Spiritual Direction or Counseling? with Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Spiritual Direction or Counseling? with Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

[@Veritas1234]

My priest asked me to reach out to a psychologist as a penance for sins I confessed and it ended up changing my life. This was a perfect example of spiritual guidance leading to professional counseling.

[@aarondutil3077]

As a licensed mental health counselor I approve of this message.👍

[@williamf.buckleyjr3227]

Well, now. It's a good thing you're "licensed". Otherwise your words wouldn't mean anything, right? Starting a sentence with, "As a.....", is what weak minds do.

[@aarondutil3077]

@@williamf.buckleyjr3227 God bless.

[@maryweisenbacher1034]

@@williamf.buckleyjr3227 Stop that! It just means "from their professional perspective" which, I'm sure, informs their personal perspective.p

[@christiandpaul631]

@@williamf.buckleyjr3227 As a non licensed mental health counselor you have issues.

[@hudsonsgamingchannel334]

Anyone wanting to grow in holiness will highly benefit from having a spiritual director

[@augsal]

'Tomorrow's Ascension Thursday, unless your diocese transfers it to Ascension Thursday Sunday, in which case you'll be celebrating a solemn act of time travel, so God bless!' Ahhhh so sassy! 😂

[@MartySarmaidoff]

We weren't brough into the world to keep the peace. How do you best love them. What a hero. Thumbs up

[@keitharcher5723]

".......not that we should be idolaters of sleep...." Loved this combination of words. It made me laugh out loud as I was going about my routine drudgery.

[@warrenphilips8441]

Your sound editor is doing a great job (or whatever software you are using) because I could not hear any of the noises that you were describing. Excellent content and helpful as I start priestly ministry.

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

“Solemn act of time travel” for Ascension Thursday- Sunday. 😂😂😂

[@kimberlysmiley5071]

I could listen to you all day, your voice is so comforting 😁 love all your wise insight and your silliness, and your Gods'plaining brothers as well 😍😍😍😍

[@charlesbuzbee1043]

Thank you Father Pine I have to remember 2 p m on Wednesdays. I always want to talk to you but a lot of people have good questions for you. I am hoping I get the opportunity to meet you some day. You are really amazing and I enjoy watching you so much. Charlie Buzbee Hammond La p s when you come back to the states are you in Washington maybe I could fly up for a week end and attend one of your Masses. Thanks.

[@wopfrog007]

I’ve been thinking about these questions for a very long time now, Father, and can’t thank you enough for having answered them all with such eloquence and grace. God bless you, Father, and Godspeed in your continued ministry.

[@francesopperman4598]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing your beautiful soul and thoughts and encouragement and wisdom and insight! God Bless you Father in your vocation and ministry! In the Peace of Christ and St. Dominic!

[@Andrea-ky9lh]

So well-said. Thank you Fr. Pine.

[@stuksy4321]

thanks for your talks!

[@michaeleamonnmccarthy1079]

Shoutout St Pats 🙌🏼

[@Andrea-ky9lh]

I love when you talked about cultivating simplicity of heart and perseverance.

[@sophiab.338]

Thank you Pints with Aquinas. I love your podcast. I found I really accessible. I find the ideas interesting and particle. I feel much more connected to my community by this podcast and am blessed for finding it.

[@KG-np9vz]

+JMJ+ Hello Father! I very much enjoy your talks and read your new book on prudence, which had a wealth of information. Thanks!

[@cindymmc.2869]

I am “cradle catholic” I can’t believe how much I didn’t know! Now I am doing crash courses. I always listened at the classes when the. Priest came too. Great priests are teaching us so much! I always wondered why seminary was like 8 years???? Doctors do less school?

