Our Peaceful Places
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the special live session. I am the Catholic Adventurer, and I thank you very much for joining me today. I wanted to talk to you about our peaceful places, as I get that microphone down a little bit away from my face. Peaceful places, our peaceful places. What's your peaceful place?
Speaker 1:What is it? And why aren't you there right now? Let's talk about it. Talking about peep peaceful places. You got the Catholic Adventurer live here at Substack Homebase.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much, and you're welcome very much. Also, simulcasting to TikTok and Instagram. Hello, Instagrammers and TikTokers. Yonder, thank you again very much for joining me. So let's fade that music out and get rolling here.
Speaker 1:So this isn't technically a podcast episode, but I guess it's sort of is. It's really a live session, and I'm just checking in with my TikTok. I'm sorry, Instagram here. I'm sorry. It's really a live session, and because I'm going live to different platforms, I have to check-in and make sure things are working properly across those different platforms.
Speaker 1:Hello Danny, catching me on Instagram. Thank you very much brother. I really appreciate it. Talking about Peaceful Places tonight, hello to Sean Yedder, the godmother. Heir, Doug Mosher, and Jack Hastings.
Speaker 1:Lord have mercy, that is a cool name Jack Hastings. All those prior names joining me here at Homebase on Substack peaceful places. Also, look quick little, I'm not gonna do it now, but a quick little update for those of you catching me on, Instagram wondering where are all my where are my posts? Where where am I posting? I haven't been posting what's going on with you.
Speaker 1:Not doing that now, doing that a little later. Now, I've been wanting to do this, this little live session for a while, and I thought this is a good time to do it because I've been kind of caught up in, I wouldn't call it battles, but I guess people call them battles. I've been caught up in, like, these battles on on Twitter today, or on X, whatever we're calling that now, basically comes down to compassion. The Trump administration has just laid off I'm going somewhere with this, so follow me, has just laid off 1,300 people, and a Catholic who follows me, I know him to be a very good conservative, and also a good Catholic, a good faithful guy. And he said, you know what that means?
Speaker 1:It's 1,300 families who are now out of work. I said, yeah, that's true. Now I was out of work for a year, and I have a family, and I can tell you that's an awful, awful situation to be in. Doesn't matter why you lost your job. You lost your job because, you know, the government is bloated and you got you know, your job got trimmed.
Speaker 1:Doesn't matter why you lost your job. It's a pretty terrible thing to happen. And there are a lot of people flaming this guy as if he's some kind of bleeding heart liberal for saying what he's saying. I'm not here to talk about that. The point is I got involved in these back and forths and back and forths, and I don't know why.
Speaker 1:Why do I keep going back there for that? Because I know, God forgive me, but these people are very dumb. The people who are making these comments, they're really, really rude, some of them a little mean, and God forgive me, they are so dumb. In the next actual podcast, this is a live session, but the next episode of The Catholic Experience, I'm going to talk about that thread. I'm not gonna get into it now.
Speaker 1:So it's not like I've been glued to my phone participating in this, but almost, I mean, I've got things to do. I've got a wife, I've got children, I've got a house to clean, now I sound like Alice from The Brady Bunch, I've got a house to clean Mr. Brady, But you know what I mean. You gotta pitch in, you gotta help out, you know, that sort of thing. So, I haven't been glued to my phone, but I've been in this to win this because it's my warrior spirit.
Speaker 1:Once I smell a battle, I'm there. But the thing is, I don't wanna be. I don't want to be there. I just wanna be left alone. That's who I really am.
Speaker 1:But yet still, I chase after these battles. If there's a battle to and I don't mean online. Folks, I'm an infantry marine, decorated. I'm not talking about online. It's my personality, it's my character.
Speaker 1:If I identify a battle that needs to be fought, I'm there. It's almost, almost a compulsion. I'm not crazy. You guys are the same way too. We're gonna get into that as we go on, as we progress.
Speaker 1:And I find this about myself a lot. That I identify my peaceful places, I kind of know what they are, where they are, how they are. We'll talk about that in a second too. And yet, the only times I really go to them, is when I'm fatigued by the craziness of my daily life. When I'm fatigued by, for instance in this case, these stupid Twitter battles.
Speaker 1:I'm not fatigued, but it's just an example. These stupid Twitter battles. Or the fatigue of the rat race of my daily life, you know, things that you really have to be involved with. Your work, managing helping to manage the house, managing the kids, paying the bills, all that stuff. Once that finally fatigues me, then I go to my happy place.
Speaker 1:Why? Why do I wait? Why don't I just go there whenever I can, whenever I'm able to? We all do that. We all know where our peaceful place is.
Speaker 1:By the way, if I said happy place a moment ago, just replace that with peaceful place. We all we all know what our peaceful places are. For you, it could be prayer. It could be reading a book. It doesn't have to be religious.
