 name of the father and the son the Holy Spirit hey friends is Dan and Stephanie along with Josh and Ann and Joe Holtcraft and some of the crew at the Avala Foundation Avala Institute, and we just want to Shout out to you and spend a little time with you at this important time of the year in Advent To let you know of our gratitude to God to st. Joseph and to you For everything that he's been doing through the Avala Institute. So this is just a little impromptu special time of Reflection a little bit on some of the miracles that have happened this year that we'd love for you to hear about because they're quite remarkable Yeah That's awesome And I think we should maybe because some of these folks are a little bit behind the scenes Yeah, so it might be really nice if they introduce themselves and say what they do for the Institute Yeah, or we get into any kind of questions or answers cool. Okay. How about you Josh? Can you tell us who you are? What's your name Josh and who are you and what do you do for the Avala Institute, please? Sure, so my name is Josh meeker and I'm the operations manager for the Avala Institute for spiritual formation So I basically run the day-to-day operations with a team of people a very small Very small team of people and a team of one just for a team of two for just for a small student body of 600 a quarter and you know a hundred guys getting ready for seminary no big deal Right, right. You are evidence of the grace of prayer. You are evidence of the grace of prayer your abilities are amazing Yeah, thanks be to God for sure. Yeah, you got okay Joe Joe, who are you? What's your name? My name is dr. Joseph Folkraft. I am a professor with the Avala Institute on boarded back in 2013 by invitation from Dan and as of what 16 17 months ago now gosh that has gone by really fast. I Have been and I am currently director of the high calling program for spiritual formation for men who were discerning to call to the priesthood Awesome awesome. Now. I have to say if I recruited you as a professor Stephanie recruited you to run the high calling program Which is a much smarter the second is both decisions were good The second one more important because and and I have to say the inspiration can honestly it came straight from the lord Yeah, because I barely knew Joe. I'd met him once and the lord was like you gotta hire. You gotta talk to Joe You gotta talk to Joe kept telling me that I kept coming around the corner and he's going we don't have money for that And here we are I did I kept saying we don't have money for that. Yeah same with this one. The next one is I don't I want to start with super for some reason super super and okay, okay and and what's your name? I'm pretty sure you guys said and we don't have money for this. Can you uh figure this out? We gotta bring Joe on board Okay So I'm in burning. I am the director of mission advancement at Avala I'm also the reason why we're all here today. I kind of bothered Dan and Stephanie said hey, we need to talk about our mission Talk about the impact that everybody has been having here because the the growth has just been really incredible And it's so much fun to be here with all of you. You may recognize me if you get some of my emails You know harassing you for money but it's just an honor and Wonderful gift to be able to do that and participate in and what we're doing so You know Dan back in 2009 when you started spiritualdirection.com. Would you ever have thought the world in 2021 brought you today where we are today that Everything crazy that's happened. So the line I say a lot, but I mean it. It's not I mean It's just I say it a lot is you know, I thought seven people I started spiritualdirection.com to repurpose the spiritual patrimony of the church back to the church just because I Couldn't find good resources out on the internet at the time on the on the mystical tradition spiritual tradition And I the way I always describe it is I thought, you know, seven people would would sign up and listen and and the What happened is hundreds of thousands signed up and And millions read and so that of course just went crazy. So I didn't I was hopeful. I mean I wanted something bigger than seven people, but I remember the first list I distributed I did something that really actually annoys me when people do it to me I just grabbed a bunch of my friends and put their Emails in our system and started sending stuff to them And that's you know kind of went from there, but yeah, no idea that we'd end up You know where we are now we're doing the most important work We're doing is priestly formation, which is quite extraordinary. Yeah. Yeah, it's so cool because I remember when you started it And honestly you were like, I don't know, you know, nobody's gonna read this But to watch it to have grown from spiritualdirection.com to then birthing the Avala Institute Which then birthed The high calling program. Yeah priestly formation and then also birthed apastoli vie Where you know that the child really birthed the mother Well, and then there's more, right? I mean divine intimacy radio, right that came from all of this, right? Do the hardest thing with jordan. Yeah, I mean he did his own thing We brought it in but his conversion is part of being at the summit and a lot of what happened with all of this But yeah, yeah, I mean it that's where it all started with it's been remarkable. It's it's beautiful beautiful ministry. So Awesome. Yeah, and I think you know prior to coven Josh could probably Share I don't know if you have stats going this far back, but we were really set up You know digitally online so we could access anyone in the