Overcoming Anything

Overcoming & Releasing Trapped Souls with Father Nathan Castle

• Anne Vryonides • Season 1 • Episode 18

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Episode 018 — Overcoming Traumatic Death with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.

What if some souls get “stuck” after traumatic deaths?

In this episode of Overcoming Anything, host Anne Vryonides sits down with Father Nathan Castle,  a Dominican priest who has spent more than 25 years helping over 500 souls who died suddenly—through accidents, suicides, overdoses, and other traumas—adjust to life after death.

These souls come to him in dreams seeking healing for what he calls Interrupted Death Experiences. This episode explores what happens after sudden death, why some souls struggle to transition, and how healing continues beyond the physical world.

About Father Nathan Castle
For more than 25 years, Dominican priest Father Nathan Castle, O.P., has helped hundreds of souls who died suddenly find peace and move forward after death. These spirits visit him in dreams, seeking understanding and closure. He is the author of Afterlife, Interrupted (Books 1 & 2) and teaches worldwide about healing, forgiveness, and spiritual transition.

3 Key Takeaways
• Healing continues after death — unresolved trauma doesn’t end with the body.
• Inner work matters now — honesty, self-awareness, and emotional clearing help both the living and the departed.
• Love is the bridge — compassion and forgiveness guide all souls toward peace.

Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome & introduction
04:10 — What is an Interrupted Death Experience™?
09:30 — How Father Nathan began receiving souls in dreams
15:20 — Why traumatic deaths create disorientation
22:45 — The role of forgiveness after death
30:00 — Stories of souls who needed help crossing
38:50 — What these experiences teach the living
47:15 — How to begin your own inner spiritual work
53:00 — Where to connect with Father Nathan

Connect with Father Nathan Castle
Website: https://www.fathernathancastle.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fathernathancastle
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FatherNathanCastle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FatherNathanCastle

Books
Afterlife, Interrupted (Book 1), Father Natan Castle —  https://a.co/d/aj6dsJ2

Afterlife, Interrupted II (Book 2) — https://a.co/d/9LX2J2K

Afterlife, Interrupted III  (Book 3) — https://a.co/d/8qMgY8v

Credits
Host: Anne Vryonides
Guest: Father Nathan Castle, O.P.

Disclaimer
The content of this episode is for informational and inspirational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional spiritual, medical, or mental-health advice.

Please follow, download, and rate Overcoming Anything so this podcast can reach the people who need it most. 

❤️ Anne


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Speaker:

Welcome to Overcoming Anything, the podcast where we dive deep into stories of resilience, transformation, and growth. I'm your host Anne Vryonides, and today we have an incredible guest who helps people who have died a traumatic or violent death. Move through the afterlife process and to bring them freedom. And in fact, he's written three books on the topic, so he's quite the subject matter expert. So joining me today is Father Nathan Castle. He's a Catholic priest, author, podcast host, and over the past 27 years. His unique ministry, which is rooted in the Catholic church's mystical tradition, has helped more than 600 souls transition. So welcome to the show.

Speaker 2:

Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker:

Thank you for coming. So before we dive in, I always love to ask, what's one quote or mantra that keeps you going in tough times?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's my own kind of motto. My own, what inner talk, the way that I speak to myself. I believe that, that the universe is one great big ball of love. That God is love and God is everywhere. And everything that's created is because God willed it into existence and lives inside of it. So I say to myself, receive love, magnify love. Give away love.

Speaker:

I

Speaker 2:

love

Speaker:

it.

Speaker 2:

That's just my my, when I'm idling at a red light or whenever I'm in line at the grocery store or just my, I try to re repeat that to myself that I don't really need to worry about anything or stress. All I need to do is receive love, magnify love, and give love away.

Speaker:

I like that. Talking about being in your car. So like when someone cuts you off, you're like, okay, I receive love. I magnify love and I'm giving it back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And just by temperament, when I'm in the car, I make it a point not to be in a hurry. And if other people need to weave in and out or tailgate or any of the things that people do, I bless them under the dashboard. I don't want them to think that my hand gesture is aggressive. I can make the sign of the cross with my hand under the dashboard and just bless them and hope they get safely where they're gonna go. And I'd really rather that aggressive drivers not be near me anyway. I'd rather see them race on ahead.

Speaker:

Yeah, I hear.

Speaker 2:

But I hope they get where they're going safely.

