Mediocrity is Killing Your Soul 

Just sharing a word. This time last year I was crying because I wasn't brave enough to take the first steps in the vocation God trusted me, now I'm organizing myself to go to the seminary. 🇻🇦🇧🇷

"Do not confuse being fine with being on the right track." Challengingly beautiful words, thanks Fr. Casey!

When I was protestant I heard a pastor say, "We need to stop living our Christian life like our only purpose is to arrive safely at death." I pray I can live up to that

Been pretty unhappy with specifically my career because it's not fulfilling for me, and it seems very contrary to my faith. I work in finance, and I feel like I'm enabling people's love and dependence on money/worldly possessions. This is my first job out of college at 23, but I've stayed here for about a year and a half because the pay is good for someone straight out of college. This job has also made me miss Church because I work weird hours (usually weekends). This needs to change. Pray for me that I get the drive to do something that honors Christ ❤️☦️

😢 i need prayers because i am in my waiting season. Its so dark here. im so confused and lost. i don't know what to do. this video just hit it right there. thank you for this father

I reproached my 2 friends before because they said they are satisfied with ending up in purgatory. I told them their word/action is not humility but pride or lack of trust in God. I advised them to aim at perfection and going straight to heaven by praying for that grace perseveringly and to have great trust in God's mercy.

I kind of woke up to this “mediocrity” in my own life in the last couple of months and God has awakened in me a desire to fully “put on” my faith in all I do. I will surely stumble but I’m moving…… Thank you Lord for getting my attention and thank you Fr. Casey for this powerful message!

Fr Casey. In mid 2023, I was convicted about how mediocre my life was becoming. The parable of hiding your talent in the ground, so that when the master returned, it would be returned it to him; but those who used their talents to increase, were congratulated by the master. I asked God to challenge me this past year…and He has. I also asked for the Grace to meet those challenges… And He has. This year, since I’m now in my mid-sixties, I am asking for wisdom to choose where He wants me to spend time and talent….work or volunteer…and people to serve. I will write this down in my prayer journal, and report back in a year. God bless you and especially the younger generation who watch.

I misread this thumbnail as “you’re not okay. you’re dumb” and I’ve never been so accidentally offended 😭

This time last year my family was suffering because my wife unexpectedly lost her job. It caused me to work twice as hard and made me aware of how much time I wasted being complacent and not advancing myself. This last year I have come a long way but have not yet reached my goals. I am steadfast to remember that pain so that I don’t fall into ruts like that again.

As a firm agnostic-atheist who watches your videos occasionally, your message changes to my ears as a life worth living is a life lived with vigor purpose and unfaltering effort fearless of inevitable failure. We’re here for a purpose certainly, let’s get to it. Best of luck to whoever reads this.

Failure,loneliness,weakness, vulnerability, disappointment, anger, sinfulness,are painful especially when experienced all at the same time. Thank you for giving Failure a new meaning.

I love the homilies that come right when I feel like I am UTTERLY FAILING! Happy New Year, Father Casey!

My biggest fear, for quite some time, is that if I were to be called before God that he would deem me unworthy and I would end up in Hell.

Father Casey, I have felt these things for going on 2 years now. I'm done. At the end of my rope. Please save me Lord Jesus.

“And then one day you find Ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run You missed the starting gun”

I have the extreme opposite issue😭 I can’t fail in anything. I MUST succeed in anything I do. Which led to a devastating 4 month period of scrupulousity last year in where I fear even mere temptation despite not struggle with any grave sins. That still applies to school, work, and other aspect of life. But lately, I been just calm, for the past 3 month, so glory to God. I need to grow in humility greatly, my ego is far too strong I 4:50-5:14 That was me last year, it took me from being so far from God, to trying to follow him every single day. It’s longtime journey!

Thanks for this, Fr Casey. Fear of failing is a big obstacle I can work on!