world And so when coven hit it nothing really changed for us on our end other than All of a sudden we had all these people that were now open to joining us digitally and The fruits of coven is we've had a lot of growth because of that too so Josh what are some of the some of the growths on the impact? Can you share with us that the institute has had in the past couple of years? Sure. Yeah. Well, just to start out though Just so you get a sense of it when we started in 2013 we started with a class of 35 students. So Um today right just right now We've got we're nearing 400 in our current quarter, which is one of our off quarters and we had 600 In our last quarter So but really since coven in the last two years we've doubled in our enrollment. So in 2019 We uh, we had half We had I think 12,000 people I mean, sorry, that's way too many we had uh, I think it was like Well, I'd have to look out to see these ecstats, but I don't have them But we've we've we've doubled our enrollment since 2019. Yeah. Yeah, that's incredible We're in we're in the thousands Yeah, since we started we've had 2400 people come through the school taking courses so A lot of people a lot of priests a lot of deacons religious and lay people From over 90 countries. So and you know, it's really beautiful about that is every one of those souls that comes and takes classes They then go out and affect their communities, you know, their families their Their churches their parishes, you know, all of that. So it has this ripple effect So it's never just about the people who pass through the doors But it's about all the souls and all the the impact On all the souls that that is happening and they're drawing people to the resources. So it's really beautiful It is pretty amazing. I I'd never I mean, obviously spiritualdirection.com the reason we started the institute is because people said We love the show. We love the content on the website. I'm sorry Could you do webinars for us or I mean, could you do classes? And I said, no We could do webinars, you know, because we didn't and then it just kind of grew from there, but Josh, I you know, just curious You know, you've been with us For this amazing growth How does it how does it affect you? Is there anything that's been surprising to you or That's really moved you. I mean, you're very dedicated to the mission Um, nobody's, you know, driving a Porsche because they work for the Avalon Institute Um, it's it's all, you know, but why do you sacrifice so much To work here and work as many hours as you do. I mean, what what what drives you what's going on in your heart? Well, uh, really, you know, the numbers and everything are great But what really affects me is the way people are impacted when they take our courses I mean, it's almost universal that people's lives are changed when I take courses from us So, um, I've got a few I've got a few comments that students have made just to give you a sense of How they're affected because our students are on fire for us, which is just awesome. So encouraging to see but uh, one of our students said that, uh, the best that the, uh, classes she took was one of the best classes She had taken in her 39 years of theology classes. So Wow All right, and we had we had a student that said the Avalon Institute is the best place in the world to study spiritual theology I have to agree with that This one was particularly interesting. Um, this was from one of your classes, Dan The student said I've been wanting to learn how to discern the will of god in my life for years I've read books and attended some talks about it But the clear understanding of the topic still eluded me After attending this class, however, the detect the discernment of spirits became so much clearer and understandable I can say that I now have a much better grasp and appreciation of the concept of the discernment of spirits I'm looking forward to using the tools I've learned in this class. Thank god for sending this class to me And uh, one of the priests in the program One of the priests said in my ministry as a priest This course has helped me to focus on the essentials and it motivated me to be really serious in my mental prayer And you know this whole parish. I'm sure is benefiting greatly. That's awesome Hey, how many do you know the number of how much we've given away in scholarship since we started josh You know, we see ann and I looked into that What was it around summertime? I think and I think we figured out it was close to a million dollars. Was it not? Yeah, I think it was over a million dollars Wow, that's amazing Yeah, and that's not just I mean, we don't do this a lot because we can't it's too hard It's sometimes we even provide books and things for people when they're in You know strange places, uh, where they can't they're in extreme poverty So we can of course we do a lot of scholarships for those who Who just can't otherwise wouldn't be able to pay for the course But we usually ask them to figure out a way to pay for the books But regularly I see in my email because I I guess I set up the usps account for mailing out, you know stuff under our labels I see books going to Africa or you know different parts of the world To help priests religious laity who are in more extreme cases of poverty Who otherwise wouldn't be able to even have the books let alone the horses Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah Yeah, and I thought this was particularly good for summing up what we do at avala One of our students said that God has given you the tools to become a saint avala gives you the instructions on how to use those tools And uh, that's that's what we're