism. I highly doubt you've read very many of the 1200 or so pages.
" I have studied the opinions of those who claim to believe in your alleged deity." Ok, so as I suspected you have *_NOT_* studied God. Why then do you feel that you are able to construct a valid argument about something you have never studied? You might as well be a flat-earther lecturing me about how timezones work.
"have you studied logic, philosophy, and science?" why yes, yes I have. Care to dance?
Father Barron, I am going through doubts about my faith and about God's existence. You are an inspiration to me right now, and I ask that you pray for me. Thank you.
As a former agnostic trying to grapple with Christianity, what faith is and what it would mean to "have faith" - this was really illuminating. Thank you.
The greatest single proof of God's existence, at least to me, is the irrational and violent opposition I see in those who refuse to acknowledge Him. Thank you Fr. Barron for these videos, and Catholicism series.That series is directly responsible for leading me across the Tiber, and away from my shipwrecked fundamentalism.
Robert Light Case in point 😂😂😂
That's some very very strange logic you're deploying there.
It's true, and specifically the Christians are the most violently opposed and persecuted. Also comparing to the other religions is not even close the difference of persecution. Also faith and reason go together, being faith above reason
Thank you bishop Barron. This reminds me of the woman at the well in John 4 when Jesus says to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is Who speaks to you, you would ask Him and He would give you living water welling up to eternal life." I've pondered so much about what that gift is He mentions and I believe it's faith. And looking back on it I realized this is what praying with scripture does which you can't make someone who relies on his own reason understand because he doesn't experience it. Jesus' living words address me the reader now.
We enter the story and now Jesus is speaking to us. If I know the gift, and I know the Giver then I ask Him and trust Him because I have come to know Him, trust Him and love Him. He invited me into a relationship with Him and He gives me living water from within that nothing else can compare to.
Faith is an attitude of trust in the face of God. Faith is “God has spoken. I believe it; I accept it. It is true.”
@BalladoftheWindfish I am not Catholic but I was born into a faith, had questions and crisis' of faith and through it all remained in my faith and became stronger because of it. I think a part of faith is humility. I don't mean giving up your self or your intellect. But a healthy humility that most questions have been asked and answered by smarter people that you or I. I found as I searched for answers through prayer, study, and service to others, these answers satisfied my intellect.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Father Barron is the most polite RUclips commenter in the world.
Fr. Barron, you lead me like a gentle sheppard. I am so grateful to be able to listen to your insights. When I have an inner question, I look to you. You are a gift to the Church. Thank you for all of your efforts. They are making a world of difference.
I read something once that said we have faith every time we drive that the car coming toward us won’t cross the yellow line. It really made me realize that we use faith way more than we think everyday. It is very accessible and a part of our lives whether we want to admit it or not.
Bishop Barron is a treasure of the Church! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ✝️
Thank you for bringing me closer to God, bishop Barron.
I thought that I knew Catholicism but I am finding out that I am like a small child with my knowledge of Catholicism. You are teaching me so much about Catholicism and God. I am a Rosary maker. Each day I am making two rosaries for your mission of evangelizing. Keep up the excellent work!
"Faith is that moment of trust." Thank you Bishop and may our Lord continue to bless you and your works.❤️
There are three things that I know with absolute certainty: that I exist, that I am conscious, and that I don't know everything. I take it on faith that certain phenomena in my consciousness represent sense data that tell me things about a world outside myself. I take it on faith that some of the beings I perceive are other conscious beings like myself. Without faith, my existence would be very small and trivial.
To say that God is a person is to imply that he has intellect, will, and freedom. To say that he is not a "chap" is to imply that he is not one being among many.
It good that you give key points like this ..it helps me understand better. Thank u dear Bishop.
Just 8 years later I found Bishop Barron's video on FAITH. It was incredibly just what I needed and refreshed me in my personal journey with Jesus. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Thank you Bishop Barron. I am Catholic and learning so much from you.
Yes I agree with Bishop Barron... we do not sacrifice our intellect in order to have faith! For my own part, I accept with faith what Jesus has taught. It has proven itself true over and over again.
God bless you!
my i have the same blessing fr?
Mutual act of faith is such a wonderful description of marriage!
It’s so interesting to listen to to this way of explanation on Faith. Absolutely beautiful and wise. Thank you, Bishop Barron and the team!
This has to be one of my all-time favorite videos. The truth of it becomes more apparent and its beauty blossoms even more fully every time I watch. God bless you Father!
