August 11, 2025 • 52 mins
In this lively and deeply reflective episode of The Catholic Experience, the Catholic Adventurer tackles the provocative theme: “God is Real. You Are Not.” Drawing from theology, personal testimony, and real-time audience interaction, I unpack what it means to become “real”—the True version of what God envisioned when he "thought you up", before you came into the world.— shedding the distortions of sin and returning to the person God originally envisioned. But I talk about a lot more than that! See show notes below.
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Major Segments & Flow
- Intro & Context
- Lighthearted confession about “fraud podcaster” status (episode meant for Live Sessions).
- Explanation of the difference between Live Sessions and The Catholic Experience.
- Push for direct listener connection via CatholicExperience.fm.
- Main Theme: “You Are Not Real”
- Theological explanation: God’s perfect idea of you vs. what sin and life’s experiences have shaped.
- How original sin, personal sin, and life’s hardships distort God’s vision.
- Holiness as the process of “becoming real” — becoming who God originally thought up.
- Practical Implications of Holiness
- The holier you are, the more “real” you feel and the more you experience life differently.
- How holiness intensifies your joy in good things and sharpens your awareness of what needs to change.
- Challenges & Analogies
- The road to sainthood likened to The Lord of the Rings: highs, lows, and being pursued by darkness.
- The need for perseverance, toughness, and embracing both joy and struggle.
- Practical Roadmap to Holiness
- Prayer life, sacraments, Mass attendance, frequent confession.
- Honest self-assessment of virtues and flaws.
- Patience with failures while refusing to tolerate sin.
- Audience Q&A
- Recognizing and avoiding scrupulosity.
- How the devil uses both laxity and excess to derail progress.
- Finding balance between taking yourself too seriously and not seriously enough.
- Closing Challenge
- Emphasizing the dignity of the human person — our nature is compatible with God’s.
- Persevering through the “sticky” process of peeling away sin and distortion.
- Final encouragement: take yourself seriously because God does, but stay humble.
Brief Show Notes
- Theme: Becoming the person God intended by growing in holiness.
- Key Insight: “The holier you are, the more real you are — and you begin to feel it.”
- Practical Tips:
- Commit to a prayer life, even if it starts small.
- Frequent the sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist.
- Identify what’s objectively good and bad about yourself; thank God for the good and ask His help to purge the bad.
- Be patient with failures, but don’t tolerate them.
- Memorable Analogy: The journey to sainthood is like The Lord of the Rings — peril, pursuit, highs, lows, and ultimate victory if you endure.
- Special Moment: Audience question on scrupulosity leads to practical, down-to-earth advice on spiritual balance.
- (00:00) - In troduction of the Episode
- (02:52) - Episode Begins
- (03:22) - Why You're Not Real!
- (06:48) - Being Holy is Being the REAL Y ou
- (08:28) - Engagement Spreads the Truth
- (10:23) - How to Become REAL
- (10:55) - Your "HOLY" Is Unique
- (13:09) - TikTok is 'Tripping"
- (14:22) - The Recipe for Real-ness
- (14:48) - "Lord, Make me Holy"
- (15:33) - Lord of the Rings is a Sai
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Catholic Experience podcast. I
am the Catholic adventurer. Thisepisode recorded August 9 in the
year of our Lord 2025, and Isay, thank you, Catholic church.
Today, I'm here to tell you,you're not real. What does that
mean that you're not real?
I mean, you're sitting there,aren't you? You're not real, but
god is real. Well, how can youget real yourself? That's what
(00:25):
I'm talking about in thisepisode of the Catholic
experience, how you can be morereal. And I talk about a lot
more stuff than that.
This is a really dense, heavy,valuable episode that you're not
going to want to skip. But checkit out. I'm also making a couple
of announcements, couple of acouple of announcements, and the
(00:45):
first one is actually veryserious. Gotta fade that music
out because I really need yourattention. Very serious
announcement.
I'm coming out of the closet asa fraud podcaster. Mhmm. I'm a
fraud. You see, this episodewasn't supposed to be an episode
of the Catholic Experience. Itwas supposed to be an episode of
the live sessions.
If you don't know what the livesessions is, look at the
(01:06):
description. I explained itthere. The thing is, the live
sessions are supposed to be kindof casual. It's not supposed to
be very teachy. It's supposed tobe kind of more fun, more loose,
laid back, whatever.
But this episode got veryteachy. It was prompted by the
topic, you're not real. That wasthe real topic. But then it was
further guided by questions andcomments from the live audience.
(01:30):
It got very, very rich, and Iwanted to make it an episode of
a Catholic experience instead sothat more people can enjoy it,
can benefit from it, can learnfrom it.
So that's what you have here.It's very easy to listen to. I
have chapters in there. Bouncearound, come back to it later,
whatever. It's very easy tolisten to.
The chapters, they areintertwined, but they also stand
(01:50):
alone. Really solid episodecoming up here. The other thing
I wanted to push you in the knowof is the podcast's new website,
catholicexperience.fm. The mostimportant thing about that
website is it cancels out themiddleman of social media. So
when you subscribe to thepodcast at
catholicexperience.fm,subscribing is free, I have a
(02:12):
direct line to you and you havea direct line to me.
Every time I make anannouncement or every time I
drop an important episode,whatever, it goes directly to
your inbox. So check it out.Catholicexperience.fm.
Subscribing is free. It bypassesthe algorithm.
You have no idea, folks, thestuff that you miss because the
algorithm never told you that itwas happening. So don't let it
(02:34):
happen again. Go tocatholicexperience.fm, check out
what I've got there, and maybeeven subscribe. It's free. Okay.
Now this episode is reallysolid. This episode is going to
bring you a little bit closer tosainthood if you take it in and
put it into practice. Here wego. Yeah. Welcome to this live
(02:56):
session with the Catholicadventurer.
Let's start that music again,mister Maestro. Welcome to this
live session with the Catholicadventurer. Thank you for those
of you who are joining me. I'vealready got a few people who are
coming in. Tonight, we'retalking just a little bit about
how you aren't even real.
You're not real. Hate to breakthe news to you, but you're not.
(03:17):
What does that mean? We're gonnatalk about that. Let's get on
with it.
The title of this live wassupposed to be God is real, you
are not. But I didn't wanna goin that direction because I
didn't want to put out theresomething that would be tempting
to atheists. An atheist onTikTok sees God is real, and
(03:38):
he's like, You can't prove it.God is real. And then there's
somebody else that I have tomake look stupid, live and on
the digital airwaves.
I just wanna chill with mypeople. I'm I spent a lot of
years in debate and discoursewith many, many, many, many,
many, many atheists, and it'sjust not my bag anymore. So what
do I mean by you're not real?God is real. You are not.
(04:01):
Now, you may not know this, butGod had a thought, and you were
that thought. Okay? He thoughtyou up a long time ago, and the
interesting thing is he had theperfect idea of you. Obviously,
it was a perfect idea. It was aperfect idea.
(04:21):
And he's like, I can't wait tomake this happen. In the
fullness of time, he made thatidea happen when you became
ensouled in your mother's womb.But as soon as that happened,
the idea got changed. Do youknow what changed it? Original
sin.
Not gonna get into the wholetheology of original sin.
(04:42):
Original sin instantly changedhis great idea. In fact, it
changed it quite a lot. And thenyou were born. And then you
began to have and then you beganbegan to grow up, make choices,
commit sins, have experiences inlife, not all of them good.
And not all of the not all ofthose bad experiences are your
(05:03):
fault. Right? Some of the badthings that have happened in
your life experience are notbecause of your choices. They
just happened. And some of thosethings are because of our
choices.
But all of these things changedGod's idea of didn't change his
idea, but it changed what hewanted for you. His perfect idea
(05:27):
changed because of original sin,and it changed further with our
bad decisions, our sinfulchoices. You can call them
mistakes, call them whatever youwant. We all do them. But at the
end of the day, they're sins.
Right? We choose them.Experiences like bad
experiences, even the ones we'renot at fault for, those also
(05:49):
change his perfect idea. And sowhen I say you're not real, what
do I mean by that? You, rightnow, are not exactly what God
thought up.
You're not real because you'renot what he wanted you to be.
Not really. As soon as you'reconceived, you're less what God
thought up. As you commit sin,become become tempted and fall
(06:10):
to temptation, so on, you becomeless what God thought up. So
you're not real.
You're really here, obviously.You're part of reality, but
you're not what exactly what Godthought up. And my friends, that
is what this journey, thisadventure, this Catholic
adventure to sainthood, that'swhat it's all about. It's about
(06:32):
becoming real, becoming morereal, becoming the version of
you that God actually originallythought up. I got these flyaways
in my hair, and now I can startto see them in the corner of my
eye, and it's annoying the hellout of me.
So the journey to sainthoodreally is a journey to becoming
more and closer to what God madeyou to be. That image that he
(06:56):
had of you will be perfectedwhen you're in heaven and you
see him face to face. Thenyou'll be exactly what he
envisioned after theresurrection. But the journey
from now until then is a journeyto become more and more real.
And let me tell you something.
You might not have heard becauseI don't know how many of you are
following my show on a regularper well, according to the
numbers, very few of you are.But I do say this a lot. The
(07:20):
holier you are, the more realyou are, and you begin to feel
it. Let me say that again, and Ireally want you to take this in.
The holier you are, the morereal you are, and you begin to
feel it.
You begin to experience theworld differently. You begin to
experience your highsdifferently. You experience your
(07:44):
lows differently. You see themfrom a different perspective.
The things that you love in yourlife, you love them more, and
you love them differently.
And the things that really needto change in your life, you
really feel those differently.Not just sins, but just bad
habits that that aren't sinfulbut can lead to sin. The bad
(08:06):
things in your life or in yourcharacter, in your personality,
you begin to see those from theperspective of God, and you're
like, my God, I want this tochange. The holier you are, the
more real you are, and you beginto feel it. You begin to
experience the worlddifferently.
You begin to experience yourwhole life differently. Thank
(08:26):
you to those of you tapping likeon my live. Lorena is tapping
the hell out of my out of thethat like button. I really
appreciate that. Listen.
It's hard to make it's hard tostand out amid all of the voices
on any social media platform,but especially as a podcaster,
most especially as a Catholicpodcaster. So please keep those
likes a coming because it costsyou nothing to tap on them.
(08:49):
Okay? And if you like the stuffI post, even if you like it a
little if you don't like it atall, don't tap like. But even if
you like the stuff that I post,you see something and you like
it just a little bit, tap thatlike button.
What the hell is it costing you?Nothing. But it helps me a lot.
It helps me a lot. You knowsomething you might not realize
too?
And this is interesting, notjust for me, but for for the
other content, creators that yousupport. If the this is any
(09:15):
social media platform becausethey all operate this way now.
If an algorithm shows you a postfrom Creator X, doesn't matter
who it is, you see it and youlike it, but you don't tap like,
the algorithm remembers that.The algorithm says, okay, they
saw some of this post, didn'ttap like, maybe this post isn't
(09:37):
likable. And so the value ofthat post from the algorithm's
perspective begins to diminish.