all about and that's that's definitely been my experience with the avala institute Um, I'm so blessed to have started as a student And that's right. Yeah. Yeah, my life my life has completely changed I avala taught me how to pray That's a fact. So I'll definitely agree with students. You've given me the instructions To know how to use the tools the lord has given all of us through his church That's awesome. So I you know, sorry and to take over. I don't mean to do this too But I do want to ask joe a question because joe Is a very special guy He's written some fantastic books on prayer Recent one for sofia on intercessory prayer, but joe's joe I was one of the reasons I love joe. I mean, it's the same as josh and and and everyone at the institute Is all everyone at the institute are people of prayer deep faith But joe is has a deep fire of god in him like the guy is converted through and through He's also a scholar, you know, he's no slouch intellectually means got the whole package, but I love joe's heart and I've worshipped with joe and watched him and been really blessed by him But joe what I want to know is Is there a time in your service the institute that got into your skin brought you to tears brought you to this Place of wow, I can't believe I get to do this Or just something that's really just wrecked you in a good way In your work here Well, and you didn't you didn't prepare me for that question. What are you doing? Oh gosh, um, that's a good question and I would say it was probably after The first night of the first class I taught When there was a particular student who reached out to me and sent me a very very long email And it'd be enough to say it it brought me to tears and it was at that point I knew that if nothing else I was going to be with the Avalon Institute for a while I would say Another moment happened recently at the summit. We were at that first mass I think it was the it was the first night the Latin mass just beautiful And I was brought to tears. So certainly As a professor I was brought to tears, but also as a son of god worshiping Worshiping right. It was just beautiful beautiful brought me brought me to a very special place Any big surprises for you? I mean, obviously I think what surprises a lot of professors joe when they come is What surprised me really was Because we do live online formation We The holy spirit really pours out in a special way and I think in a way that's inhibited by recorded formation recorded formation has a Psychological effect on a person that sort of gets them to kind of treat it like youtube or double timing or i'll do it While i'm jogging or whatever But the live online is people of god gathering together truly even though they're you know You know sitting at a distance Fully attentive to god and the holy spirit You know What has it been a surprise to you how deeply impactful The holy spirit is with students or I don't know, you know, you know what i'm getting at I do absolutely one of the things that I do love about the avalanche, too It is that it's live right so As much as you prepare there's always that need to be open to what the holy spirit desires And don't get me wrong You do need to prepare but part of that preparation is a preparation of the heart where you're praying up so as to be Properly disposed to respond to to that question or that conversation or that dialogue that you cannot prepare for You know intellectually per se so just that organic spontaneous Conversation that comes out from a lecture That is birthed by virtue of the lecture and the holy spirit So you know and it happens for me On a regular basis And it's it's a lot of why I I love to teach quite frankly Because you see the holy spirit moving you see the holy spirit shaking people up and it's just it's beautiful And the other thing about the live piece is you get asked hard questions So it keeps you on your toes, right? That's why you have to pray up because if you're not ready and You know not that you have to have every answer to every question But to be able to say even then if you don't you know, let's journey together to find that answer Um to be disposed so as to say what needs to be said at the time You know you say it awesome, awesome And i'll stop you surfing your role as ringleader. You're fine dian Um joe just for a moment. Um, would you mind maybe sharing with us some of that? Testimony from some of our high calling guys the men that are discerning the priesthood and Just the impact that the avila classes have had on their hearts and drawing close to jesus Yeah, thank you for that question and You know a lot of the men who come to us and right now as dan had suggested and dan was talking about there's 90 plus men with us right now They they come to us With a picture of discernment Um that by their own admission has many freight edges That they don't have a clear picture of of what prayer is and what discernment is and what conversion is They have a sense of it or they have an intuition for it, but they don't fully understand it And so time and time again And the reflections and in my conversations with them they talk about just being blown away. Well I I pulled up a couple. These are just from this, you know, past few months Here's actually this is one from the module dan taught and this is just to give you a sense of what's going on A young man discerning says this over the course of this module I have sensed the holy spirit calling me to listen more attentively to jesus's word in scripture Intimacy with jesus is something this course has emphasized, but You're and by your he means dan Emphatic need to listen to what jesus says in the