Pints With Aquinas - Mary Maximilism (Gabriel Castillo) | Ep. 598

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Starting point is 00:01:12 What if a few minutes with God could change the direction of your entire day? With pray.com, you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible stories and messages created to strengthen your faith. Whether you need peace, encouragement, or a fresh start, pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday life. Download the pray.com app today. I'm going to just burst out of the gate with an accusation against you. Let's stop talking about Mary. You Catholics are obsessed with her.

Starting point is 00:01:51 You say she points us to Jesus. And then when we find Jesus, you keep pointing us back to Mary. Mary doesn't need any attention. Mary doesn't want any attention. Her only desire is that her children love Jesus Christ, become like Jesus Christ, think about Jesus Christ, become obsessed with Jesus Christ. My fear is that when you start talking, like if you don't wear the brown scapula or wear miraculous metal, you're somehow a deficient Catholic Catholic Church. I think any time the mother of God finds it as a priority that I'm going to enter into human history and say something. and then the church says this is of divine origin, I would look into it.

Starting point is 00:02:33 Yeah, I wonder, though, if this is where you and I disagree, right? Because I see the luminous mysteries the way John Paul II did, namely as a suggestion. He did say that adding the luminous mysteries would provide a fuller look at the life of Christ. You're missing his entire public ministry, especially you're missing the institution of the sacraments. The biggest lesson of my life is not to run from the cross. It is a difficult journey And the person who will take you to the foot of the cross Is the person who journeyed with Jesus

Starting point is 00:03:03 Most intimately to the foot of the cross Gabby Castillo Thank you for coming back on the show Matt Frad When I was asked to come on the show Melanie, the lady who is scheduling me gave me a list of dates And of course I'm a very Marian guy

Starting point is 00:03:27 So I'm like what feast days are there Mm-hmm July 16th is when we're filming this The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel So I say, I'd love to do July 16th of it's available. And then Melanie says, you know that's Matt's birthday. And I said, even better reason for me to come on.

Starting point is 00:03:43 And so I took that sign of divine providence at the date that I was given free to choose would be your birthday. Yeah. And so I asked the Blessed Mother, Blessed Mother, All right. What should we give Matt Frad for the birthday? And she put on my heart something. He doesn't need anything. No, she put on my heart something very special that's very thoughtful.

Starting point is 00:04:02 But before I bought it, I went on to my Patreon. And I asked my patrons, would anybody like to donate a dollar to support Matt Frad as a sign of your appreciation for all the hard work and the good work? And the money just kept rolling in. So your birthday present got slightly better. Yeah. All right. That's very sweet of you. I know you like when people like stuff.

Starting point is 00:04:24 I love. Yeah, I love that. So there's a lot of thought put into this, but I'll let you open it first. So this is one of my little hobbies, my little. It's very sweet of you. Audities about myself. And I want to say before I open this, me getting to sit down with Gabby to talk about the Blessed Virgin, what a birthday gift. Hey, our lady's will.

Starting point is 00:04:43 You were born on her feast day. And I was baptized by Carmelite. And we didn't realize this too much later on. My mom's middle name is Marie Carmel. No way. All right, here we go. Looks like a very cool pen. It is a very cool pen.

Starting point is 00:05:00 I'll get mine out. It says Ave Marie. Wow, that's a beautiful. Yeah, it's... If I press this, it's not going to shoot a dart. It's a bolt action pen, kind of like the old bolt action shotguns. Wow, yeah. It's meant to be an EDC in everyday carry.

Starting point is 00:05:13 Okay. It's made out of zirconium, which is a rare metal that's very hard to machine. What? So there's a lot of reasons why I got that for you. One is because you have been saying and asking a lot of your guests, what do you suppose is with the conversions in the church, and of course there's many answers, there's Pope Leo, there's... Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:31 The Holy Spirit is moving. But one undeniable fact is that social media, in particular, your ministry, is reaching a lot, a lot of people. And so a pen, because the word is mightier than the sword for starting a revolution, a spiritual revolution. And the words, Ave Maria, because those are the most important words in human history, the turning point of salvation history. And I specifically use my pen to discern God's will. So I know you've been praying the rosary a lot. And as we've discussed before, the rosary isn't the end. The end is union with God, union with His Holy Will.

Starting point is 00:06:09 And so when you're praying your rosary and you get a little idea, you write it down, you write down the little inspiration. So hopefully you'll keep your pen with you. It's beautiful. I love that it's, I love the weight of it and I love that it's small. It's not too long. But I don't want to write on this book. Can I try to write on one of your empty pages there? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:27 This. When I turned 43, because you're 43, sorry to disclose the age. Happy to be 43. Now that you wrote with it. So it uses a pilot G2 refill, pilot G2 mini refill. So if you ever run out of ink, also that company has a lifetime warranty on that pen. So if anything ever brings. It was very nice of you.

Starting point is 00:06:53 Thank you very much. I like it. Let me just. I'm going to just burst out of the gate with an accusation against you. Happily. All right. Way too much about Mary, dude. Yes.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Just, and this, of course, is an accusation against Catholics in general. Sure. Let's stop talking about Mary. You Catholics are obsessed with her. Yes. And fair enough. Like, I honor her, the Protestant might say, I don't make it sound like I hate her. I don't hate her.

Starting point is 00:07:19 I love her. She's the mother of Christ, of course. But you need to calm down because the problem with you Catholics is you say she points us to Jesus. And then when we find Jesus, you keep pointing us back to Mary. Right. Stop it. Right. And I'll level some more accusations against myself. Do it. Do it. Yeah. They will say things like, and it's always a good thing to hear it after they've converted, they will say things like, when I first came across you, I thought you were insane. I thought you're over the top. You're just way too zealous. You're way too pushy. And I am extraordinarily

Starting point is 00:07:52 zealous and I am extraordinarily over the top. But I'm over the top first and foremost for Jesus Christ. So my heart, my mind, my soul is honestly thinking about becoming more like Christ, acting like Christ, receiving Christ, being in the presence of Christ, in the Eucharist, in the Gospels. And I want nothing more than it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives through me. And I have heard, and I've said it many times, that the fastest, easiest, most efficient way to do that is with Mary in Mary and through Mary. So a lot of times people will think that I'm like, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary. But it's only because Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Starting point is 00:08:35 And people will say things like, well, why are you pushing the rosary so hard when that goes to Mary like 50 times? And again, it's a misunderstanding of Mary's role. Mary doesn't need any attention Mary doesn't want any attention Her only desire Is that her children Love Jesus Christ

Starting point is 00:09:00 Become like Jesus Christ Think about Jesus Christ Become obsessed with Jesus Christ So if that's what you want If you want to be free from sin If you want to love Jesus Become obsessed with Jesus Become obsessed with the sacraments

Starting point is 00:09:14 Become as holy as possible I'm saying that the best way to do that is through the Virgin Mary And this is absolutely essential for people to understand Mary's heart. So the Virgin Mary looks at every single individual like a child, like her very, very own child. And the reason why most people don't understand that is because they have not thought more about what motherhood is. So I would say that the overwhelming majority of my Mariology has been impacted by my wife. So I've learned more about Mary and how much she loves me through watching my wife in her maternal activities.

Starting point is 00:09:57 So I don't know about you, but for me, one of the most profound things that I've ever seen, ever, that I think about regularly, especially when I'm worried or anxious, is the way that my wife looked at my daughter when she was being born. Like so my wife had a C-section and C-section, it's a mess. It's a miserable thing. There's a little blue curtain. I recommend, don't look over the blue curtain. I also recommend this. As the husband of a wife with four C-section. Yeah, my wife also, four C-sections, yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:30 So I just know that had that been me, I would have been really concerned about myself. And when I saw my wife look at my daughter specifically because I was kind of really distracted in the previous ones to have a spiritual moment, I understood the way. I understood the way that the Virgin Mary looks at me. So my wife looks at my daughter, and I imagine all women do this, that they just can't help it. They want to see what is this miracle inside of me, and they're just like enraptured with the presence of this person. And then when the saints say things like, that's the way the Virgin Mary looks at you at every single second, that her maternity and her sanctity are deeply intertwined. And so if she's going to be a good mother, she has to look at us that way.

Starting point is 00:11:12 And then just so many other things, when my children cry and I'm a man, I'm a good man, I'm a very good man, but I'm a man, I have the ability to tune out their cries and I can focus in on whatever it is that I want to do. I'm sorry, I'm working on this, but my wife can't tune it out. And then she will lose her patience. Sometimes, I don't know I'm saying she's losing her patience, but sometimes her voice will get a little sharper and she'll ask me, can't you hear them crying? And I'd be like, now that you mention it, I think I did hear something.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Don't you know that it hurts me when they cry, that my breast fills up with milk if I can't feed them, that causes a deep, intense pain. And so if that's how an earthly mother, here's the cries of her children, how much more the mother of God, who loves us, according to San Alphonsis, with the love of every mother who has ever lived combined into one person. and when I cry out, according to St. Bernard, when I cry out, never was it known that she left anybody unaided? Because it is wired in her as original woman as the perfect woman to nourish her children, to nourish them, to console them, to protect them, to take care of them. So she doesn't want to take attention. She wants to help her children become like Christ. She wants to console her children, but most importantly, she wants to help them become like Christ. That is really her ultimate desire, become like Jesus Christ. And I'll give you a couple of ways that she can do

Starting point is 00:12:46 that if you're interested. But go ahead. I'm interested in hear your reflections. Well, you know, it's interesting leading interviews like this, because I'm aware that we have a variety of viewers. Right. We have some Catholics who are beginning with our baseline assumptions. And so it's like, and they're probably on board. Yeah. And I'm happy to kind of appeal to mainly, them in this episode, right? We could have done an episode where it's like how to help Protestants understand where Catholics are coming from. I don't want to leave Protestants aside, but this is going to be primarily for Catholics, but I would like to, just in the beginning of this episode, just let's just, because you've made an assumption, right? The assumption is that she's somehow

Starting point is 00:13:21 our mother. And not just that, but that she knows us individually, which makes it sound like she's our mother and she's maybe omniscient or omnipotent or something. And that sounds like blasphemy, the Protestant would say. And they have a good heart and they're not trying to be combative. Yep. And prima facie, it kind of does. Right. So what on earth? Let's address this. Right. So the role of the Christian is to become another Christ. Every sacrament that Jesus instituted was for us to become like him. We received Jesus in Holy Communion. That's as intimate of a relationship you can ever have. We are baptized into his mystical body. Whenever we go astray, we are reconciled to be perfectly united to him again through the sacrament of confession.

Starting point is 00:14:05 And in the incarnation, when Mary said yes to be the mother of the Redeemer, she also said yes to be the mother of the entire body of Christ, the mystical body of Christ, as well as the physical body of Christ. And at the enunciation, when the angel Gabriel says to her, hail full of grace, he's not simply saying, hello, holy woman. the Greek actually says that he's saying specific individual, hail you who are maximally full of grace, the holiest being in creation.

Starting point is 00:14:40 And that's a title, but it's also a responsibility. It's also a responsibility. And in order to appreciate Mary's maternity, it's absolutely essential to understand her own sufferings at the crucifixion. So according to the mystical writers, San Alphonsez, pause to my private. Protestant brothers and sisters and into Catholics.

Starting point is 00:15:01 One of the things that it bothers me, it bothers me a little bit, that Catholic discourse concerning the Virgin Mary for the most part on the internet is aimed at the basic apologetics. And it's kind of like, we're doing Mary maximalism. How do we get past the basic apologetics for the person who wants to enter deeper into this relationship with the Virgin Mary? Exactly. Can I use an analogy? Please. It would be like if every time you hear a Christian talk to a Muslim, you just hear them saying, no, no, we believe in one God and Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but they never get to the point where they tell you how you can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, who Jesus Christ was, how to understand Him, where you should be another Christ.

Starting point is 00:15:40 At some point, like, come on, we've got to stop eating, drinking milk and start going on to solid food. That's right. I got a feeling that today's going to be about solid food. I hope so. I pray it. So I pray that the Holy Spirit guides us in that direction. So in order to understand Mary in her motherhood and how much she loves you, you have to understand what she suffered at the crucifixion. So according to the mystical writers, specifically St. Alphonseus Ligari, Doctor of the Church, Dr. Moral Theology, in his book The Glories of Mary, he said that because Mary, one, she is the mother of Christ.

Starting point is 00:16:10 So no human on earth can love Jesus like Mary loved him because that's her son and nobody else has a claim to that title. then to be mother of God, that unique title, demands a unique grace to be able to fulfill that role. And then on top of that, because she was immaculate and capable of a theological virtue of love that no other human being is capable of because she received that grace, and because Jesus deserves that grace, Jesus deserves to be worshipped, adored for every drop of blood to be counted, for every hair on his head, for every whip to be appreciated. He deserves that. We can all agree upon that. And God the Father provided that through Mary. And so according to St. Alphonseus, everything that Jesus suffered in the flesh, Mary suffered

Starting point is 00:17:00 in the soul. So just as a mother who would see her child scrape his knee and hit his head, she would wince in a way that's stronger than the father. She'd be like, oh my, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, baby. And there's something that wells up within her. So because the mother of God is capable of so much more love, when she sees Christ suffer like that, when she sees him getting whipped, she understands his innocence, his purity like no other human. So she's like, oh my gosh, not only that's my son. Oh my gosh, a creature's doing this to the alpha and the omega.

Starting point is 00:17:34 What a horrible thing. And so it causes her an interior torment at every phase of the passion. So the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the caring. of the cross, we just can't imagine the soul, the sword through the soul that she experienced. And as a youth minister, I often say that Jesus would have suffered the entire passion just for you. Like, you're unique. God knows you. God loves you.

Starting point is 00:18:03 God has his hand on your life. He has a plan for you. So to the mother of God. She cooperated. She said yes to go along with this. She supported Christ. She didn't say, no, don't go to the cross. She was like, do it, do the will of the Heavenly Father.

Starting point is 00:18:17 And so she also said yes. To do what? To be your mother. So at the cross, the last thing that Jesus does to unite us to him is to the disciple whom he loved. The only apostle to have made it to the very end, the Marian soul, take her into your own home. This is your mother now. Treat her like a mother. And that's what Jesus is saying to us.

Starting point is 00:18:42 And so when I say that Mary loves you specifically and individually, how much does she love you? That she would suffer the entire passion just to call you, my son, just to say, I love you. And so it genuinely hurts her when her Protestant children, for example, say she takes away from Jesus. I don't want anything to do with her. And like, how would you feel if you're a mother, if your children said, I don't want anything to do with you? Stay away from me. You're keeping me from God. And she's like, all as I want is for you to get closer to God.

