June 7, 2025 • 25 mins
Let’s talk about going deeper in the lived experience of the Catholic faith, beyond the surface. Basing my points on a revelation I recently had on social media (“the surface”) I discuss how viewers often miss important points in my podcast clips because they swipe away too soon, having not found the “surface level” substance they’ve come to expect from a “Catholic video” This is emblematic of what Catholic culture has become even outside of social media, out in the real world. There is some richness on the surface of Catholic life, and so we’re tempted to stay there, resisting invitations to journey into the deep. continues below
Follow me on: Instagram | TikTok | Catholic Experience Podcast (All Carriers)
I compare content on Instagram and TikTok, emphasizing the need for deeper, more meaningful exploration and receptivity to Catholic-based material. The takeaway? True Catholic faith and understanding lie beneath the surface, in the depths.
Chapters
* 00:00 Introduction and Greetings
* 00:18 Catholic Rant: Go Deeper
* 00:52 Analyzing Viewer Engagement
* 04:30 Reflections on Social Media Content
* 07:50 The Depth of Catholic Faith
* 09:55 Concluding Thoughts
After-Show
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
That was epic. I just turned my head just as the music
started. That was pretty epic.Hello, Instagram. God bless you.
Thank you for joining me. Mostof you will be catching this on
demand, and that's okay. Tonightis my second Catholic rant. I'm
kind of liking these. Tonight Iforget what the first one was,
(00:25):
but tonight's Catholic rant isgo into the depths.
Go deeper. Go deep. I'm gonnaexplain to you what I mean by
that. That's probably a littleloud. If you didn't hear me,
tonight's Catholic rant episodetwo is go into the depths.
(00:47):
Go deeper. Go deeper. And I'mgoing to explain what that
means. Let's get on with it,man. Let's get it on.
The other day, was looking overmy analytics to some of my
videos. I think here onInstagram might have been on
TikTok. Incidentally, in TikTokhas been very good to me in
terms of numbers, although thealgorithm is hammering me
(01:07):
lately, past week. But, I'mreally enjoying Instagram
though. I'm really enjoying thisplatform, and I'm enjoying the
folks here as well.
I was looking over my analytics,and if you're a creator, you
know this very well if you payattention to your analytics.
You'll notice most people swipeaway from your stuff. Most
(01:29):
people don't finish watchingwhat you've produced. They'll
watch a couple of seconds. It'sit's really it's like gut
wrenching sometimes.
They watch a couple of secondsof something that took me an
hour to produce. I'm used to it.They'll watch ten seconds if
you're lucky. So I'm used tothat. That's not a shock.
(01:53):
But what I rarely do, which Idid this particular time, I
rarely look at where they swipedaway, where most of the viewers
swiped away.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
This time I did, and it
Speaker 1 (02:06):
was one of the, one of my videos on the Antichrist.
I did a one hour episode on theAntichrist, church teaching,
what the fathers have taught,and so on. If you catch this in
time, the link is still in mybio if you wanna catch that full
episode. And I noticed the greatmajority of people who swiped
(02:29):
away from this video swiped awaylike two seconds before I got to
a major point, something thatall Catholics needed to know,
which I don't remember what itwas.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
But I think it
Speaker 1 (02:46):
was something about how to discern truth or
something like that. And itwasn't very high minded, it
wasn't very it was aphilosophical thought, but I
wasn't saying it in a way thatwas philosophical. As I try to
do most things, I try to make itconnectable. So that this is
something you can receive and dosomething with. So most people
had clicked away from the videojust seconds before they were
(03:10):
about to get a piece of gold.
It's not gold because it'scoming out of my mouth. It's
gold because the things that Italk about, very few, if
anybody, in Catholic media talkabout. Or at the very least,
almost nobody covers this stuffthe way I do. So it was, in my
estimation, to my estimation, itwas quite a loss for them, you
(03:34):
know, for the people who swipedaway. It's like you are about to
get a gold nugget.
A gold nugget that I'm con a lotof years in Catholic media, I'm
convinced that gold nugget,you're not gonna get anywhere
else. And that gold nugget couldhave really helped you. I'm used
to it. But it got me thinkingabout all of the videos that
(03:58):
people swipe up from. All of theknowledge they almost had.
Not not my videos, videos ingeneral. All of the knowledge
they almost had, assuming it's,you know, Catholic y stuff. All
of
Speaker 2 (04:10):
this edification that they passed on because there
weren't enough cats in it, orthere weren't enough pictures of
people's breakfasts in it,
Speaker 1 (04:22):
or there was nobody falling in it. So they swiped
up.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It makes me think about a platform like TikTok.
First, let me
Speaker 1 (04:34):
talk about Instagram. I like the people. I like the
platform. I like the app. Butthe content is some of it's
Speaker 2 (04:44):
nice, but it's all very I don't wanna say
Speaker 1 (04:48):
superficial because of the connotation or yeah.