gospel has changed the way I pray I have rededicated myself to lexu divina and this is given shape and form to my discernment Something I did not have before no longer. Do I simply read scripture to check off the box? But rather meditate with scripture that I will now confidently say to jesus. I know you This class was huge for me. I love that and I built something up from the other night. This is from father dentis mcmanus's course on Uh, uh, discernment of spirits and spiritual warfare. He's using your book dan and just absolutely loves it A young man said this I was struck most by the idea that the devil sometimes tempts us with lesser goods rather than evils I hadn't ever thought about him working in this way before this helps me realize how important it is to make a good and thorough discernment of my vocation It now makes sense to me Just because something is good i.e marriage doesn't mean it is what i'm being called to no doubt The devil hates the idea of men becoming priests and he will do anything to turn a man away from the priestess Even using good things as you say father mcmanus personally and more recently I have been presented with an excellent job offer a good no doubt I was ready to take but after listening to you it is clear to me. I am made to discern this more thoroughly I now I now can see that how this can be a lesser good from the tempter capital t I look forward to the remainder of this module And leaning to the wisdom of the saints and your wisdom father mcmanus So you can just get a sense and those two sound bites. What's going on in the high calling program You know the high calling program is this live online program emphasizing live again for you dan Um of that that really stretches itself over the course of an academic year and in that time Men are afforded the opportunity to discern more thoroughly and and in those testimonials You can get a sense of what is going on and and praise be jesus christ because That is just a sample of many many more that um That have that same kind of language of just coming to better understand what it means to be A son of god a man of god who's discerning to call to the priesthood Awesome. That's just awesome. I love that Yeah, you know and joe I don't know about you Um And I you know, I don't know when you want me to talk about the the retreat center and but I I this this phrase Has been coming to me over and over Uh epicenter of grace epicenter of grace epicenter. So an epicenter, of course, we know is when you have an earthquake It's the most intense Place where where it hits with its greatest power But then it emanates out with in rings of power and influences the landscape out from it And similar like when you throw a pebble into a Pool of water and I'm sitting actually at the retreat center looking out the window Of the studio and I can see the lake out there And so you have the you know, so the bigger The the boulder that's flown into thrown into the water the bigger the rings the more power and when I think about epicenters of grace And you think about the millions of people who've interacted with spiritual directions dot com Each of them is an epicenter of grace Because they're being strengthened, but the the big boulders are what you're doing joe And and I mean all of us are participating, of course, you know, whether it's fundraising or back-end operations or teaching or a combination of all these But the big epicenters of grace like where I think we're going to see healing in the church In the future is going to come through the high calling program It it'll come through all these other means no doubt but Getting guys to know jesus and really know him Before they enter seminary and then of course we're working on programs where we're helping them during and after seminary Is going to transform parish life and and then these some of these guys will become bishops. I mean well beyond us I think we're going to see changes in the next 10 years No doubt in the church because the guys coming through our program But I think for for generations beyond us. We're going to see The church healing and changing because of these encounters with jesus Absolutely, you know, if you think about anybody who's met a really holy priest, they're so impacted by it Like we all kind of go wow, you know And not because we worship our priests But we we see the fire within him We see how he loves the mass and how he goes to serve and love his people And and how he just really does smell like his sheep And it has such a huge impact. We've told a number of the priests that have drawn near either through, you know In a number of ways in our ministry We tell them you just don't understand the impact you have on us when you're on fire and when we see that It sets our hearts on fire. So the impact of the high calling program of spiritualdirection.com all these podcasts and The classes at avala institute all these ways that we touch souls Has an impact out there and I I just love That god's allowed us to be a part of this because it is it's just awesome I love watching people be healed and be transformed and being drawn into the heart of christ I think we all would agree with that, right? I mean if we love what a gift to be able to I mean, I just don't know you guys I can't imagine there's many important ministries out there, you know Like courage like ewtn, you know all different types of ministries And I'm not comparing us to them at all because they're all good and all necessary different Different facets of the diamond that is the grace of god pouring out on the church But that said I can't imagine a more important ministry A more important