Speaker:

Great wisdom to share when we're behind the wheel. Awesome. So let's start at the beginning. What is the most difficult thing that you've had to overcome in working with, many of the people that come to see you?

Speaker 2:

The people who come to see me have been through a trauma. They have died. Their deaths are usually have been traumatic once in a while. It's not their death. That's the trauma they're struggling with in their afterlife. It might have been an unhealed trauma from earlier in their life that they just kinda limped along with.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

But the most difficult. Frankly, it's not that difficult because they've been vetted. They don't come randomly. The more difficult stuff is people on this plane that that want me to help them, but that resist. My efforts, you know? Sometimes people just, they have, they don't have enough hope to get themselves motivated to try something that they're not already doing, but what they're already doing isn't working. And so sometimes, you just have to wait to see if there's an opportunity to help maybe later than right now.

Speaker:

So do you think by people doing their inner work and healing their traumas while they're here in the 3D world on Earth, that's going to prevent them from. Being in the in-between,

Speaker 2:

It would be case by case. But yes, the overarching answer I think would be yes, anytime that we pay attention to the truth of our lives and don't lie to ourselves or come to a new appreciation of a deeper awareness and a deeper truth, often through counseling. That's cumulative. If you do it now, you don't have to do it later because you arrived at the truth of something, because you worked at it

Speaker:

right. So true. So how do you help people and how do these souls come to you?

Speaker 2:

Yes. It's such an unusual thing. It's good at the beginning of a podcast to explain it in brief. Before I'm a Catholic priest almost 70 years old, I've been. I was praying for this what Catholics call the souls and purgatory as a little child. There's a whole backstory there of how I, but got so interested in that. But about close to 30 years ago, I began having visitors in the night, people that come in a dream and show me content that's not my own psycho babble. They're very different from my regular dream mm-hmm. Cycle. And they're usually showing me. They're violent death in a way that's not terrorizing. They're not giving me nightmares, they're just conveying information. It might be violent information, but it's sort of buffered. Mm-hmm. I wake up from it, I write it down in a journal on the nightstand. I bless them and go back to sleep, and then I make an appointment to meet with, different prayer partners I have in different parts of the country. When I first started doing this, I thought it was important that it be. In person that I meet with people face to face to do this process. But during the pandemic, when that wasn't possible, zoom became our media and it works just fine. So most weeks I have a two hour session with prayer partners where we what I do is I go into protected prayer. I use, I'm a Catholic Christian, so I use the persons of the Christian Trinity, the father, Jesus' son, the Holy Spirit, Saint Michael, the Archangel mother Mary Saint Dominic, the founder of order. I belong to a lot of other saints and angels, just to make sure that we're in a protected space, right? And then I read the story to my prayer partners. Sometimes I read it a second time. Are you familiar with the phrase Lexio? Davina? Do you know that?

Speaker:

No, I am not.

Speaker 2:

It's a prayer technique that involves taking perhaps a passage of scripture, like a paragraph or two and reading it once for information and then being still and reading a second time for the. Your emotional response to it. Okay. We do something similar to that, and then the way that it evolved over time, I usually ask for the guardian angel of this person if they would come on the line first and borrow my voice to speak to my partners. That commonly gets called channeling. I avoid that word because in the church it's a radioactive word, it upsets people, and there's just no need for that. I just believe it's a prophetic gift. In the Jewish and Christian tradition, God sometimes, speaks through a prophet to deliver a message. So anyway, there, I'm co conscious with the guardian. They're very sweet. Your guardian angel is somebody who loves you dearly and has known you since the womb. They're excited because this is graduation day. You've been through a lot, but, you've healed. Your show is all about resilience and overcoming. These people have overcome to the point where they don't need this level of care anymore. It's as though they're near the door of a medical center. Okay. They might not be a picture of health, but they don't need this anymore and they're ready to go on to a new place with more adventure and excitement and possibility about it. So we get to be a part of that. So The Guardian does a little bit of a mic test. You and I didn't even need to do that today. We got on this technology and everything worked right away. But it doesn't always, sometimes you have to spend a moment. Fiddling with tech and there's a bit of connective work that has to be done sometimes. And the person that the soul that we're helping has probably never borrowed another human person's voice before. So they're doing something that they've never done. So this puts them at ease. We chat for a little bit and then dreams can have an distinctness about them. By their nature. They might have symbology or, there might be something that wasn't. Absolutely clear in it. And so we'll ask for example, someone could have let me know that they died in a automobile accident, but they didn't give me their gender.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I'd like to know if I'm talking with a woman or a man, sometimes I feel like I'm in a country other than the US so could I know about that? Or there might be a crowd scene. In the dream, are we helping one person or more than one person? Mm-hmm. Or a group. So there's a little bit of that. Then, they go off, they say, if you don't have any other questions for me, I will slide to the side and I'll be with you in prayer as my beloved now speaks. That's very common the way they do that. Okay. And then the person that we're helping comes on the line and gives us a little more detail about what happened to them, what their process has been in healing, and then toward the end we try to help them imagine. Who would they like to come for them or how would they like to proceed?