I sent this to 300 people, onlyfive of them tapped like, which
means 295 people didn't care forit that much. Okay. I'm gonna
keep that in mind. Degrade thispost a little bit. So keep that
(09:58):
in mind with the with thecontent creators that you like.
If they post something and youjust like it even just a little
bit, please help them out andtap like. Help them out and
leave a comment and so on and soon, especially with your old pal
here. Alright? Engage with mystuff. It really helps me a lot.
And it helps you too because themore you engage with the stuff
that you like, whether it's fromme or anybody else, the more the
(10:20):
algorithm will show you theirstuff. So it's good for you too.
So how do we become real? When Isay that we're not real, I mean
that we are not what Godimagined when he thought us up.
The way to become real is tobecome more holy.
Believe it or not, I know itsounds corny, but it isn't. It
really isn't. The way to becomethe most powerful you, the most
(10:40):
authentic you, the most potentyou, the sharpest you, the
strongest you. And by strong, Imean, I mean, the most
concentrated you. The way to dothat is to become more holy
because the more holy you are,the closer you are to what God
envisioned.
(11:00):
I don't just mean, oh, you'reyou're holy like all of the
other saints. Your holiness isunique to your person. You being
holy and me being holy, let'ssay we, in life, in our lived
lives, we reach the same levelof holiness. Let's say we reach
98 out of 100. You do and I do.
(11:22):
But we don't look the same. Ourholiness will not be the same
because our persons aredifferent from each other. So
your holiness for you is goingbe something completely
different from my holiness, eventhough we've both reached 98 out
of a 100 rating for holiness.You understand? If you enjoy
(11:44):
cooking, being holy is gonnamake you enjoy it more.
You're going to see God in it.And you just apart from seeing
God in it, be seeing somethingabout God in it, you're just
going to enjoy it more becausethere are going to be aspects
and dimensions in the in the theprocess or in the enterprise
that you're going to see indifferent ways and you're just
(12:05):
going to love it more. I don'tgive a damn what you like. If
you like skateboarding, you'regoing enjoy it more the holier
you are. My thing is music.
I'm like fanatic about music.Now, I don't have the kind of
brain where I can say, yeah, SamCook recorded his first album in
1968, and it was produced by Idon't have a brain like that. I
just know what I love listeningto. The holier I am, the more
(12:31):
the more I'm hearing things inmusic that I never heard before.
The more that it moves me, themore that it stirs me, the more
that I hear whatever.
It might be a Sam Cook song. AndI'll say, oh my God, a human
being made that. Doesn't matterwhat it is. The things that you
like and love that are goodabout your character and
(12:52):
personality, these things thatGod made with inside you, they
become stronger, morepronounced. You experience them,
not just feel them.
You experience them differently.And the things that have been
tacked on to us are bad habits,are sinful habits. I don't know
what this fan club thing is thatjust popped in over my head.
TikTok is TikTok is really crazytown. It's it's like so crazy,
(13:16):
this this app.
I enjoy it, but it's really damncrazy. God forgive me, but
TikTok is like a Koreans persona Korean person's dream, but
they fell asleep on acid. That'sTikTok. I'm not being racist.
(13:37):
I'm just saying.
The Korean culture is very,glitz and glamour, and you know
what I'm talking about. Those ofyou, whether you're Korean or
not, you know how the Koreanculture is. Okay? The TikTok app
and platform is a Koreansperson's Korean person's dream,
but they fell asleep whiletripping on acid. That's just
what it is.
So the holier you are, thethings that are negative about
(13:59):
you, bad habits, sinful habits,whatever, sinful inclinations,
sinful attachments. Andsometimes we have sinful
attachments to things thataren't in, in, in and of
themselves bad, but ourattachment to them is the holier
you are, the more you see thedamage of it, the more you see
it for what it really is and themore you want to separate
(14:21):
yourself from it. So the way toget more holy, the the way to to
to get more real, and I and Imean real, I mean you are you
get more real, is to be moreholy. You do that through prayer
life, through sacraments, bygoing to mass, by getting closer
and closer to God through JesusChrist, with the help in the
(14:42):
intercession of the saints, mostnotably the blessed Virgin Mary.
And I'm gonna tell you I'm gonnatell you something personal.
It's not like scandal oranything, but it's something
personal. And I'm not gonna getinto the details, but years ago,
I said to God at mass, Lord,make me holy. Lord, make me a
(15:06):
saint. Lord, make me truly good.I mean, like and and God knew
what I meant by that.
Like, just I'm a nice guy. I'm agood guy, but truly, truly good.
Almost like I'm goodness itself.Make me truly good. Lord, make
me a saint.
Make me holy. Let me tell youthe the Lord has actively been
(15:27):
answering that prayer all theseyears later, and it has been a
hard journey. I won't lie. It'sbeen a hard journey. You know
what it reminds me of?
I'm reading for the first time,The Lord of the Rings. I read
The Hobbit, and when I was ateenager, I'd read some of The
Fellowship of the Ring, but Inever finished it, and that was
that. So as as a grown up now,I'm reading it for the first
(15:50):
time, And I'm reading aboutFrodo's journey through this
dark forest with his friends,and they're on their way to,
Rivendell. And all kinds of badstuff happens to them, and then
things get really freaky whenthey arrive at Brie and, and
stuff like that. And they'rebeing pursued by these black
(16:10):
writers.
And the journey has some highsand has a lot of lows. And I'm
thinking that's that's thejourney to sainthood right
there. That's exactly thejourney of sainthood. Sometimes
it's raining and the rain, damnit, it just won't stop that
rain. And sometimes it's cold.
And sometimes you're beingpursued by something dark. Could
(16:32):
be the devil. Could be yourtemptations, your inclinations,
the things that you're trying toget away from, but you carry
them inside you. Whatever theinclination is. Right?
It could be, substance abuse. Itcould be gossip. It could be
sleeping around. Whatever theinclination is. Okay?
(16:54):
It has its highs. I'm justtrying to draw a parallel. It's
it's those lows and it's thehighs and it's the discovery.
I'm telling you, man, it's theLord of the Rings. Highs and
lows.
It's the pursuit, somethingpursuing you. Right? Temptation,
(17:14):
the devil, sneers of the devil,your own temptations and so
forth. It's something pursuingyou, and it's you pursuing God.
And it's God pursuing you.
And it's you saying, here I am,Lord. Come find me and bring me
home. And sometimes it's Godpursuing you and you saying, get
(17:35):
away from me. Get away from me.It's Lord of the Rings, bro.
I'm telling you. It's betterthan Lord of the Rings. So this
pursuit to holiness, and it andit happens through your prayer
life, through reading scriptureor reading spiritual works, or
it could be just readingtheology, right, which isn't
(17:58):
necessarily spiritual, but it itis a spiritual kind of exercise,
but it's not spiritual.Obviously, the the sacraments,
holy Eucharist, frequentconfession, going to mass as
frequently as you can involvesall of these things. And that
involves spending what you've,you've accumulated, living what
(18:22):
you have come to learn, to know,and to believe.
Living it. That's another one ofmy problems. Living it. Doing
living like Jesus lived. Doinggood works, putting everybody
else first, very hard to do.
(18:42):
Turning away from sin and beingfaithful to the gospel, those
are two separate things. It'shard. It's hard, but what the
hell do you want? You want it tobe easy? Where's the fun in
that?
What's the point of that? Youknow what's easy? Let me tell
you something that's easy. I cansit my ass in that recliner over
(19:03):
there that you cannot see andwatch TV or or eighties movies
all day. I can't, obviously,because I have a job, but, you
know but that would be easy.
Right? Sit there and just watchmovies all day, seven days a
week. That would be easy.Wouldn't that get boring?
Wouldn't something be missingfrom my life?
(19:25):
Man, wish I could go for a walk.Man, I wish I could go work out.
Man, I wish I could spend sometime with a friend. Whatever.
Something would be missing fromyour life, and you begin to feel
it.
Not just realize it, but feelit. Right? My friends, that's
life. We all want it easy. Iwant to sleep in.
(19:46):
I don't want to go to mass. Iwant to do this. I want to do
that. I to live a sinful life aslong as I'm not hurting anybody
who cares. Well, that's life.
Right? We always want it easy,but we're missing something when
we when we live it that way. Anddeep down, you know it. Deep
down, you know it. Deep down,you know that nigh and nigh
(20:07):
draws the chase with unperturbedpace, as Francis Thompson said
in his poem, The Hound ofHeaven.
You know there's something outthere that you need to win. Deep
down in your bones, you know it.And that's that is the path to
holiness. It's hard. Yes.
It's hard. And that's normal.Because if anybody told you it
(20:31):
was going to be easy to becomelike God, they lied to you.
That's not easy by its nature.Let's see if I can read some of
these comments.
Happy Sunday. Van something saidhappy Sunday. Damn, this text is
so small. One step forward, twosteps backward. I'm right there
(20:52):
at the moment.
Thank you for sharing, said missaccountant. Miss accountant's a
great correspondent. Thank you,Accountant. That was fantastic.
We're talking about being real.
You are not real. Your life is ajourney. It's a mission. It's a
Catholic adventure to become therealest, truest, most authentic
(21:14):
version of yourself. To becomewhat God imagined when he
thought you up, before he placedyou in your mother's womb.
Because after that happened,everything started to change.
Hello to Protestant Son justjoining me tonight on this live
session with the CatholicAdventurer. Very happy to see
you here. We're talking abouthow the holier you are, the more
(21:35):
real you are, and you become tofeel it. You become to
experience it.
And folks, while I'm waiting forpeople to chime in, me let just
bring you in the know on acouple of things. I am primarily
a Catholic podcaster. I'm notprimarily a I'm sure as hell not
a social media influencer. Iwish I was, because damn,
there's some people that I wouldlike to influence the hell out
(21:55):
of. But I don't have that kindof clout.
And that's okay because I don'twant to be that famous anyway.
I'm primarily a podcaster, andit's very hard for a podcaster
to gain any traction on socialsbecause the algorithm determines
everything that you see. If thealgorithm has its reasons that
it doesn't want you to see this,it just won't show it to you. It
(22:17):
doesn't matter how much I begand plead. That just doesn't I
could I could even throw a fewbucks behind an ad campaign.
If the algorithm doesn't wantyou to see this, the algorithm
is gonna show my my ad, whateverI'm advertising, to lots of
people, but it's going to showit to people who don't care
about it. The only way that Ican get through that haze is by
(22:37):
having a direct connection withyou. So I'm gonna make this,
like, super brief. It's not evengonna take a minute. It's not
even gonna take a minute.
Check out my podcast website.The link is in the bio.
Catholicexperience.fm. The fmstands for Fiat Media.
Catholicexperience.fm.
You can find past episodesthere. You can find current
(23:00):
video episodes there. You canfind articles there. If you like
the stuff that you're hearing metalk about right now, that's the
kind of stuff that I writeabout. You'll find great
articles there.
