I pray my children come back to the Catholic church. I pray for my non-Catholic family. Toxic blasphemers. I don't talk to them, but I love and pray for them.

What breaks my heart today, is my attempt to lead my family and friends to the church, to be laughed and scoffed at. Please pray for my family that they may find Our Lord

“Like Joseph, you’ve been dumped into the pit. And, like Joseph, you choose to heed the call of God on your life. It’s not easy. You’re tempted to get even. But you choose instead to ponder your destiny.”❤❤❤ - Max Lucado

What breaks my heart today? Our adult children being far away from their Catholic faith, our daughter to marry an atheist man in 20 days outside of the Church, and that so many other parents on this day 24 are suffering the same - the Cross many of us bear is that Cross of our children falling away from God - yet in that brokenness is joy, and hope for conversion- Just like I did about 18 years ago- so I am praying for all of you as I go through this second BIY year that God will hear our prayers and make our joy complete one day and lead our fallen-away children back to the Church and in our case lead Patrick our future son in law to desire baptism and all the sacraments in the Church. Amen.

What breaks my heart today is my infertility for so many years, 17 years now. I so much want to be a mother but God has not made this happen for me yet. I will be 46 this May and still have hopes that soon I may know what it feels like to carry a child. I am so broken that I have constant pregnancy envy/jealousy. Even when I am happy for someone who is pregnant, I feel so sad for myself and that overshadows the joy I feel for that person. Lord please have mercy on me and let me carry a child too, just like you bless other women. Please remember me Lord God Almighty and wipe my tears. AMEN! Thank you so much Lord.

What breaks my heart today? Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, and any other war out there. So much grief, lives cut short because we just cannot get along.

What breaks my heart and leaves me sorrowful is the division in my own family. I failed my children. My son refuses to have a relationship with his sister and as a result, with the family. I see a young man having overcome a deadly childhood illness, a daughter having made some remarks to him on his fragility and my son not having the ability to forgive his sister in her immaturity….they are both adults now, but the sadness is as if the split was yesterday. So my brothers and sisters in Christ, please, I beg you, pray for my family….for my husband, my daughter, my son….that we matter find peace by the grace of God. I don’t know if I’m asking in the right way but Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. …and I extend this prayer to all families….stay strong, stay united and live each other unconditionally….btw Fr Mike, the reading of Joseph is one of my favorites stories as well…..God bless the Ascension Team….

What breaks my heart today ? that God is squeezed out of society, the name of Jesus whom I love is used as a swear word, that my church is half empty.

What brakes my heart is that so many of my Nephews, Nieces and Grandniece are not married in the Church. Praying for their convention 🙏

It seems that a lot of us are praying for their families. Our broken families. Those who have left the church, who are estranged from family members even their own children and parents. The list goes on and on. .. I'm praying for my family and will pray for yours. May God hear our fervent please. Amen ❤

Today I weep, because my brother went back home after 20 years. He was weeping at the neck of my mum and even knelt down crying praising God. We all cried because, we know that it could have been otherwise. Today, the same day Joseph wept. What a wonderful God we are serving. Father God bless, protect and glorify Himself mightily in your and all this awesome community. Well done Father for being obedient to God's calling and inspiration.

What breaks my heart today? I’m weeping the loss of my oldest son since 2021. Today the question was so direct so I weep letting god know how I want to hug my son and weep like Isrrael and Joseph, years of Joy.

This is my favorite. I weep for joy that God is with me. And i pray that God brings all my family to Him, like Joseph's

What makes me weep? Today is the separation of my children and grandchildren from the church from the sacrament

I finished Catechism in a year 2023. Now on to Bible in a year. I have felt very challenged doing Bible in the year, it is so fast paced, and I miss the deep diving into a subject that the catechism did with such great beauty, but I am going to soldier, on and just pick up the pace. Hey you guys hang in there too...

Amen 🙏.