Father, Those of us with the ears to hear, Hear you and thank you!!!
Thank you Bish for your talks; I really appreciate. Peace from 🏴
I'll use this analogy for a very long time. Very well put, thank you Fr. Barron
Thank you for this. Ive been slightly skeptic of full blown faith because I was raised to believe that faith was blind trust, forcing yourself to believe in something that logically doesnt seem clear, and constantly reassuring yourself that thats the way things are. Your idea that faith is superior to reason but doesnt dismiss it makes sense to me because living a life with the idea that reason and faith are polar opposites can create a lot of confusion and conflict in ones self. I think that logic and reason are tools given to us in order to live a more promising life, and faith provides us with the courage to keep striving to be better people and the reassurance that thats what god desires from us
Hello there. I enjoyed your comment
Nice
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you answering God's call. thank you, I don't know how you could be a priest. I cry each time I receive the eucharist, so I would be a crying priest. Thank you Stick it out in the hard times the sheep need feeding, become the best you can be a priest.A bottom in the Pew, and a ex-protestant who heard Paul preached, not Christ. Thank you again
God speaks in a myriad ways, people can discern what comes from God. Faith is in the mind and the love for God is in the heart of the believer who knows that God exists and is alive. God lives. Viva Cristo Rei! 🕊
An endless THANK YOU I give you by continually teaching me more spiritual knowledge of which I hunger for in life as a catholic christian.😇🤓
Oh My God.Today I have received so many graces and so many gifts! I liked you before. I trusted you before and now I am bursting with Joy! My eyes are closed. I am turning of this machine. I am going outside to look at the stars and listen to my Lord speak.
Thank you Father for this. Earlier this week, I purposefully locked myself out of my facebook and already I have discovered that I am seeing people on a different level than I had before. It's refreshing to not have all of these details about everyone's lives in front of me and seeing people as more than just a profile. Hopefully, I can apply this experience to my relationship with God, which up to now has been almost completely based on logic and reason.
the best explanation of FAITH I have ever seen...amazing !!!
Thank you Father Barron! This is, hands down, THE best explanation of faith I've ever heard!
I thought that was, in my opinion, the best analogy on faith I've ever heard. You've definitely put faith into words that would be easy for someone to comprehend.
Even so, I expect many to be intolerable to it.
Me encanta el mensaje de Padre Barron... es admirado en Monterrey, Mexico
Sobre este tema es muy ilustrativa la conferencia sobre búsqueda de la verdad y crisis de la razón del Padre Pablo Domínguez Prieto (+)
alexsolis962 Los subtitulos son pesimos sea en ingles o en español
Aquí en Monterrey seguimos de cerca al Padre Barron mi hermano, un amigo y yo
Muchisimas gracias!
+alexsolis962 Yo tambien soy de Monterrey y soy gran admirador y seguidor del Obispo Robert Barron. Por si no sabias, en la Libreria Beityala es la unica que vende la serie Catolicismo y otros videos del Obispo Robert Barron en Monterrey. Disculpa eres estudiante de universidad o prepa? Lo digo por tu video que tienes subido jaja.
You so great fr Barron thank you for your teaching on faith
It is exactly faith in a relationship with a person. One of the most authentic people who ever lived on this earth. Your faith in the person of Jesus Christ is the exactly how your relationship with your wife, husband, brother, sister and on and on. It starts out like most do you become interested in things that you hear. And you pursue it; just like you would with any other relationship. However, the great difference is that in this relationship He happens to be The Son of God. And when you begin to pray for more and more faith, a wonderful thing happens to you, that little voice inside your head you heard your whole life whispering to you; well now it Screams, "This is the Creator of the whole world and He forgives you for the terrible person you have been." I wanted to run to my Church and prostrate myself in front of the altar in fear & trembling, in great awe and thankfulness, Now this is faith and it surpasses reason, logic, induction, deduction. You can keep all that; I'll take this faith to my grave and beyond!!! You don't know what you're missing!!!!!
One of God's great blessings to me, is that He gave me a love for science, math and engineering and the skills to understand it. For me, knowing the science give me goosebumps becasue I see it as a manifestation of Gods Power, glory and sovereignty. I have the impression that God actually understands the state of the Universe down to the state of the individual subatomic particles.