Starting point is 00:19:15 I don't want to take your attention away from him. I just want to help you. And Jesus Christ gave me you as my responsibility to nourish you, yes, to help you, to console you, to do what only a mother can do. One of my children, I love her, she is a phlegmatic, I'm all about the temperaments. So a phlegmatic person is somebody who's kind of slow, kind of quiet, kind of introverted. my daughter Louisa lovely beautiful young woman

Starting point is 00:19:42 I love her I love all my children but Louis the quiet one you always got to especially because I'm caloric so phlegmatics they make me feel comfortable so when Louisa's sick

Starting point is 00:19:51 I say little Louie come on give me a hug what's wrong I put my forehead on hers I'm very I'm very love language touch oh my little Louie I don't care if I get sick I love you I just want you to feel better

Starting point is 00:20:02 and you know what she says to me all this love all the love of the father you know what she says right No. Where's mom? Ah. Where's mom?

Starting point is 00:20:12 And mom comes in beautiful, lovely woman. Holy woman, good woman, taught me all these things about the mother of God through her living out her feminine genius. And mom gives her a Tylenol, the same Tylenol I offered her. But for some reason, once mom enters the room, something physiologically changes in the child. The same illness exists. But I feel like everything's going to be okay once mom has entered the room. and God has wired us to have this love for our mother. If you could just get over the fact that you think that she's taking attention away from Jesus Christ.

Starting point is 00:20:50 But I want to address even one more little point because a lot of people want to love Mary. And they'll say, I want to. I really, I tried praying the rosary. I really, really want to. And this is a painful lesson that I am learning. And we can talk about it later about fasting and my failures. But these kind of special graces to love Mary, to be really devoted to the Eucharist and not quit on a regular adoration, to fast effectively, these special things that set the soul apart, we cannot merit them. We cannot do it by our own force.

Starting point is 00:21:24 We have to ask for the grace. So if you struggle with Mary, if you know that, you know, I see it, I get it, I just can't do it. Blessed Mother, I can't do it. Please help me. Jesus, son of the living God, give me your eyes that I can see her the way that you see her. Give me your heart that I might love her

Starting point is 00:21:43 the way that you love her. And the grace will come. If you're struggling to pray the rosary, I can't do this. I'm a miserable failure. I'll give you one example. So I was at Steubenville South in Alexandria. And my biggest failure lately,

Starting point is 00:21:58 I hope we can talk about it, is fasting. I'm deeply convicted that fasting is essential for masculinity. And I used to have no problem with fasting. When I came on your program a couple years back, boy, I could go two, three days without eating. Oh, man, look at me, I got it under control.

Starting point is 00:22:15 And something has happened that I just can't, I can't do it. I fail on a regular basis. So I had made this resolution, you know, and there's a lot of reasons why I made these resolutions, but I was like, I'm not going to eat for 28 hours or something. So I'm at Steubenville Conference. They have, this is Alexandria. They have jumbalia.

Starting point is 00:22:33 Oh, and they're cooking it in a large vat, and I said, well, well, okay. And then I ate it afterwards, I was like, oh. And I was standing off by myself, and I was like, I am such a failure. Blessed Mother, I can't do this. I'm a weak man. And then a guy comes up to me, he's like, you Gabriel, Castillo? Yes, I am. Can I ask you a question?

Starting point is 00:22:56 I was like, yeah, go ahead. I'm struggling with lust, and I can't pray the rosary, and I was like, Ah, same thing. Same thing, bro. I was literally just pouring my heart out to God through the Blessed Mother. I can't do this. Please help me. I was once where you were at.

Starting point is 00:23:14 Like when I was wrestling with lust as a younger man, I was at the point where I can't do this. I can't keep going forward. I don't have what it takes. That's exactly where God wants you. That's exactly where God wants you. So that when you overcome your lust, when you overcome, in my case my gluttony, when you overcome this hesitancy with the Virgin Mary and that all of a sudden you get it

Starting point is 00:23:38 and your life has changed, I can't take credit for that. Like that was something that God did in me and thanks be to God. I am so thankful for the Blessed Mother. And I think that people meet a lot of zealous Catholics and they're like, ooh, easy. And it's true, you meet me.

Starting point is 00:23:53 And if I'm amongst friends, I'll be like, Mary this, Mary's will of that. You know, Blessed Mother help me. And they're like, but it's because she's so, successful. Like, these are people effusive about a person who's doing real things in their life in protecting and guarding and consoling. Years ago, a husband and a wife in Lithuania sent me one of their handmade rosaries, and I was so struck by it, the weight, the quality, the care in every detail. It was seriously the most beautiful rosary I'd ever seen. Now, in collaboration with Theotokos Rosaries,

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Starting point is 00:24:58 So, pre-order yours now at dailywire.com. shop before the next batch is gone. That's dailywire.com slash shop. Well, I think it's important to acknowledge, too, that I won't be everyone's cup of tea. You won't be everyone's cup of tea. And it's okay if what people are hearing from you, they don't resonate with. There might be somebody else they listen to who talks about a relationship with the blessed mother or prayer. That that resonates with me. We all do this. Even as Catholics, there are particular saints that we almost feel guilty for not appreciating, but we don't have to feel guilty. We don't have to be everyone's cup of tea. And so even in the saints as they talk about the Blessed Virgin Mary, I remember reading

Starting point is 00:25:35 Louis de Montfort and going, okay, I can acknowledge he's a saint and that this is an excellent piece of work. I don't. And it's not always your fault in this sense, right? It's like, just because classical music is better than rap, clearly, it doesn't mean you're supposed to appreciate every form of classical music. And if you don't, there's something wrong with you, we have different temperaments and we're attracted to different things. And I think likewise, when it comes to the saints and with how you and I express ourselves, we don't always have to resonate with that. Yeah. And I want to just round about what you said about all of us having different temperaments, different personalities. I am not good at apologetics. Like, I am not, I am not good at apologizing.

Starting point is 00:26:22 No, that too, that too. But I'm not good at apologetics. If you want to know, you go to Catholic answers, you go to Jimmy Aiken, you go to Trump. Brenthorn. These guys know scripture inside and out. My mind is more spiritual, mystical, relational. How do you apply Mariology to your everyday and practical life? And that's the beautiful part about the mystical body of Christ is that we're all doing different things. But if we all do God's will, there will be a harmony. Yeah, exactly. It'd be like if you were looking at one field of inquiry, say, I don't know, astronomy or something, and you're reading it and you're wondering why it's not answering culinary stuff.

Starting point is 00:27:00 And, you know, it's like, that's not what you're going here for. You know, like the questions are legitimate, but you got to take him somewhere else. Yeah. And I think likewise, you know, you speak in a way that's similar to De Montfort and others. They talk effusively about her. And I guess I have more of that analytical, philosophical mind, where I want to pause you every four seconds, be like, justify yourself. Because all you're doing is telling me analogies. Yes.

Starting point is 00:27:22 You're appealing to mystics and saints. which we reverence, but who aren't infallible, right? That's what I want to do. Yeah, be quite honest with you. But my point is, now that I've worked through independently of this interview, a lot of things that you've brought up, I don't have those reservations anymore. Good. Now, I know.

Starting point is 00:27:41 And can I just say one more thing? And likewise, I think you could say something similar. If you're listening to someone like Jimmy Aiken, incredibly brilliant guy, very analytical, you might listen to him and wonder the opposite. Right. Where's the heart and the effusiveness? and the and the that sort of that sort of thing. And it's not that it's not there.

Starting point is 00:28:00 It's just that that's not how he's wired and that's not how he talks and that's okay. And we're all meant for different things. So I sometimes get frustrated with apologists because they're like, you don't have to do this, you don't have to do that. And I'm like, get up. We've got a war to win.

Starting point is 00:28:13 We need warriors. We got to do more than this. Let's go, let's go. So you have to balance me out with somebody else because I'm like the coach who's like, victory, we must move forward up. And that's the complementarity of the sexes. That's the complementarity in the body of Christ.

Starting point is 00:28:30 And that's right to get back to an earlier point you made, which I agreed with where you were saying how apologists sometimes set the bar so low and that's all they ever do. There's a reason for that too that I think is and it's that we're just trying to get people into the bark of Peter. Right. Exactly. What is it? I have to believe. Well, here's what you have to believe. You don't have to sound like De Montfort or even re with De Montfort and everything, so on.

Starting point is 00:28:52 So I think there is to this. But I think once you're in the bark of Peter, and that's when you start gravitating towards these different ways of expressing yourself or different saints, and that's where you can go deeper. I want to share with you one of the meditations that really makes me kind of insanely zealous. Like the most zealous, like it just turns me on. Like, I'm already wired, dude. And then I do this little meditation.

Starting point is 00:29:16 I'm like, where shall we go? What must we conquer? I'm ready. All right. So I am not about all the different. different devotions and we can talk about because a lot of people will say what's scapular there's so many scapulars what and then what metal do I wear and all so I'm not about that life so I'm a very simple man I'm like brown scapular miraculous metal rosary that's it ain't nobody got time for anything that's I'm a very

Starting point is 00:29:38 simple person yeah I've come up with why we can discuss that later but when people were like hey you have to have a devotion to our lady of sorrows I was like I ain't got time for that I'm good I got the whole rosary it's a whole life of Christ so I prayed the Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows. I was going to do it as a novena to see to test it because they called it the Irresistible Novena and I was like I love hype and two I love a good challenge and this is both So I resolved to do this every day for nine days. It's very simple. It's Seven Hail Marys for each one of Mary's seven sorrows My intention was answered the very first morning of the nine days and then it was super duper answered on the ninth day to be like

Starting point is 00:30:20 powers here brother so i started taking it very seriously and what it is is that you're meditating upon the sufferings of christ which is super powerful but through the person who loved him the most who suffered the most so for example the most powerful mystery for me of course it's a crucifixion but afterwards so that the sixth sorrow of the blessed virgin mary is mary holding the dead body of Christ. So the way I pray, I use mental prayer. So I'm visualizing the Virgin Mary sitting on the ground like with her hands wrapped around his dead body. And his body is so scourged and so beaten that her fingers kind of melt into his flesh where there's no solid grip. So her fingers are just like covered in flesh and mucus and pus and blood. And she's crying and I'm there next to her. And I'm like,

Starting point is 00:31:14 do I say something? This is my fault. Like, this is my fault. This is my fault. She's accepting me as her child, but I did this. I've done this to her and to him. And so in my mental prayer,

Starting point is 00:31:27 I've always put my arm around her. And I'm like, Mother, is there anything I can do to make up for it? And I feel like she always says, be like my son, save souls. I'm like, all right, I got to do it. So I come with this renewed fervor,

Starting point is 00:31:41 this renewed zeal. And I have found that during my Seven Sorrows Rosary, that is where I hear the voice of God, not audibly, but etched into my soul the clearest. So my morning routine, I shared it with you earlier, is I will pray a Seven Sorrows Rosary, and I'll have my little pen out, and I will write my spiritual resolutions, like what, like, a little prayer am I going to keep in my mind when I'm not praying the rosary, or, you know, anything that I'm working on, then I'll write down what are the top five things you want me to do today, and then any physical health and well-being. And I,

Starting point is 00:32:14 I have found so many times that the things that I received while spending time at the crucifixion with the Virgin Mary have been insane. Just insane. The stories that people would never believe. I'll just give you one quick example. So when I first started doing this a couple years back, I was praying this and I felt like the Blessed Mother whenever I had my arm around her. I was like, what do you want me to do? She said, go on Lila Rose. I was like, what?

Starting point is 00:32:40 But this is at a time when Lila Rose was not as big. She had about 200,000 subscribers. She was viewed as mostly a female at that time, mostly a female, you kind of. Doing great work, by the way. Much better looking to me. She's a beautiful woman. Doing great work. She's doing great work.

Starting point is 00:32:55 Yeah, she's doing incredible things in all aspects of life. She's one of the most influential Catholic women in the entire world. So, but I'm very calerics. I'm like, no, I'm very narrow-minded. I'm going to do my thing. But I checked my Facebook messenger because I'm an old man. and literally at that exact moment her producer had reached out to me and was like

Starting point is 00:33:17 would you be interested in coming on Lila's show? And I was like, yes, yes I would. Whereas I might have said no just because I'm busy and I'm just that kind of guy. And so I said yes. And she was like, well, the only date she has available is in California and it's on September 27th. And already I was planning and being in California

Starting point is 00:33:39 with St. Michael's Abbey on. September 28th. Okay. So September 28th was a Saturday. I had already planned on being there. So I was like, there's something divine cooking here. I arrive there and I'm kind of disoriented. Anytime you go to a new place, you're a little disoriented. And a handsome black man and his wife are there. And he says, Gabby, I love you. I love you, brother. And I was like, he's like, can I give you a hug? He's like, I'm a huger, dude. Give me a hug. He's like, I'd love you. You've done so much for my spiritual life. I can't, I can't tell you how much you've done for me. I just love you so much. And I said, what's your name? And he's like, T.K. Coleman. And I was like, what are you doing here,

Starting point is 00:34:18 T.K.? And he's like, I was just on Lila's program yesterday. And I brought you up and she told me you were going to be here today. And it was like instant, instant bromance, instant friendship, instant. I was talking to Lila, but TK. was sitting in the chair next to my right. I was really talking to I was looking at Lila, but I was having a conversation with TK. I love you, Lila, but I just felt like he was there for me. I was there for him. This was the reason we were together. He and I went on a long walk.

Starting point is 00:34:49 His wife was there. It's nothing weird. It's like a real bromance. We just love each other. Instant connection. And he's telling me about how much you praise the rosary and his conversion. I was like, dude, this is a testimony. This is a testimony.

Starting point is 00:35:00 I end up recording his testimony. His testimony gets 800,000 views on my channel. And they are, this is a little, I'm sorry about this, TK, but it was a little bit annoying that he was using arguments that I've used and people were acting like they had never heard them before. Like I hadn't said them. It's like when someone else says something wise to your children. And they go, did you hear that? I'm like, I've been telling you that since you were four. That's all I've been saying, bro.

Starting point is 00:35:27 So had I said no? And then he ended up writing the forward to my book. Because, yeah, for this book, yeah. And that again was came in prayer like I was like but TK's not a well-known Catholic personality. She's like he's my son and he loves me. Is there any other qualification necessary? I guess not. I guess not. It's your I don't know what I'm doing. So yeah, so just the Seven Sorrows Rosary in particular if you're discerning God's will, if you're struggling with some sort of diabolical infestation, if you're feeling like you lack zeal for souls, the things that have come to me, when I'm praying the seven stars rosary again it's not that I'm hearing voices

Starting point is 00:36:08 I'm just things will get put on your heart on your conscience yeah I want to do a shout out for this book okay and I'm not doing this I actually hate flattery I avoid it almost as much as slander sure I so I'm not flattering you please I think this is the best book on the rosary out there

Starting point is 00:36:27 for modern men right so if you're somebody out there right now and you're like all right I'm open to learning about the history of the rosary why I might pray it. Go get the power of the rosary by Gabby Castillo. We'll put a link in the description below. You did an excellent job. Well done.