apostolate to use a catholic word Than this one where we're transforming hearts and minds to know him And then to live in that reality Because that's what brings the gospel to the world. That's what brings salvation to the world. Yeah And what do you uh, what else did I know we you you had a kind of a An agenda that's an agenda that I've blown out the window, right? No, we're covering everything. Um I mean, you know We're we're getting there. Um, I think what I just wanted to say too was um To kind of lead into I know you touched on it there dan and If I'll if I'll add because I know you asked joe this I I'm in terms of like what brings you to tears of what really moves you I get moved all the time I love talking to our people And it's incredible, but I have to tell you one of the things that really Hit me to the point where I was speechless was during Our investiture the summer uh right before the summit when we all started renewing our promises, you know to prayer and it was 100 some people in the chapel and it was the I think I shared it was like the most basic prayer like I promised to pray and I couldn't even I was so overcome with love and jesus and joy and happiness it was just this like my heart was just bursting and I just heard the lord say like this is communion. This is the Eucharist. This is this is it. This is us and it was so beautiful and um that community is so important and I know we you've talked about possibly be a little bit and I think what's really neat is the community back in march. We did the consecration of st. Joseph and man once we did that things just kind of went uh really fast from there and he He took over so do you want to just share what happened after we we did all that all the the Movement we've been up to and kind of what's next for us here dan Yeah, so and I know you have specific things in mind. So if I don't cover it I mean we've talked about a lot of the miracles I mean the fact that we got this property the retreat center our lady of mount carmel retreat center um retreat and center for spiritual formation in Montgomery, alabama And we're building st. Joseph's chapel right now here and it's 60 acres We're on uh 16 acre lake um out in front and It's a place of healing. Uh, I really see I know it's going to be a place of healing for priests Religious in laity. Um, we've already had priests coming to us surprisingly Saying hey, I want formation You know, hey, can I come and rest with you for a day? And what you know, what a joy to have a priest to say that we're here for you and he and him say Yeah, you know, I need that. I'll be there next Friday And just have him show up and spend the entire day. We fed him a couple meals Left him alone. He took a nap. He walked around the property. There's there's miles of what we call prayer trails We do rosary around the lake every day But st. Joseph really for me, I think like the big thing this year has provided us a home base One where we can build on we've moved the abala offices here We're we're god willing will build a center for spiritual formation We're working on plans to build 150 seats Formation center where we can bring the guys that joe's working with in the high calling program Here at various times in their formation in their seminary Where we can do formation for priests generally speaking on In the realm of spiritual warfare deliverance ministry And other needs that we have because we have I mean the thing we have at our disposal is so amazing is We have the best scholars in the world Are really, you know, there there's certainly many of them are at the angelicum in Rome and the gregorian and The knack and all these other institutions all over the world that are that are amazing But because the nature of our work, we don't have limits in terms of the depth of The quality of formation we can provide so we're trying to create a special place here And I think st. Joseph has provided us with the foundation That will allow us to draw people into silence away from all the You know even Diocesan priesthood can be a beautiful You know vocation it is a beautiful vocation, but it's incredibly busy We need to give guys a place to rest same with religious life people think it's all you know priests and women floating around on little clouds, you know You know sprinkling pixie dust on one another as they pass with joy in the hallways It just doesn't like that, you know, joe discern with uh Joe discern religious life, you know, it's a little bit of what that's like but um Yeah, so the big thing for me and when you say what does st. Joseph done Is he has given us a home and uh, he's given us a home where This is the uh, this is the place where the mission will be built the epicenter of the mission Yeah, what about you stuff? Oh, I you know, it's just been such an incredible thing. Um Yes, it was st. Joseph, but it was also our lady. Yeah Our lady has been preparing this place and one of the things that we've talked about And which to me was nothing short of miraculous Um was here we are we're looking for this our lady of mount caramel retreat center You know, we're looking for a place for our lady We even have an island out there, you know, that's in the mary's in the middle of the lake that's mary's island But coming to this place when we were just touring it, you know, we were just looking at it Two people coming to look to see if this was even a possibility And to have you step past me open a closet And sitting in the bottom of the closet was a statue of our lady a Madonna That is the replica of one that I had been sitting in front of for 15 years praying Like that was a gift to me. It's not one