Ascension Presents

62 posts
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How to Bring Order to Your Life

When you clean and organize a room, you have to ask one very important question first: what is this room for? Once you can...

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How to Celebrate Easter Well

He is Risen! Indeed He is truly Risen!  Today Fr. Mark-Mary challenges us to lean into the immense gift of this Easter season...

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Sneaky Ways to Be Prideful (and How to Stop)

"I don't... think... I'm prideful...?" Great! If you examine your actions and intentions and you don't detect any obvious...

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The Value of Silence

God never ignores us, but sometimes we simply can’t hear him due to all of the distractions in our life. That’s why Fr. Mike...

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Do You Want to Be Well?

Jesus asked the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to be well?” It seems like an obvious question, but—as Fr....

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A Better Way to Choose Something for Lent

Do your Lenten practices feel arbitrary? Do your penances seem ineffective? If you're feeling this way, you might be wondering,...

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3 Ways to Be Intentional This Lent

Fr. Mark-Mary shares 3 ways to be more intentional this Lent. These tips are also included in his new book, Habits for...

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How to Build Your Prayer Life This Year

Father Mark-Mary shares a goal-setting technique that helped make Google...well, Google. But instead of using this goal-setting...

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What Are Some Creative Ways to Enter Into Lent?

 Ask Fr. Josh is the question and answer show to help you navigate life when our Catholic Faith doesn’t give an easy...

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The Real Answer to Why God Allows Suffering

Playing a video game called Injustice helps Fr. Mike explain the real answer to why God allows suffering. In Injustice,...

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How to Do Lent Differently This Year

Fr. Mark-Mary gives some practical advice on how to do Lent differently this year. It begins with having the right mindset....

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Picking a Thing for Lent

Fr. Mike knows the tricks we can play on ourselves when it comes to picking something for Lent. So he gives a straightforward...

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How to Keep Praying When it’s Hard (St. Catherine of Siena)

Prayer can get difficult. It's hard to maintain attention. Sometimes our prayer feels "dry". We don't know what to say. We...

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The Word of the Year You Need in 2024

If you don't already have a "word of the year" for 2024 (or if you're open to a second one), Fr. Mark-Mary has one for you:...

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When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayers

If it feels like God isn't answering your prayers, that can be disheartening. But it can also be devastating. Today, Fr....

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The True Meaning of Advent

What is the best way to prepare for the season of Advent? You’re free to do what you know will help you prepare for Christmas...

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What Did Mary Do for Advent?

In this introductory video, you will meet the hosts, Fr. Mark Toups, Sr. Miriam James Heidland, and Fr. Josh Johnson as they...

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Advent: New Liturgical Year, New You

Bobby Angel encourages you to restart your life this Advent. A great way to restart is to go to confession. Many parishes take...

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Finish Advent Strong: Celebrate Christmas Well

Begin Again Can you believe it, Christmas is almost here? Was your Advent as spiritually fruitful as you had hoped?  Regardless...

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You Are Made for Love (feat. The Sisters of Life)

We Are Made For Love Fr. Mark-Mary and Sister Mariae Agnus Dei explain how to let love rule your life. Every single person was...

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Let Jesus Do the Heavy Lifting in Your Life (feat. The Sisters of Life)

How To Deal With Your Stuff Fr. Mark-Mary and Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei talk about how to let love deal with your “stuff”. We all...

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Answering Your Questions About Advent

Mary and Her Immaculate Conception Truly loving Mary will never lessen our faith in God, or take attention away from Christ....

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Advent: More Than a Chocolate Calendar

Stepping into Advent What does Advent mean to you? A time to put the lights up, gift shop, and eat chocolate? Or is it...

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Passing the Faith Onto Your Kids

Jackie and Bobby talk about how to bring your children to Mass, especially those under the age of reason. As parents of four...

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Why God Loves You

God wants our brokenness.  He wants everything that makes us imperfect in the eyes of the world. In this video, Fr. Mike...

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Why It's Important to Have Good Friendships

At a glance, you may look at friendship and say it’s not necessary for day-to-day life. It’s just “nice to have.” And the truth...

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Do You Present Your True Self to Others?

If we put on a mask when we come to God in prayer, how can he love that fake version of us? In this week’s video from Fr. Mike,...

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How to Get Real Friends

How many real friends do you have?  Honestly, many people we call friends would probably better qualify as pals or buddies. The...

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God Made You For Community

What does my community have to do with my relationship with God? Communion and community come from God; isolation and division...

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When You’re Distracted in Prayer

Getting Closer to God When you're first growing in prayer and developing your relationship with Jesus, it is worth the...

