Transcript
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Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith.
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Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play.
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Let's dive into it right now.
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Right now.
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Hello and welcome to episode two of the Everyday Apostle podcast.
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I'm your host, kendall Peterson.
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We've had a couple of week break.
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Obviously, you can tell by the way I'm entering into this that I'm out of practice, but it is an honor to be able to bring these stories of inspiration and faith to you.
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Guys had really really great feedback from everybody from the first episode we had, so I'm looking forward to getting into this one.
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A big thank you to everybody for the prayers, the messages, the support and especially the sponsors.
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This episode is sponsored by Ryan Young and especially the sponsors.
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This episode is sponsored by Ryan Young, founder of Camp Veritas, which runs five teen summer camps for middle and high schoolers two in New York, one in Ireland which is going on this week, one in Maryland and one in Florida.
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It is a wonderful way to get your kids engaged in their faith, get engaged with other teens and to bring faith and the socialization together.
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It's really an amazing program.
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I highly encourage you to look that up.
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Campveritasorg is how you can find them.
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I don't have any sponsors for the next couple of episodes, so if you are feeling it on your heart that you may want to support, either through donation or a true sponsorship, where I can give a shout-out to your business or whatever organization you have.
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Feel free to check us out everydayapostlecom and you can sign up there.
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You can make donations or you can actually inquire about sponsorships.
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Would love to have that.
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Today I have an incredible guest, somebody that I just met very recently I met on a mission trip, but somebody that has really impacted my heart.
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I was really impressed with this young man and the entire family.
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So today we have this inspiring young man with us who truly embodies the spirit of living in the faith in their everyday life.
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Please join me in welcoming Ignacio De Toro.
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Ignacio is a rising junior at Belen Jesuit Pre preparatory school in miami, florida, where he not only excels academically but also showcases his talents both on the wrestling team and as part of the broadcast journalism team at the school.
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When he's not at school, gnosio stays active by hitting the gym.
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Should have seen this guy work last week.
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It was pretty impressive and he exercises quite frequently, talks about exercise, talks about exercise routines and fitness and how to eat.
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He's really, really an incredible young man.
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He also has a creative side.
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He plays the drums and he indulges in his passion for writing, ignacio's dedication to his pursuits and his commitment to living a balanced.
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Ignacio's dedication to his pursuits and his commitment to living a balanced, fit and faith-filled life make him a fantastic role model for young people everywhere.
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I am thrilled to have him share his journey and his insights with us today.
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Please welcome, ignacio.
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Hi, how are you, kendall?
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Hi, ignacio, great to see you again.
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Thank you for joining me on the Everyday Apostle podcast to see you again.
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Thank you for joining me on the everyday apostle podcast.
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Everybody who joins me on the podcast gets a gift, so I'd like to give this gift to you.
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Uh, much.
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You can open it now.
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You don't have to open it now, totally up to you, like a little bit later, just a little, uh, just a little something to show my appreciation for you being here, um, so let's dive right into it.
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Um, for you being here, so let's dive right into it.
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In the intro, you have a passion for writing.
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I'd love to know a little bit more about that.
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What do you like to write?
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What style, what genre?
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How do you work that into your life?
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Well, I mean, since I was a little kid, I've always loved reading and I've been naturally really good at writing.
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In second grade I was writing multiple page stories and I've just always had a great knack for it.
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In Belen I've taken all the top level writing classes.
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I took AP Language last year and I definitely excelled in that class.
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And my friend Michael Vila he has this initiative at Belen animating others, where he'll make these animated videos for kids to see at hospitals, and I'm one of the writers on his team.
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So I try to use my skills for whatever good or whatever usefulness I can make out of it.
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And personally I like to write just for myself, to journal things or to write routines or schedules.
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So it's always definitely been a passion of mine oh, that's amazing.
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I would love to see some of that work when we get done here.
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I'd love to see some of that, and I'm sure the I'm sure the viewers and and listeners would love to see some of that as well.
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So we'll have to work that in.
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Um so nazio.
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Where did you grow up?
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uh, so both of my parents are cuban, but I was raised here in miami.