Speaker 1:Leisure is very spiritual. God made us that way. It doesn't always have to be religious, but it ought to be include religion. That's beside the point. Thank you, godmother.
Speaker 1:That was so sweet. Godmother said, let the Lord lead you. That was so sweet. We all know what our peaceful places are. It's reading.
Speaker 1:It's prayer. It's reflecting on on the scripture. It's being present before the tabernacle. Maybe you don't say anything at all. You're just there, and that's your peaceful place.
Speaker 1:Right? For me, one of my peaceful places for sure is meditating on scripture. Okay? One of my peaceful places is reading a book. One of my peaceful places is early in the morning, smoking my pipe, reading a book, with my coffee alchemy.
Speaker 1:My coffee alchemy is coffee exactly the way I like it, so of course I make it myself. With some it's gonna sound disgusting until you try it. With some butter, some coconut oil, little bit, just a little bit of dark chocolate, and just a little bit of cinnamon, and then you blend it up. Now that's not every cup of coffee that I have, that's just my, you know, that's just like my special thing, you know? I take this beautiful cup of coffee, and a book, Sometimes, often it's theology, but sometimes I have to take a break from theology and I'll read just literature.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you need that break, and whatever, and I'll have my pipe, and for forty five minutes I'm left alone, because nobody else is up yet, and that's my peaceful place. Or, as I said, it's meditating on scripture. Or it's prayer if I'm in the mode. But to really pray well, you have to really be in the mode, and if you're not doing it frequently enough, it takes you a long time to get in that mode spiritually, psychologically, mentally. It takes you a long time to get in that mode.
Speaker 1:So sometimes it's a challenge, you understand? So those are some of my peaceful places. And you have your own. But ask yourself, how often do you go to them? Do you only go to them when life has really kicked your ass?
Speaker 1:When you're so tired of the rat race? Or when you're so tired of things that are antithetical, the opposite of your peaceful place. Things that just drive you mad, but for some reason, you pursue them, and pursue them, and pursue them some more. Then, when you've finally had enough, that is when you seek out your peaceful place, whatever that peaceful place is for you. It's gonna be different and unique for everybody.
Speaker 1:So whatever your peaceful place is for you, it's gonna be unique to everybody. But what I think is universal, is that we know what our peaceful places are, and we spend very little time there. Our peaceful places become a place of respite, a place of rest from the madness, from the from the grind, or from the things that we pursue that aren't the grind, they're just things we pursue, like social media battles, or social media scrolling. That's not something you have to do. That's not really the grind.
Speaker 1:That's and it doesn't mean there's something wrong with it, as long as it's in moderation. I'm not saying there's something wrong with it. But it's not something we have to do, it's something we choose to do, it's something we pursue, that like it or not, know it or not, it's driving us crazy. The algorithms make sure that it drives us a little crazy because the the developers know that that craziness is addictive. Right?
Speaker 1:We look at things that make us angry. That make us want to say something about it. Or we look at things that make us happy and jovial, but not joyful. There's a difference. The developers know these things are addictive psychological characteristics, and the algorithms are dis And so, effectively it's this, the algorithm is designed to make us happy.
Speaker 1:And the developers know, quote unquote happy. And the developers know, being agitated makes them happy. It keeps them on the platform. Being jovial makes them happy. It keeps them on the platform.
Speaker 1:Here's another video of cats fighting, which is kinda funny. Here's another video of a bear attack, and the bear runs into a glass window. He doesn't break through the window, it's okay. He just bounces off of it, and it's so funny. It's very funny.
Speaker 1:Here's another video of a monkey smiling. Whatever, you get the point. So we pursue these things, and pursue these things, and pursue these things, until eventually, whether it's news, or or or aggravating and stressful things on the social media sites, whatever. And then we finally get tuckered out. Or it's the grind, and we finally get tuckered out.
Speaker 1:Then we go to our peaceful place for rest. But why? Why does it have to be a place of rest? Why can't it be the place where we live? Why can't it be the why can't it be the place that we are there all the time, every opportunity we get?
Speaker 1:Why is it why is it plan b and not plan a? Hello to How To Be Catholic on Substack, and KM Jacek, also checking me out here on Substack. Let's go ring around the rosy. I've been wanting to say hello to Reasonable Dad, checked in here on Instagram, and also also Peaceful Crusader, and Danny I said hello to already, hello and thank you. You know, I don't take it lightly that you guys tap play.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I wanna take some time to thank you. I don't know if any of these people are still in the chat rooms. Julia Christian, Gerard on TikTok, Dylan Journey, Lil Spike. You're so cute, Lil Spike. Thank you for joining me here on TikTok in Latin.
Speaker 1:Poppy. Join me here on TikTok as well. Now check it. And if you have anything to contribute, do so in the chat rooms, and I will go around and mention what you've said and respond to it. The Godmother says, We can learn how to be joyful from Saint Francis of Assisi.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know, Godmother, that's a very important point, and I have to tell you, joyful, quote unquote joyful, what it is to be joyful, what it means, how to actually be joyful, is a little mysterious. It's easy to identify visually. Right? Oh, that person looks joyful.