[@gshere5890]

Doctors have to have bachelors (4) and medical school (4) and residency (3-7). It takes a total of a decade in making a doctor 😳

[@HoosierHound]

​@@gshere5890 I'm going to be pedantic, but a doctor is such upon graduation from medical school. While nearly all doctors in the US pursue further training in a residency program, they are already doctors while in residency. It's more like what Fr. Gregory is doing now, furthering his education, even though he is already a priest. Also, nearly all diocesan priest go through what could be equated to a residency process after ordination, serving as association pastors or in other roles under the guidance of experienced priests. :)

[@rlsnod1109]

Introduction 00:00:00 Spiritual Direction or Counseling? 00:00:54 I have been thinking lately on the vice of sloth or acedia, and I have more frequently noticed at play in my life being overwhelmed by the demands of love. How should one safeguard against this vice and build momentum as it were and perseverance? 00:12:48 IF God's will is always done either actively or passively, why do we pray to change his mind or why does he require our participation? For example, if we pray to save a child who was born prematurely would not God save or not save the Child's life based on his will rather than our prayers. Is not everything according to God's will whether we pray or not? I am not against prayer, but I wonder about the issue. 00:17:26 I heard you say once that God doesn’t suffer in his divinity. This notion seems to deny the hypostatic Union since Christ clearly suffered. Are you saying God the father doesn’t suffer? 00:20:26 What's the difference between scrupulosity and sensitive conscience? 00:23:15 Thoughts on attending the invalid wedding of a not-practicing Catholic relative? it would cause a LOT of drama not to attend 00:23:32 Why doesn't God make His existence more obvious? Like blatantly obvious so no one would even question it (similar situation to the angels/demons) 00:27:54 What exactly does it mean to be sealed with the Holy Spirit and how does this play in the sacraments of initiation 00:29:50 If you had only a couple minutes to explain to someone why you are a Catholic over other religions and Christian denominations, what would you say? 00:32:44 Is it a sin to invest in the stock market or to maintain a 401k, particularly if the companies do not engage in practices that go against Church teaching? Thoughts on this? 00:35:35 What would have happened if Virgin Mary refused her vocation? 00:36:54 Why do we suffer the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin? isn't that unjust? 00:38:12 I was wondering: how is Christ the Altar, other than Victim and Priest? I hear that often in the preface of Mass. 00:38:25 What would be the Thomistic response to person continuity or perseverance, are we still the same person we were a year ago? 00:39:52 Is it possible to avoid purgatory and go straight to heaven? 00:40:08 Can men and women be friends? 00:40:42 Scotus said that there was "only" a formal distinction. Scotists explain this by using the Separability Criterion. 1. What are "effects" of this view? (e.g. on Div.Simpl.) + 2. Why was he wrong? 00:41:03 What a coincidence, I was just thinking about if I should have a spiritual director. I have doubts and questions, and as I read about the saints, they often had directors, especially in monasteries. 00:41:37 Is there an immorality of donating organs once one has passed? 00:41:53 How should we go about practicing the virtue of charity? I can't help but feel that there must be a deeper way beyond 'doing stuff for others' 00:42:23 We distinguish looking at women for beauty vs for lust. But it's impossible for men to abstract sex appeal from the evaluation of beauty. So how is it possible to contemplate women's beauty without lust? 00:43:53 Soooo my 6 year-old asked me a question that caught me off guard. "If God is all powerful, why doesn't he just kill Satan?" 00:45:57 Fr Pine, thank you for prior advice to me (transitioning atheist, 32) to start praying. I have been praying daily and have started attending Church. Any further thoughts for a new kid on the block? 00:46:42 I’m thinking of being a fssp priest but don’t really know how to go forward. I’m an altar server I pray a good bit and am try to keep learning what do I do next. (I’m a teenager) 00:48:01 Is there such a thing as a spiritual director who is a therapist?? Because that would be perfect! 00:49:32 Regarding the filioque…Is there also an argument to be made that the Son proceeds from the Father and the Holy Spirit as it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that Mary conceives? 00:49:49 What are your thoughts on receiving on the tongue vs receiving on the hand? 00:51:41 Are you still in Austria? Are you planning on coming to Vienna any time soon? 00:54:43 Can I tell my wife I need to take a break from the kids to get more sleep? 00:54:50 Does Beauty convert with Being? 00:55:04 Things like "May their [my enemies] path be dark and slippery while the angel of the Lord strikes them down" in Ps 35 How should we think about it when we pray Psalms like this in ... 00:57:33

[@A.F.U-A]

This is so helpful. Thank you.

