The Treasure is In 'The Deep'
That was epic. I just turned my head just as the music started. That was pretty epic. Hello, Instagram. God bless you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me. Most of you will be catching this on demand, and that's okay. Tonight is my second Catholic rant. I'm kind of liking these. Tonight I forget what the first one was, but tonight's Catholic rant is go into the depths.
Speaker 1:Go deeper. Go deep. I'm gonna explain to you what I mean by that. That's probably a little loud. If you didn't hear me, tonight's Catholic rant episode two is go into the depths.
Speaker 1:Go deeper. Go deeper. And I'm going to explain what that means. Let's get on with it, man. Let's get it on.
Speaker 1:The other day, was looking over my analytics to some of my videos. I think here on Instagram might have been on TikTok. Incidentally, in TikTok has been very good to me in terms of numbers, although the algorithm is hammering me lately, past week. But, I'm really enjoying Instagram though. I'm really enjoying this platform, and I'm enjoying the folks here as well.
Speaker 1:I was looking over my analytics, and if you're a creator, you know this very well if you pay attention to your analytics. You'll notice most people swipe away from your stuff. Most people don't finish watching what you've produced. They'll watch a couple of seconds. It's it's really it's like gut wrenching sometimes.
Speaker 1:They watch a couple of seconds of something that took me an hour to produce. I'm used to it. They'll watch ten seconds if you're lucky. So I'm used to that. That's not a shock.
Speaker 1:But what I rarely do, which I did this particular time, I rarely look at where they swiped away, where most of the viewers swiped away.
Speaker 2:This time I did, and it
Speaker 1:was one of the, one of my videos on the Antichrist. I did a one hour episode on the Antichrist, church teaching, what the fathers have taught, and so on. If you catch this in time, the link is still in my bio if you wanna catch that full episode. And I noticed the great majority of people who swiped away from this video swiped away like two seconds before I got to a major point, something that all Catholics needed to know, which I don't remember what it was.
Speaker 2:But I think it
Speaker 1:was something about how to discern truth or something like that. And it wasn't very high minded, it wasn't very it was a philosophical thought, but I wasn't saying it in a way that was philosophical. As I try to do most things, I try to make it connectable. So that this is something you can receive and do something with. So most people had clicked away from the video just seconds before they were about to get a piece of gold.
Speaker 1:It's not gold because it's coming out of my mouth. It's gold because the things that I talk about, very few, if anybody, in Catholic media talk about. Or at the very least, almost nobody covers this stuff the way I do. So it was, in my estimation, to my estimation, it was quite a loss for them, you know, for the people who swiped away. It's like you are about to get a gold nugget.
Speaker 1:A gold nugget that I'm con a lot of years in Catholic media, I'm convinced that gold nugget, you're not gonna get anywhere else. And that gold nugget could have really helped you. I'm used to it. But it got me thinking about all of the videos that people swipe up from. All of the knowledge they almost had.
Speaker 1:Not not my videos, videos in general. All of the knowledge they almost had, assuming it's, you know, Catholic y stuff. All of
Speaker 2:this edification that they passed on because there weren't enough cats in it, or there weren't enough pictures of people's breakfasts in it,
Speaker 1:or there was nobody falling in it. So they swiped up.
Speaker 2:It makes me think about a platform like TikTok. First, let me
Speaker 1:talk about Instagram. I like the people. I like the platform. I like the app. But the content is some of it's
Speaker 2:nice, but it's all very I don't wanna say
Speaker 1:superficial because of the connotation or yeah. Because of what the that word connotes. I don't wanna say superficial, but it's very much on the surface. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:People need that. But I don't. I don't need to see another quote from Fulton Sheen. I've read all of his books. I've been seeing quotes from Fulton Sheen on the Internet for years.
Speaker 1:I don't need to see another one. And some people do. I'm glad those things are out there. I'm not judging them. I'm glad those things are out there.
Speaker 2:But I don't need that. I think a lot
Speaker 1:of the people who watch my stuff or listen to my podcast regularly, they don't need that. That's why they're listening to
Speaker 2:me. Right?
Speaker 1:There's a lot of that on on Instagram in the Catholic space. And again, I'm not criticizing. People need that, and there's value to it, and it's all well done stuff. The mems, the silly videos, and so on. It's all well done.
Speaker 1:That's fine. I'm not criticizing it. Now I think about TikTok. TikTok is a little bit lower scale. The videos are generally not as professionally done.