"Who is this woh darkens council by words without knowledge? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Some of the most powerful words in the Bible. Thank you for the way you read and presented it, Father Mike. God Bless you and all here for this experience.

What makes me weep with joy is my son's faithfulness to God in the Catholic Church it could have been otherwise

Thank you for showing and teaching us. God Bless You 🙏🏼🙏🏼✝️✝️

I weep for my oldest Son that has been lost, May he come back! I ask this in Jesus’s name. “Jesus I trust in You”. I know you have a plan. I truly believe this. Amen

"We weep because we know it could have been otherwise." Indeed

Nothing can guide us in the path of righteousness as the WORD OF GOD. Glory to GOD!

What breaks my heart is one of my sons who always used to attend mass , never goes to church anymore. I pray for his conversion . Our Lord send him your holy spirit. Amen 🙏

What breaks my heart is if my children their families and siblings don’t really know God and 😊😊 His plans for their life and how much He loves us all.

I pray for Father Mike, and for all those that are participating in the bible in a year. God bless all of us and help us to grow in faith as we read from your word. Amen.

Day 24 - Tears of joy. Reconciliation & Reunion. Old hurts forgiven & a family reunited. I pray for this in my family. God bless all y’all on this journey through the Bible.🙏❤️

Thank you Father Mike

Powerful message Father Mike Thank you for this message God Bless you….

Fr Mike, thank you for this journey. I always get very emotional when I read this part of Genesis - where Judas offered Himself as ransom for his brother Benjamin and when Joseph could not hold it anymore and weeps. Two weeks ago, we read this during the weekday Holy Mass. I was chocking, trying my best not to cry. This is one of the best scenes in Genesis.

Wow, I needed this today! The revealing of Joseph to his family, tears of joy for now God's plan was finally explained to them, I ponder on if Joseph's brothers remembered the dream he had about him ruling over them? The Lord makes straight, with crooked lines..🙏 what breaks my heart is how we don't know what the future holds! If we did, I'm sure most of us would be closer to God knowing that without his help and knowledge we too would have tears, but not of joy..be thankful for the stumbling blocks that lie ahead in our lives, for with God "all is possible"...prayers for all who are on this quest, for wisdom of our Heavenly Father.

Wow-I know I was meant to hear this today. I had a falling out with my eldest brother and have stopped talking to him for 2 years. Joseph’s forgiveness has truly touched me and as I wept while hearing this, my brother came to mind. Please pray I find the right words to ask his forgiveness and reconnect with him.

If your heart is broken, don't give up. Stay on the journey with God. Follow Him to get out of the darkness. St. Michael Archangel, pray for us! +

I really enjoy father Mike Bible in a year find read it myself a lot of the stuff I would not understand like the names places cannot pronounce. Father Mike really helps me to understand. I am returning Catholic did all my confessions now I'm a practicing Catholic. One of the things that I do I like I'm age 67 I go to men's meeting at the Catholic Church and we talked about a lot of subjects

Hi Fr. Mike, like you, the story of Joseph is one of my favorite...especially his reunion with his family! And the story of Job is one of soul-searching. Love ❤️ them both! Thank you Fr. Mike for the enlightening way you present the Bible with your story- telling. Best and God bless! As this is my third run of reading the whole Bible, your podcasts give me new insights into it!

Amen. 💙➕

Jesus I love you

I weep because my husband died 7 years ago. I miss him terribly. I cannot wait to see him again as Joseph reunited with his father.

The late ft.Phillip Breen always said “keep on keeping on”

People know job without knowing the end. God sets the record straight

I can see how one could look upon something and be joyous because the situation could have ended differently, but that isn't why I weep when joyous. I weep because the way I look at it is anything that is joyous is a gift from God. I am an empath so I have the blessing/curse (depending on the situation) of experiencing the emotions of others, whether good or bad. I will weep at something joyous out of guilt or the feeling of unworthiness that God, in his infinite goodness, saw fit to bless me with joy, even though I did not deserve it. I will weep at seeing joy in others as a result of someone else's kind act. I will weep if I were to give a gift to or do something for someone and that person starts weeping. I guess that could be explained as weeping as a result of someone else's gratitude or thankfulness for something I did. I think anything good and pure and done with caring and/or love could possibly have that affect on me.