Speaker:

So it's their decision on how you move forward.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and it's very creative. There can be, sometimes it's nothing more than taking a walk. Other times it's a hot air balloon. It's a motorcycle. There's often some sort of transport and it usually matches something in their life experience or something that would excite them. Or maybe the person who's coming for them chooses a limo or whatever. There's escalators. I've seen all kind of things there. They're just sort, there's some sort of transport involved, but sometimes it's playful and fun. Other times there's a big reunion of a whole lot of people coming for them. Usually not. Usually it's one person who then guides them into the next thing for them. It's great fun.

Speaker:

Yeah, it sounds like it. So are these souls just looking to cross over or do they give you messages to relay to family members that have been left behind? And do they give you, like if they were murdered, do they give you information to maybe contact the police and help find their killer?

Speaker 2:

No, I've never been involved in, in that. It's really largely what I just said. We're just helping them move from one, afterlife plane. The fact that somebody died in a trauma doesn't need necessarily mean they need this.

Speaker:

Okay?

Speaker 2:

For example, a plane could crash with 200 people on it, but they don't all die the same way. They don't all respond to the same event in the same way, any more than, you know, in this life. We, a lot of us could go through the same experience, but we have a different response to it, a different way of receiving it.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker 2:

And so I want people to know that if they did lose someone in a violent death, don't presume that they're in some stuck state. They might not be, but if they are, it's okay because they're still tended to, everybody is loved and well cared for, and there's never. Shortage. You know, our healthcare system can tell you, you're denied coverage. We won't pay for that or whatever. There's none of that. Everybody gets what they need and they get all that they need and plenty of people help them.

Speaker:

Beautiful. So this is a very unique gift that you have or do, all Catholic priests have this ability,

Speaker 2:

it's, um, I. Once I started speaking of this publicly, it's been going on for a long time, but I didn't write or speak publicly about it until 2018. So that's now what, seven years ago? Because I was busy running large institutions. I've mostly been a campus minister. I live on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson, but I was at Stanford. I was at Arizona State for 12 years. These, those jobs are very. Intense hard jobs to do, and I just thought if I was talking about this kind of thing, I would make them all the more difficult.'cause not everybody wants to hear about this kind of thing and it freaks them out, right. I didn't really speak of it until about seven years ago, but when I, since I have people contact me, they're not necessarily priests or Christians or Catholics, they're just people for whom this kind of thing happens and they're glad to know that somebody else. Has this too, and then we compare notes. What's it like for you? And it, it goes a lot of different directions, but it's the same kind of work. Okay.

Speaker:

If

Speaker 2:

the ancient Greeks had it they it's attested in ancient Greek literature.

Speaker:

Well, you're definitely a chosen soul to have this special ability to help people. I

Speaker 2:

love doing it and it's it's just so rewarding and it helps me navigate the difficulties of this life because I, it just reminds me all the time that even if the worst comes to the worst as it did in the lives of these people we, there's the tomorrow.

Speaker:

So I guess this is probably an oversimplification, but is there like a beacon of light above your head that if someone. Needed to, needed assistance in moving over that they come to you in your dream is that,

Speaker 2:

it's funny because I did ask early on, how did you find me? I quit asking because the answer was always the same. It was some version of, I don't know, somebody brought me here.

Speaker:

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

But one time somebody said Your light was on, and that reminded me of those, those Motel six ads will leave the light on for you.

Speaker:

You're funny.