You can subscribe so that when Idrop new episodes, you get a
notification. When I plugupcoming episodes, which I've
got a real smoker coming up, bythe way, a smoker of an episode
(23:22):
that you're gonna wanna knowabout. I'll I'll tell you this
one. Are aliens real? Do aliensexist?
And what does that mean for usas Christians? Oh, I have a lot
to say about that. Backed byscripture and theology, backed
by reason and logic. So I don'tknow when I'm gonna do that
show. It'll probably be the nextepisode.
But, if you're someone whoenjoys that kind of podcasting,
(23:45):
as a Christian, as a Catholic,and you subscribe, you don't
have to trust the algorithm tolet you know this episode is
happening or has happened, andhere's where you can find it.
The algorithm is is definitelynot gonna tell you. But by
subscribing tocatholicexperience.fm, you get a
notification right in yourinbox. You don't have to worry
about a freaking algorithm.Okay?
I don't want to, have arelationship with you through
(24:08):
the proxy of an algorithm. Iwanna have fellowship with you
one to one, a direct connection.Catholicexperience.fm is my way
of making that happen. Hello toLeo. Just join me here.
And if you're enjoying thislive, please tap that like icon,
and let the algorithm know thatthis is not such a bad guy. You
(24:29):
should not shadow ban him. Solet me give you a couple of tips
on how you can, be more real.Tell God that you want to. Tell
God that you want to be holy.
Don't think of holy as, like, areally corny, you know, Yoda.
(24:50):
Don't think of it that way.Think of think of yourself. What
what what is holy? Okay.
Imagine yourself right now.Really do this exercise. You
don't have to do it literallyright now, but literally do this
exercise. Imagine yourself rightnow. What can you identify
that's objectively good aboutyou?
I love clothes. I I askedsomeone this, and this is what
(25:14):
they told me. I love clothes. Itwas a girl, by the way, so I
guess that's okay. But that'sno.
Something else. I love thingsthat are beautiful. Now we're
getting somewhere. Okay. Clothesis one of them.
What else? What else do you lovethat's beautiful? And so on and
so on. Tell me other things ortell yourself other things that
(25:34):
are objectively good about you.I really love to laugh.
I really, really love music.Music takes me to another place,
and so on and so on. I reallylove other people. I don't know
why. Sometimes I just love otherpeople just just for their own
sake.
(25:55):
I love what some things aboutthem. Whatever. Whatever. What's
objectively good about yourself?I don't mean frivolous or
stupid, but but objectivelygood.
And they can be minor things aslong as they're objectively
good. Now what's objectively badabout you? And you know that
answer. Don't lie to yourself.Do not lie to yourself.
Do not lie to yourself. What'sbad about you that really needs
(26:18):
to change even though you loveit? Identify the things that are
objectively bad about yourselfand don't lie to yourself about
it. What is it about yourpersonality, your character that
you really don't like? Don't saysomething crazy like, I don't
like that I'm stupid.
Nobody's stupid. Nobody'sstupid. I'm not talking about
silly things. I don't like thatI'm fat. I don't like that I'm
(26:41):
skinny.
I don't like that I'm short. No,no, no. Come on now. You know
what I'm talking about. Talkingabout your character, your
personality, the choices thatyou make, the decisions you
make.
What's objectively bad aboutthose things that you know need
to change? Go to confession andgive it to God, And then bring
(27:04):
it to God in prayer. Lord, thankyou for making me someone who
loves music. I don't know. Thankyou for my love of music.
It's not just a like, it's adeep love, and I know you made
me that way. Thank you, Lord.Thank you for this or that or
the other good thing about mypersonality or about your life.
And then tell him that you'resorry for the things that are
(27:25):
bad about you. Go to confession,but also say this to him, like,
privately, you know, in in yourprayer.
And then ask him for the help tomaximize the good in you and to
diminish and purge what's bad inyou. Ask him for that help. You
(27:46):
really only have to ask him oncebecause if you're serious, he
only needs to hear it once. Butbe real serious about it. And
then, hold on to your hatbecause it's gonna be a bumpy
ride.
Begin practicing the faith anew.Start with a prayer life. Keep
(28:07):
it simple if you're notexperienced. But start with a
good prayer life. Read thescripture.
You don't have to read it like abook because it wasn't written
that way. Read a couple ofverses here and there, or read a
chapter here and there. I wouldsay if you've never read the
scriptures before, probablystart with the gospels, couple
(28:27):
of chapters here and there,maybe or a couple of verses here
and there, maybe a chapter hereand there. It's up to you. But
you don't have to read bigswaths of it.
Just read little pieces of itand think about what you're
reading. And talk to God aboutwhat you take from that reading
that you just did. Talk to Godabout it. Ask God about it. Go
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to confession on the regular.
Don't make it this once everysix months nonsense because you
sin a lot in six months. Don'tgo once every six months. Go
once a month. Go once every twomonths at the very least. Don't
do this once every six monthscrap.
Go to mass as frequently as youcan. Bare minimum, Sundays, and
(29:13):
holy days of obligation. Do thisregularly, the Mass, the
sacraments, reading Scripture,talking to God, spending quiet
time alone with him as you sitin church. Do this frequently
And put into practice thesethings that you come to learn
(29:34):
along the way. Put it intopractice.
Live like Jesus. Be patient withyourself as you fail. Are you
better than God? No. Right?
Well, God is patient with you,so you should be patient with
yourself because you're nobetter than he is. And
(29:55):
progressively, the Holy Spiritwill lead you to up your game,
to up to level up your prayerlife and persevere as challenges
come. You do that, those thingsthat I just said, you're gonna
be a saint. When you fall, getback up and keep going. I don't
care if you fall a million timesa week, get back up and keep
going.
(30:17):
Go to confession, whatever itis. Because the fall may not be
sin. The fall may be you give upon your prayer life. Get up and
keep going. Start your prayerlife again.
Be consistent. I'm telling you,if you do all of these things
that I'm telling you, you aregoing to be a saint. A 100%.
There's no question on my mind.You're going to be a saint.
(30:37):
Well, how is it possible thatthe formula is so simple, but
sainthood is so great? How isthat possible? First, because
it's the grace of God that doesit. It's not your work that
makes you a saint. It's yourcorrupt it's your cooperation
with the grace of God.
That's number one. God made allthings out of nothing. You think
he can't make you a saint? Comeon, man. That's number one.
(31:00):
Number two. Okay. How doessomething so great happen out of
something so simple? Apart fromthe grace of God, what here's
number two. The path tosainthood is perilous.
From here to there, it'sperilous. It's Frodo and the
fellowship of the ring. It'speril. Its highs, its lows, it's
perilous. It has its glories, ithas its victories, it has its
(31:22):
amazing moments.
Yes, a thousand percent. Butit's perilous, and it's the prep
and it's the peril that weusually respond to. Right? We
can have five days of glory,five days of amazing, but two
out of two days out of the weekare perilous, and that's what we
respond and react to. Two daysof peril, I'm out.
(31:42):
Right? Five days of glory, buttwo days of peril, I'm out. As
fallen creatures, that's what wemost respond to. So there are
highs and lows, but it's thelows that really burn our ass.
And it's the lows that we reallywanna run away from.
And it takes toughness tosoldier on through those lows.
(32:08):
It takes particular toughness.You have to be very tough to be
a Catholic. You have to bestrong if you're doing it right.
It's not all peril, but it hasits peril, and the peril is what
we usually react to.
And I'll share something simplewith you as I bring this to a
close, something personal ratheras I bring this to a close. You
know, years ago when I said,make me a saint, you know, it's
(32:31):
been highs and lows. It's beenan adventure. Most of the time I
say to God, I would have it noother way. I'm down and I'm out
and it's hard, Lord.
And I'm complaining about thisand that and the other thing.
And then I say, but Lord, Iwould have it no other way. But
(32:52):
there have been times where I'vetold the Lord, I kinda wish I
didn't make that prayer. Noteven joking, like being serious
with him. Lord, I know in thepast I've told you I would have
it no other way, but I'mreconsidering right now.
That's true. It's hard, the roadto sainthood. It's not all hard,
(33:15):
but it is hard, and that'susually what we respond to, what
we react to as fallen creatures.But ask yourselves, man, that
nut job on TikTok said even whenhe was down and out, he would
tell the Lord, I would have itno other way. What would bring
him to say that?
He's down. He's out. He'shurting. He's tired. And then he
(33:40):
tells the Lord, I would have itno other way.
I swear that's the truth. Askyourself, what would make him
say that? You need to find outfor yourself. Let me just see if
there's anybody here that Ishould acknowledge. How do you
(34:01):
know if you Damn this thing.
How do you know if you are selfsabotaging? Oh, good question.
How do you know if you are selfsabotaging and falling into
scrupulosity? Okay. Damn, that'sa good question.
In the way to sainthood, how doyou know that you're not self
(34:22):
sabotaging? How do you know thatyou're not falling into
scrupulosity? Scrupulosity isbasically nitpicking yourself.
Right? For instance, I'm goingto daily mass.
I'm having my coffee and mycream half an hour before mass
starts. Oh, now I can't receivecommunion because I'm supposed
(34:42):
to fast an hour before mass andI lost track of time. Now I
cannot receive holy communion.Lighten up. Go receive
communion.
Go to Mass and receivecommunion. It's not a mortal
sin. Yes, you're supposed tofast, but take it easy on
yourself. You lost track oftime. It's not like you were
indulging.
You didn't do it on purpose.Okay? But saying I shouldn't
(35:05):
receive communion because Iaccidentally had coffee with
cream in it, that'sscrupulosity. Taking yourself
too seriously leads toscrupulosity. Not taking
yourself seriously enough leadsto presumption in God's mercy.
So how do you find the balance?Try your hardest and be patient
(35:30):
with your failures. Try yourhardest. Be patient with your
failures. Failing is part of theprocess.
Don't try to fail. Don't permityour failures, but be patient
and tolerant of your failuresbecause failing is part of it.
God has made it so. God doesn'tbring you to fail, but he uses
(35:51):
your failures to bring youcloser to holiness. Believe it
or not.
He uses your failures to bringyou closer to holiness. Can you
believe it? Who would who elsewould think of something so
crazy but God himself? Okay.Sometimes you fall into this
cycle of rising and falling andrising and falling.
Oh, I'm just I'm just so tiredof falling. I might as well just
(36:12):
stay down. Don't do that. Thecycle brings you closer to
holiness. It's not really acycle.
It is forward momentum. You justdon't see it yet. So you're self
sabotaging you're selfsabotaging if your self
governance is keeping you frommoving toward the objective
(36:34):
good. I drank coffee with cream.I shouldn't receive communion.
Your self governance is keepingyou from the objective good. Are
you in a state of mortal sin?No. Go receive communion. Just
shut up and go.
Okay? Also, have reasonablefaith in God's mercy. But self
(36:59):
sabotage listen. I'm gonna tellyou a little thing. Self
sabotaging is real because thedevil can't really knock you off
your horse.