My 3 daughters have not talked to me in 3 years. I am 80 years old and tried writing with no answers and called numerous times and no answer. I pray and weep often ! Please for me👍🙏🙏🙏🙏😭

Thanks!

Bruh I’m literally going through this podcast with my reformation study Bible.

What breaks my heart today? that younger people are not being taught about the grace of GOD! there is no more Family values.

What break my heart is the death of my 26 years old daughter who passed 7 years ago. I will give anything to hold her again. I know God is walking with me through this trial.

Fr. Mike is right. This story of reconciliation in the old testament Joseph’s family and Joseph’s forgiveness makes Joseph’s story among the best from the Bible. It’s an example of God’s grace and God’s grand plans. Pharaoh inviting Joseph’s family to live in Egypt shows how God establishes a family or group due to the righteousness of one member. This settlement in Egypt also fulfills the word of God by helping Jacob to be fruitful in a land where he was a stranger. Our lives are indeed not perfect and we don’t often get such reconciliations but we can try to be like Joseph and forgive yet stay wise and faithful to God. Job’s part from the video shows us how God is the master of all creation and we should assume that for every small or tricky thing, there must be something that God wants out of it for our own good. The proverbs again remind us to follow the instructions of God . This was great and I hope everyone gets happiness and peace despite hardships just like Joseph. May all of us have a lot of reconciliations in life! Thank you, Fr. Mike and Team Ascension. God bless you and the fellow listeners

What a flip from jailing and trolling his brothers to humility towards God and saving them. His dream from his youth finally came to pass! What an ordeal to go through all of that to see a dream from God come to pass. What a weird feeling to make known that what doors God opens no man shut or what doors God closes no man can open.

Sometimes we weep with joy because it doesn't happen often, or there is a lot of trauma or abuse and we know that joy is the Lord, of the Lord.....

We weep out of joy because we are aware it could have been worse When the Lord is with us there is room for joyful tears

What breaks my heart ? That my Father didn't know how to show he's Love . That our church its half way empty, our Teenagers are NOT listening. Father Mike you brought tears to my eyes , I love you and pray for you . God Blessed!!!

Proverbs 4 : 20 - 27 The Benefits of Wisdom 20 - My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen to my words. 21 - Never let them get away from you. Remember them and keep them in your heart. 22 - They will give life and health to anyone who understands them. 23 - Be careful how you think ; your life is shaped by your thoughts. 24 - Never say anything that isn't true. Have nothing to do with lies and misleading words. 25 - Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don't hang your head in shame. 26 - Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right. 27 - Avoid evil, and walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off the right way. The Good News Bible Today's English Version (TEV) 📖🕯💒

Lord give me a forgiving heart so I m reconciled with people who have hurt me. Fr. Mike thank u for the insight. Pray for me.

Thank you for this. I broke my wrist and I have time to do this study. So glad🎉. Unfortunately my whole life me and my mom have gone in and out of having a relationship. Words that she said to me hurt her and words I said to her hurt her. She used the Bible as her weapon which is wrong. Joseph wept, but he never told his brothers you did this because Satan is in your life. Unfortunately that's what my mom did and I'm so sad. God is in my heart and life and I'm very sad she can't see it l. She just sees the hurt I caused her. 😢 no forgiveness.