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Uh, for most of my life I've lived, uh, you know, locally in south miami here, um, you know, I I attended school at this little elementary school at little elementary.
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And then from there you know big difference I went to belen jesuit, which you know was a private, it was Christian.
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So it was definitely a big shift, but I was super blessed with Belen.
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I got great grades through all of middle school and then, um, in eighth grade, I joined the wrestling team, which was a big change for me because I was always a kind of a short, pudgy kid, I wasn't too athletic.
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And then, you know, I joined the wrestling team and I got, you know, crazy at it.
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I was, uh, I lost like 30 pounds in my first season.
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Uh, you know, I was wrestling on the varsity team and, um, you know, I continued that on to my to my ninth grade year and then, by 10th grade, I took for I took a break from wrestling just to they had me at, like some of the lower weight classes, so I wanted to bulk up.
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And then that's when I got my love for the gym.
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I started going six days a week, every week, for forever.
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When I went on this mission trip just last week, that was the longest time I'd spent away from the gym in over a year.
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So I've always loved fitness and I hope to go back to wrestling next year for sure.
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Wow, Well, well, between the picking and the shoveling and the hauling, cement, everything else that we did last week, then, yeah, I am sure that you got quite a workout, so so that's great, like honoring your body, you know, as a temple and very, very important.
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Especially, we view that in our faith.
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I I'm curious when it comes to faith in your school environment, or even in your home environment.
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What was that like?
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Is that something that has been there the whole time, or is that something that came later?
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What was that like?
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Well, both of my parents, they raised me as a Catholic.
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So, you know, I was born, I was baptized, I got my first sacraments and everything.
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But it was always kind of like you know, I was born, I was baptized, I got my first sacraments and everything, but it was always kind of like.
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You know, my parents are Christians, my family's Christian, so I'm a Christian and I think for the longest time I didn't really take my faith as a thing personal, but it was more of just a thing that was around me.
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So I did it.
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My parents went to church, so I went to church.
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So I went to church.
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My parents prayed, so I prayed, but I don't think I really thought about it that much until ninth grade year a new teacher came to belen, uh, brother hunter, and I was blessed with that teacher.
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He was, you know, uh, a radical religious man, in that, you know, he was obsessed with faith and he said it on one of the first days.
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He said, um, he put it like this if catholicism, if god, if christianity, if it isn't true, if it isn't real, then it doesn't really matter.
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You know, if you go to church, if you pray, it doesn't really make a difference, but if it is real and it is true, which the overwhelming evidence says that it is then it means everything.
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Every part of your life has to revolve around that and I, you know that stuck with me.
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I internalized that and it was like faith can't be a thing that you just do because everyone around you does it.
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It has to be a personal connection between you and God.
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It's not a casual thing.
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It has to be everything.
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So I started thinking, you know, I have to take my faith seriously, I have to start asking questions.
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I have to, you know, be more involved in that.
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And you know he got me asking questions too.
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He introduced the book of Job to me, which started with the problem of evil.
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And you know, for I think the first time in my life, I was really more involved with the faith and how I thought about things, and even for a while I think that took me away from it.
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But you know, just to really think about your faith seriously, not just as a thing you do because you're told to, that kind of switched around more later on, more ninth grade year, with another teacher, mr Terzouli, which is a brilliant mind, he's amazing, and he went more into the history of the church and all the ecumenical councils the boring stuff.
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But you know he answered questions which I would ask a lot, but you know he was a genius mind and he definitely got me more closer to God, I think, throughout that year.
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So I feel like, you know, obviously none of us are perfect, but I feel like I'm getting closer and closer, like faith-wise.
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Well, I think it's a never-ending journey.
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Yeah, exactly.
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It's one of those things, but you're on it.
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So I'm curious.
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That sounds like a profound impact on you when these two teachers kind of enter your life and they're sharing maybe a slightly different viewpoint than you'd heard before.
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Whatever it was, it just resonated with you, yeah.
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So what changed for you versus, let's say, before those two, those two teachers came into your life?
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You were living life, going to school, doing all of that stuff, typical teen right.