Because of what the that wordconnotes. I don't wanna say
superficial, but it's very muchon the surface. And that's okay.
There's nothing wrong with that.
People need that. But I don't. Idon't need to see another quote
from Fulton Sheen. I've read allof his books. I've been seeing
quotes from Fulton Sheen on theInternet for years.
(05:11):
I don't need to see another one.And some people do. I'm glad
those things are out there. I'mnot judging them. I'm glad those
things are out there.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But I don't need that. I think a lot
Speaker 1 (05:22):
of the people who watch my stuff or listen to my
podcast regularly, they don'tneed that. That's why they're
listening to
Speaker 2 (05:28):
me. Right?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
There's a lot of that on on Instagram in the Catholic
space. And again, I'm notcriticizing. People need that,
and there's value to it, andit's all well done stuff. The
mems, the silly videos, and soon. It's all well done.
That's fine. I'm not criticizingit. Now I think about TikTok.
TikTok is a little bit lowerscale. The videos are generally
(05:57):
not as professionally done.
They're just a step down fromwhat you find on Instagram,
which I'm totally fine with.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
But the messaging there is deeper. It's a lot of
people talking about theirexperience, their lived
experience in
Speaker 1 (06:16):
the faith, which is what I do. Right? That's that's
what I that's my apostolatehere. Talking about advice,
giving advice on how to be abetter family man or how to be,
I don't know, a better Catholicwife. Stuff like this.
You know, lived experience kindof stuff. And they go fairly
deep, not philosophical oranything like that, but
Speaker 2 (06:36):
they go fairly deep. And I think to myself well, let
me
Speaker 1 (06:42):
just say say it this way. When I encounter these
videos, I watch them. I don'tswipe up. You know why? Because
after all my experience incommunications, I know that in
that let's just say it's aminute and a half video.
In that minute and a half video,I'm going to get something. I'm
gonna get a nugget. It's gonnabe something in that minute and
(07:04):
a half. Might only last fiveseconds. But it's gonna be
something that I didn't havebefore.
And it's gonna be somethingthat's gonna nudge me to the
next level. So I always watchbecause I know I'm gonna get
something. I know I'm gonna getsomething. And, man, I guess
nine times out of 10, always do.Something in someone's
(07:28):
interpretation of something inscripture.
Now I've read scripture. I'vemeditated on it, written about
it, and still, in that minuteand a half, there's ten seconds
of someone's interpretation of ascripture passage that makes me
go, wow. I never thought of itthat way. So what's the point
I'm bringing up in this rathershort, Instagram live? The
(07:50):
Catholic faith is not on thesurface.
The fullness of the reality ofthe Catholic faith is in the
depths. It's beneath. It's waybeneath the surface. There's a
lot of surface stuff on Catholicsocial media platforms. It's not
a criticism because people needthat.
(08:13):
I don't. Maybe some of youdon't. But in general, it has
value. But there's so muchsurface stuff, my fear is people
will come across videos that arebringing them deeper, like,
frankly, mine do, I think.People will come and it's not
just about my videos.
(08:34):
Believe me, it is not. But myfear is that people will come
across videos or blog posts orsomething that could bring them
deeper, but because it's not onthe surface, they swipe up. They
swipe up. So what I wanna do isshare this thought with you. The
(08:57):
quotes and the mems and thevideo clips and funny things,
and here's a Catholic priestdoing something funny, and I
don't see the point of it, butokay.
It's entertaining. Maybe that'sthe point. I don't know. I have
a very high bar, a highstandard, because I come from
media. So the stuff that hits onsocials, coming from media, I
(09:22):
look at it, and I'm like, Idon't don't don't get it, but
okay.
I know how snobbish that sounds.It's it's not. It's just that
that's the industry I come from,so your standard is just gonna
be different. Okay? If you're aa trained chef or something, and
I cook and I'm a pretty goodcook, and I cook you a meal,
you're gonna be like, yeah.
(09:43):
It's good. But because you'relike a five star chef or
whatever that those are called.Right? You're a gourmet chef,
classically trained in France orsomething. That's how I am.
Anyway, my fear is that we'relooking for the next mem. We're
looking for the next chuckle,we're looking we're looking for
(10:05):
the next priest doing somethingsilly. So when there's the next
prophet Isaiah saying, behold,the Lord is in your midst. The
next prophet Isaiah, the nextMoses, the next Elijah, I'm not
(10:26):
saying reincarnated, but I'msaying that kind of messenger.
Not an a literal prophet like wesaw in the scriptures, but
people, and they are out there.
People whose messaging is veryinspired. I just I just
literally today had aninteraction with someone who
said something that made me go,woah. That's heavy. Hey, Danny.
(10:51):
Good to see you, brother.