Perfect topic. Of course, the “neutrals” in the Divine Comedy are exactly the people that you’re talking about. And Dante hints at two facts: 1). Nowhere else in hell there are more souls than in the ante-inferno, where the neutrals end up; 2). He almost “prefers” the damned souls to the neutrals, because at least the damned took a stance. Of course, that’s not what he says, or even means, but his disdain for the neutrals is enormous.

OMGoodness. Three things 1. This is straight 🔥 🔥 2. Reminds me of this line from Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassiti’s Prayer for the Courage to be great: "Heavenly Father, Give me the courage to strive for the highest goals, to flee every temptation to be mediocre. 3. Remind me of the girls from the confirmation class in 1988 who said “I’m doing just fine what do I need to savior for“ thankfully, by the end of confirmation, she figured out that she actually needed a savior.

Being Catholic is tough. My friends and family, who have no use for religion etc., always seem happy and well-adjusted. Me? I can never tell for sure if God is pleased with me, or if I'm going to be spit out. I spent a lot of time just depressed by all of it.

Thank you so much for this video, Father Casey. I've known all these things my whole life yet they never sink in. I've always seen myself as a good person, treating others as I want to be treated. And yet, I feel so so so empty... I didn't know what I was doing wrong, I've been kind to people at least through my eyes. I guess I was ok with the life around me, "it could be worse," were my exact thoughts. Others around me had it worse, I thought, I should be grateful. So I stayed content. I had no idea why my soul was so empty, sad, and hopeless. I didn't know why it felt like it hurt to exist, I felt like there was no reason for me to be here besides being there for my friends and family who I felt like didn't really need me... But this is a wakeup call for me. I think this is God telling me to go all in for Him. To make my life meaningful in the best way possible and to have faith. To have hope for the plans He has for me and to trust that those plans are for my good. I'm going all in this year, I will make this my best year yet! Thank you for making this video as an opportunity for us to hear God's voice and to remind us that God has the best plan for each one of us. I'm praying for everyone that is also on this journey of leaving behind lukewarmess and embracing God's goodness and love. God bless you!!!

Thank you, Fr. Casey! This has been my problem for years. Couple with procrastination. I'm so convicted by your words. I pray to God for strength to help me change my ways and to follow His will always. God bless you, Fr. Casey and Fr. Patrick!

This message resonates with me s lot, I stumbled upon this passage of 'lukewarmness' a few months ago and it changed my perspective a lot. I just needed your reminder of this and your beautiful explanation and clarification. You give me a sense of hope and energy, that I can go forward boldly and commit errors. Sometimes I am afraid and nervous, I think to much before acting. I desire a lot and do like 10%. I want to confess, go to a Latin mass and find like-minded people, but something is holding me back. Myself and my fears. Thank you for giving me hope and courage. May God bless you.

You hit the nail straight on the head. YES! This is what I've been praying to be freed from. Thank you! Thank you for putting words behind my problem. Now I feel like I can face this and begin to fix it.

im a sinner who is deprived of faith in our father your words hold merit to them i've met people who are mediocre catholics and i can clearly see how they will fall to the same place that i will

thank you Fr. Casey i cried while watching this since it hit on point my situation.

Much truth here. Complacency is quite dangerous to the faith life. The 'virtue of comfort' is so destructive, but the shattering point of it is that it may be what we seek most of all!

What an Iconic message. I get confirmed this year!!! God bless!❤🎉✝️

Happy New Year father Casey! You're an inspiration to the millennials.

Thank you Father!! Praying for you and the Franciscan community and your loved ones 💯🙏🏽

After watching this video i'm beginning to understand where all those suicidal thoughts that i have once in a while come from. When we're now growing, we're dying. If there's no point to continue to exist, no goal, no ambition of any kind and for anything (my current situation), just "being fine, being OK" in life and nothing else. This isn't a life worth living. I ask God everyday what my vocation is so i can develop it and use it to improve other people's lives. That surely can make things start to move forward.

