Faith Filled Friday: Mark Wahlberg

St. Francis of Assisi is said to have said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words."

I came across this snippet of an interview of actor Mark Wahlberg with Piers Morgan at the Internet site St. Peter's List (not sure if it's considered a blog) under the heading "Worth Watching: 9 Videos That Warm The Catholic Soul."

I had no idea about this.  I'm very ignorant when it comes to celebrities, and as far as I knew about Mark Wahlberg was just some punk who became an actor.  I had no idea of his past or his present.  So I did a quick search and came across another interview with Gabrielle Donnelly of the Catholic Herald, but you can find it here on Catholic Online.  Here are a couple of noteworthy excerpts.

"Being a Catholic is the most important aspect of my life," the A-list actor tells me firmly when we meet for tea in a posh hotel near his home in Beverly Hills. "The first thing I do when I start my day is, I get down on my hands and knees and give thanks to God. Whenever I go outside of my house, the first thing I do is stop at the church. The kids will be mad with me. 'Daddy! It takes too long!' I'm saying: 'It's only 10 minutes and this is something I really need to do.' Because I do. If I can start my day out by saying my prayers and getting myself focused, then I know I'm doing the right thing. That 10 minutes helps me in every way throughout the day."

 

If anyone has learned the benefit of a spiritual life, it is Mark. A troubled young man from a rough area of Boston, the youngest of nine children of a delivery driver father and a bank clerk mother, he grew up delinquent and drug-addicted, a high school drop-out and gang member, always in trouble with the police, living constantly under the threat of jail. When he was only 16, that threat became a reality. High on the drug PCP, he robbed a pharmacy, knocked one man unconscious, left another blind in one eye, and attacked a security guard. He was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to jail at Boston's Deer Island House of Correction.

 And

"Well, I did get out of jail, and I did make sure I never went back there. The recidivism rate for people going back for jail sentences is through the roof, but not me. I did not want to be another statistic. I wanted to live my life instead." His first port of call when he left the House of Correction was to visit his parish priest, Fr Flavin of Boston, who is still a good friend. With Fr Flavin's help he left his street gang, cleaned up his act and devoted his attention to putting his spiritual house in order. And for the first time, he says, his life started to make sense.



"Once I focused on my faith wonderful things started happening for me," he says now. "And I don't mean professionally - that's not what it's about. These days, I'll be in church and people will come up to me and say: 'Do you mind if I sit and pray with you?' And they'll start praying and it'll turn out they're praying for their new movie to be a success or whatever, and I'm like, this is not what I come here for. For me to sit down and ask for material things is ridiculous. It's a much bigger picture than that. I want to serve God and to be a good human being and to make up for the mistakes I made and the pain I put people through. That's what I'm praying for, and I recommend it to anybody."

 These interviews have altered my perception of Wahlberg.  I wish I could spend fifteen to twenty minutes every morning at church.  He is inspirational in a faith filled way.