I appreciate you. Because we'relooking for the next cat attack,
the next priest playing a guitarand tripping and falling over
his habit or his cassock, aslong as we're looking for this
surface stuff, the next FultonSheen quote, which I love Fulton
Sheen, but the next mem thosewho are looking for this stuff,
(11:16):
we're going to swipe up the nexttime we encounter something from
the next prophet Isaiah, thenext Moses, the next Elijah, the
next messenger who, guided orinspired by the Holy Spirit, is
(11:36):
trying to bring us deeper, it'snot a cat throwing up. Swipe.
It's not a priest in clownshoes. Swipe.
You have to be careful aboutthat. That you have to have an
understanding that the Catholicfaith is not on the surface.
(11:59):
It's in the depth. It's in thedepths. As the scripture says,
it's deep calling unto deep.
Everything that God is offeringus through the Catholic faith,
it's in the depths. In thedepths. You know, you always
(12:22):
hear you always hear from theloudmouths of the church, let's
say priests or bishops forinstance, but it's also in the
laity and it's also inindependent Catholic media.
Don't get me started. You alwayshear from the loudmouths who are
the problem, who are a littlecrazy, right, who are suggesting
(12:44):
things that are definitely,definitely counter doctrinal.
Hashtag German bishops. Yourarely hear from the really good
ones, the really solid ones. Andwhat's your experience in your
personal life? Do you encounterhave you encountered more than
one truly good priest? Why don'twe ever hear from those types?
(13:10):
Because you know you each andevery one of you knows they're
out there. Why don't we everhear from them? Because they're
in the deep. Like Saint Josephwas in
Speaker 2 (13:22):
the deep. Never hear a thing from him
Speaker 1 (13:25):
in scripture. I'm sure he spoke, but nothing is
recorded in scripture.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Right? But he's a heavy player, We never hear from
him. Why? He's in the deep. Hedoesn't even have to speak.
The holy virgin didn't have
Speaker 1 (13:40):
to speak. She did. And the Holy Spirit has it
recorded in in scripture becauseher role is operative in
salvation history. So there arethings that she said and things
that she expressed that Godwants the faithful to ingest,
consume, be transformed by, beedified by. So it was her job to
(14:01):
say a few things.
Let's put it that way. But shedidn't really have to. Apart
from the fact that it was herjob in those moments, and even
in scripture she says verylittle. We get very little from
her. Why?
Because she's in
Speaker 2 (14:12):
the deep. Her actions are enough. Because she's
Speaker 1 (14:16):
in the deep. Saint Joseph, in the deep in his
relationship with God. Andthat's what the that's what the
church that's what the the lifein the faith is bringing us
toward a deeper a deeperexperience with God. Why don't
we ever hear why do we veryseldom hear from the good
priests like the deeply holypriests, deeply holy cardinals
(14:39):
and bishops? Why do we seldomhear from them?
Why did
Speaker 2 (14:42):
no one ever know the name Robert Prevost before?
They're in the deep.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's where the fullness of the Catholic
experience is. It's in the deep.I've been there, here and there,
in the deep. I'm I'm not gonnalie. I have been there.
It's not bragging. It's hard tostay there. It's hard for me
Speaker 2 (15:04):
to stay there. And I'm
Speaker 1 (15:06):
not bragging because I carry the shame of admitting
it's hard to stay there. Right?So it's not bragging. It's
sharing something with youthat's true and makes me a
little sad and a littleembarrassed. Having been into
the deep, I can tell you it's avery different experience.
Your prayer is different. Yourwalk with God is different.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Your interior status and state is different. Your
place in the
Speaker 1 (15:40):
world is different. Your thoughts are different.
Your receptivity to grace isdifferent. Your awareness of the
voice of God is different. I'vebeen there, and I can tell you
from experience, it's real.
And it's not it's not just forSaint Joseph and the blessed
(16:01):
mother. It's for you too. Sodon't let yourself get stuck on
the surface. Very tempting. It'svery easy.
Part of the reason why it'stempting and easy is because in
the Catholic faith, there's alot of richness even on the
surface. And it's so rich,especially compared to
everything else you mightexperience on earth. The
(16:22):
Catholic experience is so richon the surface,
Speaker 2 (16:25):
we can become convinced that this is the
jackpot. Mm-mm. It's thesurface, my man. So don't let
yourself be fooled or tricked ortempted to stay on the surface.
Go deep and go deeper still,because a whole new reality is
Speaker 1 (16:53):
waiting for you there. Brothers and sisters, I
promise that's true.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I promise you from my heart that's true. Now
Speaker 1 (17:07):
okay, CA. How do we go deep? How do we go into the
depths? Danny in the chat says,probably, I think what he's
responding to is, why do wenever hear from the really holy
ones? Danny says, they're all inmonasteries.
A lot of them are. Oh. In asecond, I'm gonna tell you about
a confession I made to a priestin a monastery. In a in a
(17:29):
second, I'm gonna tell you astory. How do we go deeper into
the deep?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
First, read everything I write
Speaker 1 (17:40):
and listen to every podcast I produce. I'm only half
kidding. Because I go deep inthose. And I do it to try and
bring you guys deep. But I knowwhat the real question is.
