Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #201: Angels & Demons: A Deep Dive with Fr. Michael Driscoll

Transcript

Catholic Conversations #201: Angels & Demons: A Deep Dive with Fr. Michael Driscoll · Catholic Spirit Radio

0:00
Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio. Hello and welcome,
0:04
friends. I'm Stan Ketzig.
0:06
You know, some of the best conversations happen when we simply sit down together,
0:10
maybe with a cup of coffee or tea in hand and talk about what matters most,
0:13
the joys, the questions, the everyday moments where we find our faith.
0:18
That's the spirit of this show.
0:20
Welcome to Catholic Conversations.
0:22
This is your place to listen in, to reflect, and to feel connected,
0:26
whether you're commuting, listening at home, or actually sitting with that cup
0:29
of coffee. We're so glad that you've joined us.
0:32
Each week, we'll explore the beauty, the depth, and the lived experience of
0:35
the Catholic faith. We'll chat with interesting guests.
0:39
We'll dive into timeless teachings and discuss how our faith illuminates our
0:43
modern lives. So get comfortable. Let's start a conversation that matters.
0:48
This is the Catholic Radio Network, and the name of the program is Catholic Conversations.
0:53
Today, we are going to discuss a very interesting topic.
0:57
We've got a very special guest. Father Michael Driscoll is on the line.
1:02
Father, I was looking at your bio. You have so many things going.
1:05
I don't even know where to go to introduce you. How should I begin?
1:09
Can you give us a little bit about your background?
1:12
Well, sure. Thanks very much, and thanks for this opportunity.
1:15
Yeah, so I'm priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, and was ordained in
1:20
1992. So adding that up, 34 years.
1:24
And then as a priest, I spent a lot of my priesthood as a hospital chaplain.
1:29
And it was during that time that I started taking some counseling classes and,
1:33
stayed with that until I ended up with a PhD in counseling psychology.
1:38
And this does get in that roundabout way to the angel topic,
1:41
because my dissertation was
1:42
how Catholic exorcists distinguish demon possession and mental disorders.
1:48
So I wrote a book that came from that dissertation about whatever that was 10
1:52
or 12 years ago with Catholic Answers.
1:54
And to get the whole taste of demons out of my mouth, I first asked them a couple
1:59
years ago, how about a book on angels? And they said, yes, let's do that. So we did that.
2:03
I love it. So you're a Catholic priest. You're an author. You have a fascinating subject.
2:08
First of all, can we just talk about the book, Demons, Deliverance,
2:11
and Discernment, Separating Fact from Fiction about the spirit world?
2:15
Well, let's get into that right away because this is just a fascinating subject.
2:20
Can you tell our listeners in your own words what the book is about and what
2:25
prompted you to write it?
2:28
I think what it prompted me, and that's going back some years,
2:30
but what prompted me for that dissertation a good 15 years ago was a conversation
2:34
with a Catholic exorcist and that topic of discerning, you know,
2:39
mental health struggles.
2:42
And the rite of exorcism promulgated in 1614, so we're going way back,
2:47
and very specifically told the exorcist to discern between continuing possession and.
2:54
You know, health problems. It kind of lumped it together with a Latin word,
2:58
just saying, you know, kind of just saying health problems.
3:01
Sure. And yeah, so that's where that one came from, just looking at that interaction.
3:07
And I remember distinctly one of the exorcists I talked to when I asked him,
3:11
and it's so rare, doing possession is so rare. But I asked him,
3:15
so those handful that you have done, and he's an exorcist about 20 years.
3:20
I said, how many of them had some mental health struggles? And he said,
3:22
oh, well, they all did. Oh, really? So that was a key thing to get out of my
3:26
head and anyone who's looking at it say, wait a minute, these are not mutually exclusive things.
3:30
If demons tick on people's weak points, that's not that much of a shock.
3:35
And keeping in mind, mental disorder, that's a vague phrase,
3:39
and it's a good one, though.
3:40
Because of original sin, we're all disordered physically, mentally, emotionally.
3:44
So that's not an insult to anyone. Say, well, they've got some mental health
3:47
struggles. Well, that's like saying we've got physical struggles.
3:49
If we don't today, we will soon enough. Sure, sure.
3:52
You know, I wanted to ask you, though, even the subject of exorcism, how.
3:59
Did you, as a kid, see the movie The Exorcist? Did you hear about it?
4:02
I mean, you know, everything, when you hear exorcism, a lot of people think,
4:06
oh, that's kind of like Hollywood, but it really, it ties into the,
4:10
you know, into what we believe is Catholic. So, how did all that come about?
4:15
I did see that, as a matter of fact, in high school age, that it's...
4:20
It is so rare, and today there is so much out there in movies and TV series.
4:27
Back then, when that movie came out, there was that, and there was one called
4:30
Rosemary's Baby about a demon baby.
4:33
Yeah. And those were about the only two things out there on the topic,
4:38
as far as the movies and TV series.
4:40
And now, besides movies and TV, we've got the whole streaming thing,
4:44
it's all over the place, and that's not good.
4:47
Because people see that. Well, even if they know that's Hollywood and whatever
4:51
and fictional, but it gets the idea that this happens a lot and that I've never seen it.
4:55
And whenever I give a talk on the topic and, you know, a group of people say,
4:59
well, have you ever seen someone do anything physically outside the laws of nature?
5:03
You ever seen someone start speaking a language they did not know and blaspheming
5:07
God in that language? Those are signs from the ritual on the exorcism of the ritual.
5:11
And no one ever says, oh, yeah, I've seen that. So, anyone who does say,
5:15
oh yeah, I've seen that a number of times, whether it's a person hearing a talk
5:18
or whether it's a priest claiming to hear it a lot of times,
5:21
boy, I'm very doubtful that anyone's seeing or hearing that frequently.
5:26
Yes, the devil can do that, but there are some constraints, and we don't really know.
5:33
We don't know the laws of the physical world by any stretch,
5:35
and we don't know God's laws of the spirit world either.
5:39
But there are openings, you know, things you should, don't do that because that,
5:42
you know, the few things in the rite of exorcism mentions those.
5:46
So it has a word that translates kind of as a charm or an amulet,
5:49
you know, something that might be used for a witchcraft or something.
5:52
Don't mess with it. Don't do that.
5:55
Another one is, it kind of translates as a ritual. So yeah, don't be doing a
6:00
witchcraft or satanic ritual. Bad idea.
6:03
And the the third one then is oh yeah well again translating is roughly a necromancy
6:10
don't communicate with you know others don't communicate with dead spirits or
6:14
evil others unknown spirits don't do the wheezy board we would,
6:19
say because trying to we know how to communicate with spirits we pray we pray
6:23
to god we ask angels for help we ask saints for help we pray for souls in purgatory
6:27
We know the right way to communicate with the spirit world. Any other way is a bad idea.
6:32
God's not going to use these other weird things, and neither are angels and
6:36
saints. So any other means of communicating with spirits is a bad idea because you might succeed.
