Alex at Hallow

AHHHHHHH WHAT?!!!?!!! GOD!! YOU HAVE OUTDONE YOURSELF AGAIN! FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE APP STORE, JESUS IS #1! LORD LET IT BE ALL ONLY FOR YOUR GLORY LORD

Today in Pray40 Fr. Malachy from the CFRs shares his story of coming Home. Was just so good. Here's a sneak peek: "So all of a sudden, I find myself sitting down in this room across from Father Ted, and he's just looking at me and he was like, you know, What's on your heart? And so I start talking, and then this strange thing begins to happen, and I realize I was like, there's this weird moisture in my eyes, and then all of a sudden, like, there's liquid coming out of them, and I'm like, am I crying? I'm just like, what the heck am I crying for? And I was like, and Father Ted's looking at me there, and I'm just like, I don't know what this dude thinks. Right? But he's sitting there looking at me, and he says, Would you like to go ahead and make this a confession? And when he said it, I'm like, I guess, sure. Yeah. Whatever. That's cool, Father Ted. Like, it was just like this, you know, like the most reluctant conversion ever. And so I start to speak, and I did something that honestly I just don't think I'd ever done in my life. Like, I really opened up my heart and poured everything out. And I can remember it was like all the things that I hated that I had done, all the things that were these mistakes that just, like, messed with my life. And by the time I was finished, I, like, literally couldn't raise my head. I was just so ashamed. Felt all this weight and guilt. Now I'm like, oh, man. Like, here I am in the presence of this holy priest. Right? And here I am a big pile of you know what. And I remember looking down at the oak floor, and I could see, um, yeah, I could see, like, the tears just dropping, hitting that oak floor, and just splashing out. And I'm just sitting there, and I just, I don't know what, I'm just totally overwhelmed by shame and self-loathing. And then I hear simple words spoken by Father Ted. And he just says, 'I've always known that you had a beautiful heart.' That was wonderful. And this is twenty-five years ago now, and I still can't fully explain what happened. I just know that when I heard those words, I heard Jesus."

From Pope Leo last week: "This also happens in the life of faith: we take for granted the presence of Jesus in our existence, until unexpectedly it seems that He is no longer where we left Him. We feel a sense of loss. In reality, it is not He who is lost, but we who have strayed. When this happens, we are called to seek him with confidence, with the courage to travel unexplored paths, looking at the world with new eyes, filled with hope. In this way, we will stop looking for a God who suits us and instead encounter Him where He dwells. Seeking Jesus, therefore, means moving from the security of our convictions to the responsibility of encounter, learning to see and welcome the presence of God who is always “beyond”. This is exactly what Saint Joseph did in caring for the family entrusted to him by the Lord. In him we recognize that welcoming is not only presence but also guardianship. Guardianship means being attentive to others, respecting their choices and caring for them. This attitude belongs first and foremost to God, whom the Bible shows as the guardian of his people. We recall the psalm that says: “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand” (Psalm 121: 4-5). From this perspective, we understand that the human family is also called to preserve what has been entrusted to it: relationships, creation, and the life of our brothers and sisters, especially those who suffer and are most fragile. In this way, Joseph shows us that presence and guardianship are inseparable dimensions: it is not possible to guard without being present, and one is not present without assuming responsibility for the other."

Was an honor to receive the Christifideles Laici award today on behalf of the @HallowApp team at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. All glory and honor and praise to Jesus Christ. In case anyone’s interested - here’s the speech I gave: Wow thank you all for this incredible honor. It is very much undeserved. The real credit goes to our team working so hard on this thing. They just give it their all every year to try and bring folks closer to the Lord. And no one more so than these two guys standing beside me. I can think of no two crazier people - crazy enough to give up really everything in their life and come build this thing with me. There is no one in the world I’d rather do this with. It is the privilege of a lifetime to get to work with you. And a special shout out to our parents. Hallow certainly would not exist if it were not for them. Our first company offsite was at Erich’s parents (we still host them there to be honest), the DiSantos were our first guerrilla marketers handing out fliers at the March for Life or Church parking lots. My mom has probably sent me 750 quality control texts telling me something is wrong with the app… And my Dad - my Dad is my hero and my best friend - and he has taught me many great lessons in life, but the one I use most frequently is probably: “If you have to give a speech, make it short.” So don’t worry, I’m almost done Dad. To our wives — well two wives and one soon to be wife God willing — thank you. This job is not an easy one and you all bear the brunt of it more so than anyone else including us. And finally to You Lord. Thank You. You are Everything. You are the reason we do this. You are the only way anything ever gets done. You are the only thing that is good in anything we do. I made a promise with You early on. If this thing works — You get the credit. If it doesn’t — well yeah You still get the credit. So here’s to You. May all of this only and always only be for You. Use it how You will. Use me how You will. Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ.

From a friend of mine. Please pray and share 🙏

It's times like these that I'm proud to be a Catholic

A beautiful conversation with two incredible people. Is an honor to have you both on the team @JeffCavins @gwenstefani

@BreeSolstad And I meant them both

I got essentially the same DM from Alex at Hallow. 😂

Just heard from one of our parish partners that 25% of their OCIA class said they started OCIA because they were introduced to the beauty of the Faith from Hallow. Glory to the Lord. May He bring all of us back home to Him.

@FrGoyo Praying for you Father. No one beats St Teresa.

I had a difficult day. Very difficult and at the end of the day I always go to the same prayer of my favorite saint. “Let nothing disturb you, 
Let nothing frighten you, 
All things are passing away: 
God never changes. 
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing; 
God alone suffices.” And nothing else matters except God. If you are in a difficult situation, I invite to recite this prayer of St. Teresa of Avila.

One of the most natural calls to prayer is looking up at the sky. Something about it just makes you want to talk to God. Sad how rarely we do this as we grow up - how designed all of our lives and cities are it seems to keep us from doing this.

Today’s Fasting Friday challenge with @markwahlberg - The world says that you have needs and you should satisfy them and that you shouldn't be afraid to satisfy them, even increase them, but Christ says the opposite. You have needs, you have desires, die to them. You have attachments to this world, die to them. Even the smallest ones, die to them. There can be nothing holding us back from God. God wants you home. He wants you free, but He cannot do it without you.

I have helped write hundreds of different ads - probably north of a thousand. All just trying different ways to invite people to give Jesus a try. Now that's a pretty cool job.

The truest risk of working on something relating to the Faith, but honestly really for all of us I guess. From CS Lewis: "Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him. For it doesn’t stop at being interested in paint, you know. They sink lower—become interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations."

In all things I stand with Pope Leo

@frmikeschmitz today on the elder son: It’s possible to stay at home and remain lost. The younger son comes home because he remembers his father’s love. The older son hears about his father’s love and resents it. There are few things more deadly than resentment. Resentment paralyzes.

Imagine you’re watching a football game. It’s in the last 2 minutes. Your team is down. The other team scores. You feel your heart drop. You’re stressed. You start imagining how losing will feel like. You start to lose hope. Okay now imagine it’s the same game, but you’re watching a rerun of an old game. You already know the score. Your team wins in a miraculous comeback. So when you watch there’s no more of that worry. There’s only excitement. Wonder. Our lives are the latter. Christ has already won the game. It’s a miraculous comeback. Everyone thought He was down and out. But He won. And now we just get to enjoy His victory. Yet why do so many of us live our lives like we don’t know the ending?

I do not deserve to witness the beauty of a sunset Much less my wife Much less my child Much less Your Son Have mercy on me Lord a sinner