[@christinetuthill8249]

Excellent! Is this available on hard copy?

[@josephgonzales1815]

"Not unexceptional" Suggestions: humdrum, prosaic, unremarkable, routine

[@lindaadhola4514]

Fr I agree with you on most of the things you say here and thank you very much .......but man cannot be his own guide ...we all desperately need spiritual director , we do n as a matter of fact to be seen weekly .

[@taylorbarrett384]

@29:50 the question was actually a reference to Ephesians 1:13. Your answer, Fr. Pine, was anachronistic and didn't really address what the person was interested in (which was about the linguistics of the Greek and how "sealed" with the Spirit relates to our ability to break that seal and lose the Spirit).

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

28:50 You’re welcome 😉😆

[@Ca8tisawesome]

You are a saint

[@robideals685]

Just a head's up Matt your link to Patreon on the 3 protestants who converted through a bible study video is not working.

[@christiandpaul631]

Can men and women be friends... In my opinion No, unless he is gay. Ultimately it will go in a direction that you want to avoid if that does not happen before his girlfriend or her boyfriend make their objections.

[@tracyfontanillas]

Hello Fr. Pine, how do I reach you? My local priest recommended me that I should look for a spiritual director, but couldn’t find one.

[@terriblycleverchannelname5620]

What diocese do you live in?

[@creatinechris]

28:40 tell that to Paul on the road to Damascus

[@Veritas1234]

Haha

[@hallower1980]

I find the idea that God the Father does not suffer hard to swallow. Granted, the Creator of the whole universe, angels, souls, and all else is well beyond comprehension in many respects and is certainly not beholden to the biology of human emotions. However, the Father's love is evident not just in the incarnation of the Son, to join humanity's created nature to His uncreated divine nature, but in His loving will to submit the Son to perfect sacrifice in payment for our sins. The Lord cannot be injured or moved forcibly by any lesser power. But He can choose to accept pains (in some immaterial sense) in promise to His creations in accordance with His just nature and the injustice He allows for redemptive glory. What does it mean that "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" if the giving cost nothing? God is Love. Is love not sacrificial? Do you suppose that the sacred heart of Jesus does not express His divinity in its pains for our sake? Note that all earthly pains are conditional and fleeting. When salvation is complete and sin abolished, Heaven will be free of sin's consequent pains. Likewise, God's pains for us may also be fleeting. But as Christ is changed by His own choice to join humanity to His divinity, the Father may express His divinity in new ways by choice. Perhaps I misunderstand. I'll try to find more on the subject.

[@kylepfeifer6576]

I get where you're coming from; a big part of human love is being able to carry another persons burdens within your own heart. We say that Mary suffered with Christ in this way. The way I think about it, is that God does indeed have everything good and beautiful about love; He knows us and our hurts even better than we do, and He has an ardent desire to make it better. But He does this in such a full and unchanging way, that He simply loves to love, and no amount of "effort" can exhaust or weary Him. St Thomas thinks this "effort" is precisely what causes suffering in our human nature; we feel a lack of some good, and can't do anything to overcome it. So we must simply bear it. But God's love is never powerless; His love *CAUSES* the good to overcome the evil--if not now, then in eternity--and He's infinitely happy to give in this way.