Speaker 1:That person acts joyful. They act out in a lot of joy. But what does that mean interiorly? Don't ask me for the answer because I really don't know, to be to be honest with you. But Saint Francis of Assisi was exceedingly joyful.
Speaker 1:The Jesus prayer and, Alleluia G, I feel like I know that person. The Jesus prayer calms my troubled spirit. Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner. Repeat as many times as necessary. I wanna lend my voice to that.
Speaker 1:I think that's great advice. Find a phrase or statement like that. It could be one that's like traditional, or it could be one that you've seen in the Psalms, whatever, or one that you make up. The Holy Spirit will prompt you. You'll know I like saying that, and I wanna say that a lot.
Speaker 1:I had that moment once, a couple years ago. It was very weird. I was doing that Jesus prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, son of living God, have mercy on me a sinner, on prayer beads. And just and I was meditating on meditate.
Speaker 1:I I was thinking about the crucifixion as I was saying it. And then what came out of me was, Lord Jesus Christ, King of Mercy, I place my trust in you. I didn't make that up. That's part of the, Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. But I never painted any mind.
Speaker 1:It never really struck me, you know, why I said the Divine Mercy. But for some reason, it spilled out of my mouth while I was praying something else, and then it struck me differently. It was almost like the Holy Spirit was saying, hey, stupid, say this one. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, or Lord Jesus Christ, king of mercy, I place my trust in you. And then I started repeating that.
Speaker 1:Lord Jesus Christ, king of mercy, I place my trust in you. Lord Jesus Christ, king of mercy, I place my trust in you. And even now as I as I say it, there's just something in it that rings in my heart. The Holy Spirit will get you there. But that's good advice.
Speaker 1:That's very good advice. Danny on Instagram says sometimes we emphasize George C. Marshall's quote, the price of peace is eternal vigilance. That's so true. Because peace, you you really have to pursue and work for it, you know?
Speaker 1:So we all have things going on. Each of us has a crazy life of our own. Right? In our own way. You can't whatever your peaceful place is, meditating on scripture, you can't do that all day.
Speaker 1:You have a job to do, family to take care of whatever. But I'll speak to myself, about myself. When I have some downtime, I usually go on this. I'm usually scrolling through whatever, Substack notes, or Instagram reels, which I do enjoy. But I have to tell you, why do I choose that when that's just part of the craziness?
Speaker 1:That's not part of peace. It's leisure, it's psychological leisure. It's, I guess, physical leisure because I'm just standing sitting there scrolling and watching. But it's not my peaceful place. Why do I scroll instead of going to my peaceful place?
Speaker 1:Which might be meditating on scripture. It only takes fifteen minutes. I mean, the longer you do it, the better. But to just do it at all? Five minutes as a newbie, at least fifteen minutes if you're experienced.
Speaker 1:Only takes fifteen minutes. So why am I spending twenty minutes looking at my phone? I don't know. I really don't know. I am not saying that things like scrolling through reels is a bad thing.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it has its place. And I'm not saying I have the answers here. I'm proposing this for your consideration. Why is our why are our peaceful places periods of respite instead of dwelling places where we go to whenever we can? I've done my duty in this moment.
Speaker 1:There is no one or no thing that needs me right now. There's nothing I'm neglecting. Let me go to my peaceful place. You know, it's really very strange, because we identify our peaceful places and we can we also identify the things that make us absolutely crazy, and still we pursue them. Isn't that strange?
Speaker 1:Why do we pursue them? It really does paint a picture of two sides of our individual humanity. There's our fallen nature, and there's our how would you put that our true nature. Who God actually made as opposed to what we have become because of sin. There's two parts of ourselves, right?
Speaker 1:Not two parts, but you know what I'm saying. Two dimensions? And it's our fallen nature that seeks out ease, an inordinate amount of pleasure, like too much of it or too much time in it, seeks out things that stir our passions. Right? Let's say let's say X or Twitter really, really stirs your passion.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's anger, rage, anxiety. And you seek it out. That's our fallen nature. Seeking out these things. Seeking out not the true and good and beautiful, but seeking out their respective antithesis.
Speaker 1:The bad or the evil. The false or the mistruth. Good, true, beautiful, and the ugly. I lost my place there. Which one, did I start with good?
Speaker 1:Did I do good, good? I lost my place there. But the antithesis of the true and good and beautiful, our fallen nature seeks them out, chases them down. Really, it's like a wild and crazed animal. So, why am I bringing this to you?
Speaker 1:To point out to you that you do it. You may not be aware of it, but this is your wake up call. You do it. We all do. And I have identified that this has done me great harm over the course of whatever time.
