Little by Little

Do you ever feel like prayer only really counts if you're kneeling in silence with nothing else going on? Fr Columba opens with a story about two young friars asking their spiritual director whether it's alright to smoke while you pray, and uses it to get at something bigger: can ordinary things, gardening, chores, even physio, actually become prayer too? Drawing on his own experience praying the rosary while doing physiotherapy, a...

Do you turn prayer into a negotiation, bargaining with God until you get the outcome you want? Fr Columba shares a story from summer camp, praying for good weather on a beach trip, only to watch the rain start on the way there, to show what trust actually looks like. Instead of trying to control what God does, he's learned to trust that God loves the people we're praying for more than he ever could, and has something better planned...

Is it wrong to eat just because something tastes good? Fr Columba shares Fr Mike Schmitz's teaching on the two purposes of eating, nourishment and pleasure, and explains why pursuing either one on its own is fine, but working against the other becomes a problem. He applies the same principle to gluttony and temperance, showing that enjoying good food is part of how God built us, not something to feel guilty about. If you've ever fe...

Is it ever okay for Catholics to badmouth the Pope online? Fr Columba draws a clear line between disagreeing with a pope's personal opinions and disrespecting the office itself, and shows through saints like Padre Pio and St Francis why reverence for the office matters even when the person in it falls short. He explains what the Church actually teaches about infallibility, and where that line sits. If you've ever wondered how to ho...

The rosary can start to feel like empty repetition if you don't know what it actually is. Fr Columba breaks it down: it's a litany, a repeated pattern of praise and intercession directed to Mary, built word for word out of Scripture. He explains why that repetition is the point, not a flaw, then shares two stories of what happened when friends prayed a rosary expecting nothing. If yours has turned into something to get through, he ...

What would it actually feel like to know, deep down, that the Father delights in you? Fr Columba leads you through a simple exercise: imagine you had none of it, no closeness, no confidence, no boldness before God, and ask yourself if you'd even want it. Then he shows why you don't have to chase it. It's already yours in Christ, sealed at the cross, where Jesus took your sin as his own so you could stop hiding. This is an invitatio...

Have you ever heard someone talk about "the universe" instead of God, and felt strangely annoyed? Fr Columba unpacks a conversation with a stranger who used exactly that language, and asks what people really mean when they reach for "the universe" instead of a name. He walks through what makes something worthy of that kind of trust, unknowable, larger than time, holding us in being, and shows how close that language already is to n...

Do you ever catch yourself doing something and only later wonder why you actually did it? Fr Columba shares a simple discernment tool from St Faustina's diary: before any decision, stop and ask whether it's for God's glory, the good of your own soul, or the good of others. Paired with St John Paul II's contrast between love and use, it becomes a quick, honest way to check your real motives, even when the answer is uncomfortable. If...

Do you ever notice that scrolling never actually leaves you satisfied? Fr Columba unpacks why the infinite scroll is built that way on purpose, always teasing, never filling, and contrasts it with what heaven actually offers: God's full, undistracted attention and a satisfaction that lasts. Hell wants to use you and sell your attention. Heaven wants to give itself to you completely. If you've ever felt stuck in the scroll, this is ...

Ever felt like living a holy life should be easier than it is? Fr Columba unpacks a line from St Francis de Sales that stopped him in his tracks: a devout life is easy, delightful, and desirable. Drawing on the plain image of building a habit at the gym, he shows how virtue starts hard and becomes easy, and how our own self-sabotage, not just the devil, keeps us stuck. His practical challenge: stop overthinking it, pick the one thi...

Ever been in a crisis with no time to sit down and pray? Fr Columba shares the express novena: nine Memorares said one after another instead of stretched over nine days, a fast, trusted way to call on Our Lady's help. He traces it back to Saint Mother Teresa's community and shares a few small miracles he's seen firsthand, then prays it with you so you'll already know the words next time an emergency hits.

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Do you find yourself focused on the big stuff while the smaller sins just quietly accumulate? In this episode, Fr Columba draws on the famous broken windows theory from 1990s New York to make a simple but uncomfortable point: the small sins you're ignoring might be exactly what's fuelling the bigger ones. He offers a practical encouragement to look at the low-hanging fruit, deal with the little stuff, and discover that the bigger s...

Do you ever feel like you're not actually changing, that you keep falling back into the same patterns no matter how hard you try? In this episode, Fr Columba reflects on breaking his leg and discovering something unexpected: surgery works from the inside, so you don't need a cast on the outside. The change is real, even when you can't see it. He draws out the parallel to the spiritual life: God has already done something in you, so...

Do you struggle with fear or anxiety? In this episode, Fr Columba shares the simplest solution he's ever come across, and it took him years to find it. List the fear, ask God to take it away, ask God to direct you toward what He'd have you do. It sounds too easy. But it works. Wherever you are, whatever you're afraid of, try it.

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Little by Little | Episode #276

Little by Little is a weekly video series by Called to...

Do you ever wonder why some people are transformed by suffering while others just survive it? In this episode, Fr Columba shares the story of a friend who died young of MS, and what he saw on her face in the hospice chapel: not grief, but glory. Drawing on St Paul's letter to the Romans, a talk by Fr Mike Schmitz, and a memorably dramatic night of very mild sleep deprivation, he explores why the same suffering produces radically di...

Do you think of Christianity as a set of rules? A list of dos and don'ts? In this episode, Fr Columba opens with a striking line from the Acts of the Apostles: the angel doesn't tell the disciples to preach a doctrine or teach a philosophy. He tells them to share "this way of life." Drawing on his own experience of encountering Catholic teaching on the human person for the first time, Fr Columba walks through the practical essentia...

What does it actually mean to be healed by the blood of Jesus? Recovering from leg surgery, Fr Columba reflects on the slow, hidden work of physical healing as a window into how the soul is healed in the Eucharist and confession. The wound closes because the blood is doing its job. Our part is to stop rushing it. A few unhurried minutes in your pew after Mass do more than we realise.

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Do you ever feel like God is irrelevant to your actual daily life? In this episode of Little by Little, Fr Columba leans into a piece of wisdom from Alcoholics Anonymous: every problem we face is, at root, of our own making. Drill into the anxiety, the lost peace, the frustration, and the cause is almost always the same. We are quietly trying to play God. Letting him take that seat back is more practical than we think.

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Have you ever skipped prayer and told yourself you were just tired, busy, or stuck on your phone? In this episode of Little by Little, Fr Columba names the harder truth underneath all of it. Every time we cut a corner with God, what we're really saying is "I know best." He shares why daily prayer is the single non-negotiable in the spiritual life, why he still struggles with it himself, and how getting radically honest about pride ...