Latest / The Lila Rose Show / Let's Talk Beauty, 'Looksmaxxing', and New Year's Resolutions
Transcript
- 0:00Happy New Year's almost everybody.
- 0:02I haven't seen you all since Christmas so Merry Christmas.
- 0:05We are still in the 12 days of Christmas so I hope we're all
- 0:08still celebrating but welcome back.
- 0:10We have so much new and interesting stuff planned for
- 0:1220/26. I am so excited and I can't wait
- 0:14to share it with all of you. Our last solo episode we did
- 0:18last week before Christmas was our immigration episode.
- 0:21We had some great comments and everyone seemed to love the love
- 0:25the episode. I wanted to look at some of the
- 0:26top comments and some comments that I found really interesting
- 0:30or great. One of them from Jay Herna, he
- 0:32says. Lila, I think you brought up
- 0:34some very good points I think need to be addressed.
- 0:36This was the solo episode we did on immigration, the border, ICE,
- 0:41law enforcement of our immigration system policy.
- 0:45He says we don't want to create a Society of fear, division and
- 0:48mistrust. We had four dreadful years of
- 0:50persecution under Biden and don't want to squander what
- 0:53freedom we have that Trump has restored.
- 0:55Successfully securing our borders, removing violent
- 0:58criminal aliens, bringing back American identity, defense of
- 1:01unborn morality since he was re elected.
- 1:03I have to admit the terrorizing enforcement tactic of ICE is
- 1:06creating unnecessary level of anxiety to many.
- 1:09Law abiding for citizens if not enforced justly.
- 1:12There does have to be some kind of just balance that doesn't
- 1:15overstep human dignity and that was what our episode was all
- 1:17about. People seem to appreciate that
- 1:19nuance of saying, yes, we need a strong border, we need to adjust
- 1:22immigration system, but we should not be overstepping human
- 1:25dignity at any point in any kind of government policy, whether
- 1:28that's to citizens or non citizens.
- 1:30We also got this comment which was highly liked.
- 1:32It said someone, he says someone who says that I'm against
- 1:36abortion but in agreement with the inhuman treatment of
- 1:39immigrants who are in the United States.
- 1:41I don't think that's really pro-life.
- 1:43This is from Papa Leo from Pope, and this commenter says it
- 1:47struck struck with me big time. He's absolutely correct.
- 1:51Now, I know the Pope is very easily taken out of context
- 1:54because there's a lot of nuance and context to any statement
- 1:57that the Pope may make about politics or about the
- 2:00application of moral principles to politics.
- 2:02But the point here is whether they're in the womb or outside
- 2:05the womb, all human beings should be treated with dignity.
- 2:07And I think that is the message that resonated with everyone
- 2:10listening, that yes, we can criticize policies or say
- 2:12they're good policies, but the core they should be supporting
- 2:15human dignity. And that's really the ethos of
- 2:18this show. The show that we do here and the
- 2:21community that we're building here is about bringing nuance
- 2:24and truth into some of these very divisive conflict, high
- 2:29conflict topics. And to show that, yes, we can
- 2:34approach something and see the, the maybe the extremes on the
- 2:38left or the right that are happening and find what is true
- 2:41and what is the right response to some of these hot button
- 2:44topics from a perspective of both reason and faith.
- 2:49And that's another part of the show that I'm really proud of
- 2:51here is that we focus on, yes, celebrating our faith.
- 2:54You all know I'm a I'm a Christian, I'm Catholic, but
- 2:57then also recognizing that faith and reason do not conflict and
- 3:00that we can embrace the whole natural created order, embrace
- 3:03science, embrace all the things that can help us better
- 3:06understand the world and love each other ultimately.
- 3:09So today with all of that being said, the natural progression of
- 3:13having addressed immigration a week or so ago and now it's
- 3:17December 31st and the new year. In that spirit, today we are
- 3:21going to talk about looks Maxing.
- 3:23Welcome back to the Lila Rose show.
- 3:35All right, so some of you might be wondering what is even looks
- 3:37maxing? Well, that is really a
- 3:39phenomenon that has taken the Internet by storm and it's
- 3:42affecting beauty and the beauty industry.
- 3:45It's affecting young children as young as 6-5 years old who are
- 3:49now into skin care. We're going to talk about all
- 3:51that. But before that, I want to do a
- 3:53huge thank you to our sponsor, one of my favorite sponsors, 7
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- 4:47Use Lila at checkout. All right, so you may have seen
- 4:50this recent clips that have been going viral lately about looks
- 4:53maxing and one of the influencers or the creators
- 4:57behind looksmaxing mainstreaming.
- 4:59This idea of looksmaxing is this young man named Clavichiller,
- 5:03and he's a Gen. Z live streamer and influencer.
- 5:06And this was a recent interview that he did just a few days ago
- 5:09with my friend Michael Knowles on his podcast where he's
- 5:12talking about looksmaxing. Let's take a listen.
- 5:15Yeah, but I mean, like this next election cycle, who's going to
- 5:19win? It's going to be Gavin Newsom
- 5:20against JD Vance because JD Vance is subhuman and Gavin
- 5:24Newsom muggs JD Vance is subhuman.
- 5:27Yeah. Wait, what makes you say that?
- 5:30He's got a very short total facial width to height ratio.
- 5:34He's obese, very recessed side profile whereas Newsome is like
- 5:396-3 Chad. OK, so this is a kid who is
- 5:45building his whole brand and then his whole recommendation to
- 5:48other Gen. Z ers is all about, it's all
- 5:49about looks. It's all about looks.
- 5:51We're going to unpack what is behind that here in a minute and
- 5:55what the right view of this is. But he's using Gavin Newsom and
- 5:59JD Vance, which by the way, it's a very uncharitable
- 6:01interpretation of JD Vance. I think he's above average in
- 6:03height. And I think anybody could say
- 6:05he's a good looking gentleman. And you know, you can make
- 6:08comparisons between him and Gavin Newsom.
- 6:10At the end of the day, when you vote for a politician, you're
- 6:12not voting for what they look like on social media.
- 6:15You're voting for their public policy.
- 6:17That was that's what you should be voting for.
- 6:19And how are they leading the country?
- 6:21But all that being said, this is the state of discourse among a
- 6:24lot of, again, Jens ears and younger people who are so
- 6:28inundated with social media that that becomes so important.
- 6:30How you look, how you present. Younger generations are becoming
- 6:34increasingly obsessed with their parents.
- 6:36Now all generations can fall into vanity, of course, but I
- 6:39think younger kids are even more susceptible to this because of
- 6:43social media. I did not grow up with TikTok.
- 6:47You know, social media really came out when I was a teenager.
- 6:49Thankfully, it was spared from it before that.
- 6:51But for younger generations like Gen.