Speaker 1:They're just a step down from what you find on Instagram, which I'm totally fine with.
Speaker 2:But the messaging there is deeper. It's a lot of people talking about their experience, their lived experience in
Speaker 1:the faith, which is what I do. Right? That's that's what I that's my apostolate here. Talking about advice, giving advice on how to be a better family man or how to be, I don't know, a better Catholic wife. Stuff like this.
Speaker 1:You know, lived experience kind of stuff. And they go fairly deep, not philosophical or anything like that, but
Speaker 2:they go fairly deep. And I think to myself well, let me
Speaker 1:just say say it this way. When I encounter these videos, I watch them. I don't swipe up. You know why? Because after all my experience in communications, I know that in that let's just say it's a minute and a half video.
Speaker 1:In that minute and a half video, I'm going to get something. I'm gonna get a nugget. It's gonna be something in that minute and a half. Might only last five seconds. But it's gonna be something that I didn't have before.
Speaker 1:And it's gonna be something that's gonna nudge me to the next level. So I always watch because I know I'm gonna get something. I know I'm gonna get something. And, man, I guess nine times out of 10, always do. Something in someone's interpretation of something in scripture.
Speaker 1:Now I've read scripture. I've meditated on it, written about it, and still, in that minute and a half, there's ten seconds of someone's interpretation of a scripture passage that makes me go, wow. I never thought of it that way. So what's the point I'm bringing up in this rather short, Instagram live? The Catholic faith is not on the surface.
Speaker 1:The fullness of the reality of the Catholic faith is in the depths. It's beneath. It's way beneath the surface. There's a lot of surface stuff on Catholic social media platforms. It's not a criticism because people need that.
Speaker 1:I don't. Maybe some of you don't. But in general, it has value. But there's so much surface stuff, my fear is people will come across videos that are bringing them deeper, like, frankly, mine do, I think. People will come and it's not just about my videos.
Speaker 1:Believe me, it is not. But my fear is that people will come across videos or blog posts or something that could bring them deeper, but because it's not on the surface, they swipe up. They swipe up. So what I wanna do is share this thought with you. The quotes and the mems and the video clips and funny things, and here's a Catholic priest doing something funny, and I don't see the point of it, but okay.
Speaker 1:It's entertaining. Maybe that's the point. I don't know. I have a very high bar, a high standard, because I come from media. So the stuff that hits on socials, coming from media, I look at it, and I'm like, I don't don't don't get it, but okay.
Speaker 1:I know how snobbish that sounds. It's it's not. It's just that that's the industry I come from, so your standard is just gonna be different. Okay? If you're a a trained chef or something, and I cook and I'm a pretty good cook, and I cook you a meal, you're gonna be like, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's good. But because you're like a five star chef or whatever that those are called. Right? You're a gourmet chef, classically trained in France or something. That's how I am.
Speaker 1:Anyway, my fear is that we're looking for the next mem. We're looking for the next chuckle, we're looking we're looking for the next priest doing something silly. So when there's the next prophet Isaiah saying, behold, the Lord is in your midst. The next prophet Isaiah, the next Moses, the next Elijah, I'm not saying reincarnated, but I'm saying that kind of messenger. Not an a literal prophet like we saw in the scriptures, but people, and they are out there.
Speaker 1:People whose messaging is very inspired. I just I just literally today had an interaction with someone who said something that made me go, woah. That's heavy. Hey, Danny. Good to see you, brother.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you. Because we're looking for the next cat attack, the next priest playing a guitar and tripping and falling over his habit or his cassock, as long as we're looking for this surface stuff, the next Fulton Sheen quote, which I love Fulton Sheen, but the next mem those who are looking for this stuff, we're going to swipe up the next time we encounter something from the next prophet Isaiah, the next Moses, the next Elijah, the next messenger who, guided or inspired by the Holy Spirit, is trying to bring us deeper, it's not a cat throwing up. Swipe. It's not a priest in clown shoes. Swipe.
Speaker 1:You have to be careful about that. That you have to have an understanding that the Catholic faith is not on the surface. It's in the depth. It's in the depths. As the scripture says, it's deep calling unto deep.
Speaker 1:Everything that God is offering us through the Catholic faith, it's in the depths. In the depths. You know, you always hear you always hear from the loudmouths of the church, let's say priests or bishops for instance, but it's also in the laity and it's also in independent Catholic media. Don't get me started. You always hear from the loudmouths who are the problem, who are a little crazy, right, who are suggesting things that are definitely, definitely counter doctrinal.