He can make you fall off of it,but it's you who does it. One of
the ways he does that is throughself sabotage. He makes you pray
(37:19):
let's say you're starting yourprayer life. Okay? You're not
used to praying, but you'redoing like an hour, father, hail
Mary, and a glory be before bed.
And you're like, I feel like Ishould pray more. I'm gonna pray
10 rosaries every day. 10rosaries. And you're up to the
seventh rosary, which is a lotof rosaries. And now it's making
(37:40):
you crazy, but no, I wanna beholy.
I gotta get through this rosary.You know who's making you do 10
rosaries a day? The devil. It'snot the holy spirit. Absolutely.
The devil will push you to praybeyond your capacity to pray. We
all have a finite capacity topray, my friends. We all have a
(38:00):
finite capacity to praydepending on your experience.
Okay? I can't stay I'm gonna bevery honest with you.
I don't like saying the rosary.It makes me crazy. I cannot get
through a five decade rosary ifI can. It's by a tremendous act
of grace. I have to break it up.
Three decades here, two decadesthere, and so on. I have to
(38:22):
break Benedict the sixteenthalso could not get through a
whole rosary. Did you know that?He said it himself. He he said
he could not get through a wholerosary.
He prayed the rosary throughoutthe day, but he broke it up. Two
decades, three decades, and soon. The devil will push you to
pray beyond your capacity. He'llmake you think it's an act of
piety. It is not.
Okay? If it if something feelsfeels painful, ease up. But the
(38:47):
devil will push you to acts ofpiety that aren't actually good
for you. He'll push you toexcess. On the other other
extreme, he'll push you tolaxity.
Yeah, you don't have to praybefore bed. You're tired. Just
go to sleep. Well, and this isme now talking. It's not a sin
to skip that prayer, but it'sreal unwise.
(39:08):
Very unwise. You have tomaintain these major pillars of
your prayer life. I'm exhausted.It's an Our Father, Hail Mary,
and Glory be. Don't bitch andmoan to me.
Just say your prayer, then yougo to sleep. Sorry. Former
Marine here. I don't play that.Don't bitch and moan to me.
(39:32):
Say your little prayer there,and then you can go to sleep.
The devil will push you tolaxity. He will also push you to
excess. Ask the Holy Spirit tohelp you find the balance, and
the Holy Spirit will. The HolySpirit will help you find the
balance.
Excess is never good. That's agood rule of thumb. So those are
a couple of things, couple ofpointers I can give you. How do
you how do you know you're notself sabotaging? Are you moving
(39:55):
toward the good or beingdeflected from it?
Are you stunted, or are youmoving forward? Are you hurting
yourself, or are you feeling inyour groove? Are you feeling in
your groove or are you feelingreally relaxed? You don't wanna
feel relaxed, but you don'twanna feel like you're killing
(40:15):
yourself. Get to where you'rebalanced, you're feeling in your
groove, and have faith in God'smercy.
He knows you're not perfect. Godknows that we're all stupid and
he knows that we're all weak.Okay? But take it seriously.
Take it seriously.
You don't, you know, you don'twant to be like, oh, I can just
send my life away. God willunderstand. Don't do that. Take
(40:37):
it seriously and make a goodeffort, but be patient with your
faults. Be patient with yourfailures.
Be patient with yourshortcomings. But don't be
tolerant of them. Be patientwith them, but don't be tolerant
of them. This has to change.That has to change.
Be patient with them, but don'ttolerate them. I come from a
(41:01):
Protestant background, lots ofhard truth and teaching in the
church. There's not a lot ofhard teaching in the church. I
I'll I'll be honest with you.It's harder to be a Jew.
It's harder to be a Muslim. Nota lot of hard teaching in the
church. It's hard, though, ifyou're coming from the secular
(41:22):
world. It's hard. You know, toput it this way very simply, if
you're used to eating six mealsa day with cupcakes and cookies
in between each meal, then it'shard to eat healthy.
Very hard. But when you'realways eating healthy or after
(41:44):
you've gotten used to eatinghealthy, it's like, it's not
even an effort. It's not even aneffort. The hardest thing about
being Catholic is the act ofsurrender. You have to surrender
to the Magisterium.
As a Protestant, you are theMagisterium. You have to
surrender to the Mass. You haveto surrender to Jesus in the
(42:09):
Eucharist. It's a surrenderbecause as a Catholic, the
steering wheel is taken out ofyour hands. And now it now the
magisterium holds the steeringwheel, which is g which is what
Jesus Christ designed.
You take worship out of yourhands. When we go to mass, we
are worshiping with the priest,but the priest is offering the
(42:31):
worship for us. Again, that isGod's design. Right? So we have
to worship according to theformula of the church throughout
time.
Right? So you get the point. Inthe Catholic world, in the
Catholic experience, there is alot of surrender. Surrender to
(42:51):
Jesus, which is hard. Surrenderto God.
Surrender to the Magisteriumbecause that is surrendered to
Jesus. Because the Magisteriumhas his authority to teach.
Right? I tell people all thetime, you know, I think X and Y
This is them saying, I think Xand Y and Z aren't a sin. And
(43:11):
then I say, Well, theMagisterium teaches or the
Church teaches, and they do notlike hearing that.
I don't care what the churchteaches. I think, buh buh buh
buh buh buh buh Okay. But I wantto tell you, when you face
Jesus, which will happen at theend of your life or at the
resurrection if he comes againbefore you die, When you face
(43:33):
Jesus, he's not going to carewhat you thought, what you felt.
He's going to say, my church hadmy authority, my teaching
authority, and my church rightlysaid that x and y and z and a
and b and c are doctrine, aretruth. And someone told you
(43:53):
that, and you still rejected it.
And Jesus is gonna say, now tellme why. Tell me why. What are
you gonna tell Jesus? Well, Ijust felt dot dot dot dot dot.
You how do you think Jesus isgonna respond to that?
Oh, you just felt? Depart fromme, you evildoer. Jesus don't
(44:14):
play games, man. He's love andhe's mercy and all that stuff.
He is also justice and he doesnot mess around.
You you're not gonna con Jesus.You're not gonna con your way
into heaven. Yeah. I know Inever went to church, but you
gotta understand. Bum bum bumbum bum bum bum That's you
trying to con your way intoheaven.
(44:34):
You're not gonna con your waypast Jesus. Come on. You think
he's dumb? He's the savior ofthe world. God made everything
from nothing.
You're gonna con him? You got tounderstand, God. I know I
shouldn't have slept with allthose girls, but you got to
understand, you know, I'm a man,you know, and I got feelings of
this and that. And Jesus isgoing listen to it and you go,
(44:55):
uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And that's what Jesus is goingto say. You think you're going
to con your way past Jesus? Youain't going to con Jesus. All
right. Let's see who else hasanything to say before I head on
out of here.
Some good question there. How doyou know you're not falling into
(45:16):
scrupulosity yet? I just wannaretouch that. How do you know
you're not falling intoscrupulosity? Take the journey
seriously, but don't takeyourself too seriously.
I'm gonna leave you with thislast thought, I really want you
to take this to heart. Weunderestimate the value, the
dignity, and the power of thehuman person. You don't take
(45:37):
yourself seriously enough insome ways is what I mean. You
know, when God came to Earth, hecame as a human being. He came
as a man, but that's that part'snot important right now.
He didn't come as a dog. He cameas a human being. I got
something else for you that youthat might shock you. God could
(45:59):
not have come to earth as a dog.You're thinking God can do
whatever he wants.
No, he can't. God only doesthings that make sense. He can't
do things that don't make sense.Can God blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah? Well, that doesn'tmake sense.
So no, God can't do that. If Godwanted to come as a dog, he
would have had to changereality. Do you know why?
(46:20):
Because a dog's nature isincompatible with the nature of
God. God can't become a dog.
God could become a human beingbecause the nature of God is
compatible with the nature ofthe human person that God
created. Do you know what thatsays about you? That your nature
is compatible with the nature ofGod and that's why he was able
to come and incarnate and becomeincarnate in the womb of the
(46:41):
blessed virgin Mary and become aman, become a human being? Do
you know what that says abouthow great you are? I'm serious.
It says a lot about thegreatness of the human being. We
don't take ourselves seriouslyenough, and sometimes we take
ourselves too seriously. Sohere's how you make that balance
(47:02):
in the end. Okay? You'rewelcome, miss accountant.
Miss account says, thank you somuch for sharing your faith. You
gave me hope tonight. Oh, thatmakes me feel so good, man. You
gave me hope tonight. That makesme feel so that right there is
my salary.
Right there. That's what I dothis for. Right there. I don't
care if you never remember who Iam. If this got you to the next
(47:22):
if this got got you to the nextwaypoint in your journey, that's
good enough for me, man.
That's good enough for me.That's why I do this. So here's
how you find balance. How do webalance between taking ourselves
too seriously and not takingourselves seriously enough? You
are fallen.
You are weak. You are stupid.That's literal. Okay? Sin, even
(47:42):
original sin, made us weak.
It weakened the will, and itmade us stupid. It darkened the
intellect. How weak and howstupid are you? Well, let's see.
Have you ever been on a diet?
Okay. Have you ever said, I'm ona diet. I will not eat that
muffin. And you ate the muffinanyway? You're weak and you're
stupid.
All of us are. All of us are.This is a sin, and I know why
(48:04):
it's a sin. I know that this sinis hurting me, or I know this
sin hurts others, but I'm gonnado this sin anyway. You're weak
and you're stupid.
We all are. Okay? You have toacknowledge that. So be patient
with yourself. You're weak,you're stupid, that's why
there's a whole mechanism ofmercy in the church.
(48:24):
Confession, the sacraments.That's why there's an entire
mechanism of mercy in the Churchof Jesus Christ, the Catholic
Church. Okay? Because you'reweak and you're stupid. That's
that God knows that.
That's that's why this wholemachine is here, because he
knows that you're weak andyou're stupid. He also knows
that you are great. You arecreated in his image and
likeness, and he expects betterfrom you. But he knows that's
(48:46):
going to take time. And he'sgoing to be patient with you,
and he's going to accompany you,and he's going to help you, and
he's going to pick you up whenyou fall, if you would only ask.
You would only ask. God knowsthat you that you've got issues,
but he knows you are greaterthan your issues are. And he
(49:10):
insists that you keep trying andthat you try harder. But be
patient with your shortcomings.Be patient with your falling as
long as you're getting up andtrying again and trying harder.
Jesus Christ, God did not cometo earth as a dog because their
natures are incompatible. Hewould have had to change reality
(49:31):
to come to to to Earth as a dog.Serious. But he could come to
Earth as a human being, and thatshould tell you something about
how great you are, that yournature is compatible with the
nature of God. God madesomething unbelievable.
I'm folks, I'm not being poetic.God made something truly
unbelievable when he made you.Not just human beings, you.
(49:54):
Truly unbelievable. Truly,truly, truly, truly magnificent
and unbelievable.
