The Everyday Apostle - EP015 - Bryan Enriquez

Transcript

Journey of Faith and Community

Announcer 0:01

Welcome to the Everyday Apostle , where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith . Join our host , kendall Peterson , as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live , work and play . Let's dive into it right now now .

Kendall Peterson 0:31

Hello and welcome to episode 15 of the Everyday Apostle . So great to be here to share these stories of people living their faith in the day-to-day 15 episodes . I can't believe we made it here . I pretty much thought it was going to end with episode one , but here we are . God had other plans , so thanks for sticking with us , thanks for all of the messages of hope , thanks for all of the messages of how this is impacting your life , and also thank you for the prayers , because without those I couldn't do this . I'm your host , kendall Peterson . It's an honor to have a wonderful guest with us in the show today . And before we get to that , let's have a word about our sponsor . Today's episode of the Everyday Apostle is sponsored by Fugoid International .

Kendall Peterson 1:11

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Kendall Peterson 1:55

Now let's dive into today's show . I have an awesome guest , somebody that I met just a couple of months ago , but I'm thrilled that he's here in the studio . Please welcome , brian Enriquez . So happy to be here . Thanks for having me , kendall . Awesome , my pleasure . We've been trying to put this together for a little while and I'm glad we made it work , so let me share with you guys who Brian is . Let me read his bio . So , brian is a founding team member of Halo and serves as the head of the customer team . After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2015 , he moved to Washington DC where he worked in public service for three and a half years . In 2018 , brian and his friends from Notre Dame started the Halo app after a search for a Catholic meditation app yielded no results . While working on the app , he earned a Master's of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management in 2021 . Brian is passionate about sharing his faith , spending time with loved ones , golfing and traveling . Great to have you here with us .

Bryan Enriquez 2:56

Brian . Thanks , Kendall . Yeah , I should probably update that to be learning how to golf , because I'm still . I haven't broken 100 yet , so we'll see when that happens .

Kendall Peterson 3:04

Okay , Is that a thing breaking 100 ?

Bryan Enriquez 3:06

Yeah . So you know my dad is big into golf and you know that's one of the milestones of saying , hey , I'm going from not really knowing how to play the game to actually , you know , doing decently is breaking that 100 . So I've gotten close , but not quite there .

Kendall Peterson 3:18

So we'll see . So my golf game . I don't actually measure score by the number of shots . I measure it by the number of balls that I lose on each hole . Okay , I'm still over 100 in that Gotcha . So , Brian , let's start with where you grew up . Where are you from ?

Bryan Enriquez 3:35

Yeah . So where does the story begin ? So for me , I was born in Puerto Rico . Both my parents are Puerto Rican . They actually left Puerto Rico for college . They went to the Iowa State University in Iowa and they met there . So they didn't know each other on the island and they met in the cornfields of Iowa so they moved back to the island . I was born in Puerto Rico , left when I was two , moved back to Iowa and did a bunch of moving back and forth . So my story , kind of early on is a lot of early transition .

Bryan Enriquez 4:05

So from there I moved to Missouri . I lived in St Louis for a little bit . I moved to Kansas City , missouri , which I didn't know . I thought Kansas City was in Kansas . Then I moved to Kansas City , kansas , then moved down to Mississippi and so I say that I'm from Mississippi .

Bryan Enriquez 4:18

That's where I spent most of my time , lived a few years in Biloxi , which is beautiful right there on the coast , and then moved to the middle of nowhere in Meridian Mississippi . There's a naval air station there , which is why some people may be familiar with it , but it's a town of about 30,000 people . So I did high school there . My high school , my class , was about 30 people , most of which were guys . So I spent seven , eight years there and then ended up moving to Alabama , went to the University of Notre Dame and my first professional experience was in DC , as you mentioned , and so , yeah , it was an incredible experience growing up and my faith was always something that also kind of changed and grew . It hit this acceleration point after I went to Notre Dame . That was a big moment for me , interesting .

Kendall Peterson 5:05

So back when you were growing up , a lot of movement , a lot of moving around . I guess when you were very young , I would imagine that's your dad as a professional , kind of moving the family to where the opportunities were Exactly .