Speaker 1:Hashtag German bishops. You rarely hear from the really good ones, the really solid ones. And what's your experience in your personal life? Do you encounter have you encountered more than one truly good priest? Why don't we ever hear from those types?
Speaker 1:Because you know you each and every one of you knows they're out there. Why don't we ever hear from them? Because they're in the deep. Like Saint Joseph was in
Speaker 2:the deep. Never hear a thing from him
Speaker 1:in scripture. I'm sure he spoke, but nothing is recorded in scripture.
Speaker 2:Right? But he's a heavy player, We never hear from him. Why? He's in the deep. He doesn't even have to speak.
Speaker 2:The holy virgin didn't have
Speaker 1:to speak. She did. And the Holy Spirit has it recorded in in scripture because her role is operative in salvation history. So there are things that she said and things that she expressed that God wants the faithful to ingest, consume, be transformed by, be edified by. So it was her job to say a few things.
Speaker 1:Let's put it that way. But she didn't really have to. Apart from the fact that it was her job in those moments, and even in scripture she says very little. We get very little from her. Why?
Speaker 1:Because she's in
Speaker 2:the deep. Her actions are enough. Because she's
Speaker 1:in the deep. Saint Joseph, in the deep in his relationship with God. And that's what the that's what the church that's what the the life in the faith is bringing us toward a deeper a deeper experience with God. Why don't we ever hear why do we very seldom hear from the good priests like the deeply holy priests, deeply holy cardinals and bishops? Why do we seldom hear from them?
Speaker 1:Why did
Speaker 2:no one ever know the name Robert Prevost before? They're in the deep.
Speaker 1:That's where the fullness of the Catholic experience is. It's in the deep. I've been there, here and there, in the deep. I'm I'm not gonna lie. I have been there.
Speaker 1:It's not bragging. It's hard to stay there. It's hard for me
Speaker 2:to stay there. And I'm
Speaker 1:not bragging because I carry the shame of admitting it's hard to stay there. Right? So it's not bragging. It's sharing something with you that's true and makes me a little sad and a little embarrassed. Having been into the deep, I can tell you it's a very different experience.
Speaker 1:Your prayer is different. Your walk with God is different.
Speaker 2:Your interior status and state is different. Your place in the
Speaker 1:world is different. Your thoughts are different. Your receptivity to grace is different. Your awareness of the voice of God is different. I've been there, and I can tell you from experience, it's real.
Speaker 1:And it's not it's not just for Saint Joseph and the blessed mother. It's for you too. So don't let yourself get stuck on the surface. Very tempting. It's very easy.
Speaker 1:Part of the reason why it's tempting and easy is because in the Catholic faith, there's a lot of richness even on the surface. And it's so rich, especially compared to everything else you might experience on earth. The Catholic experience is so rich on the surface,
Speaker 2:we can become convinced that this is the jackpot. Mm-mm. It's the surface, my man. So don't let yourself be fooled or tricked or tempted to stay on the surface. Go deep and go deeper still, because a whole new reality is
Speaker 1:waiting for you there. Brothers and sisters, I promise that's true.
Speaker 2:I promise you from my heart that's true. Now
Speaker 1:okay, CA. How do we go deep? How do we go into the depths? Danny in the chat says, probably, I think what he's responding to is, why do we never hear from the really holy ones? Danny says, they're all in monasteries.
Speaker 1:A lot of them are. Oh. In a second, I'm gonna tell you about a confession I made to a priest in a monastery. In a in a second, I'm gonna tell you a story. How do we go deeper into the deep?
Speaker 2:First, read everything I write
Speaker 1:and listen to every podcast I produce. I'm only half kidding. Because I go deep in those. And I do it to try and bring you guys deep. But I know what the real question is.
Speaker 1:What's a
Speaker 2:step by step guide? How do
Speaker 1:we go deeper? It's not something we're gonna cover in this live, but it is something I'm going to cover in
Speaker 2:the next week. Maybe with
Speaker 1:some articles, maybe with a podcast or a video or both. Something like that, discussing how we go how do
Speaker 2:we go deeper? It involves a a change in how you pray. It involves a change in how you think.
Speaker 1:It involves a change in the things that you look for. I need a rock solid traditional Latin Mass.