I believe that God is pleased when we exercise the abilities and opportunities He has blessed us with. He blesses some people with a gift of hospitality and is pleased when they exercise that gift and give God credit. Similarly when the gifted police officer exercises his gift of being a protector of the weak, withye teacher, preacher and so on. The parable of the talents shows that when we exercise our gifts for God, he multiplies and enhances those gifts.
The purpose of our gifts to to serve God and serve others.
I find it rather comical, and a demonstration of deep arrogance, that many modern people, most of whom do not understand math and science, actually follow a religion I call "scientism" and treat scientists as priests and purveyors of "Truth." Engineering, my profession, is an applied science in which I apply the scientific methods to solve problems: I am very fallible.
magnifica exposición, felicidades Obispo Barron
Thank you Rev.Lordship for your wisdom and knowledge given to you Holy Spirit. I really admire your immense knowledge on scripture and the way you explain is amazing. May God bless you
Dear Fr. Barron; Thank you so much for your clear & grounded analogy, which helps my own struggles in recent years on Faith, Reasoning, intellectual learning, and ultimately trust. I'd love to have the opportunity to have a conversation with you. I thank God for the work you do, and may He continue to Bless you and your good work.
True Faith is an act of the will guided by the heart.
True Faith is to be done as a child anyway
Thanks a lot Father for this wonderful video on faith.. !!
I have lots of faith in Bishop Barron's revelation.
Thank you for bringing CLARITY into a world where there is so much confusion!!
a true Aquinas approach...
I have only come across. Your site..I am so humbled by your articulation of complex issues through simplicity 🙏
another great video by Father Barron . haters gonna hate . what can you do !
orionmyth I'm not sure if a different view point should be classified as a hater.
Mathew Kanter
No, but haters are
@@mathewkanter9458 The truth is one. Here you seem to indicate "your Truth" and "my truth" ?
Fr. Barron, I love hearing you explicate the faith for us and your faith for us. I see no contradiction in saying that God is a person and also being--or, Tillich would say the ground of being. For me, faith is a verb and it is a relationship. Until you are willing to enter into that relationship, then it seems to me you won't be entranced by God, transformed by God, lit up from within. Thank you for all that you do. Je suis bouleverse!
Thank you so much for your videos you have breathed new life into my Christian faith.
Thank u Bishop Barron ..im a Catholic ....n your teachings are so lovely ...the Lord continue to bless u abundantly so that u continue to be a blessing to the nations in Jesus Name .Amen ..love ,from India
Did you hear Pope Francis recently? He articulated the official Catholic position that even an atheist who sincerely follows his conscience and does good can be saved. Please don't trade in stereotypes and caricatures of Catholic thought.
Father do you have a video on that
@@Name-le2cc You can read Pope Francis' "LETTER TO A NON-BELIEVER". Additionally you can watch a video called "Little boy asks Pope Francis: 'Is my dad in heaven?'", in which Pope gives little boy hope that his non-believing father is saved.
@@robertlight5227 I have some insights I'd like to offer. I hope they clarify things for you.
The reason the Catholic Church can never ordain women to the priesthood has to do with the nature of what the Church is, and its doctrines established over time.
In the Catholic Church, there is the doctrine of infallibility. This means that when something has been revealed through natural law, holy scripture or sacred tradition (or some combination of all 3), then it is officially declared infallible by the Pope or the teaching magesterium of the Church, and is consequently unable to be changed in the future.
In 1994, Pope John Paul 2 wrote a piece to clarify confusion over the priesthood, and stated that because Jesus was male, and he ordained only men, and they ordained only men, etc etc, the model for a male priesthood was divinely established by Christ Himself. Despite being surrounded by many women who hold enormous esteem in Catholic Church and its history, Jesus never appointed one woman to the priesthood. Therefore, Pope John Paul 2 infallibly declared, on the basis of this understanding, that even if it wanted to, the Church has no power to change the priesthood, as it is a divine revelation from God, and therefore cannot be argued.
The plane interview with Pope Francis went a little further than you have described. Pope Francis has obviously given some thought to the matter of female priests, because his answer was very articulately and carefully worded. When he was asked about it, he answered that, "Pope John Paul 2 seems to have closed the door on that". When questioned as to whether this teaching is infallible and must stand forever, he said, "It certainly appears that way" (indicating there may have been attempts by either Francis or others to work around Pope John Paul 2's writing, but there simply was no way around it). So your characterisation of a mean Pope Francis, beating down on the dreams of women, is incorrect and unfair. The reason has nothing to do with a man made decision, but a divinely revealed truth about the nature of the priesthood and the Catholic Church itself.