And this beautiful, magnificent,unbelievable thing is being
scarred and marred and weigheddown by sin, by a lack of
holiness and so on. So you'vegot to shake yourself loose from
it. And it's sticky. It's damnsticky. So shaking yourself
loose of it happens piece bypiece, layer by layer.
(50:17):
It's just part it's just how itis. You're not gonna be a saint
by tomorrow. So you have topersevere through the process of
peeling this, frankly, this shitoff of you and away from you and
getting it out of your life andout of your personality and out
of your character. It takes timepiece by piece, layer by layer,
and you have to perseverethrough it all. So this amazing
(50:38):
thing that God created canbecome exactly exactly how God
imagined it before space andtime began, before he placed you
in your mother's womb.
This mission is a journey to beexactly what God thought up when
he thought you up and he went,wow. That's gonna be a great
(51:00):
one. This has been a livesession with the Catholic
Adventurer. Folks, check out mywebsite. The link is in my bio.
Catholic atcatholicexperience.fm.
Catholicexperience.fm. I reallyhope you also decide to
(51:21):
subscribe. It's free.Catholicexperience.fm.
And I am the Catholic adventurerwishing you all a good night.
God bless you. God be with youall. Say your prayers tonight,
man, and don't forget, bro, takeyourself not too seriously, but
take yourself seriously. You aregreater than you realize.
God bless you. God be with youall. Catholic Adventurer signing
(51:42):
out of here. Bye bye. TikTokjust wanted me to confirm that
(52:04):
I'm a real person.
TikTok, you're so stupid. Honestto God, you really are. I've
been live here moving aroundtalking and for, like, an hour.
You you now you wanna know ifI'm real? Holy crap.
Welcome to the Catholic Experience podcast. I
am the Catholic adventurer. Thisepisode recorded August 9 in the
year of our Lord 2025, and Isay, thank you, Catholic church.
Today, I'm here to tell you,you're not real. What does that
mean that you're not real?
I mean, you're sitting there,aren't you? You're not real, but
god is real. Well, how can youget real yourself? That's what
(00:25):
I'm talking about in thisepisode of the Catholic
experience, how you can be morereal. And I talk about a lot
more stuff than that.
This is a really dense, heavy,valuable episode that you're not
going to want to skip. But checkit out. I'm also making a couple
of announcements, couple of acouple of announcements, and the
(00:45):
first one is actually veryserious. Gotta fade that music
out because I really need yourattention. Very serious
announcement.
I'm coming out of the closet asa fraud podcaster. Mhmm. I'm a
fraud. You see, this episodewasn't supposed to be an episode
of the Catholic Experience. Itwas supposed to be an episode of
the live sessions.
If you don't know what the livesessions is, look at the
(01:06):
description. I explained itthere. The thing is, the live
sessions are supposed to be kindof casual. It's not supposed to
be very teachy. It's supposed tobe kind of more fun, more loose,
laid back, whatever.
But this episode got veryteachy. It was prompted by the
topic, you're not real. That wasthe real topic. But then it was
further guided by questions andcomments from the live audience.
(01:30):
It got very, very rich, and Iwanted to make it an episode of
a Catholic experience instead sothat more people can enjoy it,
can benefit from it, can learnfrom it.
So that's what you have here.It's very easy to listen to. I
have chapters in there. Bouncearound, come back to it later,
whatever. It's very easy tolisten to.
The chapters, they areintertwined, but they also stand
(01:50):
alone. Really solid episodecoming up here. The other thing
I wanted to push you in the knowof is the podcast's new website,
catholicexperience.fm. The mostimportant thing about that
website is it cancels out themiddleman of social media. So
when you subscribe to thepodcast at
catholicexperience.fm,subscribing is free, I have a
(02:12):
direct line to you and you havea direct line to me.
Every time I make anannouncement or every time I
drop an important episode,whatever, it goes directly to
your inbox. So check it out.Catholicexperience.fm.
Subscribing is free. It bypassesthe algorithm.
You have no idea, folks, thestuff that you miss because the
algorithm never told you that itwas happening. So don't let it
(02:34):
happen again. Go tocatholicexperience.fm, check out
what I've got there, and maybeeven subscribe. It's free. Okay.
Now this episode is reallysolid. This episode is going to
bring you a little bit closer tosainthood if you take it in and
put it into practice. Here wego. Yeah. Welcome to this live
(02:56):
session with the Catholicadventurer.
Let's start that music again,mister Maestro. Welcome to this
live session with the Catholicadventurer. Thank you for those
of you who are joining me. I'vealready got a few people who are
coming in. Tonight, we'retalking just a little bit about
how you aren't even real.
You're not real. Hate to breakthe news to you, but you're not.
(03:17):
What does that mean? We're gonnatalk about that. Let's get on
with it.
The title of this live wassupposed to be God is real, you
are not. But I didn't wanna goin that direction because I
didn't want to put out theresomething that would be tempting
to atheists. An atheist onTikTok sees God is real, and
(03:38):
he's like, You can't prove it.God is real. And then there's
somebody else that I have tomake look stupid, live and on
the digital airwaves.
I just wanna chill with mypeople. I'm I spent a lot of
years in debate and discoursewith many, many, many, many,
many, many atheists, and it'sjust not my bag anymore. So what
do I mean by you're not real?God is real. You are not.
(04:01):
Now, you may not know this, butGod had a thought, and you were
that thought. Okay? He thoughtyou up a long time ago, and the
interesting thing is he had theperfect idea of you. Obviously,
it was a perfect idea. It was aperfect idea.
(04:21):
And he's like, I can't wait tomake this happen. In the
fullness of time, he made thatidea happen when you became
ensouled in your mother's womb.But as soon as that happened,
the idea got changed. Do youknow what changed it? Original
sin.
Not gonna get into the wholetheology of original sin.
(04:42):
Original sin instantly changedhis great idea. In fact, it
changed it quite a lot. And thenyou were born. And then you
began to have and then you beganbegan to grow up, make choices,
commit sins, have experiences inlife, not all of them good.
And not all of the not all ofthose bad experiences are your
(05:03):
fault. Right? Some of the badthings that have happened in
your life experience are notbecause of your choices. They
just happened. And some of thosethings are because of our
choices.
But all of these things changedGod's idea of didn't change his
idea, but it changed what hewanted for you. His perfect idea
(05:27):
changed because of original sin,and it changed further with our
bad decisions, our sinfulchoices. You can call them
mistakes, call them whatever youwant. We all do them. But at the
end of the day, they're sins.
Right? We choose them.Experiences like bad
experiences, even the ones we'renot at fault for, those also
(05:49):
change his perfect idea. And sowhen I say you're not real, what
do I mean by that? You, rightnow, are not exactly what God
thought up.
You're not real because you'renot what he wanted you to be.
Not really. As soon as you'reconceived, you're less what God
thought up. As you commit sin,become become tempted and fall
(06:10):
to temptation, so on, you becomeless what God thought up. So
you're not real.
You're really here, obviously.You're part of reality, but
you're not what exactly what Godthought up. And my friends, that
is what this journey, thisadventure, this Catholic
adventure to sainthood, that'swhat it's all about. It's about
(06:32):
becoming real, becoming morereal, becoming the version of
you that God actually originallythought up. I got these flyaways
in my hair, and now I can startto see them in the corner of my
eye, and it's annoying the hellout of me.
So the journey to sainthoodreally is a journey to becoming
more and closer to what God madeyou to be. That image that he
(06:56):
had of you will be perfectedwhen you're in heaven and you
see him face to face. Thenyou'll be exactly what he
envisioned after theresurrection. But the journey
from now until then is a journeyto become more and more real.
And let me tell you something.
You might not have heard becauseI don't know how many of you are
following my show on a regularper well, according to the
numbers, very few of you are.But I do say this a lot. The
(07:20):
holier you are, the more realyou are, and you begin to feel
it. Let me say that again, and Ireally want you to take this in.
The holier you are, the morereal you are, and you begin to
feel it.
You begin to experience theworld differently. You begin to
experience your highsdifferently. You experience your
(07:44):
lows differently. You see themfrom a different perspective.
The things that you love in yourlife, you love them more, and
you love them differently.
And the things that really needto change in your life, you
really feel those differently.Not just sins, but just bad
habits that that aren't sinfulbut can lead to sin. The bad
(08:06):
things in your life or in yourcharacter, in your personality,
you begin to see those from theperspective of God, and you're
like, my God, I want this tochange. The holier you are, the
more real you are, and you beginto feel it. You begin to
experience the worlddifferently.
You begin to experience yourwhole life differently. Thank
(08:26):
you to those of you tapping likeon my live. Lorena is tapping
the hell out of my out of thethat like button. I really
appreciate that. Listen.
It's hard to make it's hard tostand out amid all of the voices
on any social media platform,but especially as a podcaster,
most especially as a Catholicpodcaster. So please keep those
likes a coming because it costsyou nothing to tap on them.
(08:49):
Okay? And if you like the stuffI post, even if you like it a
little if you don't like it atall, don't tap like. But even if
you like the stuff that I post,you see something and you like
it just a little bit, tap thatlike button.
What the hell is it costing you?Nothing. But it helps me a lot.
It helps me a lot. You knowsomething you might not realize
too?
And this is interesting, notjust for me, but for for the
other content, creators that yousupport. If the this is any
(09:15):
social media platform becausethey all operate this way now.
If an algorithm shows you a postfrom Creator X, doesn't matter
who it is, you see it and youlike it, but you don't tap like,
the algorithm remembers that.The algorithm says, okay, they
saw some of this post, didn'ttap like, maybe this post isn't
(09:37):
likable. And so the value ofthat post from the algorithm's
perspective begins to diminish.
I sent this to 300 people, onlyfive of them tapped like, which
means 295 people didn't care forit that much. Okay. I'm gonna
keep that in mind. Degrade thispost a little bit. So keep that
(09:58):
in mind with the with thecontent creators that you like.
If they post something and youjust like it even just a little
bit, please help them out andtap like. Help them out and
leave a comment and so on and soon, especially with your old pal
here. Alright? Engage with mystuff. It really helps me a lot.
And it helps you too because themore you engage with the stuff
that you like, whether it's fromme or anybody else, the more the
(10:20):
algorithm will show you theirstuff. So it's good for you too.
So how do we become real? When Isay that we're not real, I mean
that we are not what Godimagined when he thought us up.
The way to become real is tobecome more holy.
Believe it or not, I know itsounds corny, but it isn't. It
really isn't. The way to becomethe most powerful you, the most
(10:40):
authentic you, the most potentyou, the sharpest you, the
strongest you. And by strong, Imean, I mean, the most
concentrated you. The way to dothat is to become more holy
because the more holy you are,the closer you are to what God
envisioned.
(11:00):
I don't just mean, oh, you'reyou're holy like all of the
other saints. Your holiness isunique to your person. You being
holy and me being holy, let'ssay we, in life, in our lived
lives, we reach the same levelof holiness. Let's say we reach
98 out of 100. You do and I do.