Speaker 2:

My bedroom is a cheap motel

Speaker:

and it's an hourly rate, right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I'm just kidding. But it's, no, it isn't random. And, the, everybody is vetted and they're in an organized healing modality where very much like a medical center where if you were traumatized, somebody picks you up at the scene and puts you in an ambulance and, you might even know what's going on, but you get to an er, perhaps surgery, maybe A-A-I-C-U and step down all the way to the front door. And so there's been a team of people that have been helping you all along and we're a part of that team. And we don't do the heavy lifting. We have a pretty light job just to help you out the door, sort of like a social worker might the day you're leaving the hospital.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Make sure that your meds, your follow up physical therapy or stuff like that, just, it's a pretty easy job.

Speaker:

Yeah. I have a question for you. So I had another guest on who was talking about her death experiences.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And she was raised in the Catholic church. And so when she died she said that she went to hell and that she was in this hell, and she finally started singing Christmas songs in order to come out. And she made the choice to go to heaven and then. She had her experience there and then came back. So she said her story was that you choose to go to hell because everybody has a choice. So is that your belief, does that align with what you believe or what has been your experience?

Speaker 2:

Do you know, do you have read any CS Lewis?

Speaker:

No, I haven't.

Speaker 2:

You know him? He's, he was most prolific in maybe the 1940s, fifties. So on, a great Christian writer thinker. He argued that, hell is locked from the inside. That it's that it's not a matter of God wanting to cast someone into a fiery lake but Jesus on the cross, that if father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. And I, you know, these are mysteries and what I, how I operate and act doesn't need to be the template for everybody else. But I really do believe that. That's what I've witnessed, that when people choose hellish circumstances, there are other ways to deal with whatever it is, but for whatever reason, they've chosen a or they don't always feel like they've chosen.'cause sometimes people are more under like an addiction. And their ability to make free choices is compromised, but they end up in circumstances that are dark and miserable and feel like that's all they can have. Okay. You understand that? I think it was a little loquacious.

Speaker:

So if someone, so someone maybe subconsciously based on their trauma or their limiting beliefs or their cycle of pain that they lived in this lifetime could, determine them heading down there. But then is there an escape, route that if they call on God then someone brings them to you to help them pass over?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well remember the ones that come to me are not in that circumstance that you're describing. There are a way at the other end of their healing and they're ready to move. Oh,

Speaker:

okay.

Speaker 2:

So I'm not really doing that level of at that front end. I'm a member of IN, the International Association for Near Death Studies.

Speaker:

And

Speaker 2:

I attend their conferences. I speak for ions groups local groups. And I haven't had a near death experience, but I know many people who have, and I've listened to a lot of them. And there's a genre of, people that's, it's not a large number. It might be 10% maybe of people who have a near death experience have something that's was hellish. But that's not unique that but of course people who have a near death experience didn't die. They, or they didn't stay dead. They had, they might have coded or something and came back to tell us that they're still here. But it's a mystery, these things. But I do believe that, there's the opportunity for all of us to turn away from the darkness and, but we have to be willing to look at our truth. You won't be able to lie your way until a happy after life.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And Jesus calls himself the way, the truth and the life. And even though only a fraction of the world's population is Christian, I believe that when you move toward truth, you move toward God and goodness and. Jesus, I think he's a universal figure and doesn't have to be thought of as sectarian. He wasn't very, he wasn't conventionally religious. He was thrown out of his synagogues and temple. He it's funny that, you know, he's, he's a religious figure, but I think he's very available to people that, for whom religion isn't very important.

Speaker:

Yeah, that's a good point. So what has made this particular. Gift that you have challenging for you? What's the hardest part about doing this work?

Speaker 2:

Rejection. Because I will never get to the end of explaining to people why this is not of the devil. It just isn't. And I've had some good, scholarly. Work that is on my website and stuff that explains what I'm doing and why it's not something of the dark. But, people will believe what they choose to and they'll form opinions that you wish they wouldn't. And I, for a lot of my life I was a people pleaser. And you know, especially in school, I always was, uh, good grades and report cards and all of that. And I'd like to be well thought of. And and sometimes I am, but other times I'm not. And I just have to own that and just go about my work,

Speaker:

yeah. Definitely. So what would you like to share with our listeners? Maybe in clarifying some misconceptions that they have or advice that you would have for someone that is getting ready to transition to have a good Passover?