Starting point is 00:36:43 Thank you. I tried. It was like a twofold. It was like my priorities and Mary's priorities. The thesis of the book is that if the rosary was created by the mother of God and she's not just some pious woman in the sky, if she is the seat of wisdom, if she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, then I should be able to argue

Starting point is 00:37:05 theologically that the rosary is the most efficient prayer for helping you to become another Christ because how could she give us anything less? And so that was the thesis of the book. I will say that when I knelt down because I wrote it in front of the Blessed Sacrament, my mind was a jumbled, jarbled mess,

Starting point is 00:37:25 the overwhelming majority of the time. And I would just get sentences out that were convicted in my heart literally one sentence at a time. I was in a cloud, but I believe that it was so that I could not be prideful or, you know, take that much credit. Second, that book is the fruit of a life of praying the rosary. So I was very candid with you on my first interview that I grew up without a father, that that led me to pornography, a licentious lifestyle, that it was through the rosary, that I overcame those addictions, that I, married a good and virtuous woman that I was able to become a good father and to have kids that

Starting point is 00:38:08 thanks me to God up into this point they're practicing their Catholic faith I don't know what I'm doing one day at a time our lady's guiding me but when I finished it it was on Father's Day and I was just I saw clearly how one how sinful I am but how good God has been to me that my wife she is working on her doctorate level degree it's not it's like an EDD on English literacy. And she was the one that edited it first because she knows I'm very sensitive. And if I were to hand it over a raw copy over to Sophia and they were to like rip it to shreds, I'd be like, what are you doing to my baby? You know, so my opposite. I give my baby to the publisher. And I'm like, it's really ugly. Anything. Anything you want to do to it. Just tell me, but I'll probably

Starting point is 00:38:57 be fine with it. I'm a sensitive person. So my wife is such a good, good writer. She went through and edited in such a way that when I looked at it, I was like, so you didn't touch anything, did you? Like, it looks like exactly like I handed it over to you because she's so sensitive to my, one, my temperament, my personality. Like I wrote, she's like, is it really necessary that 15 times you say Mary wins, she never loses? I was like, yes, that's absolutely necessary. To all the men out there who are watching, I am going to save you an enormous amount of time today. If you've been messaging a woman and you want to take her on a date, here is what you should write. You ready for this? It's going to be revolutionary.

Starting point is 00:39:39 Would you like to grab coffee Saturday? Fair. I've done it for you. You don't have to spend 20 minutes formulating a message because you're afraid of being too pushy. No, just be direct. You don't need the perfect opening line. And please don't send, hey, don't do that. If you're on Catholic Match, read her profile, ask about something she actually said, have a conversation, and then lead. The point isn't to message each other for three months while both privately wondering whether the other person wants to go on a date. The point is to meet. And ladies, make it easier on these good men. Respond warmly if you're interested. You can like

Starting point is 00:40:21 his profile, you can even message him first. Clarity is a gift. Catholic Match brings together single Catholics who are serious about their faith and looking for something serious. The rest requires a little courage. Find your forever at Catholicmatch.com. That's Catholicmatch.com. Go make the introduction. Catholic Match is free to download on the Apple App Store and Google Play, and it's free to create a profile. When we hear the word stewardship, we usually think about our time or our talents or maybe

Starting point is 00:40:51 our money, but stewardship also means paying attention to where our money goes after we spend it. And that's one reason I appreciate Charity Mobile. They're a pro-life wireless company that gives customers a simple way to support the culture of life every single month. You still get nationwide coverage and there are no contracts. Customer service is based here in the United States and staffed by Pro-Life Americans. Plans start under $50 before taxes and fees. And every month, Charity Mobile sends a percentage of your bill directly to the pro-life or pro-family organization that you choose. They have donated millions of dollars over the last 30 years, which is remarkable. If you're due for a phone upgrade or just tired of supporting companies that don't share

Starting point is 00:41:40 your values, this is an easy switch to make. Visit charitymobile.com slash Matt Fraud, use promo code Matt Frad, and you'll receive a free phone with every new line plus free activation and free shipping. Again, that's charitymobile.com slash Matt Frad. Well, here's what I love about you. right is I love your temperament. Like you're one of the most confident people I've ever met. I don't know if you are or if you just put it on. But I just love it. You, you just the, the energy. Let's just say that that you begin this with. This is how the book starts. In this book, you will discover a key that unlocks every door in the spiritual life. All right. The rosy's not just a pious devotion to this theological gold, a sword forged by God to conquer every battle to overcome every obstacle. I just love the confidence. You actually, you know what it reminds me? Yes, it is true. It reminds me of Escriber. Oh, really? I love that. Because Eskrava is like a confident man. There's too much of this, who am I?

Starting point is 00:42:34 Who are you not to? You've been told to proclaim the gospel. But I'll do it imperfectly. Why would you think you would do it otherwise? Go, you know. Well, let me blow your mind about a confident man. So I am only a man, if I am a man, because of Jesus Christ and because of the Blessed Mother.

Starting point is 00:42:48 So on that Father's Day, I was reviewing the covers. And I was thinking about my own dad. Like, you just, like, he has no idea. he was a young man my my parents were never married he didn't he wasn't around for me did you you met him i've met him yeah and yeah so i was wondering about him i was like wondering about his life and i was reviewing the spanish edition at the same time and i and i was saying to myself i wonder what old ross is up to that's your dad yeah ross and i looked at the book and i i just began to ball because my father's he goes by ross but his birth name is rosario oh and so when i

Starting point is 00:43:27 I was reading subconsciously somewhere. Like you don't think about the meat. Like it's like your mom with Carmel. Right. And so I just started crying. I was like, that's the power of the rosary. Wow. The source of my wound was the source of my healing.

Starting point is 00:43:42 It's just like, and so I wrote him a beautiful letter. I mailed him a copy of the book. I haven't heard back from him. But there was no judgment in my letter. It was all like, hey, I found, you didn't know what you were doing. And I would have done the same thing if I continued down this path. The Rosary saved me, and I hope that you'll read this book, and you'll love the rosary as well. Would you sum up the history of the rosary for us, since you've done such a deep dive into this?

Starting point is 00:44:05 You want me to sum it up? Sure. Well, maybe we can sum it up. Then we can explore wherever you want to go. Yes. But just for those who are like, you've got my attention. Just give us the history of the rosary. Then we can slow down and go into whatever you want to go into.

Starting point is 00:44:16 So the origins of the rosary is the gospel. I can't look over the fact that it's the angel Gabriel, through God the Father, who says to Mary, hail full of grace. So a lot of people will immediately have a problem. You're saying, Hail Mary 50 times. You're losing sight of what's actually happening. The second person of the Holy Trinity is going to enter into humanity,

Starting point is 00:44:41 become a man for the salvation of every soul that has ever lived. This is the cornerstone of the New Testament. This is the beginning of everything. Every mystery of the life of Christ must be examined through this lens that God becomes a man and then institutes the Eucharist and then dies on the cross and then rise.

Starting point is 00:45:04 But God becomes a man is the central mystery. It is the foundation of every other mystery. And so it is fitting that we say it over and over and over and over and over and over again for us to like let that seep in because we forget how much God loves us, that he would become a human. So the origins of the rosary is the gospel. The mysteries that we meditate upon in the meditation is the essential element. So people say, I'm not into the rosary.

Starting point is 00:45:32 Are you not into thinking about the life of Jesus Christ? Because if you're doing the rosary right, that's all you should be doing. You should only be focusing on the life of Jesus Christ. The Hail Mary's, as beautiful as they are, and they are, there is a Marian invocation, but that's because I'm a poor child trying to be good. That's a background. That's kind of like a song. That's like listening to your favorite praise and worship.

Starting point is 00:45:57 It's just playing in the background. But I'm here with Jesus. And while I'm here with Jesus, I have the mother of God wrapping her mantle of protection around me. So the origins of the rosary is the gospel. And so Christians from the earliest times would say Aves, they would say potterres, they would say various other prayers.

Starting point is 00:46:15 And Christians from the earliest times would do mental prayer, would meditate upon the life of Christ. And there were times, in history. I think you mentioned it was Assyrian. What was the name of the? Seraphim of Sarov in the 8th century was given

Starting point is 00:46:32 the Holy Rosary. Yeah, he was given, so there have been 15 decades that are almost identical to the Western Rosary. There have been it's kind of like C.S. Lewis when somebody questioned him about Christianity sounding a lot like other religions and C.S. Lewis was like, well, if this is the one

Starting point is 00:46:49 true religion, it would be fitting that others kind of get close to the So it is fitting that there are other, there's definitely beads being used and people keeping track of prayers with beads. Some people would pray our father, their own Mary, various prayers. And then there were versions of the life of Christ. The Dominican rosary comes to Dominic in the 13th century. I love it because there is a tie with Fatima. I love Fatima.

Starting point is 00:47:16 There's a beautiful tie with Fatima that Dominic, when he receives the rosary, it starts off with a fireball in the sky coming at him very much similar to the apparition of Fatima. And the Virgin Mary essentially says, preach my Psalter. It is the angelic salutation is the cornerstone of the New Testament. And she tells him to add to it, break it into decades and add to it meditation upon the life of Christ. Explain to people why it's called a Psalter. Yeah. So originally, religious would pray 150 Hail Mary's throughout.

Starting point is 00:47:53 the day. Hail Mary's or so? No, I'm sorry, forgive me. The 150 Psalms, yes, 150 Psalms. And, but lay people not being literate, not being religious, would recite either 150 Hail Mary's, 150 Our Fathers. And so when Mary says to preach my sultan, she's telling Dominic, preach the version of the beads that have my name on it, that there are the angelic salutation.

Starting point is 00:48:17 And then she affirms and says, the angelic salutation is the cornerstone of the New Testament. It's important for people to know that at this time, the second half of the Hail Mary doesn't exist. It's only the first half. It's Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou amongst women. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, period. The second half was added by a later Dominican Pius the fifth.

Starting point is 00:48:40 So Dominic preaches the rosary. Miracles everywhere, success in evangelization. Truly miracles that are so great, and I should bring this up. Because a lot of times people will accuse me to say, Gabriel, you must make up your stories. These sounds so incredible. How could this possibly happen? St. Louis de Montfort in his book, The Secret of the Rosary says, out of charity, if it doesn't,

Starting point is 00:49:01 you know, if it doesn't contradict the teachings of the faith, just kind of go along with it and accept it and, you know, you don't like bet your whole life on it, but you're like, oh, that's interesting, interesting little story. So Dominic would raise the dead. Dominic would do exorcisms by putting rosaries around people's neck, saying prayers. I don't know how much further you wanted to go. I'm loving this. Okay, great.

Starting point is 00:49:22 You take as long as you want. All right. My dear friend, Blessed Alan, is the one who picks up the rosary after this. So we'll say this, though. There is this myth, I would say. Yes. That Dominic receiving the rosary from L.A. is itself a myth.

Starting point is 00:49:35 Right. I've heard that. And in your book, you debunk that essentially. Yeah, of course, yeah, for sure. Do you want to expand on that? No, because people could say that, you know, me and you never really met and this video's AI. And it's like, are we going to continue to go down that path? I could use those words for something better.

Starting point is 00:49:48 But I will address it how our lady addressed it. How about that? So the apparition of Mary to Dominic was called the Apparition of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. It's important to note that Dominic at this time was wearing his Dominican habit, which was an Augustinian habit, so it's all white, but it's not bleach white. It's like a cream color. So the rosary falls out of use because of the black plague, because of just different historical circumstances. Blessed Alan receives a vision while he's offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

Starting point is 00:50:16 The Lord essentially during the Mass tells him, you've crucified me once with your sins and you're crucifying me again Alan says how am I crucifying you Lord it's like you have the learning and ability to promote my mother's salter which would keep people from falling into all of these sins and you don't do it St. Dominic appears to him blessed mother appears to him and again we take all of these apparitions with a grain of salt it's like how do you judge well did he bear any fruit incredible fruit he said spread the rosary far and wide all across Spain, France, Europe, all over. So much to the point that

Starting point is 00:50:55 people thought that he invented the rosary. And he's like, no, no, no, this is, this is Dominic's thing. And it's important to note that for him, it was very important. The 150 was essential. The word rosary began to pop up. And he was like, no, no, no, no, don't call it a rosary because I want it to be known that it's about praying 150. It's about the Psalter. So if you call it rosary, people are They're gonna cut it off at 50. Oh, I see. So he was cautious about that, but he wasn't scrupulous about the mysteries. So he was saying, you can do this with any aspect of the life of Christ.

Starting point is 00:51:30 And he called them schema. And he even had the luminous mysteries in there. This is in his writings. Yeah, for sure. It's gone on the dignitatis altari. You can find it in Latin on the internet. And he himself was saying not to be scrupulous about the mystery. About the mysteries that you're doing.

Starting point is 00:51:47 Yeah. I'm going to pull up my computer because I want to look at what we said earlier about seraphim of seraph so I can get this correct. But keep going. Yes. After this, Pius the Fifth becomes Pope. You know, I love our Holy Father. He's doing a great job. But when I look at a Pope like Pius the Fifth, let's go.

Starting point is 00:52:10 So Pius the Fifth, he's like, we've got a big problem. The Muslims are invading. What do we do? He's like, we're going to pray Rosemary. around the clock. Every church open 24 hours, somebody before the blessed sacrament, praying all day. I will be first and foremost on the list of prayers. He would lead barefoot processions through the streets of Rome. I'm like, let's go. This is the kind of leadership I love. So Pius V asks everybody to pray the rosary. He's the one who adds the second half of the Hail Mary. So people get upset with John Paul II. They say, how dare a pope add anything?

Starting point is 00:52:47 To what our lady gave. Oh, easy, buddy. Do you pray the Hail Mary? Oh, yeah. Then you're a hypocrite. Because Pius V didn't just add to what our lady gave to St. Dominic. He added to sacred scripture. Before it was 100% sacred scripture.

Starting point is 00:53:05 Now we have to do this little dance with our Protestant brothers and sisters. Well, the first half of the Hail Mary is in the second half, well, the prayers of the righteous availeth much. And so we're just asking our heavenly. So Pius Veth doubled it. But nobody revolted. If you could imagine if Pope Francis or Pope Leo were to double the length of the Hail Mary, I'd be like, even I, a faithful son of the church, be like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's good. It's nobody revolted because of his, like, deeply inspiring leadership. Yeah, I wonder, though, if this is where you and I disagree.

Starting point is 00:53:36 Sure. Right. Because I see the luminous mysteries the way John Paul II did, namely as a suggestion. I mean, I actually read his encyclical the other day. Yeah. And it's very clear that he's proposing these. And it could be a great proposal. And if Pope Francis would have double the Hail Mary, maybe it's a great proposal, but it's not something I'm bound to follow.

Starting point is 00:53:56 I agree. If we want to go down that path. So I have found, and this is only anecdotal evidence, I have found that there is a difference in at least my results when praying three verses four. Alphonseus Liguari would say, it's very simple. It's like, he who prays more gets more, like that, if all things are considered equal. to when John Paul II added him, he did say that adding the luminous mysteries would provide a fuller look at the life of Christ. So if somebody's using the rosary as a compendium of the Gospels, they have the early life, they have the crucifixion, and they have the glorious mysteries. You're missing his entire public ministry, especially you're missing the institution of the sacraments.