that's just your generic You know, our lady of Fatima or your our lady of lords or whatever, right? It's a very specific Madonna And to see her sitting an exact replica of that sitting in the bottom of that closet Among the dust and the candles and the christmas decorations I was just struck dumb really at that moment and I thought My heavens our lady has been preparing this place So that she could draw her people her priests her married couples for marriage retreats, you know People to come learn and pray people to come learn about spiritual warfare She has been preparing a place to draw people to healing And and rest for how who knows how long because the people who own this weren't even catholic Right and but had a Madonna. I want to can I say something else about the Madonna? So she says it's unique. So I had an office in Rome for years So, you know, and I've traveled the world and I've seen every kind of statue of Mary Never in my life have I seen the one like Stephanie was given by her aunt. Would you know where she even got it? It was it. Well, they're in the christmas business. So it was it's some huge show somewhere Right, you know, you're like 15 16 years. I think even close to it. It's very Middle Eastern looking It's very interesting and then to to come to this property out in the middle of Montgomery, Alabama Right, and you know, we're only 30 minutes from Montgomery airport, but we're very it feels very isolated. There's no noise and it's very quiet But um, and but to see that there I was like, what is this and I asked I thought the woman Maybe the owner was catholic because she had other merian Devotional items here and she said no, I'm Methodist, you know, she just loves her. She just thinks it's beautiful Yeah, so, you know, she's been collecting them but um, so we do have a statue coming God be praised from yeah from Italy that'll adorn the our Mary's island. Yes from a generous benefactor and You know one thing and I would do want to say because people are going to be going Where do I find out? How do I come to the retreat center all of this? It isn't it's it isn't like a Like you can ask to come there's no doubt about that, but it is it's more Uh going to be targeted. It's not a retreat center where we're trying to fill beds every night to make money That's not what it's for. It's a retreat center for deliberate, you know For the spiritual exercises for specific kinds of formation that sort of thing So I don't even know if we'll ever have an actual public website, but I did update There's a picture I put out there yesterday just for you guys You can find it out on apostoleva.org if you go to the about page and you click on the FAQ You'll see a photo of the of the A little tiny portion of the 60 acres I took it while I was praying the rosary one morning and the sunrise was coming up and you'll see The sun you'll see the lake and the the main retreat house on the right hand side Though there's a lot more to it than that But um, so eventually probably we'll have a page out on apostoleva.org Just so people kind of get a sense of what what it's all about But really pray for us because you know being able to You know as dan says, you know god funds what he wills, right? So if he wills that we create this center, you know, where we can have 150 people here where we can have some housing in A bigger space so that we can worship our lord together in the holy sacrifice of the mass You know that that will need to come and so really pray for us pray for that discernment pray for That provision to come if it's god's will because I think it'll be extraordinary that there'll be so much More that we can do on this beautiful place so that we can rest together awesome So and was that kind of yeah, that's what I would love to end with with everyone, you know, just like We know god and his economy of divine salvation. He lets us participate in Intercessory prayer He's also a very generous and abundant god and he wants us to Participate in giving to so if you feel called to be a part of this mission you can Just go to our website make a donation spiritualdirection.com avala-institute.org or apostoleva.org You can also join the avala army And become a monthly member or if you feel called to just support the retreat center We have an anchor team over there on the apostoleva website. You can join monthly there And we'd love to have you be a part of what we do here to join us in this mission We can't do it alone. We're not doing it without you We we really need your support and always So just thank you all and we appreciate your time today. So That's all I have Dan. Well, it's been great hanging with you guys and uh I'm it's really a privilege to serve in this mission with you I I You know, I think the heart of every man and woman desires to live For a noble purpose, you know for a higher purpose not just for ourselves And I just it is impossible for me to imagine doing Something better for the kingdom of god doing something more noble More beautiful. I can't imagine it because this is just uh This mission working with you Being the apostoleva community being in the community of people who Are not formally part of the community but part of you know avala and priest and religious and laity The assembly of souls gathered around all of this are the best people on the planet Doing the best and most important work And I just am beyond grateful to the lord for allowing us to do it got me praise. Thanks for putting this Together and it's been awesome. Please pray for us. Please help us. We do need your help That's right Amen. Okay. All right All right Thank you. Take this out. I bless you guys