6:41
Yeah, I like what you're saying, Father Driscoll. I wanted to kind of ask you,
6:46
when you think about it, is it a cultural influence when you talk about,
6:49
you know, when we were kids?
6:51
I mean, like you mentioned, The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby,
6:54
there wasn't a lot on television or movies that covered this.
6:58
And as you said, now with streaming and all these different platforms.
7:03
It's exorcism and spirits and vampires and whatever. They're all covered,
7:10
you know, and what should a parent do?
7:13
How can a parent steer their kids away from all this stuff? I mean,
7:16
is there a way to maybe talk to your kids and say, hey, look,
7:20
this, you know, you could be opening something by watching this stuff. Yeah, I don't know.
7:26
Again, I want to downplay how
7:27
often there's going to be a case of possession. It's so extremely rare.
7:32
So watching something like that, it's not good for us spiritually to watch much of that.
7:38
And that is not so much a danger of possession, which is extremely rare,
7:42
just an unhealthy interest in the topic.
7:44
Why are we not praying more and reading more on good subjects or,
7:47
you know, neutral subjects? I recently found a cool book on.
7:54
When I was seven years old, I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.
7:57
I thought it would be cool to be an astronaut.
7:58
I found a book on that recently. So isn't that better for me to read than more
8:02
and more on demons? I'm tired of the demons for myself personally.
8:06
So I would, you know, parents have to be the judge of that since I'm not a parent.
8:10
But just, you know, all the other better things that kids can be interested
8:13
in. And I would, yeah, I would steer them away from much of that.
8:17
There's not much to be gained from, you know, from demons. Now,
8:22
a good scary story, I don't know, a good ghost story, that's fun.
8:26
I think that's an important thing. Keep clear of that line. I guess if I had
8:29
some advice, make sure that you keep clear of the line between fiction and,
8:34
you know, real things. So if it's a make-believe thing, you know, sure.
8:38
I like reading Irish folktales.
8:41
And they don't bat an eye about putting a fairy and a priest in the same story.
8:44
Well, that's fine. It's fiction. You know, if anyone's reading that,
8:48
hopefully he's not thinking, well, I wonder if that leprechaun really did run away from that priest.
8:53
Hopefully we know that. Hopefully they know that's fiction. I agree.
8:57
Maybe it's the blurring that's the problem, like giving the impression,
9:00
oh, beware, this is happening a lot.
9:03
The devil didn't possess Eve. Yeah. And you can say, look at that. Wouldn't that be great?
9:07
Yeah. Well, you know, and what I'm thinking too, Father Driscoll,
9:11
is there's such a cultural influence on everything these days,
9:14
you know, with social media, you really have to...
9:18
I don't know, kind of pick and choose and keep the prayers going.
9:23
I just want to tell everybody that might be just tuning in, we are talking with Fr. Michael Driscoll.
9:28
This is the Catholic Conversations Program on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
9:32
And, Fr., you are well-loved in this area.
9:35
I know you've been a priest in the Priorya Diocese, and you've got a lot of
9:38
fans. A lot of people were excited when you were coming on with us,
9:43
but you've kind of elevated yourself, too. You're now with the great Debbie
9:46
Georgiani on Spirit World on weekends. You want to talk about that a little bit?
9:50
I'd be glad to mention it. Yeah, because of this book I just published with
9:55
Catholic Answers, that came out in March, I believe.
9:58
So just a few months ago, and that's Guadalupe. I'm still learning all these
10:03
media things. So that's Guadalupe Radio Network, which is connected to EWTN.
10:08
So I was on an interview there, and then Debbie contacted me because that's
10:11
her topic for the show, The Spirit World.
10:13
And she was having a change in that show and asked me if I would join her and
10:18
we had a few conversations on the phone before and I guess we hit it off,
10:23
I sure thought so. She was great.
10:24
And she said, yeah, why don't we do this together? So there it is, yeah.
10:29
I'm with her once a week, sometimes live, sometimes prerecorded,
10:33
but it's always going to show up on Saturday mornings. I love that.
10:36
Well, they are also connected to the Catholic Spirit Radio Network here on our...
10:42
Go ahead, I'm sorry. Yeah, no, I didn't mean to leave that out.
10:45
No, no, that's true. I just wanted to let people know that, you know,
10:49
you have a lot of fans out there and you, you know, I want them to know that
10:54
they can hear you on Saturday mornings.
10:56
With your latest book, you kind of switched up from demons to angels.
11:00
Do you want to talk about that?
11:02
Much, much better. Yeah, just very, once again, there's some,
11:07
hopefully not a completely unhealthy attraction.
11:10
The demon thing, it's a little bit scary, and that can be, scary can be fun.
11:14
Like I said, you know, a ghost story or some kind of scary movie that's not gory.
11:21
But we don't want to cross that into too much curiosity about the work of the
11:25
devil. So angels, definitely want to keep a curiosity about them because they're
11:29
also so mysterious too. in a great way.
11:34
Yeah, so it was a lot based on the church doctrine, of course,
11:39
and then St. Thomas Aquinas from the Summa.
11:41
And what Thomas does in all topics Catholic, he kind of makes logical deductions from church doctrine.
11:49
So, I mean, if you want, I can give you an example or two from there.
11:53
I would love that. First, I want to tell everybody the book that we're actually
11:56
talking about right now is Angelic Answers, Everything You Need to Know About
11:59
God's Heavenly Messengers, Guardians, and Guides.
12:02
And that's a topic that covers everything that we want because we want our hearts
12:06
filled with the good stuff.
12:08
Right. And I do have a little running joke with someone, a Catholic answer,
12:12
because the author of a book does not design the cover or give the title of
12:15
the book, which is good. They know what they're doing there.
12:18
But it's kind of a running joke. Well, I said, I don't know about everything
12:21
that you want to know about angels.
12:24
Let's say a lot of things, I hope. Well, we love that. Yeah,
12:28
you said you had a couple of little stories you could tell. We'd love to hear them.
12:31
Well, sure. Examples, I would say, from St. Thomas. So, angels are pure spirits.
12:37
Okay. Well, then what do we mean when we say an angel is in a place,
12:41
like my guardian angel is protecting me, or an angel is in heaven worshiping God?
12:46
What do we mean by that if they're pure spirits? So that's where St.
12:50
Thomas comes in, and he'll make the logical deduction. So an angel is a pure
12:54
spirit image of God, so it's an immortal soul.
13:00
And the qualities, the faculties, the powers, let's say the powers of an immortal
13:04
soul are intellect and will, knowledge and free will. That's what we have.
13:07
That's what God has. God has it in perfection. When he says,
13:11
let there be light, there's light. Anything God conceives, he can make it happen in the way.
13:16
Angels and human beings are limited in those two things, intellect and will.
13:21
But what St. Thomas would say, back to my example, where is an angel?
13:25
Well, let's say my guardian angel right now. Well, my guardian angel is right
13:29
here. It's not taking up any space physically.
13:32
He would say, no, that's where intellect and will are being exerted.
13:36
So it knows what is happening right here, and it is willing,
13:39
whatever, giving me inspiration, protecting me from spiritual harm,
13:43
sometimes protecting from physical harm.