- 6:53Alpha, they're becoming increasingly obsessed with
- 6:55appearance. Children as young as seven years
- 6:57old today are becoming regular consumers to big adult strength
- 7:01skin care brands. In fact, in the last two years,
- 7:06Gen. Gen.
- 7:07Alpha, so this is our younger than Gen.
- 7:09Z counterpart. Gen.
- 7:11Alpha spent an estimated $4.7 billion on beauty products,
- 7:15outspending nearly every other demographic.
- 7:19Why are 10 year olds spending more money on beauty products
- 7:22than virtually every other demographic?
- 7:25TikTok, your phone, social media has a big, big part of that and
- 7:28we'll get into that in a minute. The obsession stat 31% of
- 7:31parents, 31% of American parents today are reporting that their
- 7:35child between 7 and 17 years old is obsessed is obsessed with a
- 7:40specific skin care brand. This is an example of what this
- 7:44looks like. This is a TikTok video from an
- 7:45influencer who is AI think 7 years old.
- 7:49How was this influencer 6 or 7 years old and they are a skin
- 7:52care? Influencer, let's take a look at
- 7:53this. Could you go on my head with my
- 8:05family? All right,
- 8:33so. She's very sweet, very cute, and
- 8:37it's sweet to have a mom doing, you know, grooming practices
- 8:41with a daughter and teaching her that or a son even.
- 8:44I mean, kids should learn basic grooming maintenance and
- 8:47practices as they're little and they're getting older.
- 8:49But this is beyond that. These are skin care products
- 8:52that are specifically being marketed to young, young kids as
- 8:56young as 6-7 years old via TikTok and social media.
- 8:59And then these young kids, some of them are becoming influencers
- 9:02and they have a whole skin care routine. 68% of parents today
- 9:05say their children have a daily skin care routine. 68% of
- 9:09parents say their children have a daily skin care routine and
- 9:1357% of these of these children are using three or more
- 9:19products. I don't even use three or more
- 9:21products for my skin care routine, which maybe that's a
- 9:23problem. But these are children whose
- 9:25skin is, you know, basically flawless.
- 9:27A little baby you, you're, you're just developing your got
- 9:30this brand new skin. I remember when I was a little
- 9:32kid, I was, I don't know, maybe 12 years old, not too little.
- 9:35I was getting a little older, but I was beginning to kind of
- 9:39care about how I looked more Again, I was not thankfully
- 9:42polluted with social media at that young age.
- 9:44That didn't happen till a little bit later in my teen years when
- 9:47Zynga and Myspace came out. But I remember talking to my
- 9:50grandpa one time and I don't remember the context, but he was
- 9:54basically saying recommending to me that I should use white soap,
- 9:59like a bar of soap for my face. Like that'll be plenty clean for
- 10:02your face, face, face. Just wash your face with bar
- 10:05soap each night and you'll be good.
- 10:06And that's what I did as a teen girl, you know, for most of
- 10:09those years. And then I think eventually got
- 10:11a cleanser. But it's just a different world.
- 10:14It's a different world today what kids are facing.
- 10:17And Gen. alpha is terrifyingly, not terrifyingly knowledgeable.
- 10:22They understand what vitamin C is and why it's needed for your
- 10:25skin. Hydraulic hyaluronic acid.
- 10:29I can't even say this correctly, sorry guys.
- 10:31Retinal and retinoids. 29% of Gen.
- 10:35Alpha 10, some as young as 10 know what retinal and retinoids
- 10:40are for your skin. OK, So it is clearly a
- 10:44tremendous generational difference for our youngest
- 10:47generation today. Our coming of age generation
- 10:50today should say Gen. Alpha, what their experience is
- 10:52when it comes to beauty, when it comes to their pursuit of beauty
- 10:57and how they value their physical beauty.
- 11:00This isn't just about skin care though.
- 11:02There is now a huge mushrooming plastic surgery industry.
- 11:07So this clava killer young man that I mentioned earlier is part
- 11:11of this trend of getting cosmetic procedures just to look
- 11:14better largely on social media. So there is now 72% of facial
- 11:20plastic surgeons are reporting that patients bring in their
- 11:23selfies that have been filtered as if for social media as the
- 11:26guide for how they want their plastic surgery to be done.
- 11:29And the cosmetic surgery new market is now valued at about
- 11:33$156 billion. It's estimated to get to $420
- 11:37billion as an industry by 2033, which is a 15% annual growth
- 11:43rate, which is sky high and massive for any industry.
- 11:45People are using more cosmetic procedures.
- 11:48It's not just skin care, it's cosmetic procedures.
- 11:50So looks Maxing, what is it? Looks maxing is mostly
- 11:54originating in the manosphere community.
- 11:56So that's more the red pill community.
- 11:57We've talked about that on the show before, very popular among
- 12:00young men and boys on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
- 12:03And it's really focused on how do I be the most physically
- 12:07attractive so I can then be more in the game and have more sexual
- 12:12market value. So it's very overtly connected
- 12:15not to. How can I?
- 12:16Be a better person and love people better.
- 12:18It's more connected to my success and power.
- 12:22And dating and also sexual experiences as part of dating,
- 12:25not so much about marriage, but about just getting sexual
- 12:29experiences with more attractive partners.
- 12:31And it's more focused to this more purely materialistic view
- 12:35of I want to be successful. And so I'm going to be as
- 12:38physically attractive as possible because that's a
- 12:40shortcut to success. And that's what Clavicle or this
- 12:43young guy was saying when he was comparing very directly the
- 12:48appearance, as he saw it, of Gavin Newsom and another
- 12:51politician, JD Vance, and saying, well, I think this guy
- 12:55is more handsome, therefore I think he should be the
- 12:57president. And just think about for a
- 12:59minute what that does to a country where where our young
- 13:04people are conditioning themselves to consider someone's
- 13:08leadership abilities based on how physically attractive they
- 13:13may appear. And it's also often subjective,
- 13:15right, how physically attractive that they may, they may look.
- 13:20I've also noticed this trend in more and more extreme procedures
- 13:24that people are pursuing to try to fit whatever perfect
- 13:27aspirational goal they have of looking a certain way.
- 13:32And this caught my eye. This is a young man.
- 13:34And this is another part of looks Maxing where they're not
- 13:37only doing things like double jaw surgeries, obviously
- 13:40rhinoplasty and nose surgeries, jaw implants, getting on
- 13:44testosterone hormone replacement therapy, but they're also doing
- 13:48things like leg lengthening therapies.
- 13:50This is an. Example of that, we'll take a
- 13:52look at this. So this, this, when I first saw
- 14:06this on social media somewhere, I was really grieved.
- 14:09Honestly, I felt this like motherly concern for this man.
- 14:13He says on his social media, he was 5-9 or five eight.
- 14:17And then he literally has his bones broken to regrow longer.