Bryan Enriquez 5:17

Yeah , it's , 100% it , and I learned early on to the skill of making friends . You can't just rely on the people that you've grown up with , because you know those people are in a different state and you know when you're back . Then you know cell phones were just becoming a thing so it was super hard and we didn't have social media really when I was a kid . So learn the skill of making new friends and then trying to keep up with the friends that you know .

Kendall Peterson 5:47

I've had in the past Critical life skill for sure , 100% . So did you guys go to church when ?

Bryan Enriquez 5:49

you were young . Do you remember all of that ? Yeah , so , always Catholic , both my parents , my entire family Catholic . Some of my earliest memories from Puerto Rico in my grandmother's house . She had different images , some of which were just family heirlooms or family pictures , but there was an image of the divine heart of Jesus , divine mercy , from Sister Faustina . It's got the two rays , the red and the pale light . That was one of my earliest memories , is just kind of like meditating on that as a kid .

Bryan Enriquez 6:17

And then so , yeah , we'd always go to mass on Sunday , but I would say it was like one priority out of many . My mom and my dad were were always faithful Catholics . But I think , you know , there was maybe a lack of catechesis . We knew that we were Catholic and we knew we needed to go to mass , but , for example , I didn't pray the rosary every day . Um , I had no idea what Eucharistic adoration was , um . So you know , there was just a lot that was , I think , missing , in particular from the lack of community that we had growing up In Meridian Mississippi , there was a very , very small community of Catholics . I went to a school of about 30 , and of those 30 , maybe three , four other people in my class were Catholic . So , yeah , it just wasn't . You know the norm , so to speak .

Kendall Peterson 7:01

Right , right , yeah , probably a very common story For most people . You go to church because that's what your parents do and that was a thing right , right , and if you're really faithful , it was every Sunday . But that catechesis is often missing , and it is for most , so it sounds like it was like that kind of all through high school and then you go off to you wind up once again in the breadbasket of the US . That's right For a kid from Puerto Rico . You spent a lot of time in the Midwest , that's right . So you wind up at Notre Dame . Why did you choose Notre Dame ?

Bryan Enriquez 7:37

So I mean , I would say honestly , notre Dame chose me , and specifically our mother , mama Mary . So in Mississippi , the University of Notre Dame is not really in particular . Where I grew up , in Meridian , it was not a known item . So I'm a senior , I end up coming up with a list of schools that I want to go to . I really wanted to go to Yale University , primarily because they were the first school that actually sent me one of those little admissions packets and I was like , oh , this seems really cool , it seems fancy , why not ? And then you know there was a few other schools that I had on my list , about five schools . I talked to my counselor and then she was like you know , I think you're missing like two more schools . Put two more that are maybe like reach schools that are hard to get into but that you think you might be able to do well in . So then I put Vanderbilt University and the University of Notre Dame only because I had a friend who had just gone to Vanderbilt and he was like , hey , it's a great school . I was like , okay .

Bryan Enriquez 8:28

And then in Puerto Rico , I actually spent a year there in high school and I met somebody there , david , who was like , hey , notre Dame is a great school , you should apply . Never heard of it , never seen the football . I didn't know what the football team was , the Fighting Irish . None of that , right . Neither did my parents . So I applied and then , lo and behold , out of all the schools that I got into , notre Dame was the best school , and they also gave me the best sort of scholarship package at the time .

Bryan Enriquez 8:52

And so for me it was a no-brainer . I was like , wow , this seems like it's a good school and they gave me a great scholarship package . Why not ? Did I visit ? No , I was just like sure , I'll do it right . And then my dad and I drove up from at that time we were living in Mississippi right before moving to Alabama , so drove up and then went into South Bend and we were like , oh , this doesn't look like the pictures . You know , this is not what I expected . And then you get to campus and it's just this beautiful place and we're like , wow , this is incredible . So my experience was very much , you know . So my experience was very much , you know , being ignorant of all things Notre Dame , going there and having an incredible experience , having my faith reignited and just being really blessed .

