Fishing for Faith
Fishing for Faith is a Faith Formation group of men, women and teenagers, who join together for discussion and to learn more about our faith. We meet the first Thursday of each month from 6:30-8:00 pm in the DeSales Room.
Episode 6 Am I Saved?
We also watched a short video about the Eucharist as the Catholic Church is in the midst of a Eucharistic Revival.
Episode 5 • Who is Jesus?
The most beautiful part of this story is this: we can know God's love, personally. This is the person of Jesus. But how did this seemingly insignificant carpenter born into poverty in a dusty corner of the Roman Empire become the most pivotal figure in all of history? Christianity isn’t simply a philosophy for life – the center of Christianity is a person. We look at the life of Jesus and what he came to do. Ultimately, we need to decide if Jesus really was who he said he was. We can’t sit on the fence. Because if Jesus really was who he said he was, we need to make him the Lord of our lives, and everything changes.
July 6, 2023 Meeting
Episode 2 • Who Are You?
To find clues as to the meaning of life, we first look at ourselves. Who am I? Is there more to me than matter? Is there more to us than meets the eye? We talk with neuroscientists, psychologists, composers, and artists to examine the mystery of you. If you’re just a body, then satisfaction in life should come from tending to simple bodily needs. Fill your stomach, be comfortable. But there’s more to you than that. You are material and immaterial. And that unseen part of you craves for so much more. As C.S. Lewis once said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
Episode 3 • Why a God?
In Episode 1, we open hearts with a look at the question “what do you seek?” What is that deep longing in our hearts all about? We’re all living for something, and we all strive for that something out there that is ultimately going to make us happy. But what is it? For some, this question is on their minds every day. For others, life goes by in a flash without even asking the question.
Triduum: A Spiritual Pilgrimage is the Augustine Institute's gift to the world for Holy Triduum - available on FORMED and free for everyone through Easter
February 2, 2023 Meeting
For our FebruaryMeeting, we will talk about: Preparing for Lent
1. Start with a 3 minute video from Busted Halo on What is Lent all about?:
- What is Lent all about? Why do Christians receive ashes on Ash Wednesday? Why 40 days? If you’re looking for answers, you’ve come to the right place. In an updated version of our classic video (with a bonus extra minute — because there’s a lot happening here!), Busted Halo explains the significance of this season of prayer, fasting, and giving, and how you can make the most of this time of repentance and renewal.
- https://bustedhalo.com/video/watch-lent-3-minutes
2. Group discussion about the 3 Pillars of Lent; prayer, fasting and alms giving
- Brainstorm as a group and give examples of each, some unique and different ways to practice each of these.
PRAYER
* Pray for a different person each week
* Eucharist adoration (St. Columbkille, St. John Bosco)
* Novena, rosary
* Make a setting in your house for prayer
* Holy hour
* Religious pictures and statues
* Bible journaling- read a scripture/section and annotate
* Morning or evening mass during the week (masstimes.org for different mass times)
* Listening to worship songs
* Bible in a year podcast (Fr. Mike Schmitz)
* Take time throughout the day to reflect
* Prayers of worship- praise God
* Making sign of the cross when passing a church or ambulance
ALMS GIVING
* Be kind to family and friends
* Volunteering (fish fry)
* Donate things you no longer need
* Donating time/ volunteering at different organizations
* Doing things to help out family/friends
* Look in the bulletin for opportunities to give time
* Visiting people who might be lonely
* Visit others at nursing homes
* Making cards for people in nursing homes
- Making baskets for them
* Pen pal/ prison ministry- social justice in SFdS bulletin
- Paula Curtin will provide list of names to share with the group
* Members of FFF plan card making night for homebound outside of monthly meeting Barb Leggott will donate cards
FASTING
* Skip one meal and put the money toward an organization
* Give up habits that do not honor God
* “swear jar” put money in each time you catch yourself with a bad habit, donate the money you gather
* Giving up a favorite food
* Fasting from the radio in the car- pray instead
* Fasting of free time and using it for other people or things
* Give up something that you can carry on all year
3. One way to practice fasting is to give up habits that do not honor God. Jesus asks us to love those who are most difficult to love, we will watch a video from Ascension Presents titled How to Love Someone that is Hard to Love; described below:
* "Love your neighbor as yourself." We all know the drill. Jesus calls us to love even our enemies. But loving people can be so HARD. Fr. Mike Schmitz offers us practical tips and a word of challenge to lean into loving those we find difficult to love and care for.