Speaker 2:

Uh, one would be do the broadest, deepest forgiving of everyone that you can. And even if you can't finish the job, do as much as you can. You've probably experienced that, haven't you? Hasn't there been someone who's hurt you and you've tried to forgive them, but then their name comes up and

Speaker:

Yeah. Ironically, I've just really personally done some deep forgiveness lately, clearing it, it's

Speaker 2:

not always a job that you can finish. You can't necessarily put it on a to-do list and run a line through it that you're finished. But that doesn't mean that you can't keep trying and can't keep. Digging in. I believe that God provides, for us when we don't have enough strength to do things on our own. And so I'll, how in the world did Jesus forgive the people While he was dying? Nobody said they were sorry that he wasn't apologized to, he just forgave everybody, without condition. And so I sometimes say. Hey, give me some of that, what you have that helps you do that. I want that too. I would recommend that people just don't let themselves get caught up in dramatic stories, even if they're true that I'm the victim and this person did this and that and the other, and you, okay. Yeah, that's true, but that doesn't mean that you have to, harbor ill will, or whatever. You don't have to do that. It's, that's there is a choice in there. Forgive them as much as you can.

Speaker:

I think of forgiveness like an onion, that you gotta peel off the layers and sometimes the closer you get the more it stinks, but you just keep going.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. But there's a caveat there in that people, it is important to get to safety. You know, if you're around somebody that's doing your harm and would do it again, the next time they get the chance, then get to safety. But with that understood. Just be as forgiving as you can and you know, in the near death experience, are you familiar with the life review?

Speaker:

Yes, I am. You might wanna explain that for the

Speaker 2:

listeners. Yeah. For your listeners, very often people that have had near death experiences, experience what they call a life review, and they very often talk about a feeling of floating. And being in love and light some metaphysical state where they're just in surrounded by nothing but love.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And no negative judgment that accuses them of they're just floating in love. But then they'll be shown a scene. From their life. Maybe it was in junior high and you, everybody was taunting somebody and you joined in the game and made fun of somebody's appearance or something like that, and you thought it was no harm, no foul, but it really hurt them. Well, you'll feel, you'll be back in that scene and feel it from the point of view of everybody in it.

Speaker:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

And you'll be made to know the truth of the impact of your words or actions. And then, you know, oh, I had no idea. And then you have new information that you might be able to act upon. It's not always negative. Sometimes you did something complimentary or helpful that you've long forgotten but the person for whom you did that has not forgotten it because it sent them on a different trajectory because you were there and you did or said the thing. And so sometimes people are shown scenes from their life that help them come back and be. I don't know. More alert, more awake to their own, agency and action in the world.

Speaker:

Wow, I got goosebumps all down my body. When you said that about how like sometimes you've done something good for someone else and you have no idea the impact that it's had on their life, and Yes. How it could change a trajectory that's so beautiful.

Speaker 2:

One, it's, it has an element of judgment, but sometimes some Christian folk think of Jesus as the severe with a gavel that pounds it and sends you to hell, something like that. But judges all at the front end of a legal process. Are in the discovery phase. They're just trying to discern. For all of us what happened, you know, and the jury, the lawyers weren't there, the judge wasn't there. But we bring in people who were, and we ask them, what did you see? What did you hear? What? And we just want to know the truth of things not necessarily. So we can lock someone up and throw away the key. We just wanna know, first of all, what really happened. And then what were the backstories of the people that were involved in this scene? What disposed that person to do that angry thing that they ought not have done? Uh, very often there's a backstory. And so that comes to light in a life review. Okay.

Speaker:

All right. So how do you help family members deal with grief and assist them in moving forward in peace after they've lost a loved one?

Speaker 2:

First, take your cues from them. Everybody's grief belongs to them and it's theirs, and it's, I don't think of it as something I go poking around in uninvited. But. I'm very strong on the idea that indeed it's true that we survive our deaths in the Christian economy of things. Good Friday. It's, it takes all the never in the world to call that day. Good. What happened on it was horrific. But only three days later, Jesus' back saying, it's me, Pope, my, your fingers in my hand is not on your feet. You, you know, it's really, really me, Uhhuh, and he, I don't think he's the one in a million. He's the template. He's just showing us that we are already eternal beings. And that should the worst come to the worst for us. Whatever your imaginings are, about a terrible outcome that could befall you, even if it did, it will turn. Good. Three days later it's morning and we awaken to a new opportunity, and he doesn't show up to all of his followers and say, where the hell were you? He doesn't come up and start accusing each one for their failures. He just says, peace be with you. All I want is your peace, and then we can go into whatever the chapter and verse of your trauma is and your troubles and so on. But first of all, peace be with you. So I just, when I'm around people that are in trauma, I try to be peaceable and I if I'm preaching, for example, at a funeral, then I'm invited. But I'm, and I have an opportunity to speak. But the message that I always want people to know is, many people in the world believe in an afterlife. And even if you don't. You could try it on, you could test out that belief. Could you borrow, you can borrow mine if you want. You, you try it on. And can you use your imagination to imagine something hopeful and joyful for the person who has died? And can you imagine them hearing you and do you think there's anything that you can do to influence them for the good? What may I go on a little bit?