- 14:22And so his goal is to get to 6 five.
- 14:24And so here he is walking on crutches because he's just
- 14:26broken his body so many times. He says he'll fully heal in a
- 14:29few years. That's what they anticipate.
- 14:31Seems like a bit of a gamble. I'm sure it is that he has
- 14:34completely invested his adult life, his young adult life, in
- 14:38trying to be physically taller because he wasn't happy with how
- 14:41tall he was. And I would consider this in the
- 14:45realm of anorexia, but a different kind.
- 14:47It's severe body dysphoria in the realm of people struggling
- 14:51with gender dysphoria. They don't even like their
- 14:53gender, they hate their height so much they would break their
- 14:55legs for their legs to grow longer, right?
- 14:59So is there a seed of truth in looksmaxing?
- 15:01Let's start there because we're going to address this question
- 15:03of is looksmaxing acceptable? What does it mean for it to be
- 15:07acceptable, if it is at all? How should we see this?
- 15:10And first of all, it looks. Maxers are saying something
- 15:15true. There is a seed of truth about
- 15:18physical beauty. There's a seed of truth here.
- 15:20Any big lie or any big deception is going to have a seed of truth
- 15:23in it. That's what makes it so
- 15:24powerful. And there have been studies that
- 15:27have been done. There's one recent study by UCUC
- 15:30Irvine as an example that show that women who wear more makeup.
- 15:35Not like a crazy amount, but more makeup have more
- 15:39opportunities and can get paid more.
- 15:41It's not saying every woman who wears more makeup gets paid
- 15:43more, but there are studies that show that if you present more
- 15:46physically attractive, then you get better opportunities or you
- 15:50get paid more. And so the core truth here is we
- 15:53as human beings are attracted to physical beauty, we are
- 15:57attracted to beauty in general. And so for the human person to
- 16:01want to present themselves in their best light is actually a
- 16:04very natural desire and can be a good.
- 16:07Desire and we're going to get to that more in a moment for how I
- 16:09believe it can be a good desire. So the question that we have to
- 16:13ask ourselves, I think we have to define some terms here to
- 16:15really understand this. First of all, I think we have to
- 16:18ask ourselves what? Even is beauty, we have to also
- 16:21ask ourselves when does beauty become sinful or the pursuit of
- 16:25beauty? Because I think everybody is
- 16:26wired to pursue beauty as a transcendental, as a good, but
- 16:32when does it become the pursuit of beauty become vanity and
- 16:35therefore become. Sinful.
- 16:37And then what are the right questions for us to ask?
- 16:40Can we ask the question? And can we determine is cosmetic
- 16:43surgery ever intrinsically evil? Is that even the right question
- 16:46to ask? And how do we think about this?
- 16:48So we're going to dive into that starting up with what is beauty.
- 16:51And we're also going to get a palate cleanser and look at some
- 16:53really beautiful art here in a minute.
- 16:55But first one more big thank you to our sponsors Presidio
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- 17:23A lot is at stake. We have only one life to live
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- 18:38Go to presidiocare.com. All right, So what is beauty?
- 18:47So first of all, beauty is real. There is such a thing as
- 18:50objective beauty, just like there is objective truth and
- 18:53goodness. There can be the subjective
- 18:55experience of beauty that one enters into personally.
- 18:58But you can see something that is objectively beautiful.
- 19:01And I don't think it's wrong to say that you can look at some
- 19:04art as an example and see. It is.
- 19:06Objectively beautiful. Here's an example for a little
- 19:10eye cleanser. Here in today's episode, we're
- 19:12talking about some sometimes some extreme things.
- 19:15This is a painting of a Victorian painting, Romantic Era
- 19:19by Frederick Laton Pavonia. You see this lovely woman here,
- 19:24by the way, it's it's interesting to consider that if
- 19:26she was on social media today, people would say, I mean, she
- 19:30might be tempted to get cosmetic procedures because today's
- 19:34standards of beauty are going to be even different than in the
- 19:38romantic era. I think about, for example, the
- 19:41lips, right? This woman here has a beautiful
- 19:44face. In my view, she's AI think she's
- 19:45objectively beautiful today. The standard of objective
- 19:48beauty, which I don't think is actually truly beautiful, is to
- 19:51have these very inflated lips. This is a trend that I think has
- 19:55been started. It's a fad.
- 19:57And so this woman might be told, OK, she needs to inflate her
- 19:59lips more. Who knows, right?
- 20:00But that's again, people's subjective view of beauty.
- 20:04Lips can be different sizes. Here she is.
- 20:06She has a very proportionate face.
- 20:08It's, it's very lovely. This is an example of art that
- 20:12showcases what is objectively beautiful.
- 20:14According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, beauty has three
- 20:17objective components. First, beauty has integrity, so
- 20:22there's wholeness to it. It's complete.
- 20:25It's not fractured or mutilated. So if you saw somebody missing
- 20:29half of the face, that would be jarring because they're meant to
- 20:33have a whole face. Brokenness in that sense is not
- 20:36beautiful. Disorder is not beautiful.
- 20:38People want to see wholeness. Wholeness is naturally
- 20:41attractive to people. Second, so next to integrity,
- 20:45there's proportion. Proportion has to do with right
- 20:48order and harmony. So beauty is present when the
- 20:51parts are rightly related and ordered to each other.
- 20:54So in a face, we're talking about purely physical beauty.
- 20:56So we're not talking about spiritual beauty, we're not
- 20:59talking about the subjective beauty of the person, We're
- 21:01talking about maybe just the pure physical beauty of
- 21:03someone's face. As an example, how the different
- 21:06parts of the face are ordered to each other and how they fit with
- 21:09each other does objectively look more pleasing to the eye or can
- 21:13look even less pleasing to the eye.
- 21:15This doesn't have to do with just physical beauty either, it
- 21:17has to do with relationships. So when your relationship has a
- 21:21right order to it, then there's beauty there, innate in that
- 21:25relationship. If you're in a disordered
- 21:27relationship, there will be a lack of beauty.
- 21:29This also has to do with how we set up our societies.
- 21:32If there's a right order in a society, there's beauty there.
- 21:35If there's an oppressive government, as an example, that
- 21:38is a disorder. It is out of proportion.
- 21:40There's going to be a lack of beauty.
- 21:42The last quality of beauty besides integrity proportion.
- 21:46Integrity proportion is. Clarity or radiance, Beauty is
- 21:50always going to reveal. It's always going to let the
- 21:52truth that the truth of a thing shine through so that when you
- 21:56behold the beautiful, you have a sense of the revelation.
- 21:59You have a sense of revelation, which is why beauty is a
- 22:01transcendental that's supposed to.