DiS 24 ❤, serving THe LoRd ❤

very touching story about crying for joy and reconciliation, quite an interesting story about Joesph

I also believe that we weep because the awareness that it could have been otherwise leads to a deep and overwhelming GRATITUDE to the goodness of the Lord that it was not made so, and awareness of the sheer gift of the moment. Of the utter abundance of His Mercy, that He would give us such reprieve, such joy, such a moment out of nothing but His Love for us and His desire for us. It is this gratitude that wells up inside of us, and is so overwhelming that it comes out in copious tears. It is overwhelming because it is our small response to the overwhelming and over-abundant GIFT of God's Mercy. We are incapable of containing it, of holding it back. In those moments, we ARE gratitude. It becomes our being. And so we weep, from our littleness and our awareness that God IS SO GOOD.

You do make reading the Bible interesting and so rewarding Father Mike, God Bless you for your generosity!

Thank you Father Mike. You are truly gifted. Love the bible learning with you. Never thought it would be this interesting. You make bible study easy and enjoyable. God bless you!

It took me more than 24 days to get here (and that's ok), but here I am....with you....on this journey.

Just Wow

For those who have had tragedy, may you have consolation in the midst of the anguish. Mary had tragedy too. But in all the cruel mysterious affliction, she was not alone. You are not alone either.

This story of Joseph his brothers his brother Benjamin and his Father Jacob touched my heart. Faro was so kind too. Father Mike I cry when I feel the love I have for God , I love when I am able to do this because I really feel at one with God at these times. I can understand your explanation of tears as it could have turned out different. God is so good. . What breaks my heart today is knowing that we have to die. I don't want Jacob to die . Or anyone. Where do we go heaven. Will we all know each other. Will I meet Jacob,Joseph . I am going through fear past couple of years ,I don't know why. God bless all In this community and Father Mike with God's Peace.

Joseph’s story-wow! My son’s friend in his 30’s found his dad & brothers that he never knew & so puts me in mind of how God blesses just like Joseph! On the note of broken hearts-addiction, drugs tore apart our close family & forgiveness is needed between all family members, especially that of my grown children toward their oldest brother, who I trust God will lead to healing & forgiveness. Pray for us!

I was just thinking that I haven't said anything about myself. I've been born a catholic but I spent about 20yrs away from the church. I've just come back in the last 4 or 5 years. I have been in a wheelchair since I was nearly 21 and now I'm 51. I have got great faith in God. I feel like I can relate to our friend Job. I am often in much pain, but I know that God has a reason for it. Whatever his reason is!? I love listening to your explanations as we go. Love Anna xx

I leave with a beautiful message every day ❤️

My heart is breaking for my daughter who has walked from her faith. My heart breaks for my son who has faith, but a lot of anger. I pray for them, to find their way.

We weep because of joy. Lord is with us. He protects us and carries us around in His arms. Thank you Jesus, Priase you Jesus.

Bible in a Year!

First time through and your words at the end of this episode, and all the endings, are so inspiring and lovely to hear! Bless you Father!

Tears flow easily. How can they not for anyone who cares? Sometimes I will cry simply to experience the beauty of tears. Do you? Through our tears do we grow in spirit and strength and much like any lilliputian particle that looms larger 'neath the lens of a microscope to reveal a world within a world not so perceivable to the naked eye, the film of rain that is our tears reins in the sacredness of life's moments, of whatever emotion they might be. On the morning my mother surrendered her spirit to Eternity, I drew the sign of the cross on her forehead with the tears I wept over her death, where just a day before, one kiss in weight no more than a drop of dew fated to the fineness of a feather caused her frail form to writhe with such racked suffering I cried but differently. In death my tears touched her tenderly where in the final hours of her life my kiss served as no cure. Did you know that within those tears we shed in times of sorrow there is a sedative not present in tears of joy? A nurse once told me that during the only time to date any illness was so consuming of my senses to waylay the world I knew and my part in it that it left a fixed flaw in fluted glass with which I once toasted untainted my dreams. That was some magic to me - and I hope it is also to you - that within one component of our multi-faceted yet fragile selves, there is contained such a dichotomy; the division of our joys and sorrows by the salts of such a beauteous and opiate balm, as mirthful as it can be melancholy, that nothing should ever be so untoward to stem the flow of sanctity. In fact, there are three major types of tears that are triggered by internal sympathies and sensations and over one hundred variants; tributaries with their own topography and each with their own rate of evaporation. All are a water world of their own culture within the body water of our being: tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of grief, remembrance, hope, reunion and even change. None are as each other but more like our fingerprints. They baptise and anoint our state with the blessings of our own divinity. I rejoice that I can so revel in the wonder of tears, for whatever worthy reason they are wept. They are of the rainy season from the wellspring that is the silence of the soul.