Speaker 2:Not ridiculing you. But if you change what
Speaker 1:you look for, you're going to see God in every Mass, whether it's the Novus Ordo or the traditional Latin Mass. It's not gonna make any difference to you. It could be in a cathedral. It could be in a barn. It's not gonna make any difference.
Speaker 1:Change the things that you look for. Who was it? I think
Speaker 2:it was Elijah that went up
Speaker 1:to the mountain looking for God. And God wasn't in the thunder. He wasn't in the fire. He wasn't in the earth shaking. Where was God when Elijah finally encountered him?
Speaker 1:In a gentle breeze. And he heard a gentle breeze, and he covered his head because he knew that God was there. Gotta change what you look for. You have to change your expectations. And you have to change your discipline, change, adjust how you pray, adjust how you think, adjust how you process.
Speaker 1:So you see why I can't cover it in this live? But I will be covering it in some articles and blog posts and stuff in the very near future. And he hit his face. Danny said in the chat room, he hit his face. Kudos to Danny who knows exactly the scripture I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Covered his head, hit his face. I think from time to time about that scripture, and I really admire the prophet. I envy the prophet for having that close. In closing, let me tell you about this this priest I gave my confession to in a monastery. There's no interesting backstory as to why I was there, why I went to him for confession.
Speaker 1:There's no interesting backstory at all, so I'm skipping that. But this guy this guy looked like a he looked like a Jedi, he looked like Obi Wan Kenobi. He had his long white beard. I mean, he he looked like he was ready to pose for the painting of a religious icon. He was in in in habit.
Speaker 1:He was a Franciscan. Long white beard, lower than his sternum. And he was very quiet, and he always did this. He was very quiet, and he as he listened to you, he always went like this with his eyes. It almost sounds like something from a movie.
Speaker 1:Right? But he was a very, very good listener. And he made you feel like he was really, really listening to you. That priest had a mystical gift because he was reading into my confession in, like, the weirdest, weirdest of ways. And he would say the simplest things that were so spot on
Speaker 2:that I needed to hear. The simplest things, sometimes two words. But it
Speaker 1:was the way he was reading into my confession. And was not just like, oh, he must have been trained in psychology. He wasn't. And even if he had been, this was deeper than that. You know, one of the reasons, apart from my experience, one of the reasons why I'm convinced he had a mystical gift, I encountered someone else, just like a year later, who had also once been to that same priest for confession, and he reported the same thing to me.
Speaker 1:In fact, he gave more detail than I'm giving you. I'm a big believer in the confessional secret, so I'm not telling you details. But he told me more details than I'm telling you, and I'm telling you, this this guy had a mystical gift. And then it was just his overall bearing. He almost seemed like he was constantly hearing God, That he was constantly speaking to him silently from his mind, from in his thoughts.
Speaker 1:And in the course of the rhythm of the listening and speaking to God, in the ups and downs of that, on that down rhythm, he was listening to you. But he was listening so thoroughly and so completely, All he needed was a split second every other second of the ticking clock. He just needed a split second to really, really hear you. He just seemed like he was always praying, even when he was just listening to you. It was just something about his his his bearing.
Speaker 1:Very, very deep. Very, very deep priest. He lived in
Speaker 2:a monastery. You know where else where else he lived? In the deep. He was in the deep. And he had been in
Speaker 1:the deep so consistently and so long that he had reached this pinnacle, this point, and at at which point he lived there. He took up permanent residence in the deep. You know what he probably was never doing? Looking at cat videos. Danny is my number one fan.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me, Danny. I didn't think anybody was gonna show up, so I'm glad somebody did. It warms and cheers my heart. I look a little bit like hell. It's the end of the day for me, and, my arm's tired.
Speaker 1:This video, me looking like hell, this would blow up on TikTok. TikTok is like a hair lower quality, the videos. It's not a criticism. It's just measurement. You know?
Speaker 1:It almost doesn't matter how crappy you look in front of a camera. As long as your stuff is good, people are paying attention. So I hope that you didn't see me looking like hell runneth over because I've been working hard all week, and that's the end of a Friday. Hope you paid attention. Hope you got something from this live.
Speaker 1:My brothers and sisters on Instagram and on Substack because I'm going to be putting this up on Substack for my subscribers there. Thank you for joining me. And by the way, backing up, if you're not already doing so, please subscribe to me on Substack. It is free. Link in my bio.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me. God bless you. God be with you all. Tap like, or you'll go to hell. Bye bye.