13:45
So that's what we would mean by when we say that an angel is in a certain place.
13:49
Now, what I just said, that second part is not doctrinal.
13:52
That is St. Thomas Aquinas making his always brilliant logical deductions from
13:58
doctor's doctrine, which says they are pure spirits. So there's an example of that. I got you.
14:03
Now, when you were researching the book on angels, where do you even start?
14:09
Do you start in the Bible?
14:12
When you're doing your research, do you talk to people? How did this go?
14:16
I deliberately did not do stories from people. There are books out there on
14:21
that, and I love reading stories about angels.
14:24
Like I said, I was a hospital chaplain full-time for more than 20 years.
14:27
I love the stories when people would be in the hospital, which is not unusual
14:31
for a Catholic to say, hey, I think my guardian angel did this or that.
14:34
I believe it absolutely.
14:36
So I love stories, but I thought for my book I would do something different,
14:39
and that's where I stuck with the church doctrines and then a lot of St.
14:44
Thomas Aquinas and he quotes some other saints such as.
14:47
Such as Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Augustine. And then I also went to church,
14:52
the liturgy books, the liturgical books, the Mass and the others. We can talk about those.
14:56
So yeah, to answer your question, I'd definitely start with church doctrine.
15:01
So that'd be the newer catechism and the old catechism. Someone laughed right
15:04
for the new one because it's been around 30 years, but it's newer than Council
15:07
of Trent Catechism, which is 500 years old.
15:10
So I definitely wanted to start with doctrine and with the creed that God created
15:15
heaven and earth. It's one of the meanings of that is he created the spirit in the physical world.
15:19
And from there, a lot of St. Thomas Aquinas, and then also the liturgical books,
15:23
because they're a source of doctrine, too.
15:25
Now we're in a few minutes. Can I give an example of something there? Sure.
15:30
You know, go ahead. I'm sorry. Sorry.
15:33
First Eucharistic prayer, it was in the old Mass, it was called the Roman Canon.
15:37
There's that line shortly after the consecration, let your holy angel take this
15:43
sacrifice to your altar in heaven.
15:45
So that's a doctrinal thing. We say it in the Mass, it's in the Eucharistic prayer.
15:49
Wow, I did read some commentary trying to learn what that meant,
15:53
and they mostly said, this is so mysterious.
15:56
But in some way, an angel, we like to believe, of course, angels are present
16:00
in Mass, they're present around tabernacles.
16:03
Worshiping at mass in some mysterious way after that consecration you
16:07
know what is happening well jesus binding blood being offered to the father
16:11
how's that happening mysterious but an angel has a role in it according to the
16:16
first eucarist prayer an angel takes part in all in that offering now we do
16:20
too in our own way we join ourselves to that
16:22
sacrifice of jesus body and blood but an angel present doing that that's just so so
16:27
great and mysterious and it's right there in the eucarist the prayer,
16:31
so it is a doctrinal thing as well.
16:33
Wow. You are listening to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
16:37
Today, we're talking to a very fascinating priest, Father Michael Driscoll.
16:41
He is a priest. He's an author. He's a fascinating guy.
16:44
He's got some amazing, amazing things to tell us about angels,
16:49
about demons, about all kinds of great things.
16:51
And we're going to talk with him a little bit more right after we hear from
16:55
some of our amazing sponsors. You're listening to Catholic Conversations on
16:59
Catholic Spirit Radio. Congratulations to Heather Rankin, who has decided to
17:03
pursue a degree in nursing.
17:05
The downside to that news is that she is leaving Catholic Spirit Radio.
17:10
So now Catholic Spirit Radio is seeking someone for the new full-time position
17:14
as Director of Events and Outreach, or as I like to say, Director of Excitement.
17:19
If you have plenty of enthusiasm and organizational skills waiting to be used
17:23
in a faith-filled environment, check out the details in the Job tab at catholicspiritradio.org.
17:29
As you've heard, Catholic Spirit Radio is hosting their 15th anniversary pilgrimage to Wisconsin.
17:34
Seats filled up so quickly that we've added another bus.
17:37
Now more seats are available. This three-day trip includes exclusive tours of
17:42
shrines and basilicas, plus luxury bus transportation, meals, and hotel.
17:46
What a great gift idea. Departure is August 10th from Normal and Rockford.
17:51
Make your reservation at catholicspiritradio.com or Kathy at 309-828-6554.
17:58
Attention, lady and men golfers. The Monsignor Ketchum Memorial Golf Outing
18:03
is August 20th, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, number 15175.
18:07
Golf, food, and prizes. Sign up at kofc15175.org This is Fr.
18:14
Pete Jankowski from the National Shrine of St. Anne in St. Anne,
18:17
Illinois. Anne is spelled with an E.
18:20
Join us at our 146th annual St. Anne Novena and Feast Day at the country's oldest shrine.
18:26
7 p.m. on-site and online masses will take place from July 17th to the 24th.
18:32
On Saturday, July 25th, we celebrate a traditional mass in Latin and procession at 6 p.m..
18:38
And on July 26th, we celebrate Masses at 9 a.m. in English and 12 noon in Spanish,
18:43
all with a procession of the relic.
18:45
St. Anne's is located at 230 North 6th Avenue in St. Anne, Illinois.
18:49
Contact us at 815-427-8265 or on the web at www.stannes.org.
18:57
We are back. You're listening to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit
19:01
Radio Network. I'm Stan Ketzig. We have a very fascinating guest today.
19:05
He is an author. He is a priest. He is Father Michael Driscoll.
19:09
You might know him from the Peoria diocese, and he is also going to be a regular
19:15
with Debbie Giorgiani on the weekend program.
19:18
And that's called Spirit World, and that pretty much covers a lot of stuff that
19:23
you've put in both of your books. Is it two books that you have, Father?
19:27
So I've got the book called Demon's Deliverance and Discernment from about 10
19:31
or 12 years ago, the newer one just a couple months ago, Angelic Answers.
19:35
But back somewhere in between there, again, talking with Catholic Answers editors
19:41
there who's got to know them, and they're great.
19:45
So one, they have a series out, which is a great series I recommend,
19:48
a number of books called, what is it called? It's called 20 Answers on a number of topics.
19:53
And so they wanted one on angels and demons. So they asked me to do that.
19:56
And, of course, the editors there are always helping.
19:58
So I also have that one on the topic. And then I got to do one on a different
20:01
topic, again, with them, one of those booklets, 20 Answers. and that one is the sacraments.
20:06
Oh, wow. And now... I had four books all with them.
20:10
When did you realize you could even write a book? I mean, first of all,
20:13
you're a priest, you're taking care of your parish.
20:16
There's so many things to do just as a priest in general.
20:20
How do you just sit down and go, you know what, I think I'm going to write a book?
20:24
I'm sure different ways for different people. For me, it came from while I was
20:28
a hospital chaplain, I was able to also be taking classes in counseling, as I mentioned.
20:33
So I stuck with it until I had a master's and a PhD in counseling psychology.