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What started to change, or what immediate changes did you see?
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You know, when I was a kid this is bad, but you know, at church and stuff, it would be like, you know, I don't want to go to church, or I want to spend my Sunday playing video games or, you know, being dumb playing around, whatever, and it's like, oh, we have to go to church.
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I like roll my eyes and sleep through the homily or sleep through the different parts, and then I think after that it's like, you know, church isn't really, it's not, it's not something you can take seriously.
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It's possibly, I think it is the most important part of any week.
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It's the hour that you, you sacrifice to God.
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And you know that goes with all like, like different aspects of church, like, or religion.
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You can't just pray, you know, to get it out of the way, or go to the church to get out of the way, you have to be in that, you have to think about it.
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So it's about that just taking your faith, you know, seriously and taking it personally.
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It's not just a chore to get out of the way so that's a fairly I would say radical mindset in itself for a teen, yeah, even a teen in a Catholic school, like you know.
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You know what I'm talking, yeah, so what's that like to have that mindset and be in the environment of school, right, teen, especially in all boys, school right, teen boys are teen boys.
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You know there's a mindset of what fun looks like and what activities look like.
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So you're coming at it with, I would say, a fairly mature way of looking at faith and exploration, right, a mature way, trapped in a teen body.
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So what does that look like for you?
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How are you—do you find it difficult to live that mindset in that environment, or what's that like for you?
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I think it's, you know, extremely difficult.
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And you know, ever since I started thinking about faith more seriously, that's when, you know, doubts come up and, uh, you know, is this religion to have problem with different aspects of the bible or different teachings?
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Uh, you know, questions pop up.
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Why doesn't?
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You know?
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Why do these bad things happen?
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If god is all good, or, um, you know, why doesn't it feels like god doesn't listen to prayers, or you know, doubts like that, and that'll start to come up.
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And that only comes up if you take your faith seriously, not just as you know another thing.
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Um, it's, you know another thing.
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It's sorry, I lost my train of thought.
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It's, um, hardest part of hardest part of living that way in the school, in the school environment, it's um, it's trying to, you know, it's like any consistent thing.
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I think, um, if it's not about you know, feeling inspired to.
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You know, one day you feel inspired to to pray a lot, and that's not about you know, feeling inspired to.
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You know, one day you feel inspired to pray a lot, and that's not really.
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You know, one day I'm like, oh, I got to be more holier than I pray five rosaries and then don't really touch any prayer for weeks after that.
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That's not, that's not really going to get you, you know, holier.
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I mean'm gonna this, this, um, this kind of you can put this in any aspect of life, but I'm gonna compare it to the gym.
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If you feel like inspired to go to the gym one day and you do an eight hour workout and then you never hit the gym again after that, that eight hour workout, it's not gonna do anything to.
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You're not gonna to, you're not going to build muscle, you're not going to become more endurant.
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That's not going to help you.
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And it's kind of the same way with faith.
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You have to, even if it's in little ways, like if you go to the gym 30 minutes every day, that person is going to surpass that one guy that did an eight hour workout one day.
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You have to try to put little things in all aspects of your life.
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If, uh, you know, when I go to the gym with my friends, I try to do a little, you know, gym bro, prayer before that, uh, my mom, she does rosaries with her friends all the time.
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I try to hop in every once in a while when I can, even to write down, to write as, if, you know, in a prayer format.
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Uh, you know, reflections and things like that.
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It's about just being consistent with your faith and not feeling more inspired one day than another, and that's, I think, what will make you grow more as a Catholic.
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But it is hard, it is extremely hard, and I think most Catholics can resonate with that yeah, absolutely, which is the purpose of this podcast.
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Yeah, to be quite honest with you, it's hard to live as an everyday apostle, right, wherever you are, whether in school or work, or or sometimes even in your family, right, um.
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But but the more we get to see other people do it, which is why I started this in the first place I'm curious, it's hard.
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You're there, um, you know what are some of the things that you do in the school environment, either with your friends, with your teachers, or just on your own.
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What are some of the things that you're doing in school to help ease that tension or make it better, or just allow you the strength to dig in and just keep going on that path?