Kendall Peterson 9:29

Interesting . So going off to college and having the skill of making friends quickly and surrounding yourself with like minded people Right , obviously that's a great skill in college . Did you find that to be relatively easy when you got there , or what was that like ?

Bryan Enriquez 9:53

Yeah , I mean it was , I would say , culture shock of not really knowing I mean . So I was the hardcore nerd , you know , who did a little bit of sports . I did Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo , I loved weightlifting , but I would not have considered myself a jock . I didn't go to parties , you know , in high school . And so at Notre Dame it was like work hard , play hard is the mentality . So people studied , people did their assignments , they learned , but then we also had a good time , and so I just wasn't familiar with that culture . And so , thankfully , I was surrounded by just a great group of guys . My roommate Alex , who's actually the CEO of Hallow , that's who we met .

Bryan Enriquez 10:26

We were randomly assigned at Notre Dame . Alessandro and Joe and a few others of the founding team were on my floor in

Spiritual Growth in College Dorm Community

Bryan Enriquez 10:32

Keough . So at Notre Dame we have single sex dorms , so there's no Greek life , thankfully , in my opinion , everyone kind of belongs to their own community , and every community has a priest in residence and a rector , and so our rector was Father Pete McCormick from Notre Dame , which was incredible , and so I think , from that little community there we just supported each other and it was a safe place to grow , and so we had Mass every Sunday . Every chapel in Notre Dame was located within one of the buildings , so our dorm had a chapel inside of it and we could go to Mass . It was super easy , and so for me it was the first time that it was sort of seen cool to go to Mass and like , oh , you're part of the community , and so then growing into that was really transformative for me .

Kendall Peterson 11:17

So I mean knowing others that have gone . That's not always the path right . Not everybody goes into Notre Dame and comes out with a strong faith , and that's kind of the way life is . But do you think it was the people you connected with , like those people that you made your close friends , that everybody was on a very similar point in their journey ? Or were they further ahead or further behind ? Like what was that ? Like that dynamic ?

Bryan Enriquez 11:45

Yeah . So Alex was my roommate . He was atheist , agnostic , so he was straight up like I don't even think this is real . Alessandro was very intellectually attuned to the faith but in his own sort of testimony , as he shared it , he would admit that he's like . You know , I knew a lot of this stuff , but my practice was maybe falling .

Bryan Enriquez 12:05

I was very much the cat , the sort of cultural Catholic , the status quo Catholic . You know , you I would , we would go to mass on Sundays , but if you don't go to mass on Sunday once , that's not that big of a deal . Praying the rosary , that you know that those for monks and for nuns , like that's , you know you don't really do that , um . So my experience was very much like my . The faith was important to me , but it was kind of an idea and and I would pray , but it wasn't a deep relationship with Christ , and so I think for us one of the things that was really transformative is seeing somebody like Father Pete McCormick , who he was cool , he is and was a cool priest , and so we respected him as guys and so we were like , oh okay , so there's this way of living that is not weird . To be a priest Like he's cool , he can be cool and be Catholic .

Bryan Enriquez 12:54

And so I met other people that were super faithful Francis , we met on the study abroad program at Notre Dame in Toledo . So I got to live in Spain for three months , which is where St Teresa of Avila wrote the Interior Castle , and so there's a lot of rich tradition there , st John of the Cross and that part of Spain , and so there's a lot of rich tradition there , st John of the Cross and that part of Spain . And so , yeah , just getting to be with people who had different you know kind of faith perspectives was helpful because it caused me to question OK , this guy doesn't even believe in his faith , so the guy really , really believes , but then thinks there's more to do . So it was helpful because it was a time of questioning and reflecting and just trying to grow .

Kendall Peterson 13:35

So you had mentioned earlier the work hard , play hard mentality there , right ? So how did that ? Obviously you've got studies and , by the way , what were you studying ? What was your degree ?

Bryan Enriquez 13:45

Yeah , so I studied political science and economics so I got a dual major . I thought I was going to be a lawyer and then God had other plans and thankfully he revealed those to me before I got into debt and going into law school . So that was you know . That's nice .

Kendall Peterson 13:59

Yeah , Thanks .

Bryan Enriquez 14:00

God Exactly .