20:38
And so when I wrote that dissertation, which was a process of a couple of years,
20:43
a few years, I don't remember, you know, time.
20:46
But then it kind of flowed naturally. Like, well, I'd like to put this information
20:50
into a more readable book. dissertations are long and dry generally that's part for the course.
20:55
So that's how I decided to write a book and I didn't really know how to,
21:02
I wrote the book and then submitted to some places. And sometimes the person
21:06
will contact a publisher first.
21:09
And that's why I did the second time around with the angels.
21:11
I did not have the book done. I contacted Catholic Answers again,
21:14
the editors that I knew there. I said, hey, I've got this idea.
21:17
What about a book on angels from church teaching and the things I've mentioned
21:21
here and from liturgy and also Thomas Aquinas?
21:24
And they agreed to it. So then I wrote the book after the agreement.
21:26
So two different ways. First time I wrote a book and tried to find out who was
21:30
interested, if anyone, in publishing. Second time, because I had the relationship
21:34
with a publisher, I contacted them about a book on angels, and they said, yes, let's do it.
21:38
I got you. And now you're a media mogul.
21:41
As I mentioned, we're in with Debbie on Spirit World. And what type of topics
21:46
do you normally cover with that show on the weekends?
21:50
I'm very new at that. I'm not a media. writing I got used to quite a bit in
21:56
school as a seminary student and then back in school.
21:59
But yeah, the radio thing is quite different.
22:05
Fortunately, Debbie is the one who does all that and I'm on there with her.
22:11
I've only done it a few times. I've only done it a few times with her so we
22:14
did talk about angels. I think we're going to do that again.
22:17
Sometimes we take questions. She's got a counseling background as well and I
22:21
didn't realize we were going to get a number of people calling or submitting
22:25
to the different ways of the chat room or whatever,
22:28
how they do that on counseling type topics. So we try to deal with those too.
22:34
Always starting with my beginning each answer, I hope I'm remembering to say,
22:38
we cannot do this on the phone.
22:40
Here are some Catholic virtues and some things to avoid.
22:45
But that's a huge thing for a Catholic approach to counseling,
22:47
practicing the virtues. I gotcha. Take hope and charity, put those into practice.
22:53
Yeah, I mean, I could tell you about that, but we're talking about angels here.
22:56
But anyway, that's what we've been doing, kind of those topics,
22:58
I guess. Sure. This is a great topic, but also a little bit of a counseling
23:02
there, or at least things for people to keep in mind when dealing with issues.
23:07
You know, you mentioned in our conversation in the last segment,
23:11
and when we were talking about the demons and with, you know,
23:14
exorcism and that type of subject, you said that possession is very rare.
23:20
But demons are not rare. I'm sorry, angels are not rare at all.
23:24
We all have angels. Do you have any specific stories of someone's angel guiding
23:32
them, helping them, you know, when you've done research on this?
23:35
I know you said you really went into the writings of the church more than talking
23:41
to people, but have you had people tell you stories since they've read your book?
23:47
Yes. Gosh, I forget the specifics. Someone just mentioned something to me.
23:54
It was driving a car and some incident like that.
23:59
Whatever. I can't remember the details I'm remembering. And that's just recently.
24:03
But certainly over the years, like in the hospital, as I said,
24:06
I was a full-time hospital chef in more than 20 years.
24:09
Perishes on this in addition that on the side sometimes and i don't mean on
24:13
the side but in addition but yeah um oh gosh there was a man who nearly died
24:18
and he was not very old it was like a heart attack and he's you know,
24:22
not too long afterwards he's recovering i'm in the room with his wife and he
24:27
said i he said no one's going to believe this maybe you too will i'm not going
24:30
to tell anyone else there is an angel there as clearly as you two are standing here right now,
24:35
we could write that off oh well he was you know whatever was going on with the heart attack i'm,
24:39
thinking i'm not going to write that off if he believes he saw an angel that
24:42
got him through this because he was a fairly young man with children i absolutely
24:46
believe it and i yeah i i tend to try and downplay when someone says i think
24:50
a demon did this or that i'm like yeah,
24:53
other than temptation let's play down let's downplay the demon they certainly
24:56
can't they certainly tempt us don't downplay that but but i'd rather but when
25:01
it comes to an angel i'm never going to downplay that.
25:03
Someone believes that God, you know, it's always God's will,
25:06
but, you know, angels are perfect messengers of God's will. So someone says,
25:09
I think an angel did this. I'm right with him saying, I think it was an angel also.
25:14
Well, I love hearing that. We're talking to Father Michael Driscoll.
25:18
He is a fascinating priest who is also an author. And, you know,
25:23
when you were mentioning being a chaplain in the hospitals, how do I put this?
25:30
We've had nice people from hospice on before on our radio program.
25:34
And, you know, do you find people more connected to...
25:39
The other world when they're close to death? I don't know if this is making
25:44
any sense, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you see...
25:50
An opening of where conversations, not conversations, but where people could
25:57
almost glimpse into the, into the afterworld as they're approaching death.
26:01
Did you have any experiences like that?
26:04
As a chaplain. It would be very rare, more common from faithful people who,
26:10
when they know that they're, you know, any of us can be close to death at any
26:14
time, but those who look very certain to be very soon,
26:18
And they commonly, you know, people of faith get more connected in that way,
26:23
knowing, hey, there's not much time here. There's nothing more for me to do here.
26:26
You know, offer up suffering and say my prayers and be ready.
26:30
But as far as the things, the extraordinary things, I guess a couple of times
26:34
I don't know what to make of those. So I don't try to make anything of them.
26:38
Like the thing of someone that, what do we call that, near death experience.
26:45
Near death experience. Yeah. I'm not sure what to make of that because Jesus
26:49
is the only one who, well, he died and came back. I mean, of course,
26:52
Mary appears on rare occasions and other saints can be sent back.
26:57
People have died and gone on to heaven. God can have them come back.
27:01
But yeah, just as far as having some window to the other side,
27:04
certainly God can do that if he will.
27:07
I try not to place a judgment on that, whether when someone tells me that,
27:11
what was going on there. Hey, I don't know. I'm not going to be the one to tell
27:14
us that couldn't have happened. I'm not saying that.
27:16
But most of the time it doesn't happen. I do know that most people I've been
27:20
around, like I said, for years around the emergency rooms, trauma room.
27:24
Most people come in. I didn't know anything that was going on. I just woke up.
27:28
Well, I guess that's by far the most common. Yeah. I guess what I was really
27:32
trying to get at is, you know, we all hear about near-death experiences or we,
27:37
when we're getting closer to death or when we hear people are getting closer
27:39
to death at their loved ones.
27:42
Approach from the other side i didn't know if maybe some of the experiences
27:47
you had in the hospital you know motivated you to write these books to to to
27:51
kind of open the conversation about the spirit world you know about uh about,
27:56
not only the demons but the angels the good side you know and i wondered if
28:00
you had anything like that happen,
28:02
not those would not inspire me to want to write about angels, those rare and.