Speaker 1:I don't wanna say my life because, you know, it's not like since I was five I've been doing it. But you know what I'm saying? It's done me great harm, and I I identify that. And when I'm at my best, when I take time to meditate on scripture, which is probably my favorite peaceful place, when I take time to meditate on scripture, I swear, I am like instantly somewhere else, and I am instantly someone else. And I feel so real.
Speaker 1:I feel like this is who I am, not because of what I'm doing, but because of what I'm experiencing in the doing of it. And yet, I have to fight my lower nature to get there. And my lower nature is me. I have to fight myself to get to where I truly want to be. Reading a book used to be I could sit down and read a book, and inside of the first paragraph I was in that place.
Speaker 1:That peaceful place inside of the first paragraph as soon as I opened a book. These days, life has me so stressed, duly stressed, and unreasonably stressed. Like some things are just unreasonable, like, you know, these things that stress me out don't need to be in my life, kind of thing. So there are things like that, and there are things that need to be in my life, like work, you have to work, stuff like that. These days, it takes me like fifteen minutes when I'm reading a book, takes me like fifteen minutes to actually really settle down.
Speaker 1:Oh, now I'm enjoying this book. That sort of happens when we neglect our peaceful places for too long, I think. When we get out of the rhythm of those peaceful places, it takes us longer for them to become peaceful places. So the message I wanna leave with you, and then I'm gonna go around to see if anybody has If anyone has anything to say, offer, or contribute, this is the time to do it because I'm about to go around to see if anyone has anything to say, any questions you want answered, stuff like that. It can be about the topic, or about something else.
Speaker 1:But I'm not gonna tell you my social security number, so don't bother asking. So, what I wanna leave with you is identify what your peaceful places are. You probably have more than one of them, it's possible you only have the one, that's possible. Identify what that one is. And sorry for this noise here, and force yourself to go there frequently.
Speaker 1:Force yourself to go there frequently. Make a regimen out of it. That once a day, at least, I'm gonna spend twenty minutes in my peaceful place. Whatever that is. It's prayer.
Speaker 1:It's the rosary, which is prayer. Meditating on the scripture, praying in front of the tabernacle, or just sitting in front of the tabernacle. Or maybe it is reading a book, or maybe it is going for a walk. I'm not just talking about things that you enjoy, I'm talking about things that and you'll know what I'm talking about. Things that are your peaceful place.
Speaker 1:You'll know that there's a difference between things that are your peaceful place, and things that you just enjoy. Like, I enjoy watching movies, but that's not my peaceful place. You see what I'm saying? Enforce yourself that twenty minutes every day, no matter what, I'm going to my peaceful place when I have time to do it, and nobody else is suffering for it. I'm not going to my peaceful place where my children need to be fed, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Force yourself to do that twenty minutes a day. What is your peaceful place? And why aren't you there right now? So let me go around the digital rooms. Nobody is saying anything, and this is okay, nobody is saying anything on Instagram.
Speaker 1:If have anything to say, this is your last chance to say it or to ask it. I do want to mention the next podcast, the next actual real podcast episode, the next episode of The Catholic Experience. I'm gonna be talking about building a house of prayer. Probably gonna do this tomorrow. I will be doing this live.
Speaker 1:The on demand version will only be available to paid members or paid subscribers of my Substack. I'll make clips of it, like Reels, available on TikTok and Instagram, but the full episode will only be available on demand for paid subscribers of my Substack. You will all be able to get I I can limit my livestreams to just paid subscribers on my Substack, but I don't. I usually make those public. So when you see that I go live with that, hop on in and check me out, because the live episode is available to everybody.
Speaker 1:Okay? Usually, episodes of The Catholic Experience are always free, and I do the occasional one that's reserved for my paid members, paid subscribers of Substack. They're paying $5 a month to say, hey, thank you for your work, I appreciate it, take this $5 a month, and, you know, help let me help you to feed your family. Let me help you to cover a couple of bills, and I thank you very much for it. Paid subscribers of my Substack get more content, and they get an enhanced experience.
Speaker 1:If you don't know, check me out on substackcatholicadventurer.substack.com or follow the link in my bio. The godmother says, my peaceful place is spiritual reading and listening to Gregorian chant in the background. Oh, that's nice. That's not even superficial. I think that has a real physical, mental, and spiritual effect.
Speaker 1:I really do. Because I've done that very thing. And I I think it has a real spiritual effect. How to be Catholic on Substack says, Do you ever find your peaceful place infiltrated by not so peaceful thoughts? Oh god, yes.
Speaker 1:Oh god, yes. Sometimes something follows me into my peaceful places. And it's at that moment that the lord says, now choose. That's hard, man, when the Lord tells you to choose because we're so weak and so dumb. Now choose.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is, the not so peaceful thought is. It's not always temptation to sin, it's sometimes it's Or you could say it's always a temptation to something. To sin, to anxiety, to despair, right, to hopelessness, to grievances, right? Anger. Yeah, sometimes, some yeah, sometimes something follows me into my peaceful place.