Starting point is 00:54:41 Let me ask you an honest question. If Pope Francis were to say, Here's another encyclical on the rosary and good news. I've added five parables. Nope. Christ, because we don't actually have parables in any of these rosaries that they're meditating on. They're really deficient. And again, just a proposal.

Starting point is 00:54:57 Francis says, would you be praying five rosaries today? No. It's got to end somewhere. Yeah, I agree. It should end somewhere. Yeah. I view Pope John Paul II as uniquely special, as uniquely Marian. If you look at his entire life from the moment of his childhood,

Starting point is 00:55:11 he made a Marian consecration before he even knew what marrying consecration was. His mother passed away at the age of 10. He goes into the church and says to the Madonna, you must be my mother now. And as sweet as that sounds for us, the mother of God looks at that and says, oh, my baby, oh, my boy, of course I will take you and I will make you my own. John Paul II had a Carmelite spirituality. He had discerned a Carmelite vocation before his bishop told him, no, I've got a different path for you. And so John Paul II had a deep understanding of the power of mental prayer.

Starting point is 00:55:44 and that mental prayer is an indispensable form of prayer because it puts you into the life of Christ and when you enter into the life of Christ you receive the graces from the mysteries that you're meditating upon and so when he became Pope he took on the papal motto as you know tootus Tos Tis Maria which isn't just a motto

Starting point is 00:56:05 it was for us looking back it was a green light for Marian consecration for the universal church 100% And on top of that, it was an entrustment of his pontificate to the Virgin Mary. So this is a man who is Marion in a unique way, mystical understanding, and he was deeply aware of the threats against Christianity in the modern era. So he was aware of the crisis of baptized unbelievers. He could see on the horizon the abuse of sexuality and the denigration of the sacrament of holy matrimony.

Starting point is 00:56:40 He was aware that there was liberation theology and the Gospels weren't being preached. He was aware that Christ was being treated like a prophet or a guru and not as a divine person. He was aware of the lack of faith of real presence and the lack of vocations. And so if you want somebody to have a deeper faith in the Eucharist, a deeper commitment to Mary, a deeper regard for the sanctity of holy matrimony, you're going to want them to spend time with Christ in these sacred mysteries. So I agree that it's good, and I pray the luminous mysteries. but I don't agree with your argument because I could just run that argument again and say, well, we have this new Pope. Maybe he comes around 50 years and he has an even deeper devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Starting point is 00:57:24 I don't think there will be. I don't think there will be. But either way, we're basing this on your private judgment of what is already a private revelation. Right. Sorry, your private judgment on a private judgment by John Paul II, that we're not bound to follow that's based on a private revelation to Domple. Yes. And I can say they're good and hey, we need to use this, but... But private revelations that have been backed up through history. So this is an important topic.

Starting point is 00:57:53 So how do I know which devotions I should have? Because there are a lot of Marian apparitions. There's a lot of scampuars, as we said, there's a lot of different forms of the rosary. Yeah. And so the Holy Spirit has spoken through the Universal Church. So I would argue that the three main Marian apparitions that we should keep, that everybody should consider as relevant and important. are the ones that are on the universal calendar. So that's Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lords, our Lady of Fatima. Those are being celebrated by Catholics all over the world. And the church, by having a liturgical calendar says, look at this.

Starting point is 00:58:27 Examine this. The graces of this mystery will be renewed as we think about them. And there are three sacramentals that are celebrated on the universal calendar. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and Our Lady of the Holy rosary. And so my new book that I've been playing with these ideas is that these three sacramentals actually align with these three Marian apparitions. So the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the devotion is you wear the brown scapular as a sign of your consecration to Mary, which essentially is saying, Jesus Christ took on your flesh, he wore your flesh, he had your blood flowing

Starting point is 00:59:07 through his veins. I accept you as my mother. I will wear this garment under my clothes, but that aligns very closely with the apparition of Our Lady Guadalupe. I am your mother. So it's the relationship between Mary and Jesus is aligned with our relationship. So, yes, these are private revolutions. What I struggle with, and it was the same thing with your dear Franciscan friend, who I loved, was that I, in one way, whenever someone is called to promote a devotion, they are meant to promote it with tremendous enthusiasm. For sure. But my fear is that when you start talking, like if you don't wear the brown scapula or with miraculous metalists, you're somehow a deficient Catholic. That is not what the Catholic

Starting point is 00:59:56 Jews teach you. No, definitely not. So how do you balance that? So a couple things. Because we don't want to be minimalist Catholic. Right. We don't want to be minimalist and we don't want to be scrupulous about I have every little thing because I've got every little thing. Yeah. And then also we have to understand that this is a universal church. I was just in Lithuania and of course the divine mercy is very prominent there and so I could see someone saying being raised in Lithuania they feel very cool to promote this devotion. I think this is this is where I start to get out of these. No, 100%. So if you have a local apparition that it's kind of like when you're discerning your religious vocation if you're called to religious life it used to be how do I know where to go? Well is there a convet near you? So

Starting point is 01:00:33 local apparitions like our lady of champion or the apparitions in lithuania or our lady of walsingham like for sure you should at least check them out yeah and personally i think anytime the mother of god finds it as a priority that i'm going to enter into human history and say something and then the church says this is of divine origin i would look into it fairly and honestly but there's not like a timeline You know what I mean? Like, there is the freedom to be like, I really don't feel called to this. Be true to who you are, but be open to the various possibilities. So, you know, I always say, take only what applies to you.

Starting point is 01:01:15 We are all at, like, for example, I wasn't open at all to devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. I was like, I don't want to do this. But even the way you phrase that, when you say timeline, I'm getting the impression from you that you're saying, once you're spiritually mature enough, then you'll accept it. No, I don't think that's the case. No, I don't think so. So you agree then you could have lived your whole life

Starting point is 01:01:37 not ended up with the LID of Sorrows. Sure. It's a reasonable. It's a reasonable. Your response was reasonable. Dude, I'm praying like, who knows how many rosaries are day? Like, I'm doing this. And you can acknowledge it as a good

Starting point is 01:01:51 that some people benefit from that you don't need to embrace. And I do that a lot. Because a lot of Catholics burn out. Yeah, because there's some people who promote an apparition that happened in South America or something where they actually double the length of the Hail Mary about praying.

Starting point is 01:02:03 Really? Yeah, and they're like, it's moved by the bishop. I'm like, is it on the calendar? So like, how am I weighing this? Yeah, yeah, is the church saying- Is it better to say to you, he who prays more? Yeah, I get it. Like, no, so yeah, so everybody has to discern things for themselves, but for me, it's like, what is the litmus?

Starting point is 01:02:20 Is it on the calendar? Is it consistent with, like, so our Lord isn't a schizophrenic. So it's not, it's like, when Jesus appears, to St. Faustina, it's not like he's not aware of what Our Lady of Fatima said. They're like not, it's not like, oh, you didn't get the memo, I mentioned this other devotion.

Starting point is 01:02:36 So there should be a consistency, and that's my personal conviction that Our Lady of Fatima knew what Our Lady of Lord said, knew what Our Lady of Guadalupe said. Same woman. It's the same exact woman. So their message should be consistent. And people should know also,

Starting point is 01:02:50 because the congregation, I don't remember what it's called, because they changed the name of it. They recently, change the way that they handle apparitions. So it used to be that they're going to say, this is of a supernatural origin. This is not of a supernatural origin, or we don't know. They're no longer in the game of saying things are of a supernatural origin or not. Side step. So as far as we know, unless a new pope or this pope comes in and changes it back,

Starting point is 01:03:20 there are no more Fatima level events. So people will try and push on me various apparitions. it may or may not be continuing to go on, and I may or may not believe in them, I will never promote them. Why? Because the universal church hasn't put, the Holy Spirit hasn't put this at the forefront of what I should be believing in.

Starting point is 01:03:37 So why do I have the brown scapillar? Why, for me in particular, I will wear the brown scapular, promote the brown scapular. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us. Because at Fatima, when she appeared, Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Starting point is 01:03:48 appeared in the sky, because there is a liturgical feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, I will take that one. There is no other scapillar that's approved by the church that has a feast day on the universal calendar. So I'm not taking it seriously. And I will never promote anything else unless it's kind of like.

Starting point is 01:04:04 Church calendars can change. Sure. Yeah, they can. Are you going to just base your private devotions based on the changes? I would consider it. I'll consider it. That's fair enough because the church is putting an emphasis on it at that point.

Starting point is 01:04:14 For sure. Well, I would say it is when you look at some of the, the most holiest men and women who have lived over the last several hundred years, all of them thought that the rosary was good enough for them. Yep. And so, you know, maybe it's good enough for you to consider. And not only did they say it was good enough, but they would make bold claims, like, and these are great theologians saying that outside of the sacred liturgy, this is the greatest prayer.

Starting point is 01:04:42 But again, it's not because it's Hail Mary's. It's because it's meditation on the life of Christ with an invocation to the mother of God. And that's very unique. There's no other prayer like it. And I personally believe it is a prayer for Protestants. And there are promises associated with it that I have seen come true. Now, I have had my share of men come up to me, especially men, but women as well, come up to me and say, I started praying the four rosaries and I'm still struggling with sin or I still have this problem.

Starting point is 01:05:14 So my personal experience is when I started praying the four rosaries, particularly to help me with my sin of lust because there's, you know, you'll either give up the rosary or you'll give up the sin. I did notice a dramatic decrease in my extraordinary temptations towards lust. So I personally believe that I was having a diabolical obsession and that by praying the rosary four times a day, that my diabolical obsession was kind of blocked. But then I went through a phase of life where my lust was kind of rearing its head back, even though I was praying for rosaries, even though I was going to the Blessed Sacrament and looking at Jesus in the. the Holy Eucharist and receiving Holy Communion regularly. And I have found that, this is my personal, again, this is not, you're not going to find this in any other writings, that our lady wants us to become real saints, real men, really virtuous. And so she's not simply going to remove temptation for us.

Starting point is 01:06:12 And so my experience has been that whatever it is that you're struggling with and you've prayed the rosary and you feel great and then these temptations rear their heads again, my personal feeling around this is that our lady allows us to develop the virtue so she wants gabriel to be actually pure so every once in a while i will go into the ring against my enemy yeah the demon of lust and in a controlled circumstance right i will slowly develop the virtue that's good not just a shelter this is not a shelter child her desire is that we become a real man this is essential it's one of the things i wanted to talk to you about is because I have felt like Mary has made me a real man. So what is a real man? A real man is a man who looks like Christ to some degree. Right. So you know from your theology of the body days that

Starting point is 01:07:06 we're made in the image and likeness of God and God is a true gift of self fully, totally, freely, and that this is the essence of love. This is also the essence of masculinity and the essence of what it means to be a human. And so I was, you know, wrestling with these ideas, masculinity, effeminacy, and all these things. And the definition of effeminacy, as far as I'm aware, is an unwillingness to engage the arduous for the sake of the good. That's Aquinas. Yeah, an unwillingness to engage the arduous for the sake of the good. So if love is a willingness to engage the arduous for the sake of the beloved. The opposite is a feminacy. And so our lady, for me anyways, has been inviting me into sacrifice, into becoming a real man. So again, the end goal isn't praying four rosaries,

Starting point is 01:08:03 five rosaries, six rosaries, seven rosaries or ten. It is become a real man, become a man of sacrifice, become a provider and a protector for your children. I find that as we engage the arduous for the sake of the beloved, we begin to protect our children more. So I know you're very big on protecting technology. You've done many different like smartphones, dumb phones, all sorts of things. But the reason why you're so protective, because there's a lot of men out there who aren't protecting their children. Why aren't they? Usually, my experience is personally, that they're not willing to say no to their children because they haven't said no to themselves first. So I'm not willing to say no to myself, how can I say no to you? Yeah. If the, if the serpent is in my garden,

Starting point is 01:08:52 how can I protect you from the serpent? It's also, I think, that to protect the, as you put it, the garden of my children is itself an indictment of what I'm still allowing in mine. Yes. So if I say, well, it's not that bad. Yes. They got to be grownups and it's usually a cope. And I'm going to do something. So my son joined me on this trip. Awesome young man. I love him a lot. One of my weaknesses, one of my wounds from not having a father is I've always, when I was a kid, I would worry about being left alone. And so whenever somebody, it's been one of the crosses of my life, whenever somebody leaves my life, there's always like a wound there. Like the Lord will put great people, great young men in my life who become like real friends. And then they go off and become a religious. And it's like,

Starting point is 01:09:37 ooh, and of course there's the normal pain of, you know, you don't see your friend. But it would hurt me more than than usual. Yeah. And so with my son, I'm like, oh, man, he's turning 18. So I've always been like, what is it going to be like when my son leaves the home? He's like my little buddy, but he's also the same time. He's like growing into a man and all these things. And there's still lessons he needs to learn.

Starting point is 01:09:58 And so our lady really has been convicting me lately of, protector, provider. How can I provide for my son when he's gone? Fast, sacrifice. Pray for him. He and I recently got back from a trip. to Walsingham. And he has a devotion to English saints and the patrimony and all that kind of stuff. And so he has a devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham.

Starting point is 01:10:22 And in Walsingham, there is the habit where you go to the Catholic Church and there's a little chapel called the Slipper Chapel. And he and I were there on his 18th birthday. And you put your intentions into this little thing. And then it's called the Slipper Chapel because you take your shoes off. And then you walk a mile. The kings used to do this of old, the old English Catholic kings back when they were Catholic. they would walk a mile and

Starting point is 01:10:44 he started off on the journey before me because I'm making a documentary so I'm filming everything and he's like dad can we just go I'm like I gotta film all of this you go ahead you go ahead and as I it was very symbolic

Starting point is 01:10:57 because this is his 18th birthday and I cried I'm not gonna lie I saw him walking off into the distance and then it hurt a little bit emotionally but then I noticed something that I didn't expect

Starting point is 01:11:11 My feet were burning. My feet were burning. It was 90 degrees outside, 95 degrees. We're walking on a hot pavement. And I'm like, holy smokes, this, we should have taken, because there's two routes. We should have taken the other route. I let him choose this path. And I was like, oh, my, so I'm thinking to myself, oh, my gosh, this is not good for my feet.

Starting point is 01:11:31 This is like 140 degrees. I'm cooking my feet. I felt like Frodo on Mount Doom or something. And so I'm like looking for every puddle and every sand. And halfway through, I'm 10. tempted to put my socks on at least. But then in my soul, I feel like our lady was saying, Joseph, you know for a fact Joseph is doing this. Won't you keep going for him? And I was like, oof, fine, I'll do this. I'll sacrifice this for him. So I was walking a little bit. And then I

Starting point is 01:11:58 felt like she was saying, again, this is all, take it all with a grain of salt. These are interior movements. I'm not like hearing this audibly. I feel like she was saying, just as you are suffering, because you know he's going to make it, he's walking this path before you. in his own life, he's going to encounter temptations. He's going to encounter pain, agony, sacrifices, and because you have walked this path before him, he's going to make it. Entrust him to me today. At his birth, I entrusted him to you, and I said, take care of my son.