28:09
Yeah, just those ones that are rare and, but more common would be the ones where
28:14
some things, and this is what I like to encourage people, I've never had an
28:18
experience where I thought I saw,
28:20
you know, an angel or a saint, never thought I heard an angel or saint or the
28:24
voice of God, but I could name times in my life, look at times when I look at
28:29
something good that happened,
28:31
or avoiding something bad that happened, same which is the other side of the
28:34
same coin, and saying that did not just happen randomly, that did not happen by my effort.
28:39
Clearly the hand of God was in that, and we can always say, and God working
28:43
directly or through his angel or saint.
28:45
So those are the ones I try to, I hold on to personally. I try to encourage
28:49
because the stories are great and I love them.
28:51
If someone who had, did believe they said or saw or heard something,
28:55
but I think most people don't have those.
28:58
So I told people, including on an interview saying, don't worry.
29:03
I haven't had that either, but I can look at ones that are just as concrete,
29:07
not in a sense way, but just as concrete in an intellectual way.
29:11
Like that didn't happen randomly.
29:13
I mean, I can look at being a priest, becoming a priest and being a priest for
29:16
34 years. That wasn't random.
29:20
Well, you know. The hands of God and my guardian angel. Well,
29:23
I think, I guess what I'm getting at too is with all of the research that you've
29:26
done and with the life that you've lived, I think your guardian angel might have, you know,
29:31
guided you to write these books and maybe to, you know, open up and become a media person,
29:38
on a radio show that's going to be airing to millions on weekends.
29:41
I mean, that's a pretty big deal to have in someone's life. You've gone from,
29:46
being just an amazing priest to an amazing media person.
29:51
Well, that amazing word is pretty debatable with me. But yeah,
29:56
and so is the media person. You're right. I'm still getting used to that idea
30:00
of being on that radio show. I was the first I said podcast and I'd be like, oh, this is radio.
30:06
Okay. I'm still sorting that part out.
30:08
Well, you know. Oh, yeah. But amazing. I've got to say amazing,
30:12
though. I've had the people here in the office when they said you were going to be on.
30:15
I kept hearing about how amazing you are, and I have to agree.
30:20
Oh, wow. Thank you. So, yeah, and Angel, well, here's an example of that,
30:24
too. I'm sure probably just about every priest when I'm getting ready for the
30:28
Sunday sermon, I'm always trying to remember to start out with,
30:31
God, please give me the sermon that you want my parish to hear.
30:34
So this is a bigger number of people, but that's, of course,
30:38
is my first application is that people here in my,
30:42
As we do it these days in Peoria, one parish can have more than one church building, so I've got two.
30:47
So, yeah, God has steered me, which I definitely want to believe that He has
30:51
steered me into the book and being here with you.
30:54
Yeah, I want to believe, you know, say my prayers each morning,
30:57
get to confession regularly so that I can count on doing these things by the
31:00
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not just my, you know, strange idea,
31:04
but a good idea coming from God.
31:06
Absolutely. We want to stay in the state of grace. That's what we want to do.
31:10
Because then we can trust that God is, you know, the Holy Spirit working through
31:13
us. So say our prayers, get to confession regularly.
31:16
You know, communion is often, you know, priests, of course, are so blessed every
31:21
day. And some people can do that, some cannot. But yeah, do those things so
31:24
that we can be sure the Holy Spirit is working through us.
31:27
I love it. How can I invite my guardian angel to be closer to me?
31:31
Is there anything that we can do personally?
31:35
I think just it's just by staying in touch just staying,
31:39
speaking frequently to the guardian angel when i say well well there's nothing
31:43
special about that but how do we have a close relationship with other human
31:46
beings well by our presence with them
31:48
and conversation with them and i think it's the same thing just keeping in mind
31:52
the presence of my angel here and my you know speaking with them asking and thanking and,
31:58
and praying with god so the same thing with other because there are persons
32:03
They're purely spiritual persons, but they are persons.
32:06
And the way we have a relationship with a person is spending time with them and speaking with them.
32:11
I take that as a little...
32:14
And jumping off point, there's something else from St. Thomas Aquinas on how
32:18
do we communicate with an angel?
32:20
Well, you know, of course, we say, well, we just pray. And that's true because
32:24
this was something I found fascinating and did not find an answer to.
32:27
How do angels know what's going on? We say, well, they see and hear things.
32:31
Well, they do, but not with senses because they're pure spirit.
32:35
So how do they? And St. Thomas, if I understood in saying, well, that's the nature.
32:40
They just do. It's the nature of the way God made angels, that they get some
32:44
kind of an impression in their mind that we get through our senses. Wow.
32:50
And when I say in their mind, but as Gregory the Great, he preferred the words
32:55
calling them intelligences to angels. He said because angel is the word for
32:58
messenger, and that's what they do, the ones who are messengers.
33:02
But he likes to call them intelligences. It sounds strange to us now.
33:05
But his point was they don't have a body. They are pure spirit,
33:10
mind and will. So, yeah, so that's just one of those fascinating things to think about.
33:15
Well, how do they know what's going on? They just do. That's the way God made them.
33:19
They don't know everything. They're not God-like.
33:22
But the higher up the angel, the more powerful. What do we mean by that?
33:26
One who has probably greater intellect then. So, please go ahead and I'll give
33:31
another example if you want.
33:33
No, what I wanted to get to, too, is do you think we invite our angels in by
33:38
the things we say, the words we use?
33:41
Like, for instance, if we were cursing, would we invite in the bad spirits?
33:46
If we were praising, if we were grateful, would we be inviting in our guardian
33:50
angels? Would we be, you know, putting out that positive spirit and getting
33:55
our positive spirit back?
33:58
Yeah, I like to think of it as relationship. As one exorcist said,
34:01
and I like this line, he said, you know, no one wakes up one morning possessed.
34:06
You know, I go, wow, how'd that happen? I'm suddenly possessed. That doesn't happen.
34:10
What happens is a person builds a relationship with a demon doing evil.
34:16
It's the bad side, the negative side of, in the same sense, the person doesn't
34:20
wake up one morning a saint. They don't wake up one morning and say,
34:22
wow, I'm suddenly a saint.
34:24
That might be great, but it doesn't happen that way.
34:27
We build a relationship with God. So a saint is working on that relationship all the time.
34:32
And so back to what you just said, yeah, whether it's just saying some words
34:36
I shouldn't say or whatever things I shouldn't be doing, well,
34:38
that's not building my relationship with God.
34:41
And as angels and saints, it's weakening that relationship and maybe adding
34:46
a little fuel to the bad relationship. So that's why we want to,
34:50
you know, avoid, obviously avoid mortal sins, obviously avoid denial sins and strive for holiness.
34:55
I love that. I love that. Which means building that relationship with God.
34:59
I love it. We're talking to Father Michael Driscoll. He is a fascinating priest. He's an author.
35:05
And he laughs every time I say, fascinating.
35:09
Should I use phenomenal?
35:13
No, but I really appreciate you being with us. We have one more segment, so please stay with us.