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The Absolute Necessity of Saying "Thank You"

When was the last time you told God “thank you”?  We live in an extremely hectic world, full of distractions,...

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The Busy Catholic’s Guide to Finding Time to Pray

Prayer: Start Here St. Paul's call in Thessalonians 5:17 is to "pray without ceasing", but how do we do that in our busy lives...

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A Way to Practice Gratitude (That Actually Sticks)

It can be easy in our modern world to fall into the trap of envy and jealousy. When we dedicate our energy and focus on what...

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3 Amazing Quotes from St. Therese of Lisieux

October 1st is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of foreign missions and a Doctor of the Church. But what can this...

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How Do We Spend Our Time?

How we spend our time is one of the most valuable decisions we make, because time is one thing we can never get back once it’s...

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What's Your Bedtime?

There’s an old saying, “Why put off until tomorrow what you could do today?” Our culture’s "seize-the-day" mentality can be a...

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What's a Sign From God (And What Isn't)

Signs are often tricky and fuzzy. They’re not always such a good tool for helping you make a decision.  Let’s be honest: we...

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Why We Hate Natural Family Planning

Bobby hates natural family planning because it requires self-mastery and dying to self. While it sounds great in the idealistic...

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Why We Love Natural Family Planning

Following up on their first two videos in this series, which cover the pill and contraception, Jackie and Bobby discuss the...

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Why We Don't Use Contraception in Our Marriage

Jackie and Bobby give their reasons for not using contraception in their marriage. While sharing the Church’s beautiful...

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A Catholic Guide to Summer Break

Finding Rhythms for Summer  Summer break is a time for rest, recreation, and renewal. But what do we do with that space?...

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How Kids Make You Holy

Why is it important to raise holy children? Being a parent is exhausting, but if you’re called to marriage and...

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All Women Are Mothers. Here's How (feat. Lisa Cotter)

Does being a female make me motherly? If you are a woman, you were made to be a mother—even if you're not a physical...

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Praying As You Can, Not As You Can't

What do you do when you don’t have the desire to pray? Today Fr. Mike encourages and challenges us to ask God to give us...

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What is The Purpose of Lent?

So... Why do we practice Lent?  What’s the real connection between the Israelites’ forty years in the desert and the...

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Preparing For Lent

How can we prepare our hearts to make the most of Lent? In this video, Fr. Mike explains how prayer, fasting, and...

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4 Myths About Being a Single Catholic

Everyone has a vocation. We're all designed for relationship here on earth to prepare us for eternal relationship with God...

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A Theology of Working Out

Let's talk about exercise! Today Fr. Mike challenges us to re-evaluate the way we treat and view our bodies as well as to...

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Why Is It So Hard to Forgive Yourself?

When you are struggling to forgive yourself As Catholics, we believe in the forgiveness of our sins through the graces of...

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If God is Good, Why Do We Need to Pray?

The age-old question: why do I need to pray?

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Questioning The Faith Vs. Deconstructing The Faith

How can we question and seek truth in a healthy way?  When it comes to doubts or difficulties with the Catholic Faith,...

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The "Little Things" Are Actually Most Things

Don’t Let The Important Moments Pass You By Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We cannot all do great things. But we...

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All Saints Day Prep

Running the Spiritual Race What does a triathlon have to do with the Communion of Saints? Fr. Mike Schmitz draws...

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Why Does God Need Us To Worship Him?

Why Does God Need Us to Worship Him? God is an infinite, perfect, communion of persons, responsible for the intentional...

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Do You Get Distracted During Prayer?

Do You Get Distrated During Prayer? Even with four hours a day of prayer, Fr. Malachy still gets distracted. After his...

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Is It Ever Okay To Give Up?

Fr. Mike With Ascension Presents You may have seen the movie Rudy. Its eponymous protagonist is a not-so-athletic college...

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A Guided Examination of Conscience

Let’s take a breath and slow down. Sometimes we need to take the time to really think about our heart, mind, and actions....

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Family Brings Out The Worst (So God Can Heal It)

Do you ver feel like your worst comes out when you get with your family? Even if you think you’ve gotten more patient, kind,...

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What Did Mary Do For Advent? 

A Reflection for Advent with Ascension Presents For all of Advent this year, Ascension Presents offers a beautiful reflection...

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Great Family Activities For Advent

The waiting of Advent can be a time filled with great family activities and memories. Jackie and Bobby share some...

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Who You Are Vs. Who You Are Called To Be

Sometimes we believe we just are a certain type of person, and that hinders us from being everything we are called to be.  Fr....

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"What Can Catholics Do to Overcome Racism?"

Fr. Mark-Mary asks Fr. Pierre Toussaint about his experience of racism and division in the Church. And Fr. Mark-Mary listens....