What's a
Speaker 2 (17:54):
step by step guide? How do
Speaker 1 (17:56):
we go deeper? It's not something we're gonna cover
in this live, but it issomething I'm going to cover in
Speaker 2 (18:01):
the next week. Maybe with
Speaker 1 (18:03):
some articles, maybe with a podcast or a video or
both. Something like that,discussing how we go how do
Speaker 2 (18:12):
we go deeper? It involves a a change in how you
pray. It involves a change inhow you think.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It involves a change in the things that you look for.
I need a rock solid traditionalLatin Mass.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Not ridiculing you. But if you change what
Speaker 1 (18:33):
you look for, you're going to see God in every Mass,
whether it's the Novus Ordo orthe traditional Latin Mass. It's
not gonna make any difference toyou. It could be in a cathedral.
It could be in a barn. It's notgonna make any difference.
Change the things that you lookfor. Who was it? I think
Speaker 2 (18:46):
it was Elijah that went up
Speaker 1 (18:48):
to the mountain looking for God. And God wasn't
in the thunder. He wasn't in thefire. He wasn't in the earth
shaking. Where was God whenElijah finally encountered him?
In a gentle breeze. And he hearda gentle breeze, and he covered
his head because he knew thatGod was there. Gotta change what
(19:12):
you look for. You have to changeyour expectations. And you have
to change your discipline,change, adjust how you pray,
adjust how you think, adjust howyou process.
So you see why I can't cover itin this live? But I will be
covering it in some articles andblog posts and stuff in the very
near future. And he hit hisface. Danny said in the chat
(19:34):
room, he hit his face. Kudos toDanny who knows exactly the
scripture I'm talking about.
Covered his head, hit his face.I think from time to time about
that scripture, and I reallyadmire the prophet. I envy the
prophet for having that close.In closing, let me tell you
about this this priest I gave myconfession to in a monastery.
There's no interesting backstoryas to why I was there, why I
(19:58):
went to him for confession.
There's no interesting backstoryat all, so I'm skipping that.
But this guy this guy lookedlike a he looked like a Jedi, he
looked like Obi Wan Kenobi. Hehad his long white beard. I
mean, he he looked like he wasready to pose for the painting
of a religious icon. He was inin in habit.
(20:20):
He was a Franciscan. Long whitebeard, lower than his sternum.
And he was very quiet, and healways did this. He was very
quiet, and he as he listened toyou, he always went like this
with his eyes. It almost soundslike something from a movie.
(20:43):
Right? But he was a very, verygood listener. And he made you
feel like he was really, reallylistening to you. That priest
had a mystical gift because hewas reading into my confession
in, like, the weirdest, weirdestof ways. And he would say the
(21:09):
simplest things that were sospot on
Speaker 2 (21:12):
that I needed to hear. The simplest things,
sometimes two words. But it
Speaker 1 (21:19):
was the way he was reading into my confession. And
was not just like, oh, he musthave been trained in psychology.
He wasn't. And even if he hadbeen, this was deeper than that.
You know, one of the reasons,apart from my experience, one of
the reasons why I'm convinced hehad a mystical gift, I
(21:39):
encountered someone else, justlike a year later, who had also
once been to that same priestfor confession, and he reported
the same thing to me.
In fact, he gave more detailthan I'm giving you. I'm a big
believer in the confessionalsecret, so I'm not telling you
details. But he told me moredetails than I'm telling you,
(22:01):
and I'm telling you, this thisguy had a mystical gift. And
then it was just his overallbearing. He almost seemed like
he was constantly hearing God,That he was constantly speaking
to him silently from his mind,from in his thoughts.
(22:23):
And in the course of the rhythmof the listening and speaking to
God, in the ups and downs ofthat, on that down rhythm, he
was listening to you. But he waslistening so thoroughly and so
completely, All he needed was asplit second every other second
(22:46):
of the ticking clock. He justneeded a split second to really,
really hear you. He just seemedlike he was always praying, even
when he was just listening toyou. It was just something about
his his his bearing.
Very, very deep. Very, very deeppriest. He lived in
Speaker 2 (23:08):
a monastery. You know where else where else he lived?
In the deep. He was in the deep.And he had been in
Speaker 1 (23:17):
the deep so consistently and so long that he
had reached this pinnacle, thispoint, and at at which point he
lived there. He took uppermanent residence in the deep.
You know what he probably wasnever doing? Looking at cat
videos. Danny is my number onefan.
(23:45):
Thank you for joining me, Danny.I didn't think anybody was gonna
show up, so I'm glad somebodydid. It warms and cheers my
heart. I look a little bit likehell. It's the end of the day
for me, and, my arm's tired.
This video, me looking likehell, this would blow up on
TikTok. TikTok is like a hairlower quality, the videos. It's
(24:10):
not a criticism. It's justmeasurement. You know?