I will also add, in reference to another comment on this thread, that the Church is not a democracy. It claims to be the mystical body of Christ on earth, with doctrines it understands as infallibly revealed. It is not a man made democracy like most other institutions. In general, the Church teaches and the laity listens, not the other way around. This might go against the leadership model in most western countries, but it is the way it has always been in the Catholic Church.
Also, I might add (in answer to your claim that the Church is misogynistic), that in the Catholic Church, the person who is held in the highest esteem above all other created beings, above all humans, angels and saints, and every living creature in the history of all creation, and deserving of all veneration and devotion, was a young uneducated Jewish girl from 1st Century Israel (this is, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary). The perfect example (not just the 'best' example, but the actual FULLY perfect and holy example) to worship God, is shown in the life of the Blessed Mother, according to Catholic teaching.
Finally I'd like to address your reply to the other user that you will 'think' for them in answer to their offer to pray for you. Some of the smartest minds in history, with the fullest weight of scientific and philosophical understanding behind them, have been people of faith, and have shown that true faith is an extention of knowledge and thinking, not a replacement of it. I think this was the whole purpose of Bishop Barrons video. Thinking leads most serious believers to God, not away from it. Something for you to mull over.
My friend I hope you find what you appear to be searching for. As a 36 year old lifelong atheist, the Catholic Church is where I finally,, and very unexpectedly, found the answer to every question about human life I had ever had, and where I found true peace, joy and understanding. I hope the same proves to be true for you some day.
In the great Catholic tradition, I'll both think and pray for you. God bless.
@@robertlight5227 Catholic women don't want to become priests. They know that Jesus chose only men as apostles but that Jesus held women in high regard. Women can hold a lot of offices in the church, just not priesthood and the career that may follow. Modern feminism is cancer. Women and men are different and on average have different talents and interests. The Church is the church and not your leftist playground - if you don't like its teachings: Goodbye. There is a lot of evidence for Jesus' historical existance. Do your research. If you don't believe in it, then don't. If you don't even believe in Jesus, why should you have a right in deciding on the church's teaching? Mind your own business.
Jesus said I am the way, truth and light. How can someone who actively disavows faith in the Way be saved?
Thank you,Bishop Barron. God bless you.
Although I'm an atheist (ex catholic), I must admit I really like watching videos. Hearing what you say and how you say it tempts me question my atheistic position. It's really interesting to watch how my mind works and how a part of it, which was planted in me at early when I was attending church, want's to fall back to default, and how I struggle not to give in! Capacity for faith is a part of human nature which keeps amazing me!
Keep on the good work! I'll keep watching!
It seems to me that belief in atheistism is akin to being your own god which is antithetical to the concept of God as an omnipotent and omniscient creator being who is eternal and was never created.
@@elizabethzamorano-gauna7955 why do you think theist are so stuck on the god concept?
@@nderezicwell wouldn’t you be if you believed God existed?
Very enlightining. Thank you Bishop.
Actually, I was thinking about this subject recently, and it occurred to me that there are three main types of faith;
1. Willingness to believe something
2. Trust in something/someone
3. Loyalty (keep the faith.)
Then it occurred to me that none of these types require an absence of evidence.
Please can you explain your sentences indepth?
@@nwosufrancis2870
I'll try, but RUclips has a habit of erasing my replies for no reason.
1. People have free will, over and above even the facts they know. This is how they can refuse to believe things that they have absolute proof of. A person can refuse to believe in blue eggs, even if they're shown a blue egg. They can come up with excuses not to believe it, or just refuse to justify themselves. Even the most obvious and proven facts can be denied and rejected by people with enough determination to do so. In order to believe any statement, therefore, one must have at least *some* willingness to believe. This is the first of the things that we call faith; a willingness believe a claim when presented with a certain degree of support for that claim. This can lead, in turn, to *actual* belief, when that degree of support is reached.
2. Trust is a very common type of faith, which can also be had when one has evidence to support it. I can have faith in my dog, or faith in my wife, and yet, there's plenty of evidence to support that faith, because I know my dog has always been loyal in the past, and I know my wife isn't running out to hang around with male friends. The fact that I have evidence of these things doesn't make it harder for me to have faith; it makes it easier.
