So I think just to jump right into it, I'd love for you to talk about what it means when you say that you are a Catholic mystic and whether that mystic label ever ruffles any feathers with other people you talk to.

I have never called myself a Catholic mystic, nor would I call myself a Catholic mystic.

I feel as – no, let's talk about it.

So first and foremost, I just think that St. Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross would not walk around and call themselves a mystic Catholic.

They would just say they were Catholics.

And also, I think this is a great way to open up the podcast.

I think when many people think of the word mysticism, they think of something esoteric.

I think St. Anthony's also was one I, I really appreciated, but it was, it was so much that I thought, uh, instead of trying to pick out one or two to, uh, ask you about specifically i would love for you to just share uh one or two stories from the book that you particularly find uh keep returning to your mind and as sort of a teaser for the book for our listeners who are curious about these things um but don't aren't really sure what all is inside of the book you kind of give them a taste through a couple stories

So I wonder if you might, just as like a primer, a starting point for folks that are listening that may be less familiar with the mystical tradition and all of the various vocabulary that comes with it, give us a few kind of key concepts that we might hang our hats on as we go forward.

Yeah.

So I do have, I just started a series on my YouTube called Mysticism Word by Word, which I am exploring Catholic mysticism through these vocabulary words, because I think it's a very fun and accessible way to explore the contemplative tradition of our faith.

But theosis, I actually just did an episode on this, and I think this is a word that every Catholic needs to know.

And often people think, oh, that's just an Eastern Christian, Eastern Catholic term.

Roman Catholics, sometimes we call it deification or sanctification, but it's simply the idea that the point of our faith is not just doing everything perfectly and getting into heaven or believing everything right and getting into heaven.

It is about to become transformed in the image of God, right? Imago Dei, we were all made in the image of God and then we fell.

You don't, you don't play with the rules.