It almost doesn't matter howcrappy you look in front of a
camera. As long as your stuff isgood, people are paying
attention. So I hope that youdidn't see me looking like hell
runneth over because I've beenworking hard all week, and
that's the end of a Friday. Hopeyou paid attention. Hope you got
(24:34):
something from this live.
My brothers and sisters onInstagram and on Substack
because I'm going to be puttingthis up on Substack for my
subscribers there. Thank you forjoining me. And by the way,
backing up, if you're notalready doing so, please
subscribe to me on Substack. Itis free. Link in my bio.
(24:54):
Thank you for joining me. Godbless you. God be with you all.
Tap like, or you'll go to hell.Bye bye.
That was epic. I just turned my head just as the music
started. That was pretty epic.Hello, Instagram. God bless you.
Thank you for joining me. Mostof you will be catching this on
demand, and that's okay. Tonightis my second Catholic rant. I'm
kind of liking these. Tonight Iforget what the first one was,
(00:25):
but tonight's Catholic rant isgo into the depths.
Go deeper. Go deep. I'm gonnaexplain to you what I mean by
that. That's probably a littleloud. If you didn't hear me,
tonight's Catholic rant episodetwo is go into the depths.
(00:47):
Go deeper. Go deeper. And I'mgoing to explain what that
means. Let's get on with it,man. Let's get it on.
The other day, was looking overmy analytics to some of my
videos. I think here onInstagram might have been on
TikTok. Incidentally, in TikTokhas been very good to me in
terms of numbers, although thealgorithm is hammering me
(01:07):
lately, past week. But, I'mreally enjoying Instagram
though. I'm really enjoying thisplatform, and I'm enjoying the
folks here as well.
I was looking over my analytics,and if you're a creator, you
know this very well if you payattention to your analytics.
You'll notice most people swipeaway from your stuff. Most
(01:29):
people don't finish watchingwhat you've produced. They'll
watch a couple of seconds. It'sit's really it's like gut
wrenching sometimes.
They watch a couple of secondsof something that took me an
hour to produce. I'm used to it.They'll watch ten seconds if
you're lucky. So I'm used tothat. That's not a shock.
(01:53):
But what I rarely do, which Idid this particular time, I
rarely look at where they swipedaway, where most of the viewers
swiped away.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
This time I did, and it
Speaker 1 (02:06):
was one of the, one of my videos on the Antichrist.
I did a one hour episode on theAntichrist, church teaching,
what the fathers have taught,and so on. If you catch this in
time, the link is still in mybio if you wanna catch that full
episode. And I noticed the greatmajority of people who swiped
(02:29):
away from this video swiped awaylike two seconds before I got to
a major point, something thatall Catholics needed to know,
which I don't remember what itwas.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
But I think it
Speaker 1 (02:46):
was something about how to discern truth or
something like that. And itwasn't very high minded, it
wasn't very it was aphilosophical thought, but I
wasn't saying it in a way thatwas philosophical. As I try to
do most things, I try to make itconnectable. So that this is
something you can receive and dosomething with. So most people
had clicked away from the videojust seconds before they were
(03:10):
about to get a piece of gold.
It's not gold because it'scoming out of my mouth. It's
gold because the things that Italk about, very few, if
anybody, in Catholic media talkabout. Or at the very least,
almost nobody covers this stuffthe way I do. So it was, in my
estimation, to my estimation, itwas quite a loss for them, you
(03:34):
know, for the people who swipedaway. It's like you are about to
get a gold nugget.
A gold nugget that I'm con a lotof years in Catholic media, I'm
convinced that gold nugget,you're not gonna get anywhere
else. And that gold nugget couldhave really helped you. I'm used
to it. But it got me thinkingabout all of the videos that
(03:58):
people swipe up from. All of theknowledge they almost had.
Not not my videos, videos ingeneral. All of the knowledge
they almost had, assuming it's,you know, Catholic y stuff. All
of
Speaker 2 (04:10):
this edification that they passed on because there
weren't enough cats in it, orthere weren't enough pictures of
people's breakfasts in it,
Speaker 1 (04:22):
or there was nobody falling in it. So they swiped
up.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It makes me think about a platform like TikTok.
First, let me
Speaker 1 (04:34):
talk about Instagram. I like the people. I like the
platform. I like the app. Butthe content is some of it's
Speaker 2 (04:44):
nice, but it's all very I don't wanna say
Speaker 1 (04:48):
superficial because of the connotation or yeah.
Because of what the that wordconnotes. I don't wanna say
superficial, but it's very muchon the surface. And that's okay.
There's nothing wrong with that.
People need that. But I don't. Idon't need to see another quote
from Fulton Sheen. I've read allof his books. I've been seeing
quotes from Fulton Sheen on theInternet for years.
(05:11):
I don't need to see another one.And some people do. I'm glad
those things are out there. I'mnot judging them. I'm glad those
things are out there.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But I don't need that. I think a lot
Speaker 1 (05:22):
of the people who watch my stuff or listen to my
podcast regularly, they don'tneed that. That's why they're
listening to
Speaker 2 (05:28):
me. Right?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
There's a lot of that on on Instagram in the Catholic
space. And again, I'm notcriticizing. People need that,
and there's value to it, andit's all well done stuff. The
mems, the silly videos, and soon. It's all well done.