(11:22):
But we don't look the same. Ourholiness will not be the same
because our persons aredifferent from each other. So
your holiness for you is goingbe something completely
different from my holiness, eventhough we've both reached 98 out
of a 100 rating for holiness.You understand? If you enjoy
(11:44):
cooking, being holy is gonnamake you enjoy it more.
You're going to see God in it.And you just apart from seeing
God in it, be seeing somethingabout God in it, you're just
going to enjoy it more becausethere are going to be aspects
and dimensions in the in the theprocess or in the enterprise
that you're going to see indifferent ways and you're just
(12:05):
going to love it more. I don'tgive a damn what you like. If
you like skateboarding, you'regoing enjoy it more the holier
you are. My thing is music.
I'm like fanatic about music.Now, I don't have the kind of
brain where I can say, yeah, SamCook recorded his first album in
1968, and it was produced by Idon't have a brain like that. I
just know what I love listeningto. The holier I am, the more
(12:31):
the more I'm hearing things inmusic that I never heard before.
The more that it moves me, themore that it stirs me, the more
that I hear whatever.
It might be a Sam Cook song. AndI'll say, oh my God, a human
being made that. Doesn't matterwhat it is. The things that you
like and love that are goodabout your character and
(12:52):
personality, these things thatGod made with inside you, they
become stronger, morepronounced. You experience them,
not just feel them.
You experience them differently.And the things that have been
tacked on to us are bad habits,are sinful habits. I don't know
what this fan club thing is thatjust popped in over my head.
TikTok is TikTok is really crazytown. It's it's like so crazy,
(13:16):
this this app.
I enjoy it, but it's really damncrazy. God forgive me, but
TikTok is like a Koreans persona Korean person's dream, but
they fell asleep on acid. That'sTikTok. I'm not being racist.
(13:37):
I'm just saying.
The Korean culture is very,glitz and glamour, and you know
what I'm talking about. Those ofyou, whether you're Korean or
not, you know how the Koreanculture is. Okay? The TikTok app
and platform is a Koreansperson's Korean person's dream,
but they fell asleep whiletripping on acid. That's just
what it is.
So the holier you are, thethings that are negative about
(13:59):
you, bad habits, sinful habits,whatever, sinful inclinations,
sinful attachments. Andsometimes we have sinful
attachments to things thataren't in, in, in and of
themselves bad, but ourattachment to them is the holier
you are, the more you see thedamage of it, the more you see
it for what it really is and themore you want to separate
(14:21):
yourself from it. So the way toget more holy, the the way to to
to get more real, and I and Imean real, I mean you are you
get more real, is to be moreholy. You do that through prayer
life, through sacraments, bygoing to mass, by getting closer
and closer to God through JesusChrist, with the help in the
(14:42):
intercession of the saints, mostnotably the blessed Virgin Mary.
And I'm gonna tell you I'm gonnatell you something personal.
It's not like scandal oranything, but it's something
personal. And I'm not gonna getinto the details, but years ago,
I said to God at mass, Lord,make me holy. Lord, make me a
(15:06):
saint. Lord, make me truly good.I mean, like and and God knew
what I meant by that.
Like, just I'm a nice guy. I'm agood guy, but truly, truly good.
Almost like I'm goodness itself.Make me truly good. Lord, make
me a saint.
Make me holy. Let me tell youthe the Lord has actively been
(15:27):
answering that prayer all theseyears later, and it has been a
hard journey. I won't lie. It'sbeen a hard journey. You know
what it reminds me of?
I'm reading for the first time,The Lord of the Rings. I read
The Hobbit, and when I was ateenager, I'd read some of The
Fellowship of the Ring, but Inever finished it, and that was
that. So as as a grown up now,I'm reading it for the first
(15:50):
time, And I'm reading aboutFrodo's journey through this
dark forest with his friends,and they're on their way to,
Rivendell. And all kinds of badstuff happens to them, and then
things get really freaky whenthey arrive at Brie and, and
stuff like that. And they'rebeing pursued by these black
(16:10):
writers.
And the journey has some highsand has a lot of lows. And I'm
thinking that's that's thejourney to sainthood right
there. That's exactly thejourney of sainthood. Sometimes
it's raining and the rain, damnit, it just won't stop that
rain. And sometimes it's cold.
And sometimes you're beingpursued by something dark. Could
(16:32):
be the devil. Could be yourtemptations, your inclinations,
the things that you're trying toget away from, but you carry
them inside you. Whatever theinclination is. Right?
It could be, substance abuse. Itcould be gossip. It could be
sleeping around. Whatever theinclination is. Okay?
(16:54):
It has its highs. I'm justtrying to draw a parallel. It's
it's those lows and it's thehighs and it's the discovery.
I'm telling you, man, it's theLord of the Rings. Highs and
lows.
It's the pursuit, somethingpursuing you. Right? Temptation,
(17:14):
the devil, sneers of the devil,your own temptations and so
forth. It's something pursuingyou, and it's you pursuing God.
And it's God pursuing you.
And it's you saying, here I am,Lord. Come find me and bring me
home. And sometimes it's Godpursuing you and you saying, get
(17:35):
away from me. Get away from me.It's Lord of the Rings, bro.
I'm telling you. It's betterthan Lord of the Rings. So this
pursuit to holiness, and it andit happens through your prayer
life, through reading scriptureor reading spiritual works, or
it could be just readingtheology, right, which isn't
(17:58):
necessarily spiritual, but it itis a spiritual kind of exercise,
but it's not spiritual.Obviously, the the sacraments,
holy Eucharist, frequentconfession, going to mass as
frequently as you can involvesall of these things. And that
involves spending what you've,you've accumulated, living what
(18:22):
you have come to learn, to know,and to believe.
Living it. That's another one ofmy problems. Living it. Doing
living like Jesus lived. Doinggood works, putting everybody
else first, very hard to do.
(18:42):
Turning away from sin and beingfaithful to the gospel, those
are two separate things. It'shard. It's hard, but what the
hell do you want? You want it tobe easy? Where's the fun in
that?
What's the point of that? Youknow what's easy? Let me tell
you something that's easy. I cansit my ass in that recliner over
(19:03):
there that you cannot see andwatch TV or or eighties movies
all day. I can't, obviously,because I have a job, but, you
know but that would be easy.
Right? Sit there and just watchmovies all day, seven days a
week. That would be easy.Wouldn't that get boring?
Wouldn't something be missingfrom my life?
(19:25):
Man, wish I could go for a walk.Man, I wish I could go work out.
Man, I wish I could spend sometime with a friend. Whatever.
Something would be missing fromyour life, and you begin to feel
it.
Not just realize it, but feelit. Right? My friends, that's
life. We all want it easy. Iwant to sleep in.
(19:46):
I don't want to go to mass. Iwant to do this. I want to do
that. I to live a sinful life aslong as I'm not hurting anybody
who cares. Well, that's life.
Right? We always want it easy,but we're missing something when
we when we live it that way. Anddeep down, you know it. Deep
down, you know it. Deep down,you know that nigh and nigh
(20:07):
draws the chase with unperturbedpace, as Francis Thompson said
in his poem, The Hound ofHeaven.
You know there's something outthere that you need to win. Deep
down in your bones, you know it.And that's that is the path to
holiness. It's hard. Yes.
It's hard. And that's normal.Because if anybody told you it
(20:31):
was going to be easy to becomelike God, they lied to you.
That's not easy by its nature.Let's see if I can read some of
these comments.
Happy Sunday. Van something saidhappy Sunday. Damn, this text is
so small. One step forward, twosteps backward. I'm right there
(20:52):
at the moment.
Thank you for sharing, said missaccountant. Miss accountant's a
great correspondent. Thank you,Accountant. That was fantastic.
We're talking about being real.
You are not real. Your life is ajourney. It's a mission. It's a
Catholic adventure to become therealest, truest, most authentic
(21:14):
version of yourself. To becomewhat God imagined when he
thought you up, before he placedyou in your mother's womb.
Because after that happened,everything started to change.
Hello to Protestant Son justjoining me tonight on this live
session with the CatholicAdventurer. Very happy to see
you here. We're talking abouthow the holier you are, the more
(21:35):
real you are, and you become tofeel it. You become to
experience it.
And folks, while I'm waiting forpeople to chime in, me let just
bring you in the know on acouple of things. I am primarily
a Catholic podcaster. I'm notprimarily a I'm sure as hell not
a social media influencer. Iwish I was, because damn,
there's some people that I wouldlike to influence the hell out
(21:55):
of. But I don't have that kindof clout.
And that's okay because I don'twant to be that famous anyway.
I'm primarily a podcaster, andit's very hard for a podcaster
to gain any traction on socialsbecause the algorithm determines
everything that you see. If thealgorithm has its reasons that
it doesn't want you to see this,it just won't show it to you. It
(22:17):
doesn't matter how much I begand plead. That just doesn't I
could I could even throw a fewbucks behind an ad campaign.
If the algorithm doesn't wantyou to see this, the algorithm
is gonna show my my ad, whateverI'm advertising, to lots of
people, but it's going to showit to people who don't care
about it. The only way that Ican get through that haze is by
(22:37):
having a direct connection withyou. So I'm gonna make this,
like, super brief. It's not evengonna take a minute. It's not
even gonna take a minute.
Check out my podcast website.The link is in the bio.
Catholicexperience.fm. The fmstands for Fiat Media.
Catholicexperience.fm.
You can find past episodesthere. You can find current
(23:00):
video episodes there. You canfind articles there. If you like
the stuff that you're hearing metalk about right now, that's the
kind of stuff that I writeabout. You'll find great
articles there.
You can subscribe so that when Idrop new episodes, you get a
notification. When I plugupcoming episodes, which I've
got a real smoker coming up, bythe way, a smoker of an episode
(23:22):
that you're gonna wanna knowabout. I'll I'll tell you this
one. Are aliens real? Do aliensexist?
And what does that mean for usas Christians? Oh, I have a lot
to say about that. Backed byscripture and theology, backed
by reason and logic. So I don'tknow when I'm gonna do that
show. It'll probably be the nextepisode.
But, if you're someone whoenjoys that kind of podcasting,
(23:45):
as a Christian, as a Catholic,and you subscribe, you don't
have to trust the algorithm tolet you know this episode is
happening or has happened, andhere's where you can find it.
The algorithm is is definitelynot gonna tell you. But by
subscribing tocatholicexperience.fm, you get a
notification right in yourinbox. You don't have to worry
about a freaking algorithm.Okay?
I don't want to, have arelationship with you through
(24:08):
the proxy of an algorithm. Iwanna have fellowship with you
one to one, a direct connection.Catholicexperience.fm is my way
of making that happen. Hello toLeo. Just join me here.
And if you're enjoying thislive, please tap that like icon,
and let the algorithm know thatthis is not such a bad guy. You
(24:29):
should not shadow ban him. Solet me give you a couple of tips
on how you can, be more real.Tell God that you want to. Tell
God that you want to be holy.
Don't think of holy as, like, areally corny, you know, Yoda.
(24:50):
Don't think of it that way.Think of think of yourself. What
what what is holy? Okay.