3. Finally, there is the keeping of the faith; also known as *faithfulness.* This is a series of choices that we make, to remain loyal to God or to others, and therefore, we don't really rely on it for information, nor do we need to lack evidence in order to continue in this course of action.
@@nwosufrancis2870
I just finished doing so, and as anticipated, RUclips removed the comment, so I'm afraid it's not going to happen.
Thank you for educating me as a Catholic. I am very grateful.
I Love You Fr. Barron
This is very, very good. The best description on what faith really is. Excellent!!
I've watched a lot of your videos. This one is one of my favorites. It very openly yet subtly spoke about the many objections of the world about God, Christianity, Catholicism, etc.
Thank you for this wonderful video and keep the discussions coming. :^))
Stay safe and thanks for listening,
-James
@@robertlight5227 Now there's a considerable proclamation indeed.
Thank you father Bishop Barron 🙏❤️ God Blessing 🕊️🙏
Father you have 777 like , God Bless you
Fr. Barron is amazing
I was just pondering the parable of the rich man who went to hell, while the beggar at his doorstep was in the bosom of Abraham. I remember Abraham saying the rich man should not be brought back to life to warn his family because if they will not believe the prophets, then neither will they believe when someone comes back from the dead. I was pondering if true faith is more than influence by the prophets, and testimonies, because surely a brother coming back from the dead would have considerable influence on the family. I am starting to think that true faith comes from the relationship with God as you trust and explore His goodness and messages. He will reveal His ways to those who seek him, and those who demand evidence will remain ignorant. True faith is evidence that God exists and that He listens to those who seek Him with a humble heart.
👍
Amen
Very enlightening. Thank you Bishop😊
When is this Man, in love with Christ, going to be a Cardinal? Are you listening Pope Francis? He is an incredible true son of the Church and an intellectual. A wonderful teacher as he explains the faith in a way that is so easy to understand. May God bless him and give us more priests like him. Please Lord we need them badly, stat. And please do not try to put him in a liberal or conservative box. He is neither as he preaches the TRUTH.
My favorite talk so far. Great stuff of Faith. Thank you.
All we have is Faith
What he said in this video also explains free will in a way. Another good video Fr. Barron.
Your Grace, you would love Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's "The Orthodox Way". In it he talks about faith as defined in the Creed. We do not say "We believe that there is one God, the Father", but "We believe IN one God, the Father". It's not merely analytical reason. It's a relationship. It's the lens by which we see the world around us and breathe new life, not an analysis of some existence as we do with science.
Thank you Bishop for doing what you do! God bless!
fr. barron im your fan
I love what you do because you are humble and explain things so well, and in ways that resonate with me. Yes, faith is all about a relationship with Jesus, and what a wondrous relationship it is. The truth of your words make me thank God and rejoice in the relationship I have with him, because it is the base and root of joy and everything good. Thank you Lord! Alleluia!
and then there's the apophatic way and ultimately we know God much deeper through the heart (love) than the head (reason).....
Thanks for helping me on my way to spirituality. This is truth - amen.
Father Barron truly knows that RUclips comments are a pit.
This is great, it reminds me my Lecturer Fr. George Kocholickol SDB when He explained about Sensus Fidei and Sensus Fidelium. Faith is complete Trust in the Person of God. Thanks Bishop
Read Kant, Locke, Rousseau, Dewey, and Rawls.
Thank you. Good talk... "By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds." - Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith
@SecularMJ It doesn't contradict the doctrine of Hell at all--in fact, it reinforces it. If there are any human beings in Hell, they are sustained in their being by God and are loved by God. What lights up the fires of Hell, so to speak, is precisely the free resistance to that love.
Happy Feast of Resurrection dear Bishop Barron and to all Word On Fire Institute 🌷
and why should we love God in Faith? because true love is only achieved through Faith.
Thank you Fr. Barron I really needed to hear this today. Faith is not a complicated thing beyond our reach, it is actually simple because it is something inherent in us.
Excellent! Then come join the church.
My heart has finally , through “faith “ accepted the true meaning of what having faith in God is!
The analogy was explained superbly in Bishop Barron’s video! God bless you !
Tom❤️Mercy
Faith is based on reason in nearly the same way as "trust is earned." There is rational evidence to suggest where to place faith. For example, a bank manage lends you money. He does this based on previous evidence that you repay loans. He has faith that you will repay this loan. You may repay or you may not. But there was reasonable evidence to support his decision. His faith is not blind faith.
