Ask Fr. Mike

First, teach your children how to pray.  I have a friend who lamented the fact that, as Catholics, we “have been taught how to repeat, not how to pray”.  I don’t know if you are aware of this, [...]

Hope is powerful.  But hope is not merely optimism or wishful thinking.  Often, people I work with who share their desire to live in hope seem to reveal that what they long for is optimism. [...]

The Catholic Church has always taught on the universal goodness of, well, the universe.  Further, the Church teaches a number of powerful truths related to human dignity.  First, “man has been [...]

Let’s make this as simple as possible.  Jesus talks about three areas that are indispensable regarding the Christian life: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  For Lent, do one thing in each of [...]

We recently had a funeral for a family member.  I was a bit annoyed by how much the priest talked about Jesus and how little he talked about the person who had died.  Isn’t the funeral supposed [...]

 There are people who just can’t seem to break free from the past.  I have one piece of advice for them: laugh.  Laugh at yourself.  So many of us are stuck in the past because we take ourselves [...]

What you are describing is one of the seven deadly sins.  That may be alarming, but let me clarify what a deadly sin is.  A deadly sin is not always, in and of itself, grave matter.  The deadly [...]

So why do we do it?  In a strange way, I believe that we think we are beating someone else to the punch.  If I can punish myself, then no one else will. We think that we are sparing ourselves [...]

God approves of so much joy!  God approves of so much good!  He made a good world and then sets His beloved humans in the midst of this world and bids us to enjoy it! Our problem is not [...]

Think of any great story. Every one of them is built upon this premise. If they weren’t, there is no real conflict; instead of fighting courageously when one encounters overwhelming odds or faces [...]