Kendall Peterson 14:03

So so you guys are studying right , you've got all of your classes and going to mass and spending a little bit of time over and above that , or maybe , in lieu of the partying , did you guys find yourself in fellowship around your faith ? Did you start doing like Scripture , bible study and things like that , or did that maybe come later ?

Bryan Enriquez 14:27

I think for my friend group it came a little bit later , I would say the fellowship came from the dorm mass . So every Sunday night , you know , 9 , 10 PM , we would go down and then it's all the guys and sometimes they bring their girlfriends , and so we would have , and sometimes , you know , we'd be in sweats or whatever we'd be in and we'd be there and it would be mass . And that was a cool experience because it felt , like I said earlier , like there's this community element to the faith that I had not experienced before . So I think that was certainly helpful . I think it took some theology classes at Notre Dame that intellectually kind of created a foundation to then have further growth

Developing Catholic Mindfulness App

Bryan Enriquez 14:58

later .

Bryan Enriquez 14:58

I think our story at Howler really begins after we graduate . We're sort of thrown into the world where young adults are trying to figure out like , ok , so I have to pay bills , I have to figure out , like , how to commute to my work . You know , do I get to pay bills ? I have to figure out , like , how to commute to my work . You know , do I get a car , do I , you know ? So , just like the very tactical things of life , and it was amongst that that we felt a lot of pressure , a lot of stress , a lot of anxiety . How do you manage that you don't have your friend group anymore ? I moved to DC after I graduated , alessandro moved to New York City , alex was in Chicago , so we were all in different places , and so then at that point we started searching for ways to manage the stress , and that was sort of like the beginning of the of the hallow sort of journey .

Kendall Peterson 15:39

So interesting , all right . So I guess in my head I thought that you know , I guess the seeds were planted , but the discussions weren't being had . It's like , hey , we're missing something , maybe we could do this . And then years later it came to fruition . That wasn't even a discussion when you were in it .

Bryan Enriquez 15:55

So I would say , you know we had a lot of debates , so I would frequently debate Alex and he's like oh , this is you know , this doesn't make any sense , like what's the point of believing in this ? This is all just made up . And St Augustine who I had never heard of before so I would say that's a facet of our relationship as friends is definitely a lot of debate , but it was never like okay , being Catholic is the number one thing in my life . That didn't occur for me or I wouldn't say for Alex or Alessandro until after we graduated .

Kendall Peterson 16:24

And it doesn't sound like software development was either right .

Bryan Enriquez 16:29

Yeah , exactly . So , like I said I was , I thought was gonna be a lawyer . Thankfully , one of our co-founders , eric . He studied computer science . We weren't friends with Eric actually at Notre Dame . We met after the fact . So he started working at a consulting firm with Alex . They met and then he was sort of the and is now our CTO . So he was the one who kind of helped code the first version with Alex . Out there was a mechanical engineer , so he knew enough to be dangerous , so to speak . So between both of them they helped with the other prototype and we sort of got going .

Kendall Peterson 16:59

So that's interesting . So let's kind of fast forward to that time point . You guys are obviously staying in touch and very engaged post-graduation , which I think is a great blessing . In your bio you say you were looking for that way to bring that calmness and that peace into your life . In the flurry of everything you were trying to do , walk me through like how did those discussions go about the possibility of creating your own solution to that problem ?

Bryan Enriquez 17:34

Yeah , so we in 2017 , alex is introduced to an app called Headspace , which is a Buddhist app and it's like a mindfulness , secular app . So he starts using it to try to find peace and he starts feeling something . He's like oh , maybe this is working . This , this , this app is , is is different from all the other ones . Um , and then he keeps using , keeps using it , but then , interestingly enough , keeps being drawn back to the image of Jesus Christ , which is strange , because there is no Jesus in Buddhism and Buddhism is an atheistic religion . There's no , there's no God in Buddhism , there's no deity to worship . So he's like this is really weird . So he calls our priest , father Pete , back in Notre Dame and he's like hey , father Pete , I'm having this experience . Is there a way to combine like meditation and prayer ? Is that like a thing in the Catholic church ? And then Father Pete's like Alex , we've been doing it for like hundreds of years . This like a new age thing in the church , like Lectio Divina , the examine , like all of these things . He mentions them to Alex and then Alex is like oh , okay , I've never heard of these things , starts to implement them , and then , over that 2016 , 2017 time period , he sort of reconverts back to the faith . You know he's , he's married . He married to his wife , megan . They have three beautiful children , and they were married in the faith and married in the church , and so that sort of reconversion sparked my interest , because I'm like , wait a minute , this guy who was like basically an atheist , right now he's like praying the rosary all the time , he's like going to mass , so what's up with that ?