- 22:03That does point us to God. Ultimately, there's the beatific
- 22:08vision. That we will have in heaven
- 22:10where we get to behold God and everything else, everything else
- 22:14in the created world is a really a way to encounter God in his
- 22:19love and to ultimately see God in his love.
- 22:21But when we're in heaven, we'll get to see God face to face,
- 22:24which we wouldn't be able to handle on earth.
- 22:26And that is the beatific vision that we're ultimately going to
- 22:28behold. Perfect beauty, perfect
- 22:30radiance. So beauty cannot be separated
- 22:34from truth and goodness. They are in the Christian
- 22:37tradition. They all go together.
- 22:39So when you have what is beautiful, that's.
- 22:40Truly beautiful. You also have the truth and you
- 22:44also have goodness. GTB Media, which produces this
- 22:47podcast, is called Goodness Truth Beauty Media for a reason.
- 22:50These are the transcendentals that lead us to God.
- 22:52So contrary to what Looksmaxer's present.
- 22:56Beauty is not skin deep. If beauty was skin deep then we
- 22:59would be soulless, fleshly, like just bumps, a log.
- 23:04We would not have souls. We would not have intellects, we
- 23:07would not have the spiritual realm that exists with the human
- 23:11person. We just be a chunk of flesh,
- 23:13right? And the only reason which is
- 23:15ironic that looks maxers can. Appreciate beauty, physical
- 23:18beauty is because they have a soul is because they have an
- 23:22intellect is because they have this God like capability that
- 23:26we've been given to behold beauty, right?
- 23:29Dogs do not see beauty the way that human beings can behold
- 23:33beauty and appreciate beauty. I mean, they, they have a sense
- 23:35for the order of the world, right?
- 23:37And they might enjoy the order of the world, but they're not
- 23:39going to be able to hold it the way human being does.
- 23:42So beauty. Is not skin deep.
- 23:43Because we are not just bodies, we are also souls and also our
- 23:48bodies are more than how are are not just designed for how to
- 23:51look. I think this is also really
- 23:53another important about looks. Maxing and back to the gentleman
- 23:55who you know broke his legs and extended his legs.
- 23:58Your legs are not just for how they look.
- 24:00Your legs are not just for how tall you are.
- 24:04It's not. It's not your Your body is
- 24:06designed to have function, and the function is designed for you
- 24:11to be able to relate to other people and to love and be loved
- 24:14by them and to be part of God's created order and create things
- 24:18in God's order. So your legs are not to look a
- 24:20certain way, much more so your legs are to be able to walk
- 24:24right. And so I think a cosmetic
- 24:26surgery to lengthen your legs when it's not to fix your legs,
- 24:29it's to break your legs to lengthen for a cosmetic reason
- 24:32as opposed to I want to be stronger so I can walk and I can
- 24:34run and I can, you know, be part of the world.
- 24:37It right there there's a problem, right?
- 24:40So if we see beauty as skin, skin deep already, we're going
- 24:43to get beauty wrong. We're just not going to
- 24:45understand beauty. Beauty is ultimately grounded in
- 24:48God himself and beauty. Creation is beautiful.
- 24:51All of creation is beautiful down to like the smallest dust
- 24:54particle inasfar as it's reflecting God and the Creator
- 24:58which everything. All of creation sings the
- 25:01praises of God I believe. But what happens today, this is
- 25:04where it goes wrong, guys. What happened today is with
- 25:07looks maxing, with a, you know, over the top skin care routines,
- 25:12with, you know, filters and social media and everything else
- 25:15is when we are our desire for beauty, our desire also to be
- 25:19loved, quite frankly, becomes twisted or disordered and it
- 25:23becomes vanity instead. And so when it becomes vanity,
- 25:28vanity is the disorder. Desire to be seen, to be
- 25:32admired, to be affirmed as beautiful outside of what is the
- 25:36correct order. So an example of vanity would be
- 25:39so you should want like if you're married right, you should
- 25:41want your spouse to think you're beautiful.
- 25:43That's a very. Ordered desire, but it can
- 25:46become disordered if you want. Well, I want everyone to think
- 25:48I'm beautiful and extra beautiful.
- 25:50I want the whole world to admire me, right?
- 25:52That turns into vanity. Vanity could look like I want to
- 25:56be seen as the, you know, strongest man in the world so
- 26:01that other people want to be like me, right?
- 26:03That could be vanity as opposed to I want to become strong for
- 26:06my spouse or for my future wife and to take care of my kids and
- 26:10to honor my God-given body to see the distinction here.
- 26:14So it's who are we seeking the approval from?
- 26:16Who are we seeking the admiration from and for what
- 26:18reason? And so this is the question
- 26:21we're wrestling with is looks maxing good or bad?
- 26:25And the ultimate answer here is going to come down to some core
- 26:29distinctions for how to determine whether an action is
- 26:32good or bad. And we're going to go to Thomas
- 26:33Aquinas, our good friend and, and the ultimate, in my view,
- 26:36moral theologian St. Thomas Aquinas evaluates actions
- 26:41like is wanting this thing, the action of the will to want this
- 26:44thing good or bad? Based on these three, 3 the
- 26:50questions we can ask ourselves. First of all, the object of the
- 26:52ACT, what is its purpose? Second of all, the intention
- 26:56behind the actor. What is the intention in my
- 26:58heart when I am seeking out this thing?
- 27:02And then third of all the circumstances, what is the
- 27:04context behind me seeking out this thing or wanting this thing
- 27:08right and an act is? Morally good if all three are
- 27:12rightly ordered. So you need to have the right
- 27:15object of the ACT, right? You have the rest of the right
- 27:18purpose. You need to have the right.
- 27:20Intention, right? So I, for example, I could want
- 27:23to be, you know, very healthy, physically healthy and have the
- 27:28Super in shape, right? That's the a good purpose.
- 27:31That is a good purpose to want to be very, very healthy or even
- 27:33to want to be very beautiful. But if the intention behind it
- 27:36is so I want people just to look at me and do I'm famous or
- 27:39popular, right? That's where now no longer the
- 27:42moral impetus is it is right. You're actually wanting
- 27:47something for the wrong reason. And then the last thing the
- 27:50circumstances are those all rightly ordered.
- 27:52So under circumstances, if somebody wants to be very strong
- 27:56and fit for their families, good, right, That can be great
- 28:00that those first two the purpose are good.
- 28:02The intention behind that is good.
- 28:03I want to be strong and fit for my family.
- 28:06But if you go to the ends of OK, now I'm going to be, you know,
- 28:09working out four hours a day, I'm going to spend.
- 28:11I'm going to go into debt for gym equipment.
- 28:13I'm going to go into debt for a personal trainer.
- 28:14The circumstances you're going into an area of, of, of vanity
- 28:20or maybe this is driven by fear, whatever the motivation is
- 28:24deeper, right? The circumstances are clearly
- 28:26showing that this is not a good idea.