35:18
As I mentioned, you're listening to the Catholic Conversations program on the
35:21
Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
35:23
We will be back with more insightful information about angels,
35:28
demons, all the good stuff that Father Michael Driscoll has put into his books,
35:33
and we'll be back right after these messages.
35:35
You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
35:39
Congratulations to Heather Rankin, who has decided to pursue a degree in nursing.
35:44
The downside to that news is that she is leaving Catholic Spirit Radio.
35:48
So now Catholic Spirit Radio is seeking someone for the new full-time position
35:53
as Director of Events and Outreach, or as I like to say, Director of Excitement.
35:58
If you have plenty of enthusiasm and organizational skills waiting to be used
36:02
in a faith-filled environment, check out the details in the Job tab at catholicspiritradio.org.
36:08
As you've heard, Catholic Spirit Radio is hosting their 15th anniversary pilgrimage to Wisconsin.
36:13
Seats filled up so quickly that we've added another bus. Now more seats are available.
36:18
This three-day trip includes exclusive tours of shrines and basilicas,
36:21
plus luxury bus transportation, meals, and hotel.
36:25
What a great gift idea. Departure is August 10th from Normal and Rockford.
36:29
Make your reservation at catholicspiritradio.com or Kathy at 309-828-6554.
36:37
Attention, lady and men golfers. The Monsignor Ketchum Memorial Golf Outing
36:41
is August 20th, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, number 15175.
36:45
Golf, food, and prizes. Sign up at kofc15175.org.
36:52
This is Fr. Pete Jankowski from the National Shrine of St. Anne in St.
36:56
Anne, Illinois. Anne is spelled with an E.
36:59
Join us at our 146th annual St. Anne Novena and Feast Day at the country's oldest shrine.
37:05
7 p.m. on-site and online masses will take place from July 17th to the 24th.
37:11
On Saturday, July 25th, we celebrate a traditional mass in Latin and procession
37:15
at 6 p.m. And on July 25th, we celebrate a traditional mass in Latin and procession
37:17
at 6 p.m. On the 26th, we celebrate Masses at 9am in English and 12 noon in
37:20
Spanish, all with a procession of the Relic.
37:23
St. Anne's is located at 230 North 6th Avenue in St. Anne, Illinois.
37:28
Contact us at 815-427-8265 or on the web at www.stannes.org.
37:38
Welcome back. You're listening to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit
37:41
Radio Network. I'm Stan Ketsick. Today, I've got a guy who's going to chuckle
37:45
when I say he is a fascinating guest.
37:47
He is Father Michael Driscoll. He is a priest from the—exactly,
37:53
do you have a—you said you have two churches. Do you want to give the addresses to those, Father?
37:58
Well, yes, I'm talking to you from Sacred Heart Church in Granville, Illinois.
38:02
And my address is St. Patrick in Hennepin, Illinois, both small towns.
38:06
I love being in both of them.
38:08
And so those are the names of the churches. The parish, combined parish,
38:12
which just happened a year or two ago, is called Padre Pio, St.
38:16
Padre Pio Parish. Love it. Love it. And you are an author, we've established.
38:22
Can you give the name of your four books again? Yes, they're all with Catholic Answers.
38:26
There was Demon's Deliverance and Discernment, and the recent one is Angelic
38:31
Answers. And the other two are smaller booklets.
38:34
And if anyone's familiar, I strongly recommend all of these booklets from Catholic
38:39
Answers, which they call them 20 Answers.
38:41
And the two I did with them, one called Angels and Demons, so it's a short version,
38:46
of the other two books, and then The Sacraments.
38:49
Those are all from Catholic Answers. Wow. And you're also on with the great
38:53
Debbie Georgiani on weekends on Spirit World on the Guadalupe Radio Network,
38:59
which is a part of our network here.
39:02
Is there anything I'm leaving out?
39:04
Are you a doctor on weekends that operates on people or anything?
39:07
Do you have any time for anything? No.
39:10
The PhD is in counseling psychology. Oh, okay. It's a place called Regent University,
39:15
a non-denominational Christian place in Virginia. Okay.
39:18
But I do want to mention one of my predecessors here from the Peoria Diocese that was on the radio.
39:23
You know who I'm talking about, Dan? Bishop Fulton Sheen.
39:26
I was just going to mention, I call him St. Sheen. He might not be St.
39:30
Sheen yet. But, you know, we have such a fascinating Fulton Sheen room here,
39:36
at our studio. We've got some of his artifacts and just wonderful.
39:41
You mentioned hospital stories. Can I tell you a few times when I was hospital
39:44
chaplain in the city of Peoria, and that was the only time in a parish.
39:48
I think he was an assistant pastor for one year.
39:50
I believe it was at St. Patrick's or St. John's Church's. I know where.
39:54
St. Patrick's. A few times when
39:55
I was a hospital chaplain and that was a good 20 years ago, let's say.
39:58
So I'd meet a few old guys who were just talking about random things and they'd
40:01
say, you know who I was a server for? I was a server for Father Sheen.
40:04
Wow. So they were very proud to tell that, that they were altar boys for,
40:08
as they would say, Father Sheen.
40:10
That is. When he was an assistant pastor in Peoria, yeah.
40:13
You're on that path yourself. Let me see. He was an author. Let me see. He was a media person.
40:19
You've got a lot of people that love you. And he was Archbishop.
40:21
Oh, that's right. I'm not.
40:22
Okay. Well, you know, you've got time. You're a young man. But,
40:25
you know, I have a phenomenal priest here with me.
40:29
I didn't even ask you to pray for us. Can you just say a prayer that will get
40:33
angels to everyone that's listening? I want them to open up their hearts to their guardian angels.
40:39
Do you have a specific type of prayer? I would like to do the guardian angel
40:43
prayer. and we'll start with I can,
40:46
Remind people this. We all know that the Catholics, the sign of the cross, is a prayer in itself.
40:51
I remember Pope Benedict talking about the value of praying it prayerfully,
40:55
that we're both, you know, two mysteries of the faith.
40:57
They're the Trinity and the crucifixion of Christ for our sins.
41:01
So, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
41:07
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here,
41:12
ever this day be at my side to light and to guard, to rule and to guide. Amen. Amen. Wow.
41:21
That's a beauty. Do you write your own prayers too?
41:24
You know, you write your own books. I mean, do you have any,
41:28
is it something divine that just comes to you when you're praying for folks?
41:32
Oh, you know, as everyone, I'll pray for people in my own words,
41:36
sure. But I've never written prayers that I, oh, I like, I do like.
41:41
Oh, there's the old Rick Holta, which was an old book of indulgence prayers.
41:45
Still a great prayer book. So I like reading prayers, especially liturgical
41:49
ones. But also just, you know, sometimes you get...
41:52
Oh, what I included in the back of the book, in the back of the demons book,
41:55
I included some prayers from like the Liturgy of the Hours.
42:00
I included that in the angels book too. There's a neat prayer from the offertory.
42:05
Maybe I can even pull that one up. The offertory of the funeral mass in the old Latin mass.
42:11
There was a neat offertory prayer
42:13
about angels. So, yeah, I generally like prayers rather than my own.