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the strength to dig in and just keep going in on that path, well, I mean.
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But then it's, it's a little special bubble in a way, because you'll see that with most students, most students and most of my friends are, you know, christians and they're practicing christians.
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So you know, I feel comfortable with my friends at least, talking about faith.
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And you know, even with my friends, I go to fitness after school when school's in there and, uh, my friend drives me there.
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And then, you know, even with my friends, I go to LA Fitness after school when school's in there and my friend drives me there, and then, you know, we listen to music and stuff, and then right when we park at the gym, we'll always, you know, turn down the music for a second and we'll hit a little like prayer and stuff.
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So it's kind of that, you know, blend that environment.
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It's comfortable to be a Christian and to talk about your faith with your friends.
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So I think that helps a lot.
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You know, in a public school you never see that, obviously, because you know teachers especially aren't allowed to talk about religion and a lot of people have different views and you know a lot of agnostics and atheists.
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But Belen is special because you know you'll see that there, and even with teachers too.
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I feel comfortable going up to my teachers and asking them about faith-related questions.
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Most teachers, you know they'll do a prayer before class, so it's a very faith-filled environment.
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I think that helps a lot, for sure that's great.
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So you're a rising junior, is that correct?
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Yeah.
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Obviously as a rising junior.
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Having gone through that six times with my kids, yeah, start thinking about college.
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Right, it's kind of on the horizon.
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You've got the SATs and the ACTs and all of that preparatory work.
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How big of a part does your faith play in thinking about where you go to college?
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I mean, I haven't thought too much about college.
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Admittedly, I think I'm kind of floating around business or something.
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I like the idea of owning a commercial gym one day.
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So I'm kind of leaning towards, you know, health and fitness and you know business and kind of those things.
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But I don't know, I haven't really considered being.
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I know because fiu has been the top of my list and I know they have like a, you know clubs for for catholics or christians, so that's definitely going to be something I'm part of.
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But I mean, a lot of my friends that are coming from belen are also planning to go to fiu or a.
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So, you know, just to keep up faith with my friends at least, and those like in my circle, you know, I think that's how we continue to keep our faith, even beyond a controlled environment like Belen, where everyone is or mostly everyone is, you know, religious and can talk about that.
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Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head earlier where you said you know Belen's a bit of a bubble.
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Yeah.
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Right, and then at some point you come out of that bubble and it's the real world.
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Real world can sometimes be harsh.
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You may not notice a difference, right, if you're surrounding yourself with with people of like minded values.
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So that may ease the transition.
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But I was just kind of curious how you were thinking about it.
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But maybe you're not there yet.
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So, over and above that, I the one.
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There was one particular moment when we were on that mission trip that really that really got my attention with you.
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I was just impressed with your work ethic.
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You're generally quiet.
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You were there with your work ethic.
00:19:26.094 --> 00:19:26.557
You're generally quiet.
00:19:26.557 --> 00:19:31.892
You were there with your brother and there was some great banter and back and forth and all of that with him.
00:19:31.892 --> 00:19:48.473
But you know we're all sitting around and you know, as Catholics, talking about the Catholic faith and all of that, and there was one particular moment where we're talking about transubstantiation and the presence of Christ in reality in the Eucharist.
00:19:49.519 --> 00:20:02.231
And you asked probably one of the most amazing questions that I've ever really heard, right, because what it represented was you truly thinking about your faith?
00:20:02.231 --> 00:20:08.222
And that was if that's's true, why is it important to us that that is true?
00:20:08.222 --> 00:20:17.903
And I kind of sat back for a moment and I listened to the answers and it was well, it's true because the Catechism says so, or it's true because this?
00:20:17.903 --> 00:20:20.128
And if you don't believe, then this right.
00:20:20.128 --> 00:20:28.354
But nobody really answered that question and I think all I really did was encourage you to kind of find the answer to that question.
00:20:28.354 --> 00:20:40.891
Those questions like is that typical for you to ask the intriguing questions and, if so, who do you generally get your answers from?