Actually what he will do is check your income, your debts and your credit rating and based on these things make a detmination weather or not to vibe you a loan. And this is based on how reliably people in similar finacial situations to your have paid back loans in the past. Its an excercise in statistical analysis not faith.
Even though I'm agnostic/atheist, I have to confess - most of the arguments made by Bishop Robert Barron are interesting and most of them make sense.
Now there is a brave and civil soul indeed.
I'm afraid, friend, that your post is what bad argumentation looks like: vagaries and name-calling.
This is so enlightening! Thank you Bishop Barron! God bless you and your ministry!
The difference between one human trusting another without certainty and someone making the leap of faith towards believing in a deity is clear. A human's behavior is far more observable and far easier to draw information from. To be clear, Father Barron's comparing of these two actions is dubious at best. If my friend Amy tells me that her favorite band is Aerosmith and I take her word for it based on the fact that she went to an Aerosmith concert two years ago, that is very different from believing in a god whose existence is not supported by any scientific evidence. I'm dissapointed in barron's reasoning here.
But God's existence is indeed supported by reason! There are many, many convincing rational demonstrations of the reality of God.
Josue Moreno Well friend, if you're looking for "testable hypotheses" regarding a reality that cannot, even in principle, appear within the empirical realm, you're barking up the wrong tree. And why would you think that "modern science" is the only valid path of knowledge? Finally, for the moment, I'm just concerned with showing that there is a rational foundation for believing in a creator.
This comment by Josue is confusing. You are saying that empirical evidence can provide information from a realm which is empirically unreachable? Sounds like Alice down the rabbit hole. Show me one unassailable argument why empirical knowledge can justify it's own assertions. Such assertions cannot be tested in a lab! You are still dependent upon faith in an unfailingly intelligible universe. How do you empirically "prove" such a faith postulate. Just because something has behaved a certain way in the past, this does not justify future behavior.
Fr. Robert Barron It's clear from most of the negative comments in this site that most doubters are empiricists. I doubt if any of them have ever investigated theories of knowledge or even begun to digest the implications thereto. They simply seem to swallow whole the idea that science adjudicates everything or that their limited human senses are the final arbiters of reality. For my part, Father, I want to deeply thank you for your wise insights. You are a very necessary bromide for the superficiality of the post modern world.
Josue Moreno look up the meaning of the word "scientism"
Thank you for these words of wisdom. The best I had been able to come up with before this video was that faith and reason are complementary.
What faith is: Gullibility
What faith isn't: Evidence for anything
Nicholas Flamel Skimming the surface of life, eh?
Lee Lansford How is "faith" NOT gullibility? Why would anyone believe in something they had no good evidence for the existence of?
Nicholas Flamel We have excellent evidence via all of creation that there is "something" that is the origin of everything that has come into existence.
"Something" does not spring from "nothing".
If we understand God (or, however you might want to describe God or the Creator...however you choose) as that than which there is none greater, it's a good starting point.
Throughout all peoples in all times, folks have responded to "something" and that "something" is ingrained in all of us.
Lee Lansford You are already committing a logical fallacy before you finish your first sentence. Saying "We have evidence via all creation..." presupposes a creator, which you have still provided zero evidence for. What you are doing is saying that a creator created everything and the proof for the creator is the creation. That is useless circular logic.
You claim "something does not come from nothing". Do you have evidence for THAT? Where is the "nothing" that you have found to confirm this?
Your final bit of "evidence" is that "folks" have responded to "something"....???? What does that even mean?
"Folks" also thought the earth was flat, that Zeus caused lightning, and evil spirits caused disease. "Folks" were wrong.
Again, do you have any actual EVIDENCE that a god exists?
Nicholas Flamel Your explanation?
You believe that "something" comes from "nothing"?
Very well explained and easy to understand. God bless you Bishop. Learning a lot from listening to you😊
WORRY IS THE ABSENCE OF FAITH! GOD HAS GOT YOU COVERED. JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU! ✝️🙏♥️
"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth-in a word, to know himself-so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves" - Pope John Paul II - On Faith and Reason
Fantastic, I'm so thankful I in a a life of faith, morality, integrity decency and not in a life of self serving scientific fulfillment
Bishop Barron, may God bless you for all the good work that you do every day. Please, It would be a great joy to meet you, shake your hand and listen to you speak at the Church of St. Augustine in Gainesville, Florida or The Church of the Good Shepard in Miami, Florida. Have a blessed day.