Imagine yourself right now.Really do this exercise. You
don't have to do it literallyright now, but literally do this
exercise. Imagine yourself rightnow. What can you identify
that's objectively good aboutyou?
I love clothes. I I askedsomeone this, and this is what
(25:14):
they told me. I love clothes. Itwas a girl, by the way, so I
guess that's okay. But that'sno.
Something else. I love thingsthat are beautiful. Now we're
getting somewhere. Okay. Clothesis one of them.
What else? What else do you lovethat's beautiful? And so on and
so on. Tell me other things ortell yourself other things that
(25:34):
are objectively good about you.I really love to laugh.
I really, really love music.Music takes me to another place,
and so on and so on. I reallylove other people. I don't know
why. Sometimes I just love otherpeople just just for their own
sake.
(25:55):
I love what some things aboutthem. Whatever. Whatever. What's
objectively good about yourself?I don't mean frivolous or
stupid, but but objectivelygood.
And they can be minor things aslong as they're objectively
good. Now what's objectively badabout you? And you know that
answer. Don't lie to yourself.Do not lie to yourself.
Do not lie to yourself. What'sbad about you that really needs
(26:18):
to change even though you loveit? Identify the things that are
objectively bad about yourselfand don't lie to yourself about
it. What is it about yourpersonality, your character that
you really don't like? Don't saysomething crazy like, I don't
like that I'm stupid.
Nobody's stupid. Nobody'sstupid. I'm not talking about
silly things. I don't like thatI'm fat. I don't like that I'm
(26:41):
skinny.
I don't like that I'm short. No,no, no. Come on now. You know
what I'm talking about. Talkingabout your character, your
personality, the choices thatyou make, the decisions you
make.
What's objectively bad aboutthose things that you know need
to change? Go to confession andgive it to God, And then bring
(27:04):
it to God in prayer. Lord, thankyou for making me someone who
loves music. I don't know. Thankyou for my love of music.
It's not just a like, it's adeep love, and I know you made
me that way. Thank you, Lord.Thank you for this or that or
the other good thing about mypersonality or about your life.
And then tell him that you'resorry for the things that are
(27:25):
bad about you. Go to confession,but also say this to him, like,
privately, you know, in in yourprayer.
And then ask him for the help tomaximize the good in you and to
diminish and purge what's bad inyou. Ask him for that help. You
(27:46):
really only have to ask him oncebecause if you're serious, he
only needs to hear it once. Butbe real serious about it. And
then, hold on to your hatbecause it's gonna be a bumpy
ride.
Begin practicing the faith anew.Start with a prayer life. Keep
(28:07):
it simple if you're notexperienced. But start with a
good prayer life. Read thescripture.
You don't have to read it like abook because it wasn't written
that way. Read a couple ofverses here and there, or read a
chapter here and there. I wouldsay if you've never read the
scriptures before, probablystart with the gospels, couple
(28:27):
of chapters here and there,maybe or a couple of verses here
and there, maybe a chapter hereand there. It's up to you. But
you don't have to read bigswaths of it.
Just read little pieces of itand think about what you're
reading. And talk to God aboutwhat you take from that reading
that you just did. Talk to Godabout it. Ask God about it. Go
(28:52):
to confession on the regular.
Don't make it this once everysix months nonsense because you
sin a lot in six months. Don'tgo once every six months. Go
once a month. Go once every twomonths at the very least. Don't
do this once every six monthscrap.
Go to mass as frequently as youcan. Bare minimum, Sundays, and
(29:13):
holy days of obligation. Do thisregularly, the Mass, the
sacraments, reading Scripture,talking to God, spending quiet
time alone with him as you sitin church. Do this frequently
And put into practice thesethings that you come to learn
(29:34):
along the way. Put it intopractice.
Live like Jesus. Be patient withyourself as you fail. Are you
better than God? No. Right?
Well, God is patient with you,so you should be patient with
yourself because you're nobetter than he is. And
(29:55):
progressively, the Holy Spiritwill lead you to up your game,
to up to level up your prayerlife and persevere as challenges
come. You do that, those thingsthat I just said, you're gonna
be a saint. When you fall, getback up and keep going. I don't
care if you fall a million timesa week, get back up and keep
going.
(30:17):
Go to confession, whatever itis. Because the fall may not be
sin. The fall may be you give upon your prayer life. Get up and
keep going. Start your prayerlife again.
Be consistent. I'm telling you,if you do all of these things
that I'm telling you, you aregoing to be a saint. A 100%.
There's no question on my mind.You're going to be a saint.
(30:37):
Well, how is it possible thatthe formula is so simple, but
sainthood is so great? How isthat possible? First, because
it's the grace of God that doesit. It's not your work that
makes you a saint. It's yourcorrupt it's your cooperation
with the grace of God.
That's number one. God made allthings out of nothing. You think
he can't make you a saint? Comeon, man. That's number one.
(31:00):
Number two. Okay. How doessomething so great happen out of
something so simple? Apart fromthe grace of God, what here's
number two. The path tosainthood is perilous.
From here to there, it'sperilous. It's Frodo and the
fellowship of the ring. It'speril. Its highs, its lows, it's
perilous. It has its glories, ithas its victories, it has its
(31:22):
amazing moments.
Yes, a thousand percent. Butit's perilous, and it's the prep
and it's the peril that weusually respond to. Right? We
can have five days of glory,five days of amazing, but two
out of two days out of the weekare perilous, and that's what we
respond and react to. Two daysof peril, I'm out.
(31:42):
Right? Five days of glory, buttwo days of peril, I'm out. As
fallen creatures, that's what wemost respond to. So there are
highs and lows, but it's thelows that really burn our ass.
And it's the lows that we reallywanna run away from.
And it takes toughness tosoldier on through those lows.
(32:08):
It takes particular toughness.You have to be very tough to be
a Catholic. You have to bestrong if you're doing it right.
It's not all peril, but it hasits peril, and the peril is what
we usually react to.
And I'll share something simplewith you as I bring this to a
close, something personal ratheras I bring this to a close. You
know, years ago when I said,make me a saint, you know, it's
(32:31):
been highs and lows. It's beenan adventure. Most of the time I
say to God, I would have it noother way. I'm down and I'm out
and it's hard, Lord.
And I'm complaining about thisand that and the other thing.
And then I say, but Lord, Iwould have it no other way. But
(32:52):
there have been times where I'vetold the Lord, I kinda wish I
didn't make that prayer. Noteven joking, like being serious
with him. Lord, I know in thepast I've told you I would have
it no other way, but I'mreconsidering right now.
That's true. It's hard, the roadto sainthood. It's not all hard,
(33:15):
but it is hard, and that'susually what we respond to, what
we react to as fallen creatures.But ask yourselves, man, that
nut job on TikTok said even whenhe was down and out, he would
tell the Lord, I would have itno other way. What would bring
him to say that?
He's down. He's out. He'shurting. He's tired. And then he
(33:40):
tells the Lord, I would have itno other way.
I swear that's the truth. Askyourself, what would make him
say that? You need to find outfor yourself. Let me just see if
there's anybody here that Ishould acknowledge. How do you
(34:01):
know if you Damn this thing.
How do you know if you are selfsabotaging? Oh, good question.
How do you know if you are selfsabotaging and falling into
scrupulosity? Okay. Damn, that'sa good question.
In the way to sainthood, how doyou know that you're not self
(34:22):
sabotaging? How do you know thatyou're not falling into
scrupulosity? Scrupulosity isbasically nitpicking yourself.
Right? For instance, I'm goingto daily mass.
I'm having my coffee and mycream half an hour before mass
starts. Oh, now I can't receivecommunion because I'm supposed
(34:42):
to fast an hour before mass andI lost track of time. Now I
cannot receive holy communion.Lighten up. Go receive
communion.
Go to Mass and receivecommunion. It's not a mortal
sin. Yes, you're supposed tofast, but take it easy on
yourself. You lost track oftime. It's not like you were
indulging.
You didn't do it on purpose.Okay? But saying I shouldn't
(35:05):
receive communion because Iaccidentally had coffee with
cream in it, that'sscrupulosity. Taking yourself
too seriously leads toscrupulosity. Not taking
yourself seriously enough leadsto presumption in God's mercy.
So how do you find the balance?Try your hardest and be patient
(35:30):
with your failures. Try yourhardest. Be patient with your
failures. Failing is part of theprocess.
Don't try to fail. Don't permityour failures, but be patient
and tolerant of your failuresbecause failing is part of it.
God has made it so. God doesn'tbring you to fail, but he uses
(35:51):
your failures to bring youcloser to holiness. Believe it
or not.
He uses your failures to bringyou closer to holiness. Can you
believe it? Who would who elsewould think of something so
crazy but God himself? Okay.Sometimes you fall into this
cycle of rising and falling andrising and falling.
Oh, I'm just I'm just so tiredof falling. I might as well just
(36:12):
stay down. Don't do that. Thecycle brings you closer to
holiness. It's not really acycle.
It is forward momentum. You justdon't see it yet. So you're self
sabotaging you're selfsabotaging if your self
governance is keeping you frommoving toward the objective
(36:34):
good. I drank coffee with cream.I shouldn't receive communion.
Your self governance is keepingyou from the objective good. Are
you in a state of mortal sin?No. Go receive communion. Just
shut up and go.
Okay? Also, have reasonablefaith in God's mercy. But self
(36:59):
sabotage listen. I'm gonna tellyou a little thing. Self
sabotaging is real because thedevil can't really knock you off
your horse.
He can make you fall off of it,but it's you who does it. One of
the ways he does that is throughself sabotage. He makes you pray
(37:19):
let's say you're starting yourprayer life. Okay? You're not
used to praying, but you'redoing like an hour, father, hail
Mary, and a glory be before bed.
And you're like, I feel like Ishould pray more. I'm gonna pray
10 rosaries every day. 10rosaries. And you're up to the
seventh rosary, which is a lotof rosaries. And now it's making
(37:40):
you crazy, but no, I wanna beholy.
I gotta get through this rosary.You know who's making you do 10
rosaries a day? The devil. It'snot the holy spirit. Absolutely.
The devil will push you to praybeyond your capacity to pray. We
all have a finite capacity topray, my friends. We all have a
(38:00):
finite capacity to praydepending on your experience.
Okay? I can't stay I'm gonna bevery honest with you.
I don't like saying the rosary.It makes me crazy. I cannot get
through a five decade rosary ifI can. It's by a tremendous act
of grace. I have to break it up.
Three decades here, two decadesthere, and so on. I have to
(38:22):
break Benedict the sixteenthalso could not get through a
whole rosary. Did you know that?He said it himself. He he said
he could not get through a wholerosary.
He prayed the rosary throughoutthe day, but he broke it up. Two
decades, three decades, and soon. The devil will push you to
pray beyond your capacity. He'llmake you think it's an act of
piety. It is not.
Okay? If it if something feelsfeels painful, ease up. But the
(38:47):
devil will push you to acts ofpiety that aren't actually good
for you. He'll push you toexcess. On the other other
extreme, he'll push you tolaxity.