- 28:28You're going to debt for this. You're not spending the right
- 28:30time with your family. It's disordered, right?
- 28:32And how you're approaching this, then it can become immoral what
- 28:34you're doing. And so we have to get into what
- 28:38are the objects of what people are aiming for.
- 28:41If the looksmaxer is aiming to maximize their God-given beauty,
- 28:45right? And the looksmaxer is aiming to
- 28:49naturally enhance what their features are.
- 28:52And if they're trying to correct maybe a genuine deformity or, or
- 28:55morality. Sometimes people actually need
- 28:58to get some sort of a procedure because they have a deformity or
- 29:01an abnormality or they they may select to get it.
- 29:04Maybe they don't need to, but it might be a good thing for them
- 29:06to get it. Maybe they're restoring their
- 29:09appearance after they've had an injury.
- 29:11Surgery or an illness they're pursuing?
- 29:14Reasonable grooming or fitness to present themselves well,
- 29:17right? All of those would be legitimate
- 29:19goals or objects of an act. All of those things could be
- 29:21legitimate. This is where I think it becomes
- 29:24illegitimate. This is where looks maxing, I
- 29:26think can becomes very sinful. First of all, if you are
- 29:30recreating your body as some sort of a caricature, and I've
- 29:34seen this, this is happening today as an example, there is a
- 29:38rise in surgery on one's private parts because of pornography and
- 29:43its influence. And so people are actually
- 29:45treating their bodies as sexual caricatures and forgetting that
- 29:48that part of their body is for intimacy with one person in love
- 29:52for life and then of course, creation of new life.
- 29:53And instead it becomes how does it physically look?
- 29:56Almost for the sake of pornography.
- 29:57This would be objectively wrong to do this, right?
- 30:00And there's some really horrific stories about people doing
- 30:02these. Not, it's not for reconstructive
- 30:04purposes, it's for actual complete cosmetics purposes,
- 30:08right. Another thing that would be
- 30:10objectively wrong is recreating the body into something that is
- 30:13recognizably not human. This is also happening
- 30:15tragically. Harris, if you want to pull up
- 30:17this image, it's, it's a scary image, but this is where people,
- 30:20I think have such a really a mental illness at this point.
- 30:22I think it's a spiritual sickness.
- 30:24And so they're doing cosmetic procedures to look.
- 30:26So truly, I think it's some, in some cases it's diabolical.
- 30:32We've addressed this on the show a lot, you guys, but also
- 30:35recreating the body as the opposite sex.
- 30:37So people are are literally using hormones and then cosmetic
- 30:41surgeries to try to look like the opposite sex because they in
- 30:45this case would have gender dysphoria.
- 30:47And we're seeing just tragic stories right and left there.
- 30:51So in those cases, the object of their act, if they're a looks
- 30:54maxer and they want to look non human, they want to look the
- 30:56other sex, They want to make basically caricatures out of
- 30:59their body parts or sexual body parts.
- 31:01That would be all objectively wrong because the pursuit of
- 31:04those looks maxing acts or however you want to define them
- 31:08are they're pursuing something objectively wrong for them to
- 31:11pursue. Let's get into that area then of
- 31:14intention. Why is the person doing this?
- 31:17There are legitimate intentions behind looks maxing.
- 31:19I'm not opposed to looks maxing in terms of you want to look
- 31:23your best, you want to take care of your body, you want to be
- 31:26healthy. There could be legitimate
- 31:28intentions even behind things like cosmetic surgeries.
- 31:31There can be as an example, you could get, you could argue you
- 31:36could get a cosmetic surgery if it's face, if it's supporting
- 31:40your vocation in some very specific way and it's a maybe
- 31:43it's a light cosmetic surgery. You would want to maybe more
- 31:47balance your parents. Maybe there is some sort of a
- 31:49disfigurement. In this sense, cosmetic surgery
- 31:52is not inherently wrong, right? It's if it's used to enhance the
- 31:56natural features, if there's a compelling reason for it.
- 32:00But if it's being done for the sake of vanity, for Vainglory,
- 32:03well, I just want people to like me more and be more desirable.
- 32:07Even then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
- 32:09And then it becomes it's vanity again.
- 32:13And I think the other part of all of this is that we need to
- 32:15remember we are not just bodies. Our value is not just about how
- 32:20attractive we appear on the surface level to other people.
- 32:23Our value is that we are men and women created in God's image and
- 32:26likeness, created for love. And so even that good desire to
- 32:31want to look our best, to feel our best, to present ourselves
- 32:34the best that we can within reason, we have to remember that
- 32:37the deeper reason behind that needs to be love.
- 32:41It needs to be to love other people and to be loved by other
- 32:44people, not just to be a sight to behold physically, but to
- 32:48enter into a relationship where we can show love, which is
- 32:51willing the good of the other person, wanting their eternal
- 32:53good, not just their temporal good, but their eternal good,
- 32:56and ultimately seeking that eternal good for ourselves as
- 32:59well. So it's very easy to fall into
- 33:03extremes here, especially today. It's so easy to fall into
- 33:07extremes today with all of the temptations to superficiality of
- 33:12materialism and competition and Vainglory.
- 33:15And that's why it is so important to ground ourselves in
- 33:17the the truth of what are we made for us human beings, love.
- 33:22And what is the whole point of the human body?
- 33:24It's for love, to love and to be loved, not just to be compared
- 33:29as being beautiful or not beautiful on social media.
- 33:32The last element that I so so we talked about the object of the
- 33:39looks maxing like is the object of the cosmetic surgery or the
- 33:44the approach to change your body.
- 33:46Is it a good object or is it a bad?
- 33:47It's a bad object If it is you're trying to be the other
- 33:49gender or you're trying to look like a goblin.
- 33:52You know you're trying to twist your or change your sexual body
- 33:56parts for some pornographic reason, right?
- 33:59We talked about the intention. Why are you doing this?
- 34:01What's behind it? Is it for your health, is it for
- 34:05within reason to enhance your natural features to better serve
- 34:09and love people or is it more for Vainglory?
- 34:12And then the last one that we talked about is circumstances.
- 34:15And this is also very practical. This is a very personal and
- 34:18practical for people. Yes, get into looks, maxing in
- 34:21terms of looking your best, grooming while dressing well,
- 34:26taking care of your body. But to what level and to what
- 34:30cost? Because the reality is we all
- 34:32have a certain number of resources, a certain hour of
- 34:35date, a certain number of hours in the day.
- 34:38I'm a mom, I've got 3 kids to talk personally for a minute.
- 34:40I've got a lot of responsibilities.
- 34:43How much physical time is it appropriate to be spending on
- 34:45one's appearance? And this is where it's going to
- 34:48change based on the person. But we have to again, understand
- 34:51that this is not about just looking good for the sake of
- 34:55looking good. We're just trying to be healthy.