United we stand divided we fall

What a wonderful encounter between Joseph and his family. This is so touching. A good lesson in forgiving. Happy tears are part of life as well as sad tears. The emotion in Father Mike's voice gives the readings more meaning.

The gracious , merciful love of our Heavenly Father that knows the deepest satisfaction of our hearts…🙏🏾❤️🙏🏾 “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭126:5‬ ‭

I too love the story of Joseph! Family is everything and God is Good, well, God is Goodness.

I cried during your podcast. I cannot fathom the pain Joseph felt for what his brothers did to him. This made me think of the pain I feel when I think of the people, I love, who have hurt me; a gift from God. Father Mike, you're a gift, from God, to all of us. Thank you for giving us the BIAY. God loves you, Father Mike.

Please pray for the restoration of our marriage our friendship our family

Fr.,Mike, you are such a good man. The goodness of your heart is heard in your voice and words. God bless all listeners.

Who has put the wisdom in the clouds...whoa. That’s wisdom in itself...

Thank you love you Father Mike

I cry everytime I read the story of Joseph!

one of my favorites too....thank you Father

Thank you Fr Mike, we weep because we know how how fragile we are. Praise the Lord!

Lord, Thank you for revealing the beauty in joyful tears. When you are with us, though life may be fragile, we have hope in eternity with you. Reveal in our lives where we can offer forgiveness, receive forgiveness, repent, reunite and put broken pieces back together. 🙏🏻

I've started very late but am loving this. Thank you Father.

Wow, what powerful message and experience. Joseph's forgiveness is unconditionally. This is a great lesson on forgiveness without limit. Thank you Fr. Mike for this experience and for your prayers. I assure you my prayers and the prayers of my fellow Bible in a year people.

Thank you Fr. Mike

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You can tell Father Mike is a giggler....🤣

Thank you for the gift of Father Mikey... 💜💜💜

God Bless you always and all the people of the world. Thank You so very much for making it easier understanding the Bible and the Catechism. I’m so so very happy !❤

A new way of seeing “tears of Joy.” I’ve shared in that experience but could not put into words what it was like. Yes, tears because of what might have been. Enjoying the daily read and commitment of heart. Thank you all!

Prayers to all

🙏🙏🙏

I am so struck in this beautiful story of Joseph the absolute forgiveness he had for his brothers. Oh that we could all be like Joseph all of the time. Thanks Fr Mike for all your insight into all these people of the Bible.

These are the happiest verses yet. Reuniting, and the Lord answers. Thank you

Thank you for your podcast.

Day 24. God Bless you Fr Mike to keep doing what you are doing. We weep with relief and gratitude in our joy to God for his grace and mercy even though we are sinners He loves us still. Prayers for us all. In Jesus name. Amen.

You are such a huge blessing for Holy Mother Church and I don't mean that as flatter but, as Truth!!! Thank you for these Scripture readings which have put me in the crux of my personal unhappiness. God is so Good, all the time God is good!!! Praise and Blessed be the Name of God forever and ever!!! God is Light!!!

We do cry for joy and how things should have been, that is how I feel since my father passed away and if certain things happened earlier. That is the aspect that breaks my joy in lovely memories with him. As it was such a time of upheaval and instability that should not have happened. God is there comforting me however.

Thank you