VIDEO LINK--> How to Love Someone that is Hard to Love
January 5, 2023 Meeting
For our January meeting Father Crawford spoke about The Place of Sacred Scripture in Finding Faith (.. or as we call it ..Fishing for Faith). Father discussed the importance of scripture in our spiritual life, it was a very informative discussion!.
We also watched a couple videos; described below:
- What is the meaning of the 12 Days of Christmas song and what do each of the gifts represent? Hear Fr. Chris Alar explain and Br. Steven put a new version to song. https://youtu.be/sZbxLpH0nTk
- The Feast of the Epiphany - a video from Ascension Press for the Feast of the Epiphany, Jeff Cavins explains how—just as the Magi were drawn to Christ—people from around the world are drawn to the gospel when we live it authentically. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBP7tf6NiRo
- The following site can be used to view bibles verses and related information - BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages.
December 1, 2022 Meeting
We started out by watching a cute video of kids describing the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.
Christmas According to Kids
We watched a video about the places associated with Christ’s Birth:
On behalf of the Augustine Institute, we are offering Adventus: A Spiritual Pilgrimage to everyone this Advent and Christmas Season, his special documentary allows Catholics all around the world to unite and make a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land to see the places associated with Christ’s Birth. https://watch.formed.org/videos/adventus
The following are discussion points and reflections related to how Mary and Joseph said yes to God and also how we can say yes to God
Mary Said Yes:
Joseph Said Yes:
We Said Yes:
We passed out a prayer for each week of advent for everyone to take home
Melanie and Andrea Handlovic donated ornaments; “Jesus is our anchor” for everyone to take home.
November 2022 Meeting:
- We watched a video by Father Mike Schmitz called “Giving Thanks is Necessary”.
- Fr. Mike says giving thanks is not only good and polite. It’s not just a thoughtful gesture. Giving thanks is necessary. We begin Mass by saying “It is right and just” to give God thanks. Not only that, the priest continues by saying: “It is our duty and salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks.” Our duty and our salvation. We proclaim this every week, and giving thanks is a huge part of the Mass (the very word Eucharist means to give thanks). But do we mean it? Do we give proper thanks to God for the miraculous gifts he has given us to enjoy every day? Our health, sight, hearing, even simply having someone who cares about you, all of these things are blessings we should thank God for because there are many who do not enjoy them. Take this spirit of gratitude beyond the day of Thanksgiving and give thanks to God every day. As Catholics, it is our duty, and our salvation.
- You can find the video we watched here: Giving Thanks is Necessary - Fr. Mike VIDEO on Ascension Media
- You can find the youtube page for Fr. Mike Scmitz and all Ascension Press here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AscensionPresents/videos
- In small groups we discussed a few bible verses and their meeting and shared our thoughts with the larger group.
- Everyone took home a printed copy of a Psalm of Contentment as a physical reminder to keep visible; showing the ways to express thankfulness as we approach Thanksgiving.
- Please join us for our next meeting on Thursday December 1 @ 6:30 in the DeSales Room.
October 2022 Meeting:
- We discussed our Prayer Intention Fish Bowl we will have at every meeting. Everyone is welcome to put a prayer intention in the bowl and take one out at the end of the meeting. Take it home and pray for the intention throughout the month; Prayer is powerful!
- We watched Bishop Robert Barron’s Sunday Sermon and discussed the video as a group. Bishop Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota. The Sunday Sermon is published each week and relates to the Gospel or readings for Sunday mass. Listening during the week before or after mass helps to give insight into the readings at mass and brings more insight to the Gospel and readings. Find the full list of Sunday Sermons here: https://www.wordonfire.org/videos/sermons/
- Before and after our meeting we enjoyed music played from our “St. Francis de Sales Fishing for Faith” Spotify playlist created by members of our parish. Search "SFdS Fishing for Faith" in the Spotify app or web site to listen to the music at home.
- Please join us for our next meeting on Thursday November 3 @ 6:30 in the DeSales Room. Our topic for this meeting will be thanksgiving and thankfulness.