Love it❗️ A beautiful confirmation ❗️ Thank you❗️🕊❤️‍🔥 My heart's on fire ❤️‍🔥🕊

I've improved a lot this year, but this week I started slowly building up this mindset, thank you Father for the advice!

Thank you, Father Casey! Of all the videos you have done in the past year, this one particular resonates with me as much of the futility I feel, whether in my spiritual, professional, or personal life, can be attributed to my contentment with just being average. This all stems from my fear of failure.

Me this time last year: "Eh, I believe in Jesus. I don't need to join the Church, I go with my wife once in a while." Me now: I'm in RCIA, getting confirmed this year, virtue has come alive in me, thanks be to God!

So much to think about and work on this year. Thank you Fr. ❤

Thank you for this homily, I know I can make some changes but know of a couple others who needed to hear this too. Can’t wait to see what content comes of your channel this year!❤

Thank you Fr. Casey. a very good wake up call for start of 2024

Thank you Father! I prayed to the Lord Jesus and invoked St. Anthony to help me find a way out, of my Mediocrity . All you talked about, in this video you answered what I need, too do in my life this year. Thank you again! You helped me. Gave me all the answer I prayed, for too. Happy New Year!

I would like to share my testimony with you. Exactly about this topic. God gave me many gifts, and yet I used to be absolutely okay with being mediocre. In school, I did just what was needed and nothing more. I didn't want to go to college, even though my parents encouraged me to do so. I just wanted to live calm, quiet life without doing anything special. My faith was probably not that bad, but yeah, kind of mediocre. And at the same time, I was too proud and didn't want help from noone. Well, one near-death experience because of brain damage and... I am on college where I'm extremely happy. I'm in the academic senate, editor in chief of school magazine. And most importantly, I learned to accept the help from others and to pursue bigger goals. And my spiritual life changed so much! My relationship with Jesus is so alive now! I'm not saying that everything is perfect now, I just wanted to share this period of my life. I was mediocre, but I prayed: God, change me, even if it will be tough. Well, be careful what you pray for :D

I really needed to hear this today. Thank you!

Thank you, Fr.Casey. This is quite illuminating for me. I was always puzzled by that passage.

Thank you. I needed to hear these words at this moment of my life.

This was a moving video. I will be coming back to this every once in a while to keep myself moving. God bless your wisdom to come.

This is surprisingly based. Yet somehow, I expected no less from you Fr. Cole! Thank you for calling us to excellence!

When I went to Mass last week, the priest was talking about precisely this!!! I've been sampling different catholic churches for the past half a year (I'm not catholic yet) & this is the first one where I felt refreshed! I'm planning to continue to sample for now, & by Sep to know which is my church, where I'd be confident to go through rcia. And this one may be it 😊

Thank you for this message, it's what I needed at this time.

What a way to kick off the new year!

Well stated Padre. Thank you for the encouragement.

This have so much effect on my vocation

I needed this today. Thank you

As I read from Matthew Kelly’s book, God wants us to be the best version of ourselves - hence not in mediocrity. Thank you, Father for reaffirming those words and for reminding to strive to be the best version of ourselves and get out of comfort zone.

Wow... I needed this. Thank you Fr Casey, God bless.