00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:45.027
Well, kind of like what I was saying earlier.
00:20:45.027 --> 00:21:00.692
Uh, I think it's, you know, dangerous, maybe even worse than just not being christian is being a blind christian, in that you just follow faith because you always have and you don't have, you know, you don't ever think about your faith.
00:21:00.692 --> 00:21:12.355
So I think those questions are important to ask, because if we have no understanding of our faith, then you know who are we to even practice it or tell others to practice it.
00:21:12.355 --> 00:21:25.532
That's, you know, kind of in all aspects of science and economics and politics, how can you support an opinion if you can't back it up, if you don't know why things are?
00:21:25.532 --> 00:21:29.785
Can you support an opinion if you can't back it up if you don't know why things are?
00:21:29.785 --> 00:21:30.827
So, yeah, that's definitely very typical of me.
00:21:30.827 --> 00:21:48.429
Um, in school, in you know, theology class with, uh, mr juzuli that I was talking about earlier, uh, you know, towards the later end of the class when everyone's kind of falling asleep and you know some kids are just doing something else or whatever, I'll always be the one asking him questions, because that's usually who I go to.
00:21:48.429 --> 00:21:51.887
I think I've emailed him already about some questions that I had over summer.
00:21:51.887 --> 00:21:56.250
So don't even leave him alone during his break.
00:21:57.422 --> 00:22:05.869
But usually I'll go to Balan teachers or even my brother, because my brother he's definitely a big influence on me in his faith and my brother he's inspired me, big influence on me in in his faith.
00:22:05.869 --> 00:22:08.642
And you know my brother, um, he's inspired me a lot for sure.
00:22:08.642 --> 00:22:11.588
Uh, you know just little things that he does.
00:22:11.588 --> 00:22:19.826
He started driving recently so, um, he'll be like, oh, you know, during church, where we usually go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be hanging out with my girlfriend and it's like you know.
00:22:19.826 --> 00:22:22.056
So I think, oh, he's gonna skip church, whatever.
00:22:22.056 --> 00:22:31.000
But no, he drives by himself to go to church in the morning while all of us are like asleep or whatever, and I'm like, you know, wow, he's taking ownership over his faith.
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:40.403
So, my brother, I go to him for a lot of questions too, because you know he, he knows probably more than I do, but, um, he's good for that.
00:22:40.403 --> 00:22:41.566
And my teachers at balloon too.
00:22:42.067 --> 00:22:43.667
Great.
00:22:43.667 --> 00:23:00.020
So I know I've heard a fair number of things that you do that I think are critical to anybody who is pursuing a life in faith, but I'd love to hear your version of that story right?
00:23:00.020 --> 00:23:17.834
So if you were to give advice or guidance to your fellow teens in school, or even adults, anybody listening, what would you say would be the things that help you on this path to living an authentic Christian life?
00:23:19.281 --> 00:23:20.586
Well, I kind of touched on it earlier.
00:23:20.586 --> 00:23:23.628
It's about little consistencies.
00:23:23.628 --> 00:23:35.768
You know, if you don't like reading books, don't read a whole book in one day, but read five to ten pages one day, and then the next day you do that again and again and again, and in a month you finish the 300-page book.
00:23:35.768 --> 00:23:38.227
It's kind of the same with faith.
00:23:38.227 --> 00:23:38.881
You just have to.
00:23:38.881 --> 00:23:43.384
You know, maybe you don't want to pray an entire rosary one day, but just do a short little.
00:23:43.384 --> 00:23:51.372
Our Father, you know, do a little before you eat, pray over your food, pray for others if you're worried about them.
00:23:51.372 --> 00:23:54.925
Just little consistencies and little everyday things.
00:23:54.925 --> 00:24:05.665
And I think that's what starts you on that, on that long, long staircase to to being, you know, more in touch with your faith and more holy as a person.
00:24:05.665 --> 00:24:07.627
So it's about that consistency.
00:24:08.448 --> 00:24:09.048
I like that.
00:24:09.048 --> 00:24:18.717
Yeah, I definitely heard earlier and then again now, small incremental steps of learning and application.