- 34:57But we don't want our pursuit of physical health to get in the
- 35:00way of our relationship health to get in the way of our prayer
- 35:03life, to get in the way of our jobs, our responsibilities,
- 35:07whether we are working for ourselves or working for other
- 35:09people, to get in the way of serving other people and
- 35:13actually going out and, and being with the people that we
- 35:15love and serving them. So it all has to be within
- 35:18prudence. It has to be within determining
- 35:21what are my circumstances, How much is appropriate for me to
- 35:23spend on my skin care is another example.
- 35:26Family budget, how much can I spend?
- 35:28And let's do it within reason. And if we can fulfill all of
- 35:31those things, ask a question, what's the object that I'm, I'm
- 35:35aiming at here with looks maxing?
- 35:36What are my intentions that I have for this?
- 35:38And then how much is it going to cost time and resources and
- 35:41what's appropriate for my state in life and for what I, where
- 35:43I'm at today, Then we can decide, OK, this looks maxing is
- 35:47OK. Then we can get to the point of
- 35:49this looks maxing is OK. So I'm not going to give
- 35:52everybody a prescription exactly because I don't know your exact
- 35:55situation. We can only know our own and,
- 35:57and, and maybe consult friends or loved ones.
- 36:00But I think a good baseline I know is taking care of our good
- 36:05grooming, I think is good for everybody.
- 36:08Exercise, making sure that we are actually moving our bodies.
- 36:12Nutrition and sleep, I think is essential.
- 36:14I do think it's good to dress well.
- 36:17I, I actually thought it was fun when I think it was secretary of
- 36:21transportation. Well, he's former now, I think,
- 36:22but Sean Duffy, who's a Catholic man, nine children.
- 36:26I love his wife, Rachel. I consider them good friends.
- 36:29And he was saying we shouldn't dress, You know, don't wear
- 36:32pajamas at the airport. Now, if you're on over like
- 36:34overnight flight, as I have been, it's OK if you're wearing
- 36:37sweatpants. But if you're just going about
- 36:38and during the daytime, maybe dress nice, dress more nicely.
- 36:41I do think that's good. We're our bodies are a temple.
- 36:44I think it's shows respect to dress beautifully, modestly, but
- 36:47beautifully for other people. I think that's a good thing.
- 36:50And it helps show the appreciation in the society for
- 36:53the temple that the the body is and respecting other people as
- 36:57well. So those are all good things.
- 36:59You know, I think makeup can be good, but not in excess, right?
- 37:03Unless you're doing like some big stage event.
- 37:05But again, it has to do with the context.
- 37:07So all of these things can be good.
- 37:10The last question is the cosmetic surgery.
- 37:12Is cosmetic surgery OK. And I'm going to put it up to
- 37:15back to you and your exact circumstances.
- 37:18I think for the large majority of people, cosmetic surgery does
- 37:21not make sense. And I think it's a bad trend
- 37:24that it's being so normalized and I think it's harmful that so
- 37:28many people are going to great lengths using cosmetic surgery
- 37:33to just tweak their God-given face.
- 37:36And I'm not saying it's immoral in every case.
- 37:39In fact, in many cases, it could be the right action or it could
- 37:42be a morally neutral action in terms of they have the right
- 37:46object, they have the right intent, and it's.
- 37:49A matter of prudence. So for them it could be fine and
- 37:52for another person that might not their their circumstances or
- 37:55context. But generally speaking, I think
- 37:59the trend of looks maxing of physical appearance and the
- 38:05obsession with making it better and better and better can be
- 38:09very harmful. And so I think as Christians,
- 38:12those of us with faith, we should be especially sober about
- 38:15it, to take care of our bodies, but to not make physical beauty
- 38:20an idol. So that is my last thought here
- 38:24on Looks Maxing. I want to share my New Year's
- 38:27resolutions with you guys next because we are about to
- 38:30celebrate. The end of 2025, we're probably
- 38:34already celebrating. And so I had 10 resolutions I
- 38:39wanted to share with all of you that I'm using this year and I
- 38:42wanted to suggest as things you could consider as well.
- 38:46So let's let's dive right in. This is something that's been in
- 38:50my heart a lot, guys, because I'm seeing it on, again, media,
- 38:54social media, I'm seeing a lot of people getting in.
- 38:58There's just a ton of division and some division is good.
- 39:02When you're dividing good from evil, you need to expose evil,
- 39:04speak out against evil. But this is the, this is my
- 39:09first resolution that I think we should all have one way or
- 39:14another, be angry at evil. It is good to have righteous
- 39:19anger. And by the way, be angry at evil
- 39:21in yourself, Be angry at your own sin.
- 39:23Don't just spend your time being angry at other people's sin.
- 39:26Be angry at your own sin. OK, And go confess it and then
- 39:29move forward, like fall down, get up again.
- 39:31So don't obsess about your sin. Don't obsess about other
- 39:33people's sin, but do not show contempt for other people or
- 39:38yourself. What is contempt?
- 39:40Contempt is discussed. You're you're beneath, you're
- 39:43less than, you're not good. You have no good in you.
- 39:48Contempt is a killer. It kills relationships.
- 39:52It kills our relationship with God.
- 39:55If we have self contempt, Contempt is not what we are
- 39:59called to as Christians. We can be called to righteous
- 40:01anger. We can possess righteous anger,
- 40:03anger. We shouldn't like, sit in the
- 40:05righteous anger and just let that like destroy us, right?
- 40:08We got to let it go ultimately and let it motivate us to do
- 40:11good, righteous things and be courageous, right?
- 40:15But we should not show contempt for our enemies as we perceive
- 40:19them for ourselves or any other human being, because every human
- 40:23being is made in God's image and likeness and was made for good.
- 40:27We can be angry at the sin, we can hate the sin, but we should
- 40:31ultimately be hating the sin and be angry at the sin because we
- 40:35love the Sinner and because we love what is good.
- 40:38So be angry at evil, evil, but show no contempt.
- 40:42Here's another one that I think is really good.
- 40:46And I've been trying to do this every day.
- 40:48Make a radical act of abandonment every day.
- 40:52What does that mean? I think as Christians, and even
- 40:56if you're not a Christian yet, you can do this.
- 40:58We are called to make a radical act of abandonment to God every
- 41:04day because we are not in control, but He is.
- 41:08And what that looks like, to get concrete, I believe it.
- 41:12It has for me. You can write down exactly the
- 41:15things that you love the most, that you hope for the most, the
- 41:21things that bring you the most anxiety or fear or dread.
- 41:24What are those things that are just heaviest on you or the
- 41:28things that are bringing you the most joy or the most hope?
- 41:32So this can be the dream that you have.