Bryan Enriquez 19:03

So then I started getting into it and at the same time , in the Department of Justice , we were doing a project on the mental sort of wellness of our operators . This we were doing a project on the mental sort of wellness of our operators . These are people who disarm bombs and who , you know , kick down doors and rescue hostages . Unfortunately , there was a murder-suicide , you know , in I would say , probably this 2017 time period , with some agents , and so we were tasked with trying to understand . You know , hey , how can we better support the mental health needs of the workforce ?

Bryan Enriquez 19:32

And at that time , I was put onto the discovery of mindfulness . There are these scientific benefits that can be found in terms of your heart rate , for example , when you are entering into this mindfulness state . So then I said , okay , so there's this mindfulness thing . There's this meditation thing in prayer . Is there a way to have like Catholic mindfulness , a way to grow in your faith that's in line with the teachings of the church but that helps you find this peace ? And the answer is yes . But we didn't find that in an app , which we were mind blown . Alex is like well , this , why don't we just build one ? And you know , and that was kind of the entry point , it was January of 2018 .

Bryan Enriquez 20:08

I'll never forget , I had on a white t-shirt . I was sitting in my apartment on Swan Avenue with my Adidas shorts and he called me . He's like I know what we're going to do with the rest of our lives . We're going to make a prayer wrap . And in that moment I just I knew deep inside I was like yes , this is it .

Bryan Enriquez 20:23

Up until that point , I had a sexy job out of college , you know , working for the department of justice , like doing all these things that most people out of college wouldn't do . But I always felt this like lack of calm and peace . There was like something missing , like I was being called to something . And then that's when , really , where ?

Bryan Enriquez 20:39

Sort of the seeds that Gout had planted for me in Notre Dame , sort of bore fruit , because when Alex said that , hey , we're gonna make a prayer app , I was just I knew . I was like , yeah , there's no doubt . I was like this is the thing that I'm going to do . I don't know if it's going to fail , I don't know if it's going to succeed , but , like , I know that God is wanting me to do this thing and that's all that matters . And so when he hung up the phone , I heard a voice say from now on , nothing will be the same . Wow . And I just started taking my faith more seriously , started going to mass , started going to confession regularly . That was really big for me , um , and yeah , it was just . My life was transformed in an instant from um , from that conversation .

Kendall Peterson 21:22

Well , that's an interesting way to open up a conversation , right ? Hey , uh , we're going to build this prayer app and , like , that's what we're going to build , this prayer app and that's what we're going to do for the rest of our lives . Man , that's fascinating . So when did you start bringing the other guys in ? How did ?

Bryan Enriquez 21:39

that happen . Yeah , so at the time , I was working at the Department of Justice , so I didn't have a ton of time to be working on something . On the side , alessandro was one of our roommates early on . Eric , as I mentioned , was friends with Alex and they were kind of all we were having conversations . We actually started a blog in 2017 called Managing and Faith . That is now defunct , but we wrote a few pieces and we were just trying to like wrestle with our faith . So that was kind of already in the background .

Bryan Enriquez 22:07

And when he was like we're making a prayer app , he was like , like , okay , this is the thing that we're all now going to do . Um , so then we needed a voice . Francis is fantastic . Has his great meditative voice called him up along with abby , who was one of our friends . So joe lived on our floor and he ended up marrying abby . So joe got involved . So the team of seven kind of got united from the beginning , and then it was like , okay , so we're gonna do this to do this thing . So now , what do we do ? And we started calling our friends and saying how do you build an app ? We had no idea how to build an app . Yeah , that was kind of like the beginning piece . We started Halo in June of 2018 and then we launched it for the first time in December of 2018 . So it'll be seven years now this December , which is crazy to say out loud so Abby , the name sounds familiar .

