MARIAN CONFERENCE

MARIAN  CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

7:30AM - CHECK-IN

8:30AM - 9:30AM - GABRIEL CASTILLO (MENTAL PRAYER AND MARY)

9:35AM - 10:35AM - VICTOR GALLARDO (REVISITING CREATION & THE FALL: FEMINISM & SELFISH CHAOS)

10:35AM - 10:55AM - BREAK

11:00AM - 12:00PM - GABRIEL CASTILLO (VICTORY IN MARY- THEOLOGY AND MISSION)

12:00PM - 1:00PM - LUNCH

1:00PM - 2:00PM - VICTOR GALLARDO (WOMAN, A HELPER FIT FOR MAN: HOW MARY HELPS RESTORE OUR IDENTITY & VISION)

2:00PM - 3:00PM - GABRIEL CASTILLO (VICTORY IN MARY - MARY'S WEPONS)

3:00PM - 4:00 PM - MASS WITH FATHER ROBERT MCGOWAN

Get to know Gabriel Castillo (GabiAfterHours) Click the link to know him: https://youtu.be/yz6kNkErXec

Article by Shalom Tidings Read more at https://shalomtidings.org/winning-war-with-the-beads/

Who is Gabriel Castillo

Struggling to break that cycle of sin in your life? Gabriel Castillo was into all things the world said were good — sex, drugs, rock and roll–until he decided to give up sin and confront the biggest battle of his life. I was raised in a single parent household with practically no religious education. My mother is an amazing woman and she did the best she could to provide for me, but it wasn’t enough. While she was out working, I was home alone in front of cable television. I was raised by television networks such as MTV. I valued what MTV told me to value: popularity, pleasure, music, and all things ungodly. My mother did the best she could to steer me in the right direction, but without God I just went from sin to sin. From bad to worse. This is the story of more than half the people in this Country. Children are being raised by the media and the media is leading people to misery in this life and in the next. Our Lady Steps In My life began to dramatically change when I went to the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas. At UST I took theology and philosophy courses that opened my mind to objective truth. I saw that the Catholic faith made sense. In my mind I came to believe that Catholicism was objectively true, but there was just one problem… I was a slave to the world, the flesh, and the devil. I was becoming known as one of the best of the bad kids and one of the worst of the good kids. Amongst my bad friends, a lot of them were going through the RCIA program to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and I thought “Hey I’m a bad Catholic…I should be able to get confirmed too”. On the required Confirmation Retreat we made a holy hour, I had no idea what a holy hour was, so I asked a professor who advised me to simply look at the Eucharist and repeat the Holy Name of Jesus. After about 10 minutes of this practice God stuck His finger into my soul and overwhelmed me with His love, and my heart of stone melted. For the rest of the hour, I cried. I knew Catholicism was true not just in my head, but also in my heart. I had to change. One Lent, I resolved to go all in and give up mortal sin. Just 2 hours after my resolution, I realized how messed up I was when I had already committed a mortal sin. I realized I was a slave. That night God gave me true contrition for my sins and I cried to Him for mercy. That is when a demon spoke up. His voice was audible and scary. In a high pitched growl, he repeated my words mockingly, “God forgive me. I am so sorry!” Immediately I called upon Saint John Vianney. The second I made that invocation, the voice went away. The next night I was too terrified to sleep in my room because I feared hearing that voice again. So I pulled out a Rosary, which had been blessed by John Paul II. I opened a Rosary pamphlet, because I didn’t know how to pray the Rosary. When I said the word, “I believe…” a force grabbed me by the throat, pinned me down and began choking me. I tried calling my mother, but I couldn’t speak. Then a little voice in my head said, “Pray…Hail Mary.” I tried, but couldn’t. The voice in my head said “Say them in your mind.” So in my mind I said “Hail Mary”. Then I gasped the words aloud, “Hail Mary!” Immediately everything went back to normal. I was totally freaked out and realized that this demon had been with me throughout my entire life. At the same time I realized that Mary was the answer. Even just calling upon her name liberated me from the literal grips of a demon. After a little research, I identified several reasons why I was infested with demons. My mother had New Age books, I had sinful music, I had rated R movies, I had been living in mortal sin my entire life. I had belonged to the devil, but Our Lady crushes his head. I now belong to her. Failing to Convert Sinners I started to pray the Rosary every single day. I found a good priest and began going to Confession frequently, almost daily. I couldn’t keep that up, so I had to start taking little steps with Mary to break all of my addictions. Mary helped free me from slavery and inspired the desire to be an apostle. When I prayed the Rosary, she helped me break my addictions and purified my mind. I ended up getting a degree in theology and a minor in philosophy because of my radical change and hunger for righteousness. I recited many Rosaries a day and saw Mary everywhere and the devil nowhere. After college, I entered the Catholic school system as a Religion teacher; I began to teach the young people everything I knew. Although they were in a Catholic school they had even greater struggles than I did. With the advent of smartphones they had new opportunities to have hidden habits and hidden lives. I was a great teacher and trying my best to win their hearts for God, but failing. Two years in, I went on a retreat by a VERY holy priest known for having spiritual gifts of discernment of spirits and reading souls. We were encouraged to make a general confession. Looking back on the sins of a lifetime, I wept when I saw how horrible I had been in spite of God’s goodness and mercy. The priest asked, “Why are you crying?” and I sobbed, “because I’ve hurt so many people and led so many astray by my bad example.” He replied, “Do you want to make effective reparation for the damage you have done? Resolve to pray all the mysteries of the Rosary every day for an entire year, asking Our Lady to bring good out of every one of your bad actions and for every person you hurt. After that, never look back. Consider your debt paid and move on.” Winning with Mary I had prayed many daily Rosaries before, but never as a rule of life. When I made the entire Rosary part of my daily routine, everything changed. God’s power was with me all the time. Mary was winning through me. I was reaching souls, and my students were changing dramatically. They were begging me to put videos on YouTube. Those were early days and I lacked confidence, so I uploaded other people’s talks with pictures. Mary led me to work at a neighboring parish that better aligned with my zeal for souls. The pastor really encouraged me to stir the pot, so with his support, I did. I began making videos on touchy topics. I entered a film contest and won a free trip to World Youth Day and