This right here is what I've been trying so hard to break through: mediocrity. I recently converted last April, and have been searching for so long. And for a time, I thought I wanted to be a writer in Hollywood (thank you Lord, for kicking my butt away from that flaming pit), and then during my first conversion I thought I wanted to be a bona-fide gunsmith. And for some time now, I think that is what God is calling me towards...but perhaps not in the way I'm expecting it. One of 2 things will happen: 1. I will land exactly where God wants me to be, and I don't have to put any more major thoughts into it, and can begin living a devout Catholic life, still searching for the devotions and means to be charitable, a teacher in my craft, and (if God permits me) a loving father and husband. Or 2. I will have my 2nd conversion, and become a religious man, sacrifice all I desire because they are NOT what God desires from me, and I will either become a deacon, monk, priest, or whatever the heck God wants me to be. In this, I would intentionally and fully seek consecration with Our Lady, and want nothing more than to be a slave to Christ and Mary. These are the things this new year has sown into my soul, and in God's good time, I will see the reaping and harvesting of the fruits that can be bared from my labors. But, until then: I am patient, I am seeking God through Christ, and Christ through Mary. I am praying daily. I am attending Mass every Sunday. I am on my parish's OCIA team. I pray for the repose of the souls who have died every night. I lift up my heart to Mary, fervently request assistance in St. Mary Magdalene (my confirmation saint), and always ask my Guardian Angel to assist others, protect me from evil, and abide them to continue guiding me with Our Lady to Christ Jesus. Oh, and I ask St. Michael the Archangel to kick Satan's butt back to hell. I am always praying, and always thinking on these things...and frankly, I have begun to break from my mediocrity of just being ok with where I am at right now. St. Louis de Montfort's _True Devotion to Mary_ has begun my slow but certain steps to find the answers I am seeking, and where God desires me to be (I pray). I will gladly say, with utmost boasting in the Lord, that the last thing I could've told you I'd become, roughly 2-3 years ago, was to become Catholic. And yet, here I am...Catholic and convicted of it...I love it. Please, fellow sinners and brothers/sisters: pray for me. Pax Christi. Ave Maris Stella.

Thank you. I needed this.

Thank you for this!

Man, I needed to hear this.

Thank you Father. This came to me at just the right time.

Beautiful message

Very much relate to this! Unfortunately, I'm one of those average people. I'll think about how I can go about changing that.

Brilliant. Love your message.

Thank you Father Casey!

Happy New Year Father Casey !!!🎉🎉🎉

Happy new year!

Thank you Father Casey! I cannot express how much I needed to hear this! The last several months have been extremely hard. I went down the path of something was wrong with me, which only leads to anxiety and depression, and not what God sent to me to straighten my path to Him. Your message helps me put more focus looking to God and how to navigate to a better place vs focusing on my failings which only leads to deep darkness. 🙏❤🙏 Blessings Father Casey and your gift in which you allow Jesus to work through you reaching out to others. 🙏❤🙏 Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

I love to listen to you Father. You are extraordinary. Simply conveys every message so eloquently God bless you Father. Happy New year 2024.

Happy New Year Fr Casey!

Thank you, Fr. Casey, for your guidance. The struggle against mediocrity is undeniably challenging. While a lukewarm life may lack excitement, it offers comfort in avoiding the daily scrutiny of one's weaknesses. Overcoming mediocrity requires a solitary effort, but deep in my heart, I sense that this is what truly defines a Christian, setting us apart from the rest of the world. It aligns with Jesus' desire for us to live in this manner. With this belief in mind, one can ultimately experience joy and peace in the present life.

Happy new year father casey... From Nigeria 🇳🇬

Ouch, I needed that.

Such a great video and more timely than you know

This is exactly what I needed to hear. I've been "content" and "okay" and never really moving forward with life for more than 20 years. Please pray for me that I might have the desire to reach for something greater, even if that means in the process that I have to spend some time enduring something worse.

I needed it Thank you

What an amazing msg!!!

Happy New Year 🌕

Thank you Father Casey

Thank you for this video.

I really needed to hear this

Thank you I needed to hear that! I am lukewarm !God help me .please pray for me to get moving

I think describes an issue I’ve had with sexual addiction. I behaved very shamefully at a lot of different points of my life, but otherwise I felt very strongly about my Catholicism. it hit a sort of breaking point where I said enough was enough and I went to confession and confessed things I hadn’t talked about since they happened in my childhood, and at first it was euphoric to have that nudge in direction that Fr. Casey mentioned, I felt saved and passionate and loved and healed in a way I hadn’t in years, maybe my whole life. Since then, I’ve done a lot of work to get my sin under control and it has had great positive effect on my life and relationship to my fiancé, yet at the same time I feel I’ve become complacent in my existence, and have lost a lot of fervor to my faith. I feel bad about this as the faith is exactly what is saving me from my addiction. Perhaps even if I passionately chases the excitement of sin, at least it gave me that struggle between good and evil that drove my faith so strongly in the midst of my struggle, and without it I feel more aimless. It definitely feels more like something is missing from my life, like the pain and passion was replaced with nothing. Idk if Fr. Casey is likely to read this, but i would love some insight or words of advice on this issue, bless you all.

