Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg recently spoke to a group of young adults at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s first (re)Encounter event, where he opened up to them about his Christian faith.

Wahlberg admitted that when he was growing up, faith was not important to him.

“I’m a street kid from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Grew up in St. Greg’s and St. William’s parishes,” he said.

Because his parents both worked, Wahlberg was often unsupervised, and he ended up running with the wrong crowd.

“Ended up getting into a lot of trouble, incarcerated, tried as an adult at 16, 17. That was a big wake-up call for me,” he said. “A lot of people go to God, especially when they get in trouble. When I heard the jail doors close behind me, I started praying right away.”

That’s when Wahlberg managed to turn his life around.

“Still, every day it’s a process. That’s why I start my day, every day, by getting on my hands and my knees and starting a time of prayer and reading, reading Scripture. Then I feel like I can go out there and conquer the world or at least do my job and give back because I’ve been blessed so much,” Wahlberg said.

Wahlberg explained that he now prays every day, going to bed early each night so he can wake up before his family in the morning to pray in the chapel he has built in his home. His speech left quite an impression on the young people in the audience.

“I can’t even explain the motivation he has,” said one girl. “The whole event is awesome. I love it. I really enjoyed the questions because I’ve asked those questions, like, ‘How do you forgive yourself?’ You just have to keep going every day. You just have to keep trying.”

“It’s powerful for a celebrity to feel that way about religion,” a young man added. “For me, when I think about a celebrity, I think cockiness, selfishness, but to hear an artist say that he takes time to just pray, that’s an incredible feeling.”

We applaud Mark Wahlberg for being so open about his Christian faith! Find out more about his spiritual journey in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn1IpIsyBpo&feature=youtu.be