Speaker 1:And it's at those times that the Lord tells me to choose. Now choose. Peacefulness, true peacefulness, is a grace. And so the lord in that case asks, choose the peace of my grace or choose what the enemy is presenting to you right now. And the awful thing is, we all all of you have had those moments, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:And we all sit there and go, choose? Okay, let me think. Like, what is there to think about? Why are you considering what the enemy is offering? But we all do.
Speaker 1:Right? Yeah. That's a very good question. That's a very good question. Do you ever find your peaceful place infiltrate or statement, infiltrated by not so peaceful thoughts?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it's not always spiritual, I think it is often just our own psychology, but there is spiritual exploitation behind it. The devil takes advantage of that. So whether he causes it or he takes advantage of it, his hand is in the pot. His hand is in the cookie jar. And it's at that moment, it's at those moments that the Lord asks you to choose, or asks us to choose.
Speaker 1:And every time we choose rightly, we grow in strength, but only by small degrees unfortunately, because we're that so far gone from his glory. Fallen man is so far gone from his glory, you have no idea. I mean, not that not like I have a very good idea, but you know, we're so far gone from his glory that if we move if we move closer to holiness, by a quarter of an inch, there is a massive party in heaven. Because a quarter of an inch closer to holiness, we have to work like hell for that quarter of an inch. Oh, we, I mean, we really have to work for that quarter of an inch.
Speaker 1:But from the perspective of heaven, you've moved 10,000 miles. Because it's hard to move that quarter of an inch, so it's a big celebration behind it. So we move by slow degrees, but every time we choose rightly, in this case, we choose peace over anxiety or temptation, whatever the devil is, you know, trying to introduce to us. Every time we choose rightly, we grow in strength. Sadly, only by only by a little bit.
Speaker 1:So you have to keep doing it. You have to keep choosing right. And gradually, you become bulletproof. Eventually, the devil even gives up. That's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. I will also say this. You want some spiritual advice? I'll also say this. Pay attention to these thoughts that are infiltrating your spiritual your your your peaceful place.
Speaker 1:Pay attention. Because if the devil's hand is in it, he's going to reveal something to you in what he's presenting. He's gonna show his cards a little bit in what he's presenting. If you pay attention, he'll tell on himself. And then you've got an upper hand.
Speaker 1:But you gotta pay attention. If the devil is offering this is this is so stupid, but this is just how my mind works. I'm just kind of dumb, and I'm sorry. The devil is offering you a a peanut butter sandwich. A peanut butter sandwich.
Speaker 1:What is the devil saying by offering you that? He thinks you like peanut butter. Right? He thinks you like peanut butter. Now you know what he sees in you.
Speaker 1:Now you know what he sees and he knows that you like peanut butter. Now you know that he knows that. Or or he offers you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh, the devil made a mistake. He made a mistake there.
Speaker 1:He offered you peanut butter and jelly. You love peanut butter, but you actually hate jelly. But he he he can't know that because he can't read your mind. Oh, you made a mistake. Oh, you made a mistake there.
Speaker 1:Nice try. Now you know the devil's hand is in it. Because you wouldn't introduce that thought yourself, and the thought that was introduced was flawed or errant somewhere. Oh, you made a mistake, but now I know your hand is in that. And then you say a binding prayer, or you invoke the precious blood of Jesus or something, and he'll run away.
Speaker 1:The devil will, not Jesus. So, just a little, little spiritual warfare advice I can give you there. Pay attention to these thoughts that the devil introduces to you in your spiritual places or or or not, because he always tells on himself with these things he introduces to you. He tells you what he's thinking, he tells you what he knows, he tells you I'll I'll give you a little a say a prayer for me because the devil will probably retaliate from me sharing this with you. So say a prayer.
Speaker 1:Say a hail Mary for me. Okay? And ask the Lord to, surround my my home and my family and me in in his protection and cover us in his precious blood. Every time the devil launches an attack against you, Woven into that attack is the secret to the way out of it. Woven in the the strategy or the tactics of that attack, there is a secret to how you can get out of it.
Speaker 1:Every time. It's often very hard to see. You have to build a spiritual sensitivity, you have to build a mental, I guess, faculty of being very sharp to be able to see truth. But in every attack, there is a secret exit. Why would you wanna exit the attack?
Speaker 1:You should fight on. Well, sometimes flight is better than warfare. Sometimes flight is better than warfare. But also, sometimes we're faced with temptations that we can't go up against head on. But there is something in the temptation or in the assault that gives you a clue into how to get out of it.
Speaker 1:Let me try to try to give you some kind of an example. I can't think of an example. Sometimes, for example, if you are being you are being tempted to be uncharitable to someone, look at that person the way they talk to you, the way they treat you, whatever. Look at the way they dress. They're so horrible.
