Author: Fr. Joshua Makoul

Fr. Joshua Makoul has been serving as the Dean of St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh since 2012. Before that time, Fr. Joshua worked in the Counseling Field for 16 years. This involved work in a family-based, school-based, and an outpatient setting. Fr. Joshua received two years of training in family therapy at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center and completed a one year certificate course in Cognitive Behavior Therapy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. During his last six years working in a small outpatient group, he was supervised by Dr. Jesus Salas who supervises at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia. Fr. Joshua received his Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and his Bachelors in Psychology from Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. He is licensed in the state of Pennsylvania for counseling. For seminary he attended Holy Cross Seminary in Boston and received an M.Div.

Finding Us in Our Darkest Places

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This past Sunday we heard of an encounter between Christ and a person whose suffering was profound.  The man known as the Gadarene demoniac was a frightening presence. He lived among the tombs, was tormented, alone, and cried out day and night. He also inflicted self-harm on himself. I cannot think of a life more alone and isolated than this one.  However, this individual had a story. He had a name and parents. Tragically, at some point, something went terribly wrong. A change of trajectory in his life occurred that led him to a life of isolation and suffering. He had a story to him other than his time living in the tombs. Christ knew this man’s story. We often…

Guiding on the Love of God

· Fr. Joshua Makoul
  We wonder about so much. We are unsure about so many different things. Universally, we all struggle with uncertainty to some extent. It is human nature to want to know and be sure. Finding certainty in this world has proven to be elusive. However, there is something on which we can lean all of our weight upon and be certain of, and that is the love of God. It is important for us to first reflect on this before we process all the uncertainty in our lives. It is important because the love of God is the great simplifier. It simplifies our lives in that all else, all of our perceptions and meanings we assign to life events, have…

A Troubled World and the Fear of Abandonment

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In the gospel reading this past Sunday, we heard some of Christ’s final words to His disciples before he would depart from them. In the midst of the meaning and power of His words was a father’s love for His children. He knew that when He left, they would be subject to tumultuous forces. In Christ’s words were affirmations that He did everything He could for the disciples in preserving them and keeping them safe. For many parents, our minds and hearts will inevitably drift to similar thoughts and affirmations when our time comes to depart this world. Whether or not we were a good parent becomes of the utmost importance. Regrets can also come to the surface at this…

The Uvalde Tragedy: Learning to Grieve while Avoiding our own Traumatization

· Fr. Joshua Makoul
No doubt most of us are well aware of the recent tragedies that have occurred over the past several weeks. Only days ago, those of us who peeked at the news had to come to grips with the tragedy that unfolded at an elementary school in Texas.  The idea that such young innocents could suffer such a fate seems unfathomable. Furthermore, the idea that another human being could inflict such pain on young innocents is incomprehensible.  There are few places more pure and innocent than an elementary school. Many of us, when becoming aware of such painful events, may ask how far we should go in processing them. As the days have passed, more and more details emerge that make…

When all is Finished: Remembering the Eighth Day

· Fr. Joshua Makoul
It is interesting to observe how over time, we can forget realities that were once at the forefront of the minds and hearts of many. This world can have that effect on us. We are all so busy. As a result, that which we can readily see, rather than the unseen, tends to take over in our lives. As our lives become more intense and more pressure filled, our hope in the unseen can begin to fade. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, “We do not look at the things which are seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  This world rubs off on us…

Giving Humanity a Second Chance

· Fr. Joshua Makoul
  When seeking resolution to painful experiences in our lives, we may eventually learn that sometimes insight and self-discovery are not enough. We may have done all the cognitive work we can, grieved fully, and even journaled extensively, yet still find ourselves struggling. We are learning more about how painful or traumatic experiences affect the brain. Knowing how the brain is affected, helps us discover the activities we need to truly heal. To heal means to gain closure, peace, a profound sense of the past being in the past, and forgiveness. We  know now that the entire limbic system of the brain is affected by painful experiences. To heal all those parts of the brain that were affected by the…

A Nativity Musing: The Inescapability of our Need for Love

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If there is one resilient and God given aspect of us that has remained intact throughout history and time, it is our innate desire to love and be loved. At our core we want to belong. We want to be loved and needed. Safety has also always been important for us. We like to feel safe. No matter how ugly or disturbing the world becomes, no matter who we are, this innate yearning for love and safety holds true. Perhaps the real tragedy is when this innate urge and desire becomes buried under layers of hurt, alienation, anger, and fear. When this occurs, the one who just wanted to be loved like everyone else, can become the stereotypical difficult person.…

A Heroic Transfiguration: Becoming Vessels of Healing

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Each of us takes a different approach to resolving the unresolved. There is such a wide spectrum of responses to the experiences in our lives that have left a painful mark on us. The following is by no means a criticism of any of the approaches that each one of us takes. Each of us decides on our own what is best for us. If we were to explore the many responses people have to their experiences, we might approach them by placing them on a spectrum.  On one end of the spectrum, we would see examples of lives where there is no awareness of how events affected them, however the effects of those events are everywhere in their lives,…

The Forward Leaning Life: Sails Up in the Pursuit of Peace

· Fr. Joshua Makoul
It is good to pause and reflect on what spirit or disposition we engage our daily life. Have we been living reactively or proactively? Each one has profound ramifications for our emotional, spiritual, and physical health. When we are living life reactively, it means that our default daily functioning tends to be living life proverbially on our heels. We never feel that we have a firm footing in our lives. We seem always be in the process of responding to something unexpected or not planned. We feel at the mercy of the powers of this worldly life and at the beck and call of others.  It can even reach a point where we feel that everything that we do, we…

Putting our Finger to the Wind: Mastering Pandemic Fear

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Many of us might remember that expression, “a finger to the wind”.  It is something someone would do to get a sense of which direction the wind was blowing. It would help the individual be informed so they could make the best decisions moving forward. It is not an act to be taken lightly and it has great meaning. It is a sign of being deliberate and prepared.  Clearly, there is much more meaning figuratively to that expression. All of us, hopefully, have attempted to gain a sense of which way something is going before making a decision. The alternative is to disregard the direction of the wind and allow ourselves to be swept up by the wind and carried…