- 41:34This can be your marriage. This can be your hope for a
- 41:36marriage, your vocation, your children, your work.
- 41:39This could be a personal, you know, relationship that you
- 41:43have, a friendship. This could be anything, right?
- 41:46I would write down maybe three things up to maybe 20 things.
- 41:49Just make that list. It could be even more than 20
- 41:52and then go through each one and say, I totally surrender this
- 41:56and abandoned this to the will of God.
- 41:59So if that's the dream that you have maybe to, you know, start
- 42:02some sort of a business or get some sort of a degree or that
- 42:06dream for marriage, you have one day, write that down and say, I
- 42:09totally surrender this to the will of God.
- 42:12Or maybe that's the fear that you have about something in the
- 42:14new year or dread you have about something in the new year or
- 42:17some complicated situation at work or with friends or family,
- 42:20Write it down and say, I totally surrender this to the will of
- 42:24God. And it is amazing how that will
- 42:28transform your life, especially if you make it a daily practice.
- 42:31I completely surrender this to the will of God.
- 42:34I completely surrender this to the will of God because only God
- 42:37can hold it. And at the end of the day, it's
- 42:39God's will that matters, not ours, because our will, we, we
- 42:43don't know what we're doing, we're going to get it wrong.
- 42:45I guarantee you that when we seek God's will and abandoned
- 42:48our life and everything we care about concretely to the will of
- 42:51God, that's when God transforms our life.
- 42:55A third thing I recommend going to the new year is to ask God
- 42:59for vision. Ask God for his vision for your
- 43:03life. Ask God what he wants for your
- 43:06life. Sometimes we are always just
- 43:08focused on what we want or we don't even want enough.
- 43:12You know, we're kind of like robots, just doing our thing.
- 43:14And so we're not really taking time to sit with what am I
- 43:17called to? Should I be doing something
- 43:19differently? Should I be dreaming
- 43:20differently, seeing life differently?
- 43:22But it's very powerful to ask God for his vision for your life
- 43:27because ultimately God has a plan for your life.
- 43:31He has a calling on your life. He has a vision for your life,
- 43:34but it is very difficult to discover that if you're never
- 43:37asking and you're never taking time to say, God, give me your
- 43:40vision for my life #4 a fourth resolution or practice for 2026.
- 43:49Forgive, forgive. Forgiveness doesn't mean you
- 43:53don't have boundaries or it doesn't mean that you don't feel
- 43:57hurt. Forgiveness means you release
- 44:00somebody and you are not going to hold on to the wrongdoing
- 44:06that they've may be done to you and you're going to say I
- 44:09release you. And you may still feel you need
- 44:13to have a boundary with this person because their behavior is
- 44:16harmful in some way. Maybe it's a friendship that is
- 44:19not a good friendship or relationship that's not a good
- 44:21relationship. But you can forgive them and let
- 44:25let them go. But it's not holding on to anger
- 44:28in your heart against them. It's not letting that
- 44:33frustration with them drive you. And you may have to take some
- 44:37time to ask God to take away or to let you heal from that.
- 44:41But you need to make a choice of forgiveness.
- 44:43I forgive you. We are told in Scripture that we
- 44:47will be forgiven as much as we can forgive.
- 44:50And if we have something against our brother, we need to go and
- 44:53make peace with him. Before going to the altar,
- 44:55before going to specifically, I believe before going to receive
- 44:58the Eucharist, we should be seeking forgiveness and
- 45:01forgiving those that have wronged us.
- 45:02Sometimes that can't be a personal interaction to someone
- 45:04far away that we can't like, go and talk to.
- 45:07But our posture as people of faith and our posture in general
- 45:12as human beings, if we want to be happy and free, should be 1
- 45:15of forgiveness to be forgiven. We are blessed to be forgiven by
- 45:19God. And so we should extend that
- 45:21forgiveness to other people. God has forgiven us of
- 45:24everything. What a what an incredible thing
- 45:26that God Forgives our sins. How much more than should we
- 45:29forgive other people for whatever wrongdoing we perceive
- 45:32that they've done to us. So forgive.
- 45:35Go into 2026 with forgiveness. Another one very practical,
- 45:40getting out of the spiritual for a minute into the physical.
- 45:43Move your body every day. A lot of us are sitting at desks
- 45:47all day or we're very sedentary. Go on a walk every day.
- 45:51Go on a walk every day. I try to do this every day with
- 45:54my little ones. Just get outside and go on a
- 45:56walk. It can even be 15 minutes.
- 45:59Move your body. It doesn't have to be some big
- 46:00trip to the gym. It doesn't have to be some like
- 46:02five mile run. Just go on a walk.
- 46:05Ideally in nature if you can. If you're not blessed to live
- 46:08near nature, you could just walk around the block, but just go on
- 46:11a walk, get outside, move your body.
- 46:14God, I think can speak to us in a special way when we move our
- 46:17bodies. I've had that experience
- 46:18anyways. Not that he can't speak to us in
- 46:20any other situation, but I think there's something so important
- 46:23about our physically. It's important for us.
- 46:26I think it's also so important for us, for our souls, for us to
- 46:29be able to, if we have the gift of movement, to be able to
- 46:33deploy that. Of course, if we have health
- 46:36issues or whatever, God will make a way for us.
- 46:38But if you're blessed with your body, take care of your body,
- 46:41move your body. All right, a few more here, very
- 46:45concrete. We just did that episode on with
- 46:49humanality, talking all about the harm of the smartphone and
- 46:54the harm of technology. Put your phone away when you are
- 46:58with your loved ones, at least for an hour a day.
- 47:02Like you, maybe you have to have it for reasons throughout the
- 47:06day or you know, we're working on your phone when you're with
- 47:09your loved one, but especially with your kids, put your phone
- 47:12away when you're with your little ones.
- 47:14Put your phone away for at least, let's say an hour a day
- 47:17for your marriage or your friendship.
- 47:20Don't spend. I think that what was the number
- 47:22Harris was it? Was it 40 extra hours, 40 days?
- 47:26There was some crazy statistic, I don't remember it exactly when
- 47:28we had on our our wonderful humanity guest, but the idea
- 47:33that we spend literally years of our life looking at our phone
- 47:36instead of looking to the faces of other people.
- 47:38So put the phone away. Next one, pray everyday.
- 47:43I already talked about some specific prayer practices, but
- 47:46you got to set a timer. I would say minimum 10 minutes a
- 47:49day, 10 minutes of prayer a day. Sit down, just pray.
- 47:53Pray every day. It's amazing what your how your
- 47:56life will change if you take time to actually listen to God
- 47:59and talk to God. And I would say minimum 10
- 48:02minutes a day, ideal 30 minutes, but do a minimum of 10 minutes a
- 48:06day. All right #8 that was #7 #8 cut
- 48:11out toxic content. Make a resolution.