That's fine. I'm not criticizingit. Now I think about TikTok.
TikTok is a little bit lowerscale. The videos are generally
(05:57):
not as professionally done.
They're just a step down fromwhat you find on Instagram,
which I'm totally fine with.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
But the messaging there is deeper. It's a lot of
people talking about theirexperience, their lived
experience in
Speaker 1 (06:16):
the faith, which is what I do. Right? That's that's
what I that's my apostolatehere. Talking about advice,
giving advice on how to be abetter family man or how to be,
I don't know, a better Catholicwife. Stuff like this.
You know, lived experience kindof stuff. And they go fairly
deep, not philosophical oranything like that, but
Speaker 2 (06:36):
they go fairly deep. And I think to myself well, let
me
Speaker 1 (06:42):
just say say it this way. When I encounter these
videos, I watch them. I don'tswipe up. You know why? Because
after all my experience incommunications, I know that in
that let's just say it's aminute and a half video.
In that minute and a half video,I'm going to get something. I'm
gonna get a nugget. It's gonnabe something in that minute and
(07:04):
a half. Might only last fiveseconds. But it's gonna be
something that I didn't havebefore.
And it's gonna be somethingthat's gonna nudge me to the
next level. So I always watchbecause I know I'm gonna get
something. I know I'm gonna getsomething. And, man, I guess
nine times out of 10, always do.Something in someone's
(07:28):
interpretation of something inscripture.
Now I've read scripture. I'vemeditated on it, written about
it, and still, in that minuteand a half, there's ten seconds
of someone's interpretation of ascripture passage that makes me
go, wow. I never thought of itthat way. So what's the point
I'm bringing up in this rathershort, Instagram live? The
(07:50):
Catholic faith is not on thesurface.
The fullness of the reality ofthe Catholic faith is in the
depths. It's beneath. It's waybeneath the surface. There's a
lot of surface stuff on Catholicsocial media platforms. It's not
a criticism because people needthat.
(08:13):
I don't. Maybe some of youdon't. But in general, it has
value. But there's so muchsurface stuff, my fear is people
will come across videos that arebringing them deeper, like,
frankly, mine do, I think.People will come and it's not
just about my videos.
(08:34):
Believe me, it is not. But myfear is that people will come
across videos or blog posts orsomething that could bring them
deeper, but because it's not onthe surface, they swipe up. They
swipe up. So what I wanna do isshare this thought with you. The
(08:57):
quotes and the mems and thevideo clips and funny things,
and here's a Catholic priestdoing something funny, and I
don't see the point of it, butokay.
It's entertaining. Maybe that'sthe point. I don't know. I have
a very high bar, a highstandard, because I come from
media. So the stuff that hits onsocials, coming from media, I
(09:22):
look at it, and I'm like, Idon't don't don't get it, but
okay.
I know how snobbish that sounds.It's it's not. It's just that
that's the industry I come from,so your standard is just gonna
be different. Okay? If you're aa trained chef or something, and
I cook and I'm a pretty goodcook, and I cook you a meal,
you're gonna be like, yeah.
(09:43):
It's good. But because you'relike a five star chef or
whatever that those are called.Right? You're a gourmet chef,
classically trained in France orsomething. That's how I am.
Anyway, my fear is that we'relooking for the next mem. We're
looking for the next chuckle,we're looking we're looking for
(10:05):
the next priest doing somethingsilly. So when there's the next
prophet Isaiah saying, behold,the Lord is in your midst. The
next prophet Isaiah, the nextMoses, the next Elijah, I'm not
(10:26):
saying reincarnated, but I'msaying that kind of messenger.
Not an a literal prophet like wesaw in the scriptures, but
people, and they are out there.
People whose messaging is veryinspired. I just I just
literally today had aninteraction with someone who
said something that made me go,woah. That's heavy. Hey, Danny.
(10:51):
Good to see you, brother.
I appreciate you. Because we'relooking for the next cat attack,
the next priest playing a guitarand tripping and falling over
his habit or his cassock, aslong as we're looking for this
surface stuff, the next FultonSheen quote, which I love Fulton
Sheen, but the next mem thosewho are looking for this stuff,
(11:16):
we're going to swipe up the nexttime we encounter something from
the next prophet Isaiah, thenext Moses, the next Elijah, the
next messenger who, guided orinspired by the Holy Spirit, is
(11:36):
trying to bring us deeper, it'snot a cat throwing up. Swipe.
It's not a priest in clownshoes. Swipe.
You have to be careful aboutthat. That you have to have an
understanding that the Catholicfaith is not on the surface.
(11:59):
It's in the depth. It's in thedepths. As the scripture says,
it's deep calling unto deep.