My life is failing many years. Every time i try to do something about it i fall even deeper down. I ask for help from Jesus every day, but it feels like im not heard. I guess im failing even that. My mind is strong, but im only human too. I cant fight alone forever. Only Jesus can help me, and yet i feel like he sees me as failure, like i see my self.

I am slowly waking up to the mediocrity that I have accepted in my life. I'm taking steps to be more bold in my faith and more active in making myself healthy again.

Thank you Father. This was beautiful. I will be using this video as motivation and there are a couple of people that I would like to pass this along to. They are not necessarily religious people, but when I’ve talked to them one on one they seem very open to accepting Jesus as their savior.

How can you be so young yet so wise?

So insightful. Thank you Father, i will make sure this year i take steps. God help steer me in the right direction

Great message.

Thsnk you Farther. This video has helped me so very much. I need to make improvements and changes in my life and lern from all my failures and all my mistakes and i need to try more.

I was feeling stagnant and mediocre at work and then I believe i subconsciously got myself fired in a very dumb way, then I had to scramble to find a new job, succeeded and now I’m much happier and learned a lot. So although I know did something wrong and sinned I know what you mean, I was numb, and bored and now I’m not.

I can't remember who said it, not a Catholic thing but still relevant... don't live the same year for 75 years and call it a life

I have been sharing that verse the last couple years, and I teach it the same as you.

Great video, praise God🎉

Thank you, Father Casey.

Jesus doesn't prefer a firm opponent to a mild friend. Jimmy Akin helpfully adds context to the lukewarm verse on Catholic Answers Live episode dated 14 Oct 2021

Second comment but thanks failure is really important so thanks for this. It's a tough lesson that i learned but so many people are cursed with never having failing so dreading it. Its painful but once learned will make it less painful overall and lets you take risks.

Happy New Year Father.❤🎉🎉🎉

I often find that it is the fear of failure that leads you to mediocre life because you never want to take chances in your convictions, decisions, or even taking a side you should have. It is those who fear failure that will do anything to avoid it but doesn't become encouraged to look forward.

My two previous years have been one continuous failure (becoming a bit worse while time passed), so I would rather this year take some of that greatness and Christ taking care of the rest. And can I have fries with that?

Happy new year ❤️‍🔥✝️🙏

I'm aware of my mortality and I know I'm not "fine"! I _do_ need God. Sometimes, though, I get lazy or my bowel disorder acts up, so I don't bother to pray or read scriptures; I just want to read a book, watch a classic movie or sleep when I have free time. This bothers my conscience tremendously. I know that when I was a seven year old in parochial school, an old and very stern nun used Revelation 3:15-18 out of context while teaching my class. I was convinced that because I wasn't a perfect little angel, God would reject me. This lecture (and some scary but wrong concepts of the nature of God) has stayed with me throughout the following 61 years of my life, and for decades, I was an agnostic, because I was through with "banging my head against the wall" trying to "get it right" and be a good person just to avoid going to Hell. Then I realized that God has been looking after me all my life and has given me many tender gifts: People who love me, a place of my own and a quiet friendly rural environment. Healing from anger and depression. I came back to the faith as an Episcopalian. I love the pastor and co-parishioners of the little church I attend, and they love me. It has become my home, and I like helping out with vestry and coffee hour. I've been praying that someday, I'll understand, not just intellectually, but at "gut level" that God loves me. Though my health issue keeps me mostly home-bound, I hope that somehow, in some little way I will serve God and will love and trust Him with all my heart.