Kendall Peterson 22:50

One of the voice selections .

Bryan Enriquez 22:52

One of the voice selections Abby Francis . They were two of the original founding members .

Kendall Peterson 22:56

Okay , so real quick for the listeners and for the viewers . If you're not familiar with this app , pause right now . Go to whatever app store you need to go to and download it and check it out . I guarantee you you will be grateful , and I think the reason that you should do that is twofold . Number one the amount of resources on this app are phenomenal , especially when you go back and listen and hear how this started and that it started in 2018 . Second is the context of how all of this comes together . Right , and you've got one of your friends' wives is doing the voice , because at this point in time and we're going to kind of fast forward to where you are now- and all of that .

Kendall Peterson 23:49

But at this point in time , the concept that it's just some friend's wife that's doing the voice . I mean , you have major , major celebrities contributing to the content on this app and it blows me away every time you add more people . So I'd love to you know , this is the business side of me coming out as well , but I'd love to know how do you make a jump from a bunch of guys cobbling together something you know that brings meditation and prayer together and using whatever voices you have , to now this worldwide phenomenon with celebrity voices and content generated ? I'll give you the two-word answer Okay , the Holy Spirit and content generating .

Bryan Enriquez 24:28

I'll give you the two word answer Okay , the Holy Spirit , because I do . I mean , it was very clear to me that this was a call from God to do this . Didn't promise it was gonna be successful or anything , he just wanted us to do it . So I was like we'll do it and whatever happens , you know , we're trying to be faithful , right . And so initially it was a few hundred people that were our friends that downloaded it and started using it and then , you know , by the grace of God , people started hearing about it . We had word of mouth , we got people on , like Matt Fradd , who has his podcast Pines with Aquinas . He was one of our first supporters and so from that it was that little like ember that slowly kept being , you know , kind of blown on .

Bryan Enriquez 25:08

Another big name for us that was early on was Jonathan Rumi . So in 2020 , the actor who plays Jesus in the Chosen . If you're not aware , he's incredible . He actually started as a voice actor , so his talents were super helpful for us . He started with us right when the Chosen was in season one , season two . So then the Chosen starts getting big and then we have Jonathan Rumi , so then Hal starts getting big . So that was incredible .

Bryan Enriquez 25:35

Mark Wahlberg was . I mean I grew up watching Mark Wahlberg movies . You know what I mean . Like it was , you know . I mean we can go through the list . You know the Departed , you know , more recently , lone Survivor . I mean just all of these movies that I really appreciated . And then getting the opportunity to work with him is just a tremendous blessing because he's really kind of moved from I am an activist Catholic to being very outspoken about his faith , you know being on different shows and playing Father Stu in the movie recently as well . So I mean that was incredible . And then we've got some names like Father Mike Schmitz , bishop Barron , who are some of the more recognizable , you know , religious and sort of priests in the US . So Sister Miriam , james Heidlin incredible . If you don't know her , look her up .

Bryan Enriquez 26:18

So it really kind of started to grow from people encountering the power of prayer , because that's all that the app is . We are basically encouraging you to have a relationship with God through prayer , and that takes different forms . You know whether it be the rosary . We have meditations that are very custom , so sometimes it's music , sometimes it's sitting in silence , and so that's the nice thing about it is that we have all these different ways of praying that God has given us , that we've been able to put in the app that people don't feel like they're necessarily being preached at . It's more like , oh , I'm having an experience , and , and god's , of the under end right , because he's searching for each and every one of us , and so that's kind of how it really grew from just a few friends to , I mean , look at jesus's , his ministry was like 12 , 12 guys , you know , and and and some , uh , and some others that were following him .

Kendall Peterson 27:07

So yeah , I mean that's the only explanation , right , because you couldn't script that out . There's no way you could specifically plan for that Absolutely amazing .