Everything that God is offeringus through the Catholic faith,
it's in the depths. In thedepths. You know, you always
(12:22):
hear you always hear from theloudmouths of the church, let's
say priests or bishops forinstance, but it's also in the
laity and it's also inindependent Catholic media.
Don't get me started. You alwayshear from the loudmouths who are
the problem, who are a littlecrazy, right, who are suggesting
(12:44):
things that are definitely,definitely counter doctrinal.
Hashtag German bishops. Yourarely hear from the really good
ones, the really solid ones. Andwhat's your experience in your
personal life? Do you encounterhave you encountered more than
one truly good priest? Why don'twe ever hear from those types?
(13:10):
Because you know you each andevery one of you knows they're
out there. Why don't we everhear from them? Because they're
in the deep. Like Saint Josephwas in
Speaker 2 (13:22):
the deep. Never hear a thing from him
Speaker 1 (13:25):
in scripture. I'm sure he spoke, but nothing is
recorded in scripture.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Right? But he's a heavy player, We never hear from
him. Why? He's in the deep. Hedoesn't even have to speak.
The holy virgin didn't have
Speaker 1 (13:40):
to speak. She did. And the Holy Spirit has it
recorded in in scripture becauseher role is operative in
salvation history. So there arethings that she said and things
that she expressed that Godwants the faithful to ingest,
consume, be transformed by, beedified by. So it was her job to
(14:01):
say a few things.
Let's put it that way. But shedidn't really have to. Apart
from the fact that it was herjob in those moments, and even
in scripture she says verylittle. We get very little from
her. Why?
Because she's in
Speaker 2 (14:12):
the deep. Her actions are enough. Because she's
Speaker 1 (14:16):
in the deep. Saint Joseph, in the deep in his
relationship with God. Andthat's what the that's what the
church that's what the the lifein the faith is bringing us
toward a deeper a deeperexperience with God. Why don't
we ever hear why do we veryseldom hear from the good
priests like the deeply holypriests, deeply holy cardinals
(14:39):
and bishops? Why do we seldomhear from them?
Why did
Speaker 2 (14:42):
no one ever know the name Robert Prevost before?
They're in the deep.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's where the fullness of the Catholic
experience is. It's in the deep.I've been there, here and there,
in the deep. I'm I'm not gonnalie. I have been there.
It's not bragging. It's hard tostay there. It's hard for me
Speaker 2 (15:04):
to stay there. And I'm
Speaker 1 (15:06):
not bragging because I carry the shame of admitting
it's hard to stay there. Right?So it's not bragging. It's
sharing something with youthat's true and makes me a
little sad and a littleembarrassed. Having been into
the deep, I can tell you it's avery different experience.
Your prayer is different. Yourwalk with God is different.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Your interior status and state is different. Your
place in the
Speaker 1 (15:40):
world is different. Your thoughts are different.
Your receptivity to grace isdifferent. Your awareness of the
voice of God is different. I'vebeen there, and I can tell you
from experience, it's real.
And it's not it's not just forSaint Joseph and the blessed
(16:01):
mother. It's for you too. Sodon't let yourself get stuck on
the surface. Very tempting. It'svery easy.
Part of the reason why it'stempting and easy is because in
the Catholic faith, there's alot of richness even on the
surface. And it's so rich,especially compared to
everything else you mightexperience on earth. The
(16:22):
Catholic experience is so richon the surface,
Speaker 2 (16:25):
we can become convinced that this is the
jackpot. Mm-mm. It's thesurface, my man. So don't let
yourself be fooled or tricked ortempted to stay on the surface.
Go deep and go deeper still,because a whole new reality is
Speaker 1 (16:53):
waiting for you there. Brothers and sisters, I
promise that's true.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I promise you from my heart that's true. Now
Speaker 1 (17:07):
okay, CA. How do we go deep? How do we go into the
depths? Danny in the chat says,probably, I think what he's
responding to is, why do wenever hear from the really holy
ones? Danny says, they're all inmonasteries.
A lot of them are. Oh. In asecond, I'm gonna tell you about
a confession I made to a priestin a monastery. In a in a
(17:29):
second, I'm gonna tell you astory. How do we go deeper into
the deep?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
First, read everything I write
Speaker 1 (17:40):
and listen to every podcast I produce. I'm only half
kidding. Because I go deep inthose. And I do it to try and
bring you guys deep. But I knowwhat the real question is.
What's a
Speaker 2 (17:54):
step by step guide? How do
Speaker 1 (17:56):
we go deeper? It's not something we're gonna cover
in this live, but it issomething I'm going to cover in
Speaker 2 (18:01):
the next week. Maybe with
Speaker 1 (18:03):
some articles, maybe with a podcast or a video or
both. Something like that,discussing how we go how do
Speaker 2 (18:12):
we go deeper? It involves a a change in how you
pray. It involves a change inhow you think.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It involves a change in the things that you look for.