Speaker:

Oh, absolutely, please do.

Speaker 2:

Well, I've given an example when I was raised by parents that were in poverty in the depression. They worked their way out of it and were determined that us five kids would all go to college. And each of us had a savings, a college savings fund, the first week of our lives.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

My dad got me a checking account when I was 14 because he wanted me to know how to handle money, how to pay a bill, how to write a check, how to keep track of money. And we weren't allowed to have jobs in fast food or anything like that because he was a harbor pilot in coastal shipping on the Texas Gulf Coast. He needed a driver. Because he'd drive his truck to where the ship was, but then he took the ship somewhere else and his car was sitting there. So he needed driver. So as soon as we got 16, we would be his driver. And that meant any hour of the day or night.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Um, so we didn't get an allowance, but when I went off to college, he would, he didn't like talking on the phone, but when I would call. He'd say, mama, your son's on the phone. And, but he'd listen in and eventually he'd get tired of it and he'd say, son, do you need anything? Which meant money.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And he would put money in my checking account if I needed it. And sometimes I didn't. I would just say, no, I'm good. Thanks. But he never asked me how I spent it. He knew he had raised a responsible son and he didn't ask what I spent it on. I sent, I started sending him money after he died. Currency is from the word current. And I believe that love is a force that moves between us like a current. And death doesn't stop that. You can continue to love someone who has died by sending them currency. So I give my dad resources. I send him prayers so that whatever his projects are, he's got more energy or some, something good to, use because I. I gave it to him.

Speaker:

Wow. I've never heard anything like that. That's beautiful. And

Speaker 2:

it, I grew up that's the idea of grace, of being something. Something that has some tangible. Energy about it that moves between people. And so that's the way I used that metaphor of the way he used to put money in my checking account. It gave me opportunities that I wouldn't have had if I didn't have the money. That's one of the things money does is give you possibilities. And so I send loved ones prayers, energy and just say, I don't know what your project is, but I'll look forward to finding out later on. But for right now, here's some prayer support. Here's some currency.

Speaker:

Yeah, I guess never really thought about sending prayers to people that have passed on. Most people and, or maybe it's just me, think, okay, you've asked them for help and guidance, but you

Speaker 2:

can do both it conduct it, because a lot goes both ways. And then I'd like to add too that it's not necessary to presume distance. You can presume proximity or closeness with any kind of prayer. You don't. If God's everywhere, you don't need to pray to God in a distant galaxy or some metaphysical plane that you've not been to. You can presume that God is inside you. When Catholics make the sign of the cross, when I was tiny, my, I was learning the alphabet, and my mom said, what letter does that make? It makes an X. You draw two, perpendicular lines across your body, up and down and sideways. And right in the middle of it, your heart, she said, well, what is X? Marks the spot of, she knew I love pirates. X is where the treasure's buried. And she said, it's because it's inside you. You're God is inside you. So you just make the cross and then you knock on your chest and say hello in there. I want to talk to you, and then talk to God inside you. And so I believe that my dad and everybody else that I've loved who's died can be nearby if I ask them to be, or if not, if I'm interrupting somehow or they're indisposed, that's another matter. But I can at least, I don't need to form a thought at the beginning that I must overcome distance.

Speaker:

Yeah, I agree. I believe God is inside of us. Not some, not way above the clouds, way up in the sky that we have to call down

Speaker 2:

But if God's everywhere, God is in those places. But you, that doesn't mean your prayer has to become some sort of, sending telepathic messages, office satellite or something. You can just. Just take a breath and go inside and say hello,

Speaker:

Absolutely. So how has your life changed for the better since you've been in this role and given this gift?