Speaker 1:They're so classless. They're so tacky. Whatever. Don't you just hate that? You should tell them where to go.
Speaker 1:Did you catch the clue? Did you catch the clue? The clue was in there. Did you catch it? Don't you just hate them?
Speaker 1:Oh, I hate people who act like that. I'm not gonna be nice to them because they don't deserve it. I hate people who act like that. Listen, I wanna know right now, and I want everyone to chime in. Now the teacher's getting tough.
Speaker 1:Did you spot the clue? If you spotted it, drop it in the chat room. I wanna see it right now. You got like five, ten seconds maybe, I'll give you, before I start making you do push ups. Oh, you should've seen me in the Marine Corps.
Speaker 1:Oh, God. I was a holy terror training my marines. Oh my goodness. Did you spot the clue? You should be uncharitable to that person.
Speaker 1:They're awful. Don't you just hate that? Don't treat them nicely. Be uncharitable. Be rude.
Speaker 1:Be snotty. Did you catch the clue? Looks like nobody did. I'm gonna tell you the clue. That person's awful.
Speaker 1:That person's just not nice. That person's stupid. Ah, the godmother got it. The word hate is in there. What's the foundation of hate?
Speaker 1:Is it malice? Is it jealousy? Or is it anger? Anger. Anger.
Speaker 1:You're just starting out your day. Everything's fine. You're under this person who's a little irritating. Oh god. They brought me off.
Speaker 1:Would you get out of my way? Oh, it's rude. It's uncharitable. It's anger. It's anger.
Speaker 1:There's an underlying anger that the devil is using to tempt you to, I'm gonna say, discharity, which I don't think is a real word. There's an underlying anger. Oh, anger. Wait. What is that?
Speaker 1:I'm not angry. I feel great. Oh, no. The devil just inadvertently gave you a clue out of this stri let's just say being rude to people is like like your main thing. He just gave you a clue out of it.
Speaker 1:Well clearly I'm angry at something. There's something underlying here. It's a deep seated hatred or rage or anger. And I have to find out what that is, and I have to address that. But first, it may take me a while to figure out what that is.
Speaker 1:What is it deeply that I'm angry about? It may take me a while to figure that out. You know what I can do now? I can make myself sick with acts of charity and goodness. Let me buy you a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1:Let me help this old lady across the street, I don't know. Just do gratuitous acts of kindness and goodness. Push against the vice that is weighing you down, even without understanding why it's there, forget it, you'll figure it out over time, but for now, push against it with the opposing virtue. Patience, acts of charity, whatever. Push against it with the opposing virtue.
Speaker 1:That's the way out of it. You understand? With every assault, with every temptation, woven into it is the secret to how to get out of it. If you're paying attention. You gotta pay attention.
Speaker 1:Gotta pay attention. Gotta pay attention. And build your spiritual sensitivity. Godmother said the godmother is like on holy fire tonight, man. Everything the godmother is saying on Substack here is like unbelievable.
Speaker 1:Now the godmother is saying he uses our weakness. That's true. That's true. Or he builds on our weakness and forms new ones. Gotta watch out for that.
Speaker 1:Hello to Mitchell. Just join me here. Oh, some of the Instagrammers chimed in. Pride? Danny said pride.
Speaker 1:I mean, know we've gone through this already, so it's behind us, but Danny did did contribute, said pride. Mitchell said envy. See, now Danny and Mitchell, pride and envy are there. But as you've now come to understand, there's something deeper that the devil is building on with pride and envy. See what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:There was something deeper there. Anger. Anger. With every attack, he tells on himself. With every play of the cards, shows his hands.
Speaker 1:His hand. With every play of the cards, he shows his hand. With every attack, assault, temptation, woven into it is the secret out of it. If you're paying attention. On TikTok, a user said, I'm six weeks pregnant with my first child.
Speaker 1:Please pray for me, Diana. I'm gonna say a hail Mary for you right now so I can so I can make for sure I don't forget. For Diana and for her baby, for God's grace and protection, and for their health and success, we all pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 1:Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Most holy and immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, pray for us. Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Six weeks pregnant.
Speaker 1:God bless you. God bless you. I hope everything goes well, Diana. I'll be thinking about you. I'm terrible that way.
Speaker 1:I form these connections and bonds, and I actually do think about these people who stand out for whatever reason. Like Danny stands out, and on occasion I think of him. I don't know why. It just happens. Diana, I'm sure I'm gonna think about more than once.
Speaker 1:There was one person I don't even know if I can talk about that. There was one person in my past broadcasting days who who passed away, and it was very tragic. And we were praying the rosary for him, or it might have been a decade of the rosary, during the live broadcast. He was in the hospital and, you know, it was it was looking rough. And we're saying rosary for him, or a decade, I don't remember which.