I need a rock solid traditionalLatin Mass.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Not ridiculing you. But if you change what
Speaker 1 (18:33):
you look for, you're going to see God in every Mass,
whether it's the Novus Ordo orthe traditional Latin Mass. It's
not gonna make any difference toyou. It could be in a cathedral.
It could be in a barn. It's notgonna make any difference.
Change the things that you lookfor. Who was it? I think
Speaker 2 (18:46):
it was Elijah that went up
Speaker 1 (18:48):
to the mountain looking for God. And God wasn't
in the thunder. He wasn't in thefire. He wasn't in the earth
shaking. Where was God whenElijah finally encountered him?
In a gentle breeze. And he hearda gentle breeze, and he covered
his head because he knew thatGod was there. Gotta change what
(19:12):
you look for. You have to changeyour expectations. And you have
to change your discipline,change, adjust how you pray,
adjust how you think, adjust howyou process.
So you see why I can't cover itin this live? But I will be
covering it in some articles andblog posts and stuff in the very
near future. And he hit hisface. Danny said in the chat
(19:34):
room, he hit his face. Kudos toDanny who knows exactly the
scripture I'm talking about.
Covered his head, hit his face.I think from time to time about
that scripture, and I reallyadmire the prophet. I envy the
prophet for having that close.In closing, let me tell you
about this this priest I gave myconfession to in a monastery.
There's no interesting backstoryas to why I was there, why I
(19:58):
went to him for confession.
There's no interesting backstoryat all, so I'm skipping that.
But this guy this guy lookedlike a he looked like a Jedi, he
looked like Obi Wan Kenobi. Hehad his long white beard. I
mean, he he looked like he wasready to pose for the painting
of a religious icon. He was inin in habit.
(20:20):
He was a Franciscan. Long whitebeard, lower than his sternum.
And he was very quiet, and healways did this. He was very
quiet, and he as he listened toyou, he always went like this
with his eyes. It almost soundslike something from a movie.
(20:43):
Right? But he was a very, verygood listener. And he made you
feel like he was really, reallylistening to you. That priest
had a mystical gift because hewas reading into my confession
in, like, the weirdest, weirdestof ways. And he would say the
(21:09):
simplest things that were sospot on
Speaker 2 (21:12):
that I needed to hear. The simplest things,
sometimes two words. But it
Speaker 1 (21:19):
was the way he was reading into my confession. And
was not just like, oh, he musthave been trained in psychology.
He wasn't. And even if he hadbeen, this was deeper than that.
You know, one of the reasons,apart from my experience, one of
the reasons why I'm convinced hehad a mystical gift, I
(21:39):
encountered someone else, justlike a year later, who had also
once been to that same priestfor confession, and he reported
the same thing to me.
In fact, he gave more detailthan I'm giving you. I'm a big
believer in the confessionalsecret, so I'm not telling you
details. But he told me moredetails than I'm telling you,
(22:01):
and I'm telling you, this thisguy had a mystical gift. And
then it was just his overallbearing. He almost seemed like
he was constantly hearing God,That he was constantly speaking
to him silently from his mind,from in his thoughts.
(22:23):
And in the course of the rhythmof the listening and speaking to
God, in the ups and downs ofthat, on that down rhythm, he
was listening to you. But he waslistening so thoroughly and so
completely, All he needed was asplit second every other second
(22:46):
of the ticking clock. He justneeded a split second to really,
really hear you. He just seemedlike he was always praying, even
when he was just listening toyou. It was just something about
his his his bearing.
Very, very deep. Very, very deeppriest. He lived in
Speaker 2 (23:08):
a monastery. You know where else where else he lived?
In the deep. He was in the deep.And he had been in
Speaker 1 (23:17):
the deep so consistently and so long that he
had reached this pinnacle, thispoint, and at at which point he
lived there. He took uppermanent residence in the deep.
You know what he probably wasnever doing? Looking at cat
videos. Danny is my number onefan.
(23:45):
Thank you for joining me, Danny.I didn't think anybody was gonna
show up, so I'm glad somebodydid. It warms and cheers my
heart. I look a little bit likehell. It's the end of the day
for me, and, my arm's tired.
This video, me looking likehell, this would blow up on
TikTok. TikTok is like a hairlower quality, the videos. It's
(24:10):
not a criticism. It's justmeasurement. You know?
It almost doesn't matter howcrappy you look in front of a
camera. As long as your stuff isgood, people are paying
attention. So I hope that youdidn't see me looking like hell
runneth over because I've beenworking hard all week, and
that's the end of a Friday. Hopeyou paid attention. Hope you got
(24:34):
something from this live.
My brothers and sisters onInstagram and on Substack
because I'm going to be puttingthis up on Substack for my
subscribers there. Thank you forjoining me. And by the way,
backing up, if you're notalready doing so, please
subscribe to me on Substack. Itis free. Link in my bio.
(24:54):
Thank you for joining me. Godbless you. God be with you all.
Tap like, or you'll go to hell.Bye bye.
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