42:18
I will talk to God in my words, but I do like, instead of writing any prayers,
42:22
I like to read ones from either from the liturgy or from saints or from other people, too.
42:27
Sure. You've had just some great stories, and we were talking about your books.
42:32
Where can people find your books exactly? Is there a website they can go to?
42:36
Or I want to make sure that anybody listening right now to Father Michael Driscoll,
42:40
if they'd like to purchase his book, I want to put them in the right direction.
42:45
Oh, everything's available on Amazon, of course. Okay. But also,
42:48
but I would recommend go to Catholic Answers.
42:51
You'd have to navigate the website. I don't think it's too hard.
42:54
Okay. I think it has a place that says books or shop or something like that.
42:58
And Catholic Answers, boy, they were on the ball. They have the Catholic.com website. Oh, wow.
43:05
They picked that up before anybody jumped on that one. That's beautiful.
43:08
Yeah, so they must have been quick on the starting line for that one.
43:13
I want to say you mentioned Fulton Sheen. Who else inspires you?
43:19
When we think of priests or a dude, do you have people that inspire you,
43:24
you know, that we can talk about?
43:26
Maybe a saint or someone that really touches your heart that you always go back to?
43:32
Well, as a child, and this I would mention, too, as far as my,
43:36
you know, the interest in angels, my name being Michael, I always,
43:39
you know, thought that was neat. You know, we like to feel some and have some
43:42
connection with our patron saint.
43:44
And then my middle name, Joseph, terror, St. Joseph.
43:48
Wow. Fought the father of our Lord, spouse of the Blessed Virgin,
43:51
and terror of demons. So, yeah, those are two great patrons they have.
43:55
I love that. As all are, but for something having to do with angels and demons.
44:00
Oh, gosh. You know, recently this question came up. Some seminarians were giving
44:04
a talk, and the question was, who's your favorite saint? And one of them,
44:06
I liked the answer. He said, you know, I guess that changes over time.
44:10
And I like that, because different times. Well, St. Philomena,
44:13
a little-known saint, and we don't know anything really about her life.
44:16
She seemed to be 13, 14 years old and martyred.
44:19
So that was the name of my home parish in Peoria.
44:22
So that was one I always thought was neat, St. Philomena. I went to Catholic
44:26
grade school there, and I always thought the blessing of Throats was very cool.
44:29
So it came time for confirmation.
44:31
St. Blaise, that's my confirmation name.
44:34
So yeah, those would be a few that I think of. Okay. And now,
44:37
is there another book on the horizon in the near future? Or have you put any
44:42
thought into what the next subject might be?
44:46
Well, I sure would like to write one. I don't know how to. I might need a co-author or something.
44:53
A Catholic Approach to Mental Health. Oh, wow. I do that because,
44:58
well, because it's out there. The information is out there.
45:02
But it's just one. Yeah, if I were to write another one.
45:06
That's what it would be about, I think, unless someone has something else.
45:13
What would the Catholic approach to mental health be?
45:18
How do you look at mental health through a Catholic perspective?
45:22
Here's an example. When someone comes to talk to a priest, but we could say this of anyone.
45:29
Someone comes and says, you know what, I'm struggling with something. Can I talk to you?
45:33
So one way to kind of categorize of what happens is in one of these four categories,
45:37
I guess, and that would be the four cardinal virtues.
45:43
And it could be more than one, but it might be something about a difficulty
45:48
they're having in a relationship. I'll use this example.
45:51
They're having a difficulty in whatever relationship. Well, a way to approach
45:54
that, Catholic approach, the virtue of justice, and that is,
46:00
what are my obligations to God and to others and to myself?
46:04
You know, love God, love your neighbor as yourself.
46:06
That's the virtue of justice, how to do that. That's a good way to tell someone,
46:10
well, what are your obligations here to God, first of all, in this struggling
46:14
with this relationship with whoever?
46:16
Make sure you're doing following God's teaching, you know, God's laws.
46:19
Secondly, what are your obligations to this person? And sometimes it might not
46:23
be any person comes and you hear me.
46:25
Well, I don't think you are obligated to be involved in this.
46:28
You know, it's difficult, but maybe you are obligated. So that's what you look at.
46:32
And then yourself, what are you, what is, what are you God calling you to do?
46:35
What is your obligation in respect to yourself?
46:37
So there's an example of a Catholic approach, relationship struggle.
46:41
Look at the virtue of, of justice.
46:45
The things like depression, let's say, or anxiety, that would be the virtue of fortitude.
46:51
How can we have more fortitude facing this?
46:55
And that one, I like to connect to the virtue of hope because there are real
47:00
crosses out there. There are really terrible situations that we see people and.
47:07
Might find in ourselves those situations or hear from others.
47:10
Virtue of fortitude, basically courage.
47:13
One of the things I think important, always prayer and sacraments,
47:16
but I also think that hope, a virtue of hope helps that one.
47:19
Keep looking up, and here we are back to angels.
47:22
Keep looking up to God and his angels and saints. And then we say,
47:26
ah, this world is passing.
47:27
The gospel this weekend said yes. Jesus said, pick up your cross.
47:32
But this world is passing. It's temporary. Keep our focus on God.
47:36
Angels can help us to do that. Stay in close touch for the angel.
47:39
Then we remember this other world that we're heading toward.
47:42
I love what you're saying, Father. Do you think hope might be the most important
47:45
word that you use in all of your priesthood when you come down to it?
47:49
Is that what we're all looking for?
47:52
Sure, all three of the theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity,
47:57
but God is the object and the grace behind all of them.
48:00
But certainly hope is up there, and if there's too much...
48:05
If there's too much focus in our society, let's say, on earthly things,
48:10
because we are such a wealthy country, it's human nature that we're going to
48:12
be very, very easy to keep our mind on the material, earthly thing.
48:17
All the more that virtue of hope, the one that keeps us, you know, focused on heaven.
48:22
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's just fascinating. If you're just tuning in,
48:26
we are talking to Father Michael Driscoll. He is just an incredible guy. He's an author.
48:31
He's a priest from the diocese of Peoria.
48:35
He doesn't have just one church. He has two.
48:41
He's a PhD. I know I must be missing something.
48:46
The list is long, Father. Is there anything I'm missing that you do?
48:49
Oh, you're a media person now, too. Anything? Are you on TV? Am I missing that?
48:55
Are you on one of the networks that we should know about?
48:58
Or is that in the future? This guy's a great face for TV, or a great face for
49:03
radio. I think I do. You're talking to that guy.
49:06
Again, came out of nowhere, but we'll trust that Debbie was inspired to say,
49:09
let's do this together, because she's been doing it for a few years.
49:12
Hey, I did look up in my book here. Can I mention something?
49:16
Absolutely, anything. This is from, I had said I'd see if I could find this quickly.
49:22
In the Old Latin Mass, there's an offertory and a font, as we now have in the,
49:29
we still have the Mass, the entrance to Antiphonic communion.
49:31
In the Old Mass, they also had the Offertory.