Faith and Business in Daily Life

Kendall Peterson 27:21

So one of the last questions that I want to ask you to try and stay on topic and bring it back from a business show . So it's hard Like I've had eight startups myself , I've been in Fortune 500 companies . When you're in the business world , the business world looks very different than our faith . Life sometimes right , and you guys are running a business , you guys are moving fast and furious . I can see all of those changes . I can see how tough that would be . What ways do you guys use , either you individually or you guys as a team , to remain faithful , remain in prayer while you're conducting business ?

Bryan Enriquez 28:04

100% , yeah . So I mean , I think for me it starts with what's number one in your life and this has been a realization over the past , I'd say maybe 18 , 24 months . That's really crystallized for me . It's your calendar . At least for me it's like what's on my calendar , and if mass is only on my calendar on Sunday , it's hard for me to argue that God is the number one thing in my life . If I'm doing the minimum and Father Mike talks about this , it's . If it's if I'm doing the minimum and father mike talks about this , it's like , yeah , going to mass on sunday is the minimum , not the maximum .

Bryan Enriquez 28:31

And so trying to um go to daily mass when possible , um , I would say , seeking to weekly or bi-weekly confession , um is , as seeing it as not , um , I'm gonna go be , you know , um made guilty about something . It's instead , it's a , it's a sacrament , that that brings healing , um and and is an outpouring of grace . And so just trying to always access that grace and really it invites humility , which is the foundation of the virtues is growing in humility first . So I'd say , for me those are some big things in terms of how I spend my time is making sure that I'm going to mass , receiving the sacraments and then daily prayer is something that I always thought was like oh , I'm super busy , how do I do daily prayer ? And that's a ridiculous . I now realize that's a ridiculous thing because I mean there's praying in the morning , is just waking up and just being like Lord . Thank you for this day . It takes 10 seconds and you've already started off your day with prayer . So I'd say number one is like always start your day off with prayer .

Bryan Enriquez 29:24

The daily rosary . I'd say it's a spiritual weapon . For a reason the devil is terrified of it , and so I'd say that spiritual warfare is very real . Sticking to a daily rosary is incredible . Dr Edward Shree is one of the co-founders of FOCUS , the Fellowship of Catholic Universities in the US , and it's incredible , and he gave a talk recently and he said if you go into Mass every day and you go into confession confession and you're praying the rosary , you're still missing something .

Bryan Enriquez 29:51

I'm like well , what could you be missing ? He's like meditation , and that's sitting with the Lord in silence every day for a few minutes and just trying to listen , just being like Lord . I just want to hear your voice , whether that be you can read scripture and then just sit and reflect on it . But that's another big thing is just trying to find moments where you're not always rushed , and for me recently that's been in the car . I just try to like drive in the car with no music and I just say Lord , like let's spend some time together focusing on the road . But you know , it's a nice . It's those little things that kind of help keep you grounded and keep you focused on Christ . You know so , seek first the kingdom of God . That's what I try to live by . So awesome .

Kendall Peterson 30:32

Wow , Brian , I wish I didn't have to bring this to a close , so I have a million other questions for you , but thank you . Thank you for sharing that journey . Thank you for thank you for sharing the Halo app . I know in our family it's tremendously important . We're in it all the time . Thank you for sharing with the listeners how to acquiesce to the will of God , which is always hard , but then how to stick with it and keep going and bring faith , not just as a thing that you do , but the way you do things . So thank you for sharing that message To you guys out

Embracing Spiritual Practices in Daily Life

Kendall Peterson 31:13

there .

Kendall Peterson 31:13

If you didn't pause earlier , then go ahead and end this and go download the Halo app . You will not be disappointed and check it out . Let it bring into your life the things that Brian was talking about the prayer and the meditation and just bring God into his due place , and it's it's a beautiful way to do it . So go ahead and do that . I encourage you guys to stay in prayer . I encourage you guys to continue to listen like , share , all of those things you need to do podcasts , because that that keeps us relevant in that space and we have a message that we want to get out Anything that glorifies God . We want to be out there , and so thank you for your support , and God bless you .

Bryan Enriquez 32:00

Stay prayed up .

Announcer 32:01

Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle . Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube , on your favorite podcast outlet , and at our website at everydayapostlecom . Until next time , stay blessed .