Starting point is 01:12:31 And now it's time for you to give him back to me, and I will take care of him. But as a man, you must be a provider still. provide how he's out of the house fast sacrifice pray and trust me this is what our lord did on his way of the cross all the apostles are gone

Starting point is 01:12:49 he's going up to his death he trusts the father's plan that when I go to the father and I make the ultimate sacrifice the holy spirit's going to lead the way and so fasting for me I feel like I've been wrestling with the demon of gluttony

Starting point is 01:13:04 just because I'm going to have a major push on my channel with systematic health, fasting tips. Everybody, again, this is one of those circumstances where nobody is the same. Nobody is the same when their physical health. But every man especially, if he's not going to be an effeminate man,

Starting point is 01:13:24 must control his physical appetites. Especially the softer our world becomes. Like if you would live 200 years ago, your life would be a lot harder than it is today. Yes. So we have to be more intentional about imposing things upon ourselves so that we don't grow,

Starting point is 01:13:38 And I mean, I'm preaching as if I've already bought that information, but I need to buy it more. Right. Which is why it's, it is actually quite fascinating that Exodus 90, which is such an incredible apostolate, people should check them out. Exodus 90.com. They download the app. I meet men all around the world whose lives have been changed. I mean, I was in Romania and this guy who can barely speak English was telling me about him and some brothers got together. But what does that say that we are actually, and not just in the religious world, but in the secular world as well, we're trying to make out. our life harder because we know it shouldn't be this soft. Exactly.

Starting point is 01:14:11 It's funny when the secular world picks up on our stuff because of their secular reasons. So there's been a large movement. Madonna wearing the rosary. So not only that, but like natural family planning. Yeah, yeah. Controception is unnatural. Don't put poison in your body. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:14:26 There's a different way. Church is like, we've been trying to tell you that back to what we said. And then it's like fasting is actually good for you. So people, so when I say fasting, people are like, that's not healthy. and then a lot of people who are more effeminate. You can't give people advice on, it's kind of like, we call them Karen's, you know, like, and it's an imbalance between the complementarity of the sexes.

Starting point is 01:14:49 So as a man, I'm more like driven. I tend to lose sight of the weaker person. Women tend to see the individual. They're worried about the weakest person. Great. When we're working together, we've got a great team. But if there's no real man in your life, and Karen is making every decision,

Starting point is 01:15:05 the homilies we hear on fasting are like fast from the internet also yeah that's great but also fast from from food yeah yeah because it's good for you so and equineas talks about this specifically in the sylologiae when he says what does fasting pertain to he says specifically stop the stomach the food so yes we should be fasting from these other 100%. yeah and there's two carnal urges we have we have the urge to procreate and we have the carnal urge to eat the carnal urge to eat is stronger biological than the urge to procreate. If you don't believe that, then starve yourself and see what you want more. See how long you last.

Starting point is 01:15:41 Yeah, and see what you want more at the end of the seven days. Yeah, you're not thinking about sex because your brain is all like, I'm starving, I need to eat. So there is that aspect that our culture is pornographic, we're given to our passions, but we need to do some fasting. And there's some demons that are only driven out by prayer and fasting. But I want to make sure to be clear. When I say fasting, I mean it results in a healthier person. So things that are good for you spiritually are usually, if they're God's will, they're usually good for you psychologically, they're usually good for you physically.

Starting point is 01:16:13 So how much fasting? If it's killing you, you're doing it wrong. Can I give you an example of this? Father Rippega? Yeah. Is that how I say he's last night? Yeah, yeah. He had this interesting point on his interview with Tucker Carlson.

Starting point is 01:16:24 He's talked about the spirit of religiosity as being a demonic spirit. And you think, spirit of religion, how is that possibly a negative thing? and he used the example of the middle-aged woman who neglects her husband and her children and her home to go and run the parish. Right. It's not good. And it looks good, right?

Starting point is 01:16:43 Like, look at me, helping the church, helping the priest, but you're actually sinning and neglecting, sin of a mission in neglecting your husband, etc. Why does the phone always ring at precisely the moment you cannot answer it? You're carrying something in the middle of a conversation. You're trying to get six children out the door. You're in the bathroom.

Starting point is 01:17:00 Actually, let's leave that one. alone. But in your personal life, fine. Okay, that's all right. But if you're running a business, that call might have been worth actual money. A new customer doesn't necessarily know that you're busy. They know they called and nobody answered and there's another business they can just call next. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled QUO, the business phone system built so you never miss a call. Quo keeps calls, texts and voicemails in one place so your team can actually see what's going on and respond quickly. It's also the number one rated business phone system on G2 and is trusted by more than 90,000 businesses. If nobody on your team is available,

Starting point is 01:17:41 Quo's optional built-in AI agent can handle after-hour calls, answer questions, and even book appointments, which means you don't have to spend your entire life staring anxiously at your phone. Your business can be reachable without you personally being reachable every second of the day. That's a distinction I think more of us could use. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free plus get 20% of your first six months when you go to quo.com slash pints. That's QUO.com slash pints. So if I asked you right now, how do you pray? What would you say? Not do you pray? Not what do you believe about prayer or something like that? But how do you actually pray? Because I've been Catholic for a long time, ever since I was an infant,

Starting point is 01:18:27 actually. And prayer is still something I have to continually learn how to do. Some days it's beautiful, some days I'm distracted five seconds in, some days being still before God feels considerably harder than it ought to. And I suspect I'm not alone in that. That's why I really love what Hallow is doing with their new 21 Days of Prayer Challenge. For 21 days, you'll hear people from completely different walks of life answer two very simple questions. Who are you and how do you pray? You'll hear from people like Coach Prime, Gwen Stefani, Coach Dan Hurley, and more, alongside priests, pastors, mothers, police officers, nurses and ordinary people trying to grow closer to God. And this isn't just people talking about prayer. You'll experience 21 different prayers and ways of praying that you can actually bring into your own life.

Starting point is 01:19:17 Maybe one becomes part of your morning routine. Maybe you discover something that helps when prayer feels dry. Or maybe you simply learn again how to shut up. for a few minutes and be still before the good God. Because goodness knows we're capable of giving our phone hours of undivided attention. Surely we can give some of that attention back to the one who gave us everything. So download Halo for three months free and join the 21 days of prayer challenge at hallow.com slash frad. That's hallow.com slash frad. So speaking of Ripperger, I got to get this off of my chest because I see a lot of AI videos on the internet. And recently, you know how like when

Starting point is 01:20:00 you have new subscribers, there's like a list of who the new subscribers are. And they're categorized by how many subscribers they have. So I saw this one from a father, I don't remember, it doesn't matter, Schwartz or something to that effect. And I was like, oh, 60,000 subscribers. That's pretty good. Let me check out who this is for a priest, that's really good. And it was 100% AI. I could clearly see that it was AI. I could clearly hear that it was AI. His videos had hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments from people commenting on the content and thinking that it was a real priest. So we have AI impersonating a priest. Somebody's running the account, obviously. But I have, After Census Fidelum, so Census Fidelum has like a lot of the original Ripperger stuff, but on an occasion,

Starting point is 01:20:53 great channel. Yeah, they've got great content, which goes to show you that what matters most is the value, because it's just like a single screen. Sometimes they put up pictures. You're like, you could try a bit more. And the audio many times, it's like, I'm like trying to understand. But that goes to show you that values king. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:21:12 No, totally. But AI slop isn't. When you say you could see it looked AI, are you saying, that there was an AI person. It was like a fake priest talking. You're kidding. And they were eating it. So here's my big issue is that the person who has suffered most from this, in my opinion, is Father Rippager.

Starting point is 01:21:29 And because of my channel. So I have this special like sadness in my heart when I see it. So he did a parish mission for my church. And I recorded it, you know, 4K quality, three camera angles. And there are multiple channels completely based. off of Father Ripper at my parish. So it looks like Father Ripperger's at my parish, but they've used AI to change 100% of everything that he says.

Starting point is 01:21:58 But it looks like Father Rippega or different priests. It looks as if Father Ripper is standing at my church using my recording. So somebody took my talks, put them into an AI processor, change the script, and are making him say crazy things. And people are using these recordings and showing. and showing them at retreats. And they've got thousands of views and like thousands of subscribers

Starting point is 01:22:22 and every single video is AI Father Ripperger. And when you say crazy things? Like just like weird things like on November 23rd, 2027, if you want blessings, put your rosary on this nightstand. And people are like, really, that's what I should do.

Starting point is 01:22:38 If you have a problem with demons, you need to do like, and they've got like a weird... That makes me so angry. It makes it... What makes me angry is that someone behind that who's clearly just grifting and profiting off falsehood. Yeah. And right now, AI's slander, really. It's slander. It's impersonating a priest. That's against the canon law.

Starting point is 01:22:58 Oh, I hope YouTube does something about this, but I don't think they will. And he reached out to me because it was like using his image, because I took professional photos of him for the thumbnails. So every photo you see a father ripager that looks high quality, I took it. Yeah. But they're misusing it. And every chance I get, I'm like, and it's like, how do you describe this? They stole my content to make AI versions that are not true. And so I say that as a warning and to kind of like a look into the future that I personally believe that YouTube channels like mine or yours or any of the other ones that are well established. It's going to be like television networks. Like if you recognize a personality on a channel that is kind of obscure, don't don't.

Starting point is 01:23:43 take it at face value, you really can... You think we're going back to network. Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Explain this to me. Can I then I'll just, I know you're already ahead of me on this, but I want to try to think it through as well. So we had networks. They were gatekeepers. We didn't like that. Nope. Individual content creators seemed more authentic. They had the freedom to say things that networks wouldn't allow them to say, why do you think now we're going to go back

Starting point is 01:24:04 to networks? Because I'm running a network. It's like a network out of my garage, so to speak, But if I have Father Pine, I have Father Rippager, I have Father Carlos Martins, I have Father Ambrose Christ, I, the other priests are now reaching out to me asking, hey, I'm trying to promote something. Can we do a documentary or something to that effect? And so how do you know it's not AI? Well, I know for a fact that Gabi After Hours films his own stuff. He traveled all the way to England to make this documentary. It costs a lot of time and money. Do you trust the website that has AI slop where the images are AI. where the voice is AI, where the content might have been made by chat GPT. Oh, I know Matt Frad has authentic interviews with actual people, and it's not. And the people, in a way, they should be, you know, they should be kind of honored. Like, nobody's AIing me. I haven't seen any AI videos of you, but Father Ripager, Father Mike Schmitz, Jonathan Rumi. I won a situation with Jonathan Rumi.

Starting point is 01:25:04 It was the day after my mother's birthday. And there was a short, and it was Jonathan Rumi crying. And it was like, I'm so sad right now. Yesterday was my mother's birthday and nobody said happy birthday to her. Please, in the comments, put happy birthday, Mrs. Rumi. And I was like, wait a second. And it looked pretty real.

Starting point is 01:25:22 Yeah, it looked pretty real. And he's like crying. And I was like, wait a second. This is AI. But how does it know that yesterday was my mother's birthday? So I was like in this weird, trippy situation. What's crazy is when it fools you? Because we all like to think, oh, I can detect AI, obviously.

Starting point is 01:25:37 I watched a video. I don't know if I watched it today. if I would know it was AI, but it was about two months ago. And I went to the person who produced it. And I said, where did you find this actor? He was so hilarious. I feel like an idiot now. You were fooled.

Starting point is 01:25:51 All of that was AI. I went, oh, my God. Yeah, we can, like, I can pick up on it, but there's going to be like, maybe it's like, what? Two weeks? Two months before it's like, there's no way we can tell. But that brings me to another topic, speaking of AI. Calumny, detraction, rash judgment. So when I wrote my book,

Starting point is 01:26:09 oh, this burned me. People calumate against people who are on the internet all the time. Calumny is the sin where you say things that are not true as if they're true in front of other people. Rash judgment is when you judge a circumstance not having the information, but you're making a judgment. And then detraction is when something is true

Starting point is 01:26:31 and you share it with people whom it doesn't affect and therefore you ruin a person's good name unnecessarily. So I'll give you an example of a rash judgment. So I wrote the book, The Power of the Rosary, and I went out of my way to find an artist that reflected my own spirituality. So Baratouz Catholic, this gentleman named Christopher Lewis, I love his art because it's traditional yet clearly modern.

Starting point is 01:26:57 So I went out of my way to hire an artist and somebody made several comments on the post that I made about my book at the very least, how dare you have the audacity to AI? Don't you want to support Christian artists? I will not support this book and I will tell everybody that this is AI and that you should be ashamed of yourself and to... And I was like, calm down, Gabriel. Clearly the devil inspired this person because it's very difficult to get me to be like, but I didn't because I love the last judgment.

Starting point is 01:27:33 So I hope that I know you deal with a lot of calumny. One of my favorite devotions, I don't know if you can even call it a devotion, is the last judgment. So at the last judgment, everything that was whispered will be made known, every calumny will be corrected. So at the last judgment,

Starting point is 01:27:49 all these people who are lying and throwing falsehoods at you, all of it's going to be made bare. And even the state of their own soul, when they said it, will be made bare, and we will praise God for allowing us to accept these calumnies on his behalf. but I bring that up because you've dealt with a lot of calumny

Starting point is 01:28:07 how have you had to deal with that situation because when somebody says something bad about me I honestly think it's not as bad as what they did to frad well I gotta say I'm really grateful for the people who didn't I presume you mean when I joined the Daily Wire yes I'm really grateful to the people who just held their tongue

Starting point is 01:28:24 and didn't jump on the bandwagon I mean there were some people who defended me publicly you were one of them in comment sections my old producer Josiah, who's no friend of the Daily Wire, right? Like, very critical, the state of Israel. So, so am I, I guess. I don't care about that.

Starting point is 01:28:40 It's just that that's what people were saying about me. I don't think about it. So I was honored by them, but I was really honored by the people who just said nothing. Or even people who are like, how about we just hold off and see what happens? Maybe he'll become political. Maybe his show will change completely. Maybe it won't. We don't know.

Starting point is 01:28:57 Right. So just that I was so honored by. It didn't bother me. I keep, which is actually interesting because I'm actually a really sensitive person. I hate saying that. It makes me feel effeminate when I say that. You're a man and we're human and it hurts. Yeah, yeah, I don't like that.

Starting point is 01:29:11 But for whatever reason, the, uh, there was, I was trending on Twitter the day I announced Daily Wire. Someone would text me. And that's not good, by the way. If you're trending, it's not because people were like, Frad's a good guy. That's where villainian. Yeah. Bile words come.

Starting point is 01:29:26 So because it was so loud and so much and so obviously false. Like, you've betrayed Christ, you are Judas, you work with demons, like this nonsense. It was like, okay, well, none of that's true. I know that's not true. Like, you've sold out. Well, sold out means something. Right. Like, do you mean you're making more money?