49:33
Here's an Offertory Antiphon from the Funeral Mass.
49:38
Without reading the whole thing, it just says, it's talking about the souls
49:41
of the faithful departed, and then it goes on to say, Let the holy standard-bearer,
49:45
Michael, bring them into that holy light, which he promised of old to Abraham and to his seed.
49:52
So that's fascinating. So again, that's in the liturgy. That seems to imply
49:56
to me that St. Michael the Archangel accompanies, it says, deliver the souls
50:01
of all the faithful departed and asked Michael to do that.
50:03
It's not saying that he necessarily does, but it's interesting that we're asking
50:06
in the old funeral mass for the Archangel Michael to bring us each soul into
50:12
the, what does it say? Into that holy light, which you promised of old to Abraham.
50:16
Isn't that great? I just love those things from the liturgy and slowing down
50:19
and thinking, wow, what did I just ask for there? That's really neat.
50:23
And I think what we just saw was an insight into how you researched your book.
50:27
And you saw, oh, wow, I love that.
50:29
Somebody's got to know about that. I've got to put that in a book.
50:32
So that is cool. Very cool. That's right. I can't vouch for whether anyone will
50:37
find the book interesting or not, but I did.
50:39
I put in there things from the saints and from church teaching that I found interesting.
50:43
I'm not bragging on the book, but I am bragging on the church teaching and the
50:46
liturgy and St. Thomas Aquinas.
50:49
All these things I thought were really neat. So I think that is great.
50:51
And do you have any other anything else come to mind that you you could think
50:55
of that has touched you like that?
50:58
You know, if you don't have it right there to be read, maybe you could just
51:02
kind of paraphrase what it might say.
51:04
Oh, let's see. Well, in the, I don't know if I have that right handy here,
51:11
but there was a prayer also, St. Michael included him in the liturgy as the
51:16
blessing of incense, using incense to bless the altar.
51:20
And it mentions St. Michael in that, that his prayer is going up the incense
51:25
going up like the prayers of St. Michael.
51:27
I don't know if I'll find that, but yeah, just that one, it was interesting
51:32
too from the old mass, that was changed, that blessing of incense and incense
51:37
on the altar was, there are no prayers accompanying it, but there were in the old mass.
51:42
So that was just a fascinating one too. If I don't, I'll interrupt you if I know this.
51:46
Oh, here we go. Here it is. Oh, let's hear.
51:49
Yeah, while the priest is incensing, he says, through the intercession of blessed
51:53
Michael the Archangel, standing at the right hand of the altar of incense and
51:58
of all his elect, may the Lord see fit to bless this incense,
52:01
to receive it in the odor of sweetness.
52:04
Wow, so I've just asked, which I do at the old Mass, the traditional Latin Mass
52:08
sometimes, I'm asking St. Michael the Archangel to be there as God blesses the
52:13
incense. Just very neat.
52:15
That is very cool. My wife and I sometimes attend a Latin Mass at the Port Clair
52:19
Nuns in Minooka on Sundays.
52:22
And I have no idea what they're saying, but it certainly is fascinating.
52:26
And you just kind of explained it when they're doing the incense, and that is great.
52:30
Yeah, well, see, we're in the same area. I do know the sisters there.
52:33
Oh, they are just phenomenal. Absolutely, absolutely love going there.
52:38
That's such a reverent place.
52:40
Sometimes when I want to just go there just to pray, when you go into that chapel,
52:45
It's got such a calming and spiritual feeling That I think all churches should
52:51
have that feel to them And I'm sure most of them do.
52:55
You know, I did not, I've not even been there. I should, because I'm not that
52:58
far away. They used to have a house in Peoria when I was chaplain of the hospital in Peoria.
53:03
I did Mass sometimes, so that's where I got to know them. Oh,
53:07
they're just, they're wonderful. You talk about funerals.
53:11
I was lucky enough to be a pallbearer at one of the nuns' funerals.
53:15
So he asked my wife, and my wife said, sure, he would do it.
53:19
And she volunteered me, and it was interesting.
53:23
But I just want to, you know, as we wrap up the show, I want to thank you,
53:26
first of all, for all that you do. You are really a fascinating guest.
53:31
You've got so many things going on that, you know, we were talking in the beginning
53:36
of the program about demons, and then we switched to angels,
53:39
which, you know, you've written books on both subjects.
53:42
But I just want to kind of say, if you don't mind, I think your guardian angel
53:46
might have been with your parents when they named you Michael.
53:49
Oh, I definitely hope that was inspired, sure. I mean, when you think about
53:53
what has really inspired you, you keep going back to the Archangel Michael.
53:57
Yeah. Gosh, you got that name.
54:00
My name is Stan. Are there any saints that play ukulele? I don't know.
54:04
That's about all I got there.
54:06
I don't have any. But St. Stanislaus, wow.
54:10
But I just love that, you know, we talk about angels.
54:13
Your parents were guided to give you that name. And did they even have a clue?
54:18
You grew up to be the great man you are Well, thank you to them But definitely
54:24
a work in progress But no, that's when.
54:28
I started being involved In the topic of demons I thought, well,
54:30
any saints would be great But Michael and Joseph, my first name and middle name
54:34
Were as good as any So definitely keep asking,
54:38
For their guidance, absolutely Well, we share the same middle name So I'm glad
54:42
to know about Joseph And I want to thank you, Father If you're just tuned in,
54:48
And you'll have to listen to the podcast because this has been a great subject
54:52
with Father Michael Driscoll.
54:53
You've been so much fun today, and I just want to wish you the best of luck.
54:58
I'll tell you what, you're as an author and as someone who helps your community, first of all.
55:05
But, you know, all these opportunities keep coming your way because you're doing
55:10
something right and helping people. So, you know, I'll be listening on Saturdays for you and Debbie.
55:16
Yeah, praying for each other. That is great. Thank you very much.
55:18
Thank you. It's been great. And yeah, thank you for putting plug in there,
55:22
especially for Debbie. Well, you're both wonderful. And that kind of brings
55:26
us to the end of today's Catholic Conversations.
55:29
Again, thanks to Father Michael Driscoll. He has been fascinating.
55:33
And Father, once again, if they want to get your books, they can go to...
55:37
Sure, go to Catholic Answers, and it's either the shop or the books or the store, one of those things.
55:42
Click on that, and they'll see all the books, and you can find mine that way.
55:45
Excellent. And it's our hope that the discussion today is offered not just food
55:49
for thought, but a spark of encouragement for your faith journey.
55:52
Remember, our faith is a living conversation with God, with the Church, and with each other.
55:57
If you missed any portion of today's show and you want to revisit our conversation,
56:00
you can find out about it on our podcast at catholicspiritradio.com.
56:04
So thank you for spending time with us on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
56:08
I'm Stan Ketsick, and thank you for just being a listener and a supporter of
56:13
this station. So we will see you again soon.
56:16
Again, thanks to Fr. Michael Driscoll.
56:18
Have a great day. You've been listening to Catholic Conversations.
56:22
Download our podcasts at catholicspiritradio.com.