- 48:14If you're watching sleazy TV shows, you're watching social
- 48:18media content or podcasts that are sexually explicit in any way
- 48:24that is very showing content, contempt and disgust for other
- 48:29people. That's always like full of anger
- 48:32and hatred towards human beings, not towards bad ideas, but
- 48:36towards human beings. If you're watching content that
- 48:39is very maybe self obsessed, it's like causing you to be more
- 48:44tempted to Vainglory or vanity cut the content out.
- 48:48You can unfollow that content, you can block that content, you
- 48:52can mute that content. You can choose not to watch that
- 48:54content. Pick content that's going to
- 48:56build you up, that's going to inform you, inspire you, equip
- 49:00you. Maybe you watch too much content
- 49:02in general anyways. I don't know.
- 49:04I mean we all struggle with that with social media, but cut out
- 49:07the toxic content. I'm not saying the people are
- 49:10toxic like oh they're toxic people.
- 49:12No, but some content is clearly not designed to bring us closer
- 49:16to goodness, truth, and beauty. It is actually maybe a stumbling
- 49:18lock for us. Just cut it out.
- 49:20You don't have to watch it #9 respect the Sabbath, Go to
- 49:26church on Sunday if you can. Go to Mass on Sunday.
- 49:30Take Sunday to try to go back to our original state in the garden
- 49:36of rest and communion with God, and try to avoid doing hard
- 49:41labor on Sundays. Try to avoid making other people
- 49:45do hard labor on Sundays. This is a whole other debate.
- 49:48Should you go out to eat on a Sunday?
- 49:49I'm not saying don't go to restaurants on Sundays, but make
- 49:52Sundays the day, if at all possible to avoid doing some
- 49:57heavy lifting with work and a day to focus and set on God,
- 50:01Church and focusing on your loved ones, your family.
- 50:05If you're are living in a family or you're if you're living with
- 50:08roommates or friends, make that time to go out with friends.
- 50:11Make Sunday a day of rest, a true Sabbath and a day for God.
- 50:16And the last one, which is a bonus, I actually have two
- 50:19bonuses. I have a 10:00 and 11:00.
- 50:21So I think we just did 10, right guys?
- 50:22We're about to do 10, if you can.
- 50:26This one is transformative. We just had Arthur and Esther
- 50:29Brooks on the podcast. He's an amazing guy.
- 50:32We're going to be releasing the episode soon.
- 50:34But anyways, you're talking about the practice of daily
- 50:36Mass. If you can, try daily mass.
- 50:39So don't just go to church on Sunday.
- 50:41Try going to mass throughout the week.
- 50:43Even if you're not Catholic, you can still go, you can still get
- 50:46a blessing. It is transformative.
- 50:48I remember when I started going to daily mass and I struggle now
- 50:50with my kids and work and everything else.
- 50:52My goal is to get back into a habit of more days a week than
- 50:56than less, but try to go to Mass during the week and make that a
- 51:01part of your week. What do you get to do at Mass?
- 51:04You get to go be there for the consecration.
- 51:07You hear the Gospel and if you're Catholic, you can receive
- 51:10the Eucharist and you can at least make a spiritual communion
- 51:12of the Eucharist. Even if you're not able to
- 51:15receive yet Jesus in the Eucharist, you make a spiritual
- 51:17communion to receive Jesus into your heart.
- 51:20But it's incredible. It's incredible.
- 51:22So go do that. Go do that if you can.
- 51:25And the last bonus one, this is a good one, I think for anybody
- 51:30to do at least I would say at least once a year, if not once a
- 51:34month, go pray outside an abortion clinic.
- 51:40Every day there's 3000 babies that are being killed by
- 51:42abortion. I believe it's the biggest human
- 51:44rights issue of our day globally and certainly in the United
- 51:47States. Nothing else compares.
- 51:49These are our babies. These are women in need.
- 51:52Just pray. Just go and pray a rosary or go
- 51:54pray quietly, pray some psalms. It just be a sign of
- 51:56contradiction and a witness to hope and be in solidarity with
- 52:01those that are going in and pray outside an abortion clinic.
- 52:04You have the right to do that on a public sidewalk.
- 52:07Go do it at least once. This year, 40 Days for Life will
- 52:09be starting in a few weeks for their Lenten journey.
- 52:13So you can go and be part of 40 Days for Life and pray outside
- 52:16abortion clinics with 40 Days for Life.
- 52:18But I highly recommend that to do that once in the new year.
- 52:21And so there we have it guys. We're almost in 2026.
- 52:24I think if we can do these things, we'll have a
- 52:25transformative year. Now I'm going to read some of
- 52:28the comments here, so we will pull that up.
- 52:32OK, so we've got this comment from Nilo, he says, or I'm sorry
- 52:40if this is she says, sad age of people who don't like themselves
- 52:44and want to look like influencers, people who are like
- 52:46them, just popular and fake. I do think people are
- 52:49appreciating more people who are just authentic and not trying to
- 52:52look like a plastic Barbie doll. I guess I think people like that
- 52:58project. John says, what about nose jobs?
- 53:00Again, I it depends, right? They're not inherently wrong.
- 53:03Nose jobs are not inherently wrong.
- 53:05They might be a a nose drop actually could be inherently
- 53:08wrong. If you're trying to make your
- 53:09nose look non human, then it could be inherently wrong but
- 53:14because the object of it is wrong in that sense.
- 53:16But it depends on the reason behind the nose job.
- 53:20It depends on the context behind the nose drop.
- 53:21So that's a question you're going to be able to answer for
- 53:23yourself. For most people, I would say
- 53:25it's it's not a good idea. Another comment here from from
- 53:32someone. When I think of looks maxing, my
- 53:34thought immediately comes to mind.
- 53:35Are they going to the gym and working out, eating clean?
- 53:37Is it wrong to think that? No, and that could be great.
- 53:40That's good looks maxing right there.
- 53:42Go to the gym, workout and eat clean.
- 53:44Yes, we can all do that. Duke of Denver says makeup is
- 53:47looks maxing for women. Yes, I think that's a good form
- 53:50of of looks maxing that can be universally acceptable.
- 53:54Again, not like over the top. You're spending thousands of
- 53:56dollars on your makeup and you're spending 10 hours a day,
- 53:58but it's a good way to take care of our bodies.
- 54:01Again, all things done in moderation, all things done for
- 54:05the sake of loving other people and the love of God.
- 54:08And there we have it. That will be our 2026 looks Max
- 54:12for the glory of God. With.
- 54:14Prudence and pray and I hope everybody has an amazing new
- 54:18year and have fun tonight and get some sleep.
- 54:21My husband was like let's go to bed at 9 PMI think that's
- 54:23probably what we're going to do. Thank you all so much and we'll
- 54:26see you next time.