Speaker 2:

These are real people. They're not just stories. And so every time I meet one more person, I have one more friend. So they might not, people that you stay, be people that you stay in touch with. Many of us have occupations where we deal with the public, and you don't remember every last exchange that you had with everybody, but sometimes you do. Sometimes, you hit it off with somebody and they, you became, friends in addition to the. Role that you were supplying in their life? So I've met a lot of friends. And then sometimes the friend of a friend, the people that came for them. And, sometimes those famous people because that's, that can be a thing too. It's really joyful. And if people are given the opportunity to ask who they'd like to have come for them, sometimes they ask for, it's like playing that desert island game. If you could be with anybody on a desert island, who would it be? Sometimes people approach it that way, Uhhuh. And so I end up at least having brief conversations with. Famous folks, and so it's made me I was not one to be very much afraid of death anyway. But, I get closer to it every day and I'm a, my next birthday will be a big one, a 70 and, many of my loved ones are older than I. So there we have that, what I call the organ recital. You get on the phone and you start talking about livers and intestines. You know, how is your colon, and and all that. It's taken away a lot of what it might have been, fear about what comes next. You just stay in the present moment, do the present duty, enjoy the present, grace, and try to stay positive.

Speaker:

Well, I'm sure God's gonna keep you around a lot longer because you'll have a lot of work to do and it's important work.

Speaker 2:

That'd be okay with me. I'm in good health and I'm in a happy place.

Speaker:

Awesome. So looking back, what is the one thing you've learned about yourself having gone through this ability to help people in this way?

Speaker 2:

I have a podcast that's called The Joyful Friar. A Friar is what I am. It's a, it's, it's just from the Latin and the French Freir means brother. So I'm in a brotherhood of my religious order that I belong to for 46 years. And our founder, St. Dominic, that was his nickname, which is why I joined this particular group and not another one. I just thought life is hard enough already. I don't want to join any group that has sorrow or. Crosses or crowns of thorns or dos of blood in their name. I just, I wanna share joy. Yeah. And because I now am known online and, as the joyful friar, it makes me, hold myself to that standard. So if I wake up and I start worrying about things or getting sad or aggravated or whatnot, I'll just kind of slap myself around and say, and you call yourself a joyful fryer. You snap out of it, buddy. It's gonna be joyful today if it kills you. Something.

Speaker:

Oh, you're funny. So I know you've written three books, which we'll link down below in the show notes, but is there another book that helped you on your journey that you could recommend to our listeners?

Speaker 2:

What I'd recommend another book that I've written'cause I have a fourth one.

Speaker:

Oh, you do? Okay, awesome.

Speaker 2:

I do. It's actually called End Toto to the Wizard of Oz as a spiritual adventure. And I do a lot of retreats based on The Wizard of Oz, and it never goes away. We're just about to have the second half of Wicked come out right before Thanksgiving. And I just love that story and I use it in counseling and, retreats and stuff to help people look at the big circle of their life. So anything to do with The Wizard of Oz and it gets written about a lot. I have a whole library of Oz books that's probab. A favorite book is, the Screw Tape Letters. I mentioned CS Lewis earlier. That one is one I would recommend to people.

Speaker:

Okay. Alright. Awesome. Is there any other, thoughts that you would like to share with our listeners or something that I should have asked but didn't ask that you would like to explain?

Speaker 2:

One thing I'd like to say is, if people were interested in being in touch with me I would ask if they first read at least one of my books. Okay.

Speaker:

cause

Speaker 2:

otherwise I end up having to explain things that are already well explained in print. It's not just a matter of selling another book for another buck. It's just if if people want to speak with me, I'd rather have a better conversation because they were a little better informed about the unusual work that my partners than I do. That's probably the. I would say.

Speaker:

Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much Father Nathan. This has been such an inspiring conversation and thank you for sharing your journey with us. And where can people follow you, connect with you, and learn more about what you do?

Speaker 2:

It's easiest at my website, which is my name, Nathan, N-A-T-H-A-N, dash castle, C-A-S-T-L-E, Nathan castle.com. And then on the website, if you go to the upper right hand corner, it has the social media icons. If you click on the YouTube one, it will take you to my YouTube channel, which has got a lot of archived studies that I do. Scripture study. Retreats that I've given homilies that I've preached in public worship anything, all of my materials is there and people can noodle around in there and see if there's things that interest them.

Speaker:

Okay. Excellent. We'll also link that down below your website and your social links. Yeah. In the show notes. Thank you once again if you found this episode helpful, please share it with someone who might be facing a similar challenge and needs to hear this message of hope and possibility. So don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next time on overcoming Anything.