Speaker 1:And turns out he passed away as we were doing that. As we were praying for him, he passed away. I found out about it the next day. To this day, I still think about him. To this very day, I still think about that guy, and that was years ago.
Speaker 1:I'm terrible. I'm, the worst. There's something wrong with me. Anyway, so let's get back into this. So, hello to Richard Francis Hogan, cousin of the famed Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me, Richard. God bless you. So to kinda wrap up this point, Spencer is cool. Thank you for joining me on Instagram. Identify what your peaceful place is, and build a discipline of going there frequently.
Speaker 1:Whenever you have downtime, whenever you can do it where you're not taking yourself away from someone or something who needs you in that moment. Okay? Identify your peaceful place. Don't just go there to rest. Go there to live.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here here's what I mean by that. Right like, this is not my believe me, this is not my peaceful place. But that half of the room is my peaceful place. This room is called the temple or the lab. It depends on what I'm doing here.
Speaker 1:Or I guess right now it would be called the recording studio, but usually it's called either the temple or the lab, depending on what I'm doing here. If I'm building something, you know, digitally, if I'm designing something, if I'm experimenting with something, you know, like creative apps or graphics, whatever, new ways of engineering this thing, whatever, then it's the lab. Otherwise, it's the temple, because this is where I go to pray, to meditate, to escape my wife and children. But that's true. Every guy has one of those.
Speaker 1:A place where he has to go to escape his wife and children for a little while. Uh-oh. Looks like the live video ended. Looks like the live that's weird. I've never seen it do that.
Speaker 1:I've never seen the live video on Instagram just end like that. The live video ended. Thanks, y'all. I don't know why it did that. Whatever.
Speaker 1:Sorry, Instagrammers. Those of you catching this on demand. Mad sorry about that. Am I still on TikTok? Yeah.
Speaker 1:TikTok is still working. So, anyway, so that half of the room is like my peaceful place, that's where I sit and that's where my books are, statue of the blessed virgin Mary, candle, whatever. We all have our peaceful place, okay? Right now, my peaceful place might be reading a book. Like, if I wasn't doing this, I might be reading a book or something, or maybe I'd be maybe I'd be reflecting on on the scripture.
Speaker 1:I don't know. There's no one who needs me right now. Everybody's fed, everybody's settled in, and etcetera, etcetera. No one needs me right now, so I can live in my peaceful place, whether it's reading, praying, whatever. I can live in my peaceful place.
Speaker 1:I don't have to go to scroll on my phone. I'm not taking myself away from people who need me right now. That's what I'm talking about. You have to work, have to do your duties, your chores, your responsibilities, whatever. But when you don't have those things to do, when there's nothing that needs your attention in that moment, go to your peaceful place.
Speaker 1:For at least twenty minutes a day. For at least twenty minutes a day, go to your peaceful place. Don't just go there when you're wiped out. Go there to live. Because when you're when you spend more time in your peaceful place, it might again, it might be prayer.
Speaker 1:It might be reading a regular old book. Right? It might be listening to whatever your peaceful place is, the longer you go the more you go there and the longer the more time you spend in it and the more frequently you do that, the more you're going to grow reflectively. You're going to think of things and realize things and understand whisper things to you, and God's grace is going to build you. You're going to develop through the the experience of being in your peaceful place.
Speaker 1:You're going to develop in some way, progressively. So not only is it good because it keeps you from losing your mind, it's good because it brings you closer to being who God made you to be. Which is what it's all about. Man, this went a lot longer than I thought. I don't know why the livestream ended on Instagram.
Speaker 1:I feel really bad for the Instagramers because they were really getting into this. Danny is saying you're still here. Oh, okay. To me, to me it says livestream ended. Thanks for watchin'.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool cool cool. Okay, I feel much better then. I'm still on Instagram, thank God. I felt so bad because the Instagrammers were getting into it, and then I from my point of view it says the livestream has ended, thanks for watching, so I'm glad they're still getting it. Okay.
Speaker 1:I hope you all said that Hail Mary for me. The godmother says, thank you for your insight, may Saint Michael protect you and your family. Thank you God. Listen to the godmother, I want you to become friends with me. If you're not doing so already, at least follow my substack and I'll follow yours.
Speaker 1:I hope you subscribe, but I want you to at least follow because I like the cut of your jib. I like the cut of your jib. And whether you show up for another live or not, I hope you do, but I wanna follow the things that you do and say wherever you're doing and saying them. Because the Lord is strong with you. I'm gonna click looks like I'm already following you.
Speaker 1:I'm also going to subscribe. Even though you might not do anything on subscribing, don't know, but I'm gonna gonna add that attachment as well. Last time, gonna check-in with the chatters, and the TikTokers are loving the broadcast. I really, really appreciate that. I have an update for you, by the way, TikTokers, which I'm gonna do just just now.
Speaker 1:Last check-in over here at Instagram. Instagrammers, I love you. I'm having so much fun posting to Instagram. I have to tell you the truth. The atmosphere is nice.