Yeah, you don't have to praybefore bed. You're tired. Just
go to sleep. Well, and this isme now talking. It's not a sin
to skip that prayer, but it'sreal unwise.
(39:08):
Very unwise. You have tomaintain these major pillars of
your prayer life. I'm exhausted.It's an Our Father, Hail Mary,
and Glory be. Don't bitch andmoan to me.
Just say your prayer, then yougo to sleep. Sorry. Former
Marine here. I don't play that.Don't bitch and moan to me.
(39:32):
Say your little prayer there,and then you can go to sleep.
The devil will push you tolaxity. He will also push you to
excess. Ask the Holy Spirit tohelp you find the balance, and
the Holy Spirit will. The HolySpirit will help you find the
balance.
Excess is never good. That's agood rule of thumb. So those are
a couple of things, couple ofpointers I can give you. How do
you how do you know you're notself sabotaging? Are you moving
(39:55):
toward the good or beingdeflected from it?
Are you stunted, or are youmoving forward? Are you hurting
yourself, or are you feeling inyour groove? Are you feeling in
your groove or are you feelingreally relaxed? You don't wanna
feel relaxed, but you don'twanna feel like you're killing
(40:15):
yourself. Get to where you'rebalanced, you're feeling in your
groove, and have faith in God'smercy.
He knows you're not perfect. Godknows that we're all stupid and
he knows that we're all weak.Okay? But take it seriously.
Take it seriously.
You don't, you know, you don'twant to be like, oh, I can just
send my life away. God willunderstand. Don't do that. Take
(40:37):
it seriously and make a goodeffort, but be patient with your
faults. Be patient with yourfailures.
Be patient with yourshortcomings. But don't be
tolerant of them. Be patientwith them, but don't be tolerant
of them. This has to change.That has to change.
Be patient with them, but don'ttolerate them. I come from a
(41:01):
Protestant background, lots ofhard truth and teaching in the
church. There's not a lot ofhard teaching in the church. I
I'll I'll be honest with you.It's harder to be a Jew.
It's harder to be a Muslim. Nota lot of hard teaching in the
church. It's hard, though, ifyou're coming from the secular
(41:22):
world. It's hard. You know, toput it this way very simply, if
you're used to eating six mealsa day with cupcakes and cookies
in between each meal, then it'shard to eat healthy.
Very hard. But when you'realways eating healthy or after
(41:44):
you've gotten used to eatinghealthy, it's like, it's not
even an effort. It's not even aneffort. The hardest thing about
being Catholic is the act ofsurrender. You have to surrender
to the Magisterium.
As a Protestant, you are theMagisterium. You have to
surrender to the Mass. You haveto surrender to Jesus in the
(42:09):
Eucharist. It's a surrenderbecause as a Catholic, the
steering wheel is taken out ofyour hands. And now it now the
magisterium holds the steeringwheel, which is g which is what
Jesus Christ designed.
You take worship out of yourhands. When we go to mass, we
are worshiping with the priest,but the priest is offering the
(42:31):
worship for us. Again, that isGod's design. Right? So we have
to worship according to theformula of the church throughout
time.
Right? So you get the point. Inthe Catholic world, in the
Catholic experience, there is alot of surrender. Surrender to
(42:51):
Jesus, which is hard. Surrenderto God.
Surrender to the Magisteriumbecause that is surrendered to
Jesus. Because the Magisteriumhas his authority to teach.
Right? I tell people all thetime, you know, I think X and Y
This is them saying, I think Xand Y and Z aren't a sin. And
(43:11):
then I say, Well, theMagisterium teaches or the
Church teaches, and they do notlike hearing that.
I don't care what the churchteaches. I think, buh buh buh
buh buh buh buh Okay. But I wantto tell you, when you face
Jesus, which will happen at theend of your life or at the
resurrection if he comes againbefore you die, When you face
(43:33):
Jesus, he's not going to carewhat you thought, what you felt.
He's going to say, my church hadmy authority, my teaching
authority, and my church rightlysaid that x and y and z and a
and b and c are doctrine, aretruth. And someone told you
(43:53):
that, and you still rejected it.
And Jesus is gonna say, now tellme why. Tell me why. What are
you gonna tell Jesus? Well, Ijust felt dot dot dot dot dot.
You how do you think Jesus isgonna respond to that?
Oh, you just felt? Depart fromme, you evildoer. Jesus don't
(44:14):
play games, man. He's love andhe's mercy and all that stuff.
He is also justice and he doesnot mess around.
You you're not gonna con Jesus.You're not gonna con your way
into heaven. Yeah. I know Inever went to church, but you
gotta understand. Bum bum bumbum bum bum bum That's you
trying to con your way intoheaven.
(44:34):
You're not gonna con your waypast Jesus. Come on. You think
he's dumb? He's the savior ofthe world. God made everything
from nothing.
You're gonna con him? You got tounderstand, God. I know I
shouldn't have slept with allthose girls, but you got to
understand, you know, I'm a man,you know, and I got feelings of
this and that. And Jesus isgoing listen to it and you go,
(44:55):
uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And that's what Jesus is goingto say. You think you're going
to con your way past Jesus? Youain't going to con Jesus. All
right. Let's see who else hasanything to say before I head on
out of here.
Some good question there. How doyou know you're not falling into
(45:16):
scrupulosity yet? I just wannaretouch that. How do you know
you're not falling intoscrupulosity? Take the journey
seriously, but don't takeyourself too seriously.
I'm gonna leave you with thislast thought, I really want you
to take this to heart. Weunderestimate the value, the
dignity, and the power of thehuman person. You don't take
(45:37):
yourself seriously enough insome ways is what I mean. You
know, when God came to Earth, hecame as a human being. He came
as a man, but that's that part'snot important right now.
He didn't come as a dog. He cameas a human being. I got
something else for you that youthat might shock you. God could
(45:59):
not have come to earth as a dog.You're thinking God can do
whatever he wants.
No, he can't. God only doesthings that make sense. He can't
do things that don't make sense.Can God blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah? Well, that doesn'tmake sense.
So no, God can't do that. If Godwanted to come as a dog, he
would have had to changereality. Do you know why?
(46:20):
Because a dog's nature isincompatible with the nature of
God. God can't become a dog.
God could become a human beingbecause the nature of God is
compatible with the nature ofthe human person that God
created. Do you know what thatsays about you? That your nature
is compatible with the nature ofGod and that's why he was able
to come and incarnate and becomeincarnate in the womb of the
(46:41):
blessed virgin Mary and become aman, become a human being? Do
you know what that says abouthow great you are? I'm serious.
It says a lot about thegreatness of the human being. We
don't take ourselves seriouslyenough, and sometimes we take
ourselves too seriously. Sohere's how you make that balance
(47:02):
in the end. Okay? You'rewelcome, miss accountant.
Miss account says, thank you somuch for sharing your faith. You
gave me hope tonight. Oh, thatmakes me feel so good, man. You
gave me hope tonight. That makesme feel so that right there is
my salary.
Right there. That's what I dothis for. Right there. I don't
care if you never remember who Iam. If this got you to the next
(47:22):
if this got got you to the nextwaypoint in your journey, that's
good enough for me, man.
That's good enough for me.That's why I do this. So here's
how you find balance. How do webalance between taking ourselves
too seriously and not takingourselves seriously enough? You
are fallen.
You are weak. You are stupid.That's literal. Okay? Sin, even
(47:42):
original sin, made us weak.
It weakened the will, and itmade us stupid. It darkened the
intellect. How weak and howstupid are you? Well, let's see.
Have you ever been on a diet?
Okay. Have you ever said, I'm ona diet. I will not eat that
muffin. And you ate the muffinanyway? You're weak and you're
stupid.
All of us are. All of us are.This is a sin, and I know why
(48:04):
it's a sin. I know that this sinis hurting me, or I know this
sin hurts others, but I'm gonnado this sin anyway. You're weak
and you're stupid.
We all are. Okay? You have toacknowledge that. So be patient
with yourself. You're weak,you're stupid, that's why
there's a whole mechanism ofmercy in the church.
(48:24):
Confession, the sacraments.That's why there's an entire
mechanism of mercy in the Churchof Jesus Christ, the Catholic
Church. Okay? Because you'reweak and you're stupid. That's
that God knows that.
That's that's why this wholemachine is here, because he
knows that you're weak andyou're stupid. He also knows
that you are great. You arecreated in his image and
likeness, and he expects betterfrom you. But he knows that's
(48:46):
going to take time. And he'sgoing to be patient with you,
and he's going to accompany you,and he's going to help you, and
he's going to pick you up whenyou fall, if you would only ask.
You would only ask. God knowsthat you that you've got issues,
but he knows you are greaterthan your issues are. And he
(49:10):
insists that you keep trying andthat you try harder. But be
patient with your shortcomings.Be patient with your falling as
long as you're getting up andtrying again and trying harder.
Jesus Christ, God did not cometo earth as a dog because their
natures are incompatible. Hewould have had to change reality
(49:31):
to come to to to Earth as a dog.Serious. But he could come to
Earth as a human being, and thatshould tell you something about
how great you are, that yournature is compatible with the
nature of God. God madesomething unbelievable.
I'm folks, I'm not being poetic.God made something truly
unbelievable when he made you.Not just human beings, you.
(49:54):
Truly unbelievable. Truly,truly, truly, truly magnificent
and unbelievable.
And this beautiful, magnificent,unbelievable thing is being
scarred and marred and weigheddown by sin, by a lack of
holiness and so on. So you'vegot to shake yourself loose from
it. And it's sticky. It's damnsticky. So shaking yourself
loose of it happens piece bypiece, layer by layer.
(50:17):
It's just part it's just how itis. You're not gonna be a saint
by tomorrow. So you have topersevere through the process of
peeling this, frankly, this shitoff of you and away from you and
getting it out of your life andout of your personality and out
of your character. It takes timepiece by piece, layer by layer,
and you have to perseverethrough it all. So this amazing
(50:38):
thing that God created canbecome exactly exactly how God
imagined it before space andtime began, before he placed you
in your mother's womb.
This mission is a journey to beexactly what God thought up when
he thought you up and he went,wow. That's gonna be a great
(51:00):
one. This has been a livesession with the Catholic
Adventurer. Folks, check out mywebsite. The link is in my bio.
Catholic atcatholicexperience.fm.
Catholicexperience.fm. I reallyhope you also decide to
(51:21):
subscribe. It's free.Catholicexperience.fm.
And I am the Catholic adventurerwishing you all a good night.
God bless you. God be with youall. Say your prayers tonight,
man, and don't forget, bro, takeyourself not too seriously, but
take yourself seriously. You aregreater than you realize.
God bless you. God be with youall. Catholic Adventurer signing
(51:42):
out of here. Bye bye. TikTokjust wanted me to confirm that
(52:04):
I'm a real person.
TikTok, you're so stupid. Honestto God, you really are. I've
been live here moving aroundtalking and for, like, an hour.
You you now you wanna know ifI'm real? Holy crap.
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