Starting point is 01:29:47 Well, yes, I am, and I'm really glad about that. But no, sold out means something different. Sold out means you are going to compromise what you believe for the sake of money. And I knew I had not done that. So when people said that to me, because it was so obviously false, it just didn't bother me as much. And I really honestly too, I just moved away from the internet and I listened to people I loved and trusted, you know. So it didn't bother me that much. What bothers me still right now is that once it's been said, even if it's false, the smell still lingers. So like when I think about you, I still think of all these calumnous statements that were made about you. It's kind of like with Father Carlos Martins, he was accused of things. Right. He clearly did not do. And I stood up for him immediately. But when I think about him, I still hear those accusations. So there's a great story from the life of St. Philip Neri where a woman, very wealthy woman, who he had known, had come to confession, and she shared this story, that she was confessing rash judgment, calumny saying things that weren't true. And he said, okay, for your penance.

Starting point is 01:30:48 I don't know if this is a legit penance, but this is a story that I heard, and I heard it on hallow, so. I think I heard this too. So he told her to get a chicken, bring the chicken, and on your way, every step you take, take a feather, and throw it. I heard it was a pillow for feathers. Let's go with the chicken. Let's go with the chicken, just because I think that's crazier. So by the time she gets to the confessional, the chicken is bald as can be. And he says, okay, now go and pick up every single one of those feathers.

Starting point is 01:31:14 And she said, it's clearly impossible. I cannot do that. It's like that's the power of your rash judgment. You made a judgment and you said things that have spread. Now, to be honest, let's be very clear. There is a greater moral weight when you say things in writing, and when that writing is on the internet. You make a comment on a video

Starting point is 01:31:34 about somebody's personal life, about something that you've made up. That is in stone. So our Lord said, it's terrible. Our Lord said that we're going to be held accountable for every idle word. Those idle words are like gone in a second. They only last in history.

Starting point is 01:31:49 But when you make a comment online, even after it's deleted, it lasts forever. And how few people go to confession and say, forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I judged somebody on the internet. I said all sorts of bad things.

Starting point is 01:32:02 And I'll give you one example that I've prayed about sharing because it's a good example. Okay. So a few years back, everybody knows there was a popular online celebrity Michael Voris. Yeah. And he ran the church militant, which was known for exposing lies and falsehoods. And he fell into a scandal. I don't exactly even know what the scandal was.

Starting point is 01:32:23 But I remember looking at the internet and buying into all of the bad ones. things that were being said about him. Like, I was like, yeah, I was like, he, how hypocritical of him. He's exposing lies and falsehoods, et cetera, right? And the very next day, I learned a valuable lesson. So on December 4th, I have a picture of it. On December 4th, I went to Mass where I go to church and I do not go to church in a very big, fancy place.

Starting point is 01:32:48 I'm not at the cathedral, let me put it that way. I'm in like in a little offshoot parish. And I went to Mass. I got there late, and that's my confession to you. I was there late, and I didn't write it on time. and in the back of the church was kneeling Michael Vorris and I was like what I was very like like is that Michael Voris?

Starting point is 01:33:07 Like imagine you went to your local parish church the day after all of these scandals are breaking all over the internet he's in the back of the church he looks super contrite he looks so contrite he remained after Mass and he was pacing back and forth

Starting point is 01:33:21 and I was just and I didn't know what to make of it I was like what does this mean Lord like why are you showing me this Like, why is he here? Is he here because he knows I go here? Like, I've, I've no, like, he had no idea who I was. But when I was watching him, I deeply felt convicted. Mary was saying, but for the grace of God, there go I.

Starting point is 01:33:40 So that's something that Philip Neri used to say when he would see another person's sin, he would say, but for the grace of God, there go I. Could I say something about Michael? Please. Yeah, so, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people are very critical of the sort of content he put up before. Some of it was good, I thought, because it did expose some of the rot. Some of it, I thought, was way too far and inflammatory. But that's a different topic to the grace we should extend to somebody who has fallen into serious sin, which he had. I texted him immediately.

Starting point is 01:34:11 I said, I love you. I'm praying for you. I've since spoken to him. And maybe I'm easily fooled. I don't think I am. But he goes to confession. He goes to Holy Mass. He's going to groups therapy.

Starting point is 01:34:25 because he's dealing with stuff that happened when he was a kid that no one really knows about that he shared with me. And yeah, still, what he did was awful. Yep, great. Maybe even what he did before. But this unwillingness to extend grace, he's a kind guy. And so I, same thing that happened when I had that other fellow on my show. Yes.

Starting point is 01:34:48 And then that happened. Same thing. I just did what I would want someone to do because I know I'm worse than him. And just to have the pile on. Oh, it was horrible. I like to say, and I'll let you talk more about it, is that social media elicits calumny, backbiting rash judgment the way pornography elicits lust.

Starting point is 01:35:09 Yes. Like, how long can you sit in front of pornography until you're sinning? Right. How long can you sit on social media before you're sinning? I'm not saying that the two are equivalent because social media isn't intrinsically evil in pornography is, but the fact of the matter is, It draws poison out of you.

Starting point is 01:35:24 And you've got to have, like, do I, that's why I don't go on Twitter anymore. Yeah. I don't even, I have it blocked, I can't even access it on my computer. I don't even know my password. It's daily wireless the password. So I'll text my social media going on like, hey, tweet this out or make sure you share this. So I'm still active in that sense, but I know myself well enough that I'll be dragged into that. We've got to get serious about this.

Starting point is 01:35:46 Because a lot of Catholics are serious about lust as they should be. They're serious about drunkenness, hopefully, as they should be. But guess what else is a mortal sin that will send you to hell? Intentionally sinning with calumny, backbiting. These are mortal sins you're committing. And the arrogance to just not care or to not even be mildly reflective about whether I have done that is very sad. So I looked at him and I was, like I mentioned, I was believing all of these things. And I was like, man, these people didn't, don't know.

Starting point is 01:36:19 This guy's genuinely sorry. He's not living a double life. He's a human who sins. And then I felt like the Blessed Mother was saying to me, and Gabriel, but for the grace of God, there you go. And then I said to myself, not me, not me. I don't struggle with what he sinned with. And then she said, what is your name?

Starting point is 01:36:36 I said, Gabriel. What is his name, Michael? Oh, so you're both named after angels. And she said, what was your YouTube channel originally called? When I first got on YouTube, my channel was the church militant. And his was the one true faith. And then something happened. I made my Marian consecration.

Starting point is 01:36:54 And I said, I can't be so angry. The Blessed Mother's not angry. The Blessed Mother's loving. I'm zealous and I'll work on that. But there's no harsh bone in her. And I was very harsh and very ugly. And so I decided I will no longer be the church militant. I will be true faith TV.

Starting point is 01:37:12 And he changed from the one true faith to the church militant very close in times. Very close in times. And I was like, oh, God. that could be me, but for the grace of God. That's me. I'm back here. Everybody's talking bad about me and my world is destroyed. Yes.

Starting point is 01:37:30 And so at that point, I was like, I can't be in that business. I can't make videos about people. I can't judge other people in my heart because that's, we're all sinners. Like humility, true humility is knowing the truth about who I am and the truth about who God is. And the truth about all humans, if you can sin, you can commit any sin. That's the reality. Our confidence is only in God. And yeah, it just, I read a lot of negative comments.

Starting point is 01:38:02 And at first, sometimes they hurt me. And then I'm like, the last judgment. Then I'm like, yeah, but they're going to be at the last judgment. And it's not going to go well for them. So, yeah, it's just a very dangerous thing to open your mouth online. The temptation is strong, but we really have to be very careful about what we say. because words are very powerful. That's why I gave you that pen because of the power of words.

Starting point is 01:38:25 How do we make ourselves believe this? Because you and I feel convicted about this, but I'm convinced a lot of people don't seem to care. Maybe I'm wrong because I get a lot of comments in the comment section. They're from different people. Sometimes you think it's the same people over and over again if you don't pay attention to the moniker. So maybe people, I'll tell you what's been really edifying a lot.

Starting point is 01:38:45 I shouldn't say a lot. I've seen a couple of dozen comments from people who said, Frad, I trashed you when you joined Daily Wire. I'm so sorry I did it. Just last night, I got that again. Someone's saying that. And I try to be really humble. I'm like, thank you very much.

Starting point is 01:39:00 I appreciate. I really appreciate that. That's good. That's huge. That's huge. One, it makes you feel better. Like, believe it or not, like when somebody apologizes to me, it does feel like a sword is removed. So that means I am spiritually.

Starting point is 01:39:16 feeling these things and walking around. If there's healing after, that means I must have been wounded. Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, it's very powerful, and I would just beg everybody to know that we are all sinners. And I struggle with this because I work with young adults, and I tell them, hey, share your faith online. It's very important that you share what's valuable to you that impacts other people. But then people jump into social media not well equipped for the spiritual warfare, not well equipped for the temptations of the devil.

Starting point is 01:39:47 The devil, for example, will help to build a house simply so that it can come crashing down because he knows the weak link it's not built on a solid foundation. And then when somebody falls into sin and scandal and we're like, that hypocrite is like, that's us, dude, that's us.

Starting point is 01:40:06 And so it's like, I caution people greatly before they get online because it is dangerous. It's dangerous because, if you want to grow your YouTube channel, the best thing you could do is find someone who's got a lot more followers than you and just slander them continually. Show how they're not a true Christian. Drum up a bunch of scandal about them. You'll grow real quick.

Starting point is 01:40:28 And the devil will help you. So if you have no ideas because the temptation with YouTube is I got to produce, like that's my temptation. Like you got to put out. You haven't put out a video in a month, dude. Are you a YouTuber if you're not making content? And it's like, oh, yeah, you're right. And so the temptation is I have nothing that will enlighten the way. world so I will curse the darkness and then you go online and you have this crash out and everybody

Starting point is 01:40:50 yeah you tell him you tell him bro that's exactly what he needs to hear and so you're like you get that dopamine and you're like oh yeah that's the kind of content i'm going to make and you know from youtube one of the you're you're popular for a lot of reasons but one of the great reasons is because you have different personalities that other people can gravitate towards yeah but if you don't have other personalities what you're going to do to try to get that personality in the thumbnail is talk about them yeah so you're calling somebody out or you're It's just, it's a dangerous, dangerous business. I don't think I have the temperament to go as hard as some people do go.

Starting point is 01:41:22 Sure, sure, yeah, sure. But I've done it before. I've definitely gone after people before. And what's sad, very, and a real poverty is I didn't see at the time that I was doing that. In hindsight, I go, oh my gosh, that was out of insecurity. That was out of a desire for clicks. Yeah. But at the time, I didn't see it.

Starting point is 01:41:42 Right. Like it wasn't like, this is evil, but I want the click. That's not what it was just a fog. A veil, yeah. Which again is why we need to be in prayer, discernment. We need a spiritual father or mother. So I said something stupid recently on my show. I won't say what it was.

Starting point is 01:41:58 And I was in great turmoil about it. And I should have been, maybe not great. I shouldn't have been in great turmoil, I don't think. But I should have, I was right to be worried. But just to go to a spiritual father and go, you tell me what to do here. I screwed up here. You know. What helps me is I am unapologetically consecrated to the Blessed Mother.

Starting point is 01:42:18 I do consider it her YouTube channel. I do consider all my social media's posts hers. So I do. I've gotten online and I've typed up a nasty thing about, I'll just one example. Like there was a bunch of priests at the time giving their political opinions and like on both sides of the aisle. And I was like, I don't get online to hear my priest's opinion about politics. Can I have a bit of space? So I typed up something nasty

Starting point is 01:42:45 and then at like two seconds later because I have the habit of going to my mother, there's nobody like a mother that will be like, What are you doing? What are you doing? And so that habit of going to her, and then so I'm like, all right, you in, okay, fine, I'll take it down.

Starting point is 01:43:01 I'll delete it. Yeah, so going to Mary, yeah, going to Mary has been in this. I would have ruined my life a thousand different ways if it wasn't for a lady protecting me for sure. As I told you recently, Alba had been told pregnancy was impossible. So when she unexpectedly became pregnant, she wasn't overjoyed. She was actually afraid and overwhelmed. Then she

Starting point is 01:43:22 walked into a pre-born network clinic. She received a free ultrasound, saw her baby, heard that tiny heartbeat and everything changed. Alba chose life. Today, baby Laura is healthy and thriving. And right now, another mother is walking into a clinic feeling just as scared as Alba did. You can help give her the same moment. Just $28 helps provide one life-saving ultrasound, or you can give $140, which helps rescue five babies. If you're a business owner, would you consider a larger donation to claim a write-off? A donation of a thousand or two or 10 or 15,000 will sponsor an ultrasound machine for a needy clinic, helping to save countless babies' lives for years to come. All gifts are tax-deductible and will reach eternity. Please give

Starting point is 01:44:09 today. Dial pound 250 and say baby. That's pound 250 baby. Or visit preborn.com slash pints. That's preborn.com slash pints. There are certain things that we genuinely want to make part of our lives, but somehow they're always beginning tomorrow. For a lot of Catholics, reading scripture is one of them. You want to read the Bible more, maybe every day, but then you open it, encounter something you don't understand, and suddenly your 10-minute Bible study has turned into a research project. Well, the new St. Paul Center app is designed to make scripture something you can actually build into your day. This is something you could do over your morning coffee, even listen to while you're walking the dog. There are brief, roughly 10-minute reflections on the daily mass readings

Starting point is 01:45:00 plus free podcasts and lectures that help you understand scripture and the biblical roots of the Catholic faith. I honestly couldn't recommend another organization more than this when it comes to learning scripture. And you know, you're learning alongside some of today's leading Catholic scripture scholars, people that we've had here on the podcast. So instead of simply reading a difficult passage and wondering what it means, you have someone there to help you understand it. You don't need to completely reorganize your life to spend more time in God's word. Start with the time you already have. Download the St. Paul Center app for free in the Apple or Google App Store, or visit st paulcenter.com slash app i'd like to talk about um the true devotion to mary and consecration

Starting point is 01:45:45 to the blessed virgin mary if you have advice on yes what that is for those who are newbies yes how we can make it more personal and effective and then people always have so many questions about the rosary i'd love to maybe pepper you with a bunch of little ones what do you want to do first so let's talk about our lady in consecration and the in the various spectrum of consecration so a basic consecration is rooted in Jesus Christ. So how do I know if my Marian devotion is healthy or disordered? How did Jesus live his consecration? How did Jesus live in the presence of Mary?

Starting point is 01:46:22 How did he love her? How did he treat her? If my love for the Blessed Mother mirrors the one who I'm trying to become most like, I'm pretty safe. I'm pretty safe. So Jesus accepted Mary as his mother. the second person of the Holy Trinity said she's the one for me and so as a member of the body of Christ I accept her so that that truly is a basic marrying consecration blessed virgin Mary I accept you as my mother

Starting point is 01:46:49 please do for me what you did for Jesus Christ I'm going to focus on Jesus Christ and I just want you to help me I want to have a shoulder to cry on I want to have somebody who will help to protect me from sin I want to have somebody who will do all of the things in the natural order but in the spiritual order. So that is the basic act of entrustment. And so what does that look like? For me, as a beginner, it was we have two people going to Holy Communion, both want to receive Jesus, both love Jesus, both only want to be with Him.

Starting point is 01:47:22 Blessed Mother, help me to receive Him worthily. It's that simple. So you have two people of goodwill, two people who love Christ. One person says, Blessed Mother, help. me, that prayer is efficacious. It is the will of God that she help you. It's God himself who gave us Mary as our mother. We see this at the wedding feast of Cana where there was a demand, a need, and had the Virgin Mary not been the specific one specifically to go to Christ, the grace would not have been given. And so that's how our Marian consecration should look. And I encourage everybody,

Starting point is 01:47:58 you don't have to do a 33 day. So people are like, do I have to do the 30 days? three day. The Louis de Montfort, it's so tedious. I never get through it. I get in 10 days. As far as I'm aware, every saint that has been canonized has had a great love for the mother of God, and they have asked her, entrusted themselves to her, consecrated themselves to her, all the different ways you can describe it. And I would say the overwhelming majority did not do Louis de Montfort's 33 day consecration. It is, what matters is that you surrender your life on a daily basis to Jesus Christ asking Mary's help. So you can view it as an active entrustment.

Starting point is 01:48:35 Blessed Mother, I entrust you with this podcast. I entrust you with this missionary. I entrust my children to you. And that goes a very, very long way, simply because you're asking her, she will help you. I have a picture of the Black Madonna of Poland. Beautiful, I love this woman. Oh, please.

Starting point is 01:48:53 I love this woman. I love her specifically because she's black. She's black and beautiful. There's an Old Testament scripture verse that says, I am black and I am beautiful. I love her because she has scratches across her face. I love her because she's gritty and willing to fight. One of the miracles of Our Lady of Chesterhova was when the Swiss were invading Poland.

Starting point is 01:49:15 The Polish people were losing everywhere. The last standing stronghold was the monastery at Jaz Nagora. And the priest was processing the blessed sacrament around and all the other monks were praying fervently to the mother of God. and the Swiss testify that the hill would raise and lower based on where they fired their cannons. So they would fire it lower and the hill would raise and it would get stuck into the hill. Then it would lower and they would fire it over

Starting point is 01:49:43 and they said that a woman who was so beautiful and so radiant was walking around, walking around the tops of Jasnagora. And then the Polish people in 1920, it's called the Miracle of the Vistula. The Russians were invading Poland and on the feast of the assumption, the mother of God appeared to the Russians and was like holding up a shield

Starting point is 01:50:02 in front of the Polish people, and the Russians were claiming that the bullets were firing at the Polish, and there's all sorts, you've got to look all these things up. But the reality is that invocations to the mother of God are efficacious. It is true that the prayers of the righteous

Starting point is 01:50:15 availeth much, and she is the most righteous. Just try it. So there's a form of Mary in consecration where Mary doesn't get in the way, where you're doing your own thing, You're just asking her for help. I have to do a quick shout out to a book that I wrote with Father Gregory Pine. I forget what it's called Marion consecration.

Starting point is 01:50:35 According to Thomas Aquinas, I believe. Yeah, something like that. It's a nine-day preparation for total consecration because I came across this very unknown prayer by Thomas Aquinas in which he talks about entrusting his entire life to her. And so we use the writings of Thomas Aquinas to prepare people for that. He also has a sermon where he, I think it's something like nine ways that Mary is like light. Yes. Cool. Beautiful.

Starting point is 01:50:57 And you will find that it's efficacious. So a lot of people say, Gabe, you're so confident. Confidence is built when you've seen the result time and time and time. Well, she's never failed in my life. She never has. When I think she's failed, she's actually won in a way that I did not expect. It was way better. So it was better that I accepted the L here because I got a bigger W later.

Starting point is 01:51:18 So there's that form of consecration, and I love that form of consecration. And then there is a more maximalist form where this is where you're getting into the territory of Louis de Montfort. And then even farther to the right is St. Maximilian Colby. And Louis de Montfort is saying, hey, God's will is perfect. The will of Mary and the will of God are essentially the same. And Maximilian Colby echoes the same. So I will ask the Blessed Mother to help me to do God's will at every single moment. Maximilian Colby takes it further and says,

Starting point is 01:51:51 Can we just stop with this? Can we just say the will of the immaculata? But there's something very important that Maximilian Colby says that I did not, with my modern ears, I didn't want to hear it. But after accepting it, it really supercharged the depth of my spirituality. So Maximilian Colby says, once you've consecrated yourself to the immaculata and you mean it. So it's, anybody can say, and many people have said the prayer of consecration, but they wake up every day and they're doing their own will and they're living for themselves. They'll go to the Blessed Mother when they're suffering.

Starting point is 01:52:28 But an authentic, truly, deeply consecration is, I give everything to you. And the thing that I give to you that's most mine is my very will every single day. I'm open. I'm a blank check. What do you want of me this day? So Maximilian and Colby will say, the will of the Immaculate. He would say, this is the hardest piece of advice. and I only accept it at first because of his witness.

Starting point is 01:52:50 So it's a power of a witness. He said, if you've consecrated yourself to Mary, and she's the queen of heaven and earth, and I know this is going to sound crazy to the Protestant ears, but there's some things that you can only understand from the inside. So once you've feasted on the body of Christ on a regular basis, and you really are in tune that you're one with his body,

Starting point is 01:53:11 you very quickly, subconsciously, naturally begin to love the one that gave him flesh. So there's some things that you can only understand by walking down this hallway, walking down the path of consecration. You start with what you're comfortable with, a relationship. You love me? I'll accept your love. I'll accept your help. And then she leads you closer.

Starting point is 01:53:34 And Jesus leads you closer. The intimacy between Jesus and Mary is unimaginable. The second person of the Holy Trinity, the blood flowing through his veins, the nourishment he received was 100% what the Virgin Mary chewed and digested. He sucked at her breast for all of his nourishment. Like the intimacy between them is unimaginable. But here's the hard part that Colby says. You've consecrated yourself to her.

Starting point is 01:54:01 You've given her your will. You've given her your life. Are you convicted that her only desires to make you a saint and to be like Jesus Christ? Yes. Therefore, everything that happens to you, the good and the bad, accepted it as if it's from the hands of the immaculate herself. Even if it comes from the ill will of others, except that our lady is allowing this

Starting point is 01:54:26 for the greater glory of God so that you become most like her son. So for me, that was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. God is incapable. Like, because we want to say God will never do anything evil. It's his permissive will, and it is, but he is omnipotent, and he has allowed it. So are you going to embrace this cross lovingly?

Starting point is 01:54:44 The only way to grow in virtue and in grace is to embrace the cross or are you going to resent it? So, like I said, Maximilian Colby, for me, if he didn't live it, I don't know that I could accept it. Like, he's only a saint because he was abducted from his monastery,

Starting point is 01:55:04 beaten and treated like an animal, starved to death, naked and alone, in his own feces and bodily fluids, to starve like a, like a, like even worse than an animal. And he said, Mary's allowing this.

Starting point is 01:55:19 All for the Immaculate. Let's pray the rosary. Let's sing some hymns to our lady. Had he not lived this? So that is the most extreme. But at the end of your consecration, because you say, again, I just don't feel comfortable with this.

Starting point is 01:55:32 At the end of your consecration, you look back on your life, you ask yourself, do I look more like Christ now or when I went alone? It is the will of the Immaculate. It's the will of the Father to form the mystical body of Christ

Starting point is 01:55:46 in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it's all about Jesus. When I pray my rosary, I'm not even thinking about her. I'm just, I'm with Jesus in the Gospels. I'm meditating. I'm like, what are you teaching me?

Starting point is 01:56:00 I forget about her. So how does my Marian consecration mirror that of Christ? Mental prayer plays a large role in this. So what did Jesus do when he lived his entrustment to Mary, his commitment to Mary, his total surrender to Mary and to her will. He lived in the presence of Mary.

Starting point is 01:56:20 So in our mental prayer, it is helpful to visualize Mary present when you're at the enunciation. You put yourself in her presence and she's holding the baby Jesus and she's like, you want to hold them? Oh, I don't know if I could hold them. Come on, hold them. So you're there with her. In St. Francis de Sales, I have marked off in my book, that he says, when you're in the presence

Starting point is 01:56:40 of Jesus, when you're in the presence of Mary, you cannot help but become like them so you begin to be more like mary you're like but shouldn't i be more like jesus yes there's no more to similar people on this earth who loves the euchrist more than any other human mary who's pure than any other human mary who's more virtue mary mary mary's the answer to all these questions of virtue and holiness so you you live in her presence and you do what she asks you so when you ask her blessed you said, Mother, what would you have me do? In my prayer, she says, be like Christ. Suffer well. Embrace, embrace sufferings. For me, the biggest lesson of my life is not to run

Starting point is 01:57:23 from the cross. That suffering, when accepted, is an untold treasure. When I die, I will wish that people said worse things about me. Oh, if only somebody would have said another bad thing about me, please, God, I could be closer to Christ for all eternity. All the saints say that we have no idea the value of suffering because that is what Christ chose, how he chose to enter into humanity and identify with us the most. So it is a difficult journey and the person who will take you to the foot of the cross is the person who journeyed with Jesus most intimately to the foot of the cross. She will suffer with you, but you will have the cross.

Starting point is 01:58:02 People say, I prayed, I gave my life to the mother of God and my life went poorly. Christianity is not about an easy life. It's about meaning and purpose and love. So I really encourage anybody to make a marrying consecration, preparation, all that stuff I said about not doing De Montfort or whatever, that all being said, preparation is good. A man who's preparing to give himself in the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony, if he goes away and goes into a retreat,

Starting point is 01:58:31 he's going to be much more ready than a person who doesn't take their sacrament very well. That being said, my own personal Mariology, again, is deeply formed by my vocation. as a husband. So many people treat the mother of God like their mother. I don't treat her like my spouse, but I think about her in that covenantal way. So I wear, I noticed you noticing my ring. So I wear a ring as opposed to like a bracelet, which was Louita Monfort's because he was like a slave of Mary. I like to view my relationship with Mary as I give my life to her, but she also gives her life to me. So I entrust myself to her, and it's a two-way street. She has a special responsibility to take care of, to watch over me, and we're working together.

Starting point is 01:59:18 I'm not just doing all of this for her. She's taken a certain responsibility upon my soul. And if I ever get a diabolical attack or if I feel like, you know, people feel like, oh, man, the devil's out to get me. I have the assurance, is he, is he, or is he teaching me a very valuable lesson that our lady is allowing? So it takes the sting out of the bite of other people. So when I get calomated, I'm like, our lady is allowing this. The question is, why is she allowing this so that I can identify with Christ? Last night, I woke up at midnight.

Starting point is 01:59:50 I went to bed at eight because I wanted to make sure that I was while rested for our interview. I woke up at midnight. My heart was pounding. And I was like, why am I awake? I don't want to be awake right now. Please, I want to go to sleep. Blessing Mother, please help me to sleep. I'll pray a rosary.

Starting point is 02:00:01 And I said, but I asked the question as if she is in control of my life. So for people who are wondering, my king, my lord, my love of my life, my only goal in life is Christ. It's almost like as if Mary is the general in Christ's army, and I've joined the Navy SEALs so I can be the top fighter in the army. So Blessed Mother, why have you allowed me to wake up at midnight? Because I want you to pray for Matt. I want you to pray for this interview.

Starting point is 02:00:29 Grace is necessary. Souls aren't cheap. Somebody has to suffer. Will you be with me for an hour? Happily, my lady. And then it's not like an existential crisis. once I accept all of it for my good. That's beautiful.

Starting point is 02:00:43 Yeah. Yeah, in the Our Father, Fiat Voluntas Tour. Oh, the hardest line. I will be. The hardest line. And if the will felt heroic, I remember there was this line from Father Elijah from Michael O'Brien's book. He says, the zealot only feels useful in the battlefield.

Starting point is 02:01:02 Yes. Right. So it's like, if I'm struggling with something that objectively seems heroic, great. But like, what do I do when I can't seem to get on top of my housework or or if I have just an annoying headache? Or as you say, you wake up at two in the morning and you're like, gosh, am I just drinking too much coffee? Maybe that's true, but it's like, no, Fiat Voluntas Tour, you know, just those things are really hard to surrender to. And that's why the saints talk about if you want peace, then surrender. Yeah. Yeah. As opposed to trying to control.

Starting point is 02:01:37 This is something that you actually helped me to like wrestle with because I know you're a big lover of the Jesus prayer. And so I'm like, where do these ejaculatory prayers play in the role of the spiritual life? Because I can't, honestly, I don't know how Padre Pio did it. I strive to pray the rosary as often as possible. Yeah. But like if my balanced diet is going through the life of Christ through the rosary and I see the value, I've prayed the Jesus. prayer many times in ejaculatory prayers that help me to maintain a sense of the presence of God. And so these are wrestlings that I had been wrestling with earlier.

Starting point is 02:02:19 And so I was like, I need, because my biggest problem is I forget the presence of Mary. I don't do God's will. I need something to call me back because nobody's preaching to me about our lady. Like I'm just people like, I go to Gabe for the, I go to you and I feel all supercharged for our mother. But where's Gabe going to? So, like, I need something in my own mind to help. Because I don't want to, like, this is, it's really a hard thing because if I'm representing,

Starting point is 02:02:44 people see me as the rosary guy, and then somebody comes up to me at a conference and I'm short or I'm like, okay, my Uber is coming, but this person is talking to me. They're not going to understand. So I'm like, blessed mother, what do I do? So I was at, again, Stubenville conferences, love them. So I was at a Stubinville South conference again, but many years back. And I was asking the Lord, this is my, and again, I'm talking to Jesus about this. this. So when you're Marion, you will find yourself in the presence of Jesus more than if you

Starting point is 02:03:12 weren't because she wants you. The grace to love the Eucharist, again, is a grace. And so she will help to obtain these special graces. So I was before they had the beautiful adoration. And I was like, Lord, speak to me. I don't know what. And he says, you're on the right track. The Jesus' prayer might not be just for you. Like, I will give you a special prayer that you can say for yourself. And so the prayer that he gave me then was, Mary, you're present. Jesus loved through me. For me, he said, Mary, you're present. Mary, love through me. But I don't want to offend people. I don't want to scare people. I think you've already scared him. Maybe it'll go all in. Yeah. So, but, but sometimes, sometimes I feel like Jesus is speaking through me. And sometimes I

Starting point is 02:03:54 feel like Mary is speaking through me. One of my temperaments is being choleric and I struggle with going too hard. And like, you know, that temptation to be like, you know, that temptation to be Like, I'm just like Jesus cleansing the temple. Like, never have I cleansed the temple that I did not end up in confession. And so when I'm in a hostile situation, I say, Blessed Mother, you're present. Please live through me. Because there's no heart.

Starting point is 02:04:21 There is, we've seen our Lord act harsh, but I'm not our Lord. But our lady would, I don't know that she would have done the same thing in the same way. She would have had her own way of just, like, I just have, I've, I've always regretted cleansing the temple. I've always regretted it. I love that line. Yeah. It is funny how we do that.

Starting point is 02:04:41 Well, Jesus, like a whip out of, yeah. Because he's God. He also walked on water and he was able to pull that off. I'm not sure you're able to pull off the virtue of anger without falling into the passion. Yeah. Could I pepper you with just some questions about the rosary for those? Absolutely. Blessed Mother, I ask you to help me.

Starting point is 02:05:00 Holy Spirit intercede because I don't know what I'm saying. Okay. What do you do when you're praying the rosary and you're meditating a particular mystery and you've talked about this in your book? So I kind of know the answer. But you get to the last and you go, I haven't even been thinking about this. I haven't even been thinking about the mystery. Does it help to beat yourself up? No, definitely not.

Starting point is 02:05:18 I don't take it too seriously. People have to cope with the fact is that humans are not good at prayer. It takes a lot of will and grace. So you're trying your best to pray and your best isn't good. enough and then therefore enters humility. Lord, I am incapable of this. And our Lord says, clearly, this is why I sent the Holy Spirit. So do not beat yourself up at your inability to, quote, unquote, pray well. And St. Francis DeSales, the universal doctor says, if you have spent all of your time in prayer, simply fighting off distractions, praise be to God, that was a good

Starting point is 02:05:57 session of prayer, because you receive grace according to your efforts and your goodwill. not according to how you feel. Dryness and desolation and prayer is actually the best path. We make the progress of a year during a week of desolation where you could be in consolation every day and make no progress because our Lord is just, you're like a kid who's going to school because, oh, I love school.

Starting point is 02:06:26 They always give me cakes or whatever. Yeah, and I think about that in my own marriage. When we first got married, I was a few civil in my... praise I was manly in my sacrifices for her but there wasn't a lot of sacrifices to be honest right because she was so great she is yeah and 20 years in though we recently went through this time of tremendous illness with Cameron that nobody knows anything about I've made none of it public and I can tell how much gratitude she has towards me for like showing up when she was that sick yes the point is just it's easy to love when the sun's shining and you're both

Starting point is 02:07:02 and beautiful. It's actually really hard to love when everything's hard and it's a grind, but the merit there, even on a human level, we understand it. And you just showed me a beautiful clip, one of the most beautiful clips on the internet of Peter Craft. And you asked him the question, something to the effect of, what advice do you have for newly married or discerning and dating? And he said, if you can look at her and she's fat and wrinkled and old and ugly and stinks and basically every bad thing and has like only one tooth, and you still think she's, She's beautiful. Like, that's beautiful.

Starting point is 02:07:35 That's love. That's sacrifice. And if that's true on a human relationship, how more is that true? And what does that point to towards God if we persevere in prayer when things don't feel well and nothing is going right? And afterwards, he's like, my well-beloved son, you've been faithful to me. Oh, how beautiful is that? What advice do you have to somebody who's never prayed the rosary before?

Starting point is 02:07:58 I've got to actually, since during the Daily Wire, at one point, over 50% of our viewers were new viewers. Wow. And a lot of them aren't Catholic, actually. So I don't know if they're stuck around or not. But what advice you have to someone who's never prayed the rosary and they want to? Doing it badly is okay. Number one, doing it badly is okay. Number two, pause for 10 to 20 or 30 seconds. Make an act of faith in the presence of God that you're not just reciting these words off to somebody who's not listening. Really make an act of faith that the Holy Spirit is so close to me. the mother of God is always watching me, that I'm a member of the body of Christ.

Starting point is 02:08:34 This only takes a second to do that act of recollection. And to the best of your ability, I know that some people can't visualize. To the best of your ability, try to visualize the scene as if you're present. This is essential. Imagine how you would have behaved if you were at the crucifixion for five minutes.

Starting point is 02:08:55 Could you imagine being there and watching it and taking it all in? you can't be there, but the power of the human intellect to take in that information, let's say you can't visualize, use a picture, or simply review the facts.

Starting point is 02:09:10 I always like to start with my meditations with things that I've seen before, so I've seen my hands, and I just imagine what would it be like to have a nail driven through them? Oh my goodness, that's horrible.

Starting point is 02:09:21 So that, so that feeling that, that it makes an impression, we call that making an impression, that is enough to make your petition and then begin your Our Fathers and Hail Marys. You try to linger there. You try to linger in the mystery.

Starting point is 02:09:37 Another thing is what you mentioned. No piety creep. The rosary, the assent, I pray the Fatima prayer, I pray it, that's fine. But don't let your piety get in the way of the essential element, meditation upon the life of Christ with the heart and the eyes of the mother of God.

Starting point is 02:09:57 If you're going to pray multiple rosaries, you don't need to do the Apostles Creed and the intro prayers for every rosary. You don't have to do the concluding prayers at the end of every rosary. And the goal of the rosary is when you pray it and you're praying it well, by well, I mean you're making an active effort to meditate. Again, a bad day is better than nothing. Then you will leave prayer with the sense of the presence of God. And then you go into battle. Then you go into battle. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.

Starting point is 02:10:27 get it done, but ask for the grace, help me to do this better. Help me to do this with more love and more attention. One piece of advice I might give from my own experience is in the Fatima prayer, for those at home that says, oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Hang on, save all souls. Oh my Jesus, forgive.

Starting point is 02:10:45 I don't remember it. Whenever you have to give it, like, do the Apostles' Creed. I was like, let me get that. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven. Especially those are most need in that. So what I do is after the decade, I place myself in intellectual,

Starting point is 02:10:57 actually in the sin and let's say it's finding of Jesus in the temple so it's me in front of a 12 year old boy yes what I do when I pray that Jesus I get on my knees and I look at him and my family's behind me and I say Jesus forgive us our sin so in every one of these mysteries it feels very different because um with the birth of Christ the nativity I'm holding him I'm like burping him yes and I'm whispering to him with my family forgive us our sin save it you know it's beautiful it's a beautiful way It's like how you might speak to Christ at different points in his life and you're just begging him. That's beautiful. What is, you've mentioned this and you've given examples of it, but could you just briefly tell us what mental prayer is and why it's essential to the rosary?

Starting point is 02:11:40 I'm going to read you a quote. I'll read you two quotes. I've got so many quotes booked here. I'm going to read you two quotes. If you'll permit me. Yeah. This is a quote from St. Lawrence Justinian. By the efficacy of mental prayer, temptation is banished.

Starting point is 02:11:54 Sadness is driven away. and the flame of divine love is intensified. So this is really important, and I've got quotes from different saints all echoing the same thing. You're struggling with temptation. The fires of lust, gluttony, the saints are saying,

Starting point is 02:12:10 you need virtue, of course, but temptation is banished in this type of prayer. The devil, if he's the one tempting you, cannot unleash his assaults on you if you're praying like this. Sadness is driven away. There's been times where a heavy sadness has set upon my shoulders in my heart.

Starting point is 02:12:28 And there's just nothing anybody can say. They're trying to talk me out of it. And I'm like, I appreciate your efforts. It's not helping. What you're saying isn't helping. And only in mental prayer, all of a sudden, it's just like a light is given. And I've got so many great quotes.

Starting point is 02:12:47 Here's one from St. Francis de Sales. In mental prayer, your whole soul will be filled with him. you will grow in his likeness listening to his words watching his actions believe me there is no way to god save through this door is francis de sales correct or not this is the catholic claim doctor of the church st alphonse says it st teresa avila says it i bring that up first because i get a lot of pushback from the orthodox yeah and they will say well in our tradition we don't believe in mental prayer it's daint this is what i've heard I could be wrong. This is what representatives claiming to be Orthodox have told me.

Starting point is 02:13:27 They would say, well, in our tradition, the imagination is very bad. Don't use the imagination because the devil can play tricks on you. St. Francis DeSalle is saying, using your intellect to meditate, to think about the life of Christ is essential. Is it essential or is it wrong? One of these is correct. One of them isn't. An example I use is the movie, the Passion of the Christ. I went into the movie not knowing what I was.

Starting point is 02:13:53 getting into because I had never thought about the passion. I had popcorn. I had a Dr. Pepper. I was ready for a good time at the movies. But when they begin to hit him and punch him and spit upon him, I didn't eat the popcorn and I didn't drink my Dr. Pepper. Eventually, I was in tears. And the reason for that was I was allowing the mystery to enter my intellect. So mental prayer in a nutshell is placing yourself in the presence of God considering some aspect from his life

Starting point is 02:14:27 so I can understand if you're like I'm going to walk through the temple and I'm going to ask Jesus this and that and then he said I'm not saying to do that I'm saying put yourself in the presence of God recollect yourself that's the first step of all prayer consider what our Lord has done his life is fire

Starting point is 02:14:44 his life is holiness everything flows from his sacred body and from his life. So put yourself in his life. The only way you can appreciate him is to consider his life. This is why many prisoners, they read the Bible,

Starting point is 02:14:58 they like have a conversion. And then the second, the third step, so number one, recollection, number two, consideration, number three, is converse from the heart about using this as fuel for the fire. Our prayer to God should be real.

Starting point is 02:15:15 The rosary is boring. I can't pray. I'm angry. I'm irritated. imagine the scene that I gave earlier, the Virgin Mary and the Seven Sars Rosary is holding Jesus and he's all bloodied up and I'm, and I'm angry and I'm irritated.

Starting point is 02:15:31 I said, Blessed Mother, I know you are in the middle of something right now, but I'm pissed. And then she looks at you and something happens in your heart. So I'm considering her here. I'm conversing from my heart there and I just allow her the freedom to converse back. So we're not listening to the words in our heads. We're attentive to the movements of our conscience.

Starting point is 02:15:57 And so when she looks at me and I'm like, okay, this isn't really that bad. What would you like me to do? What did he do? He absorbed it. He absorbed it, please. And the beautiful thing is, it's what Francis DeSalle says.

Starting point is 02:16:13 You get the grace there. So by being in a mystery where Christ is abused and you go to him wounded and abused, the grace of the mystery makes you stronger. So you go to him because you're tired of all the filth in your life. You're tired of dealing with all these people at work, not you because you've got a great place. And you go to the cross where he's tired of carrying it, all of a sudden transmitted to you, given to you, theosis in you, you now have the grace to keep moving forward. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm with you. I've heard Orthodox say things like that as well.

Starting point is 02:16:50 And like you, I'm wary to accept it at face value because... Right, because maybe you're not saying the right thing. Exactly. Maybe someone could explain what it is you're saying in a way that I go, ah, gotcha. Yeah. But if you're saying what I think you're saying, then you would have to say that Mel Gibson was committing sin in imagining... I know he was basing his movie off some private revelations, but there was some imaginative element to... it. And I don't think you're saying that. So, yeah. Yeah. Hey, we have to begin to wrap up.

Starting point is 02:17:21 Let's do it. That's close. I want to tell everyone, if you are open to praying the rosary, or if you want to go deeper with the rosary, I'm not only saying this because Gabby's here, because I've promoted it when he wasn't here. Check out his book, The Power of the Rosary. It's also unaudible. I strongly recommend the audible. Did you read it? Or did you read first? Yeah, so that's one of the reasons why this was such a powerful moment for me, because one, I read it, my wife helped me to edit it. But my son and my daughter at the back of the book, there is a chapter on testimonials. And to have my, my daughter gave the first testimony. And then she read all the female testimonies. And then my son read all the male testimonies. And I had my friend T.K., who I mentioned in this

Starting point is 02:18:00 podcast, he read his intro section. And man, that guy's got a beautiful voice and a beautiful soul. So yeah, I strongly encourage the audio version if you simply don't have the will to read it. Yeah. Is it on Spotify? It's on Spotify, Audible, Fio, all of the audio book things now that are available to us. But I would say that if you have the grace to read it, there is something sacred and special about holding a book and reading a book. But if something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly. Yeah, exactly. And it's packed with quotes from the saints. It's one thing I'd like you to do if you want is I would love a book. that just has quote after quote after quote

Starting point is 02:18:46 from the saints on the Holy Rosary. Can I share with you? So when I wrote this book, I'm not that literary. My wife would be the first to tell you that. But I've read a lot of lives of the saints, St. Alphonsis, all these great saints. And the way Alphonsis writes is he will say,

Starting point is 02:19:01 St. Augustine said this, and St. So-and-so said that, and Dr. So-and-so, and I agree when they say this. And so I was like, let's go! Every quote that I ever thought, and then I submitted the book to, Sophie, and they're like, you know you have to cite all of these. And I was like, oh, I definitely read them.

Starting point is 02:19:20 But I would have you know that every quote that I gave, I actually found it. The one that stands out to me the most was a divine providence. So it was the quote from Maximilian Colby who said, The Immaculata alone has the promise from God to crush the head of the serpent. These end times are going to be dominated by Satan. So our lady needs souls consecrated to her to go about and do her. will and her work. I couldn't find that quote anywhere, although it's everywhere over the internet. So I reached out to my brother and the blessed mother, father, Jose Maria. And I said, Father,

Starting point is 02:19:51 I can't find this quote anywhere. And he's like, because this guy is brilliant. He's like, Gabriel, you should know, I was just reading in Italian, this volume of the writings of Maximilian Colby and documents. And I found it where this nun was doing an interview and he gave me the exact location so I could include it in the book. Yeah. So there's a lot of quotes online that are like, We just have no idea where they came from. Grandma could have made them up, but yeah. Yeah, these are sourced. These are sourced, every single one.

Starting point is 02:20:19 Where can people learn more about you? They should know, you do excellent work with your, you've got an upcoming documentary, I know, but that, of course, brilliant video you did with Tammy Peterson that reached so many people. The production value is excellent, so maybe what we'll do is we'll collaborate with this YouTube video. Let's do that.

Starting point is 02:20:34 For we can be on both our channels. Who can easily find you? That'd be great. There'll be links below to the book and everything of it. So the YouTube channel is Gobby after hours. I know my son tells me all the time That is a horrible YouTube channel name I know I first made it

Starting point is 02:20:46 A long time ago before Back when it was like common to like come up with a title Yeah And actually it's very symbolic Of my own spirituality Because I started that specific channel Kind of like a social experiment What would happen to a normal guy

Starting point is 02:21:02 If he would go to the blessed sacrament Pray the rosary, all the mysteries And receive also gobi after hours of prayer And so you can kind of track the progression of my spiritual life along with the progression of the channel and the changing of quality because a lot of people don't realize

Starting point is 02:21:19 people like you and myself like we did not go to like a public commissioning you will now become an online evangelist we were just saying yes to the graces in the moment and these are places that the Lord has led us so you've got some excellent talks that people can check out I try to make high quality productions

Starting point is 02:21:37 that take a long time that's in the video section and then I have a live section that actually isn't live. Either they're pre-recorded talks or I record something with different camera angles but because of my office situation

Starting point is 02:21:50 I'm working out of a parish and people are constantly coming in so I'm uploading it as a live I'm presenting it as a live but often I'm like okay the phone just rang my printer started printing even though it's turned off got to get that blessed

Starting point is 02:22:05 but anyway so yeah so the live section is talks things like that all right God bless Kevin thank you thank you So if you've made it this far, I'm willing to bet that you don't hate what you're watching. So you should, you know, maybe consider liking and subscribing. Go on, consider it.

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Pints With Aquinas - Mary Maximilism (Gabriel Castillo) | Ep. 598

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