Speaker 1:The people are nice. It's good stuff, and I hope you're enjoying what you're getting from me on Instagram. I've been putting in the work. TikTokers, check it out. TikTok is not being good to me at all.
Speaker 1:At all. And it's not coincidence. TikTok is really the the algorithm, the platform is really working against me. Okay? So I stopped publishing to TikTok first to punish TikTok, because it's clear to me that TikTok likes the action that my content was getting, and TikTok benefits from that.
Speaker 1:And now TikTok is doing this either to punish me for something, the the whole TikTok jail thing, or to get me to increase the volume of my of my uploads to it. This fish ain't biting. The punishment is gonna go the other direction. I am not going to add value to your platform by uploading any more of my content until you say I surrender. Then I'll publish more content to you.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, TikTokers, the ones who really suffer the most are the people who like my content. But here's the thing. When these things happen, when you get throttled, or you're placed in a jail, or shadow banned, or whatever, the way to undo that, the way to reset it, is to just stop posting. Unfortunately, that's how it is on most algorithms, you just stop posting. For a week, maybe two, and then you start posting again.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to not post for a little while, okay, on TikTok. And it's nothing against the TikTokers. I love you guys and all that stuff. You guys are fantastic. We've built some connections together, but, I'm tired of the platform making me look like a fool, so now I'm gonna make the platform look foolish.
Speaker 1:At least in my mind, that's what's gonna happen. In my mind, I'm making the platform look foolish. There's a mister TikTok somewhere in China right now saying, hello.
Speaker 2:My name is mister TikTok, and I put the Catholic Adventurer in prison, and now he has broken out of the prison, and I am very upset. Now he is not posting to TikTok, and I am very upset.
Speaker 1:There's someone right now named mister TikTok in China doing that right now, saying that right now. That's how it is in my mind. Alright folks, go to your peaceful places often, frequently, not just once in a while. You need them. You need your peaceful places.
Speaker 1:That's why God created them for you. Like my peaceful place, for instance, meditating on scripture. God made me that way. And he waited, and waited, and waited until I discovered that that was the peaceful place, or at least one of the peaceful places I was supposed to be in. Our peaceful places were built, designed by God, so to speak.
Speaker 1:They're built into us, but they're built by God, you understand? God wants you to go to them frequently, because you're going to have an encounter with him in them, even your peaceful place is not something religious. Because my friends, here what I'm telling you. Every peaceful place is religious because a religious experience happens there. Because God is behind it.
Speaker 1:And God will reveal himself through it. You understand? Even if you like me, well, If I'm reading a book and it's not theology, like I'm reading Lord of the Rings right now, for instance, believe it or not, I've never actually read it. I think I read The Hobbit and that was it. It's not a book of theology, it's not spiritual reading.
Speaker 1:But even in that peaceful place, have an encounter with God there in mysterious ways that I can't explain, you just have to experience them yourself. So go to your peaceful places frequently, not just as moments of of rest, but make it the place where you live. Understand? Make it the place where you live. The TikTokers, by the way, so yeah, a couple weeks I'm not gonna be posting, but I am on Instagram for the queen b v m, if you like my clips and stuff, and you don't wanna wait a couple of weeks to see the next one.
Speaker 1:The next live podcast is gonna be live for everybody, the on demand version, and that podcast will be building a house of prayer. I dunno if I mentioned that earlier. That's gonna be the next podcast. Building a House of Prayer. What does that mean?
Speaker 1:Why should we do that? And how do we do that? And I'm gonna tell you about how I have tried and failed, and tried and succeeded, and then failed and tried again at building that house of prayer. I'm gonna tell you my experience has been, and give you some tips and pointers, not just based on my knowledge, but based on my experience. Building a house of prayer.
Speaker 1:That will be live to everybody on demand only for paid members of my Substack, $5 a month, thank you, and you're welcome. But those of you catching me on Instagram, you'll still get clips. I'll still publish some reels. It won't be like the full episode's worth, but I'll publish about six or seven reels over the next week of good little tidbits that will be help strengthen you, edify, and inspire you. Because believe it or not, I am not here for fame, fortune, or glory.
Speaker 1:Lord have mercy am I not here for fame, fortune, glory. But, I am here for you. To help coach you. To help train you. To help nudge you closer to holiness.
Speaker 1:And to orient you toward your personal excellence as God intended before time and space ever began. Let's roll out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Catholics of all ages, this has been another exciting episode of the live sessions by the Catholic Adventurer. Say a hail Mary for me and my family. I wanna thank you all once again, TikTok, Instagram, and Homebase, Substack Extraordinary.
Speaker 1:Thank you once again for joining me. God bless you. Remember that you are loved, including by me. God bless you. God be with you all.
Speaker 1:Catholic Adventurer, signing out of here. Bye bye.