[@hallower1980]

On further reflection, I would distinguish between the essence of a person and the accidents of how that personality is expressed with regard to fleeting circumstances. Jesus expressed anger when overturning the money tables at the temple. Does that mean Jesus is an angry Person? No. It means He is a just Person. Anger is properly a fruitful response to correct injustice. Remove the injustice and you remove the cause of anger. Faith, hope, and love - the greatest of these is love. Why? Because faith and hope are expressions of love in a fallen world without the beatific vision. We hope until our hopes are fulfilled in Heaven. We believe by faith until the Lord decides we are ready to live glorified in His holy presence and we know His majesty more fully in Heaven. But love is how we are meant to be both on earth and in Heaven. Similarly, perhaps, the sacred heart of Jesus suffers for us only until His victory over sin, evil, and death is fulfilled in the final judgment and transformation of the world. Like Jesus was angry only amid injustice (and only because as omnipotent God He chose to momentarily permit sin for greater glory later), so Jesus suffers only amid the injustice of sin. But suffer He does. Why would the Church devote so much attention to His glorious Passion on the cross if that suffering were merely human? It is an act of divine grace. For the conditional existence and glorification of humanity, unconditional God accepted conditions which reconcile His own justice with His mercy and the outpouring nature of His divine Love.

[@kylepfeifer6576]

As for the Incarnation, the way I think about the "interface" between His Divine Nature's immutability, and the mutability of His human nature, is that the Divine Nature always stays infinite and constant; His human nature, finite just as ours is, then has to "stretch" itself in order to stay conformed to the will and intellect of the Divine Nature. So this is why He suffered, and even why He suffered so much by merely praying in the Garden of Gesthemene; He was loving with an amount of love which isn't within the normal limits of human nature, and that *hurts* and is exhausting. It's not that the Divine Nature lacked something that the human nature has; it was precisely the opposite.

[@gabbysmum8339]

@@kylepfeifer6576 what a wonderful conversation guys! Thank you both.

[@ransomcoates546]

This claim of the Father suffering is a heresy known as patripassionism.

[@immaculateheart1267]

Fr Pine kind of reminds me of a dear priest who is no longer at my parish. He was an FSSP priest. The fssp priests are constantly moving. Its very annoying but Gods will be done.

[@kathleenorourke7330]

When Jesus healed people's physical disease, he said "Your sins are forgiven". Spiritual sickness is at the root of all addictive behaviour and most physical disease, in my view. It would be worth looking at/ discussing twelve step programmes in relation to addiction. 12-step programmes regard and successfully treat addictive/ compulsive behaviours as symptoms of spiritual sickness. Nothing has succeded in the healing of alcoholism to the extent that 12 Step programmes have. And those programmes are firmly rooted in Christianity, though this is becoming more and more ignored.

[@freshliving4199]

Pssst...one of your horns are showing on your thumbnail😳

[@captainzappbrannagan]

I have never seen any evidence for any of the 3000 gods people have invented. How do you have faith in something for which has no fact basis?

[@benhutchinson9808]

We see faith as a rational response to a revealing God. The idea that there is "no fact basis" is flawed from the get go. As for evidence, may I suggest that you have a think about the fact that testimony is, by itself, evidence.

[@captainzappbrannagan]

@@benhutchinson9808 You said it yourself faith is what happens when you don't have evidence for something. This is a pathway to ignorance. Think of all the evils from beliefs. Stick with what's real and build on that. We don't need a sky daddy to explain anything about nature, we are doing that fine ourselves and with evidence.

[@benhutchinson9808]

@@captainzappbrannagan you clearly didn't read my comment. A "revealing God" necessarily has evidence. And it might help you if you move past the "sky daddy" tropes, because then you can have an intellectual discussion about real belief, if you think you have the intellectual capacity for it.

[@captainzappbrannagan]

@@benhutchinson9808 I did read your message, but "revealing god" is non-sensical and anecdotal testimony is not good evidence for anything, so it's not useful to comment on that. Think of it in this way. When you want to know if something is imaginary or real do some tests. Imagine if the bible was proven to be entirely a made book of fables? What would be different?

[@benhutchinson9808]

@@captainzappbrannagan no, "revealing God" is at the very heart of the claim. Just as witness testimony may convince some juries, but not others, so it is with testimonies as to the transcendent. Anecdotes are something else entirely, and I'm surprised you are unaware of the distinction. Well, perhaps not surprised, given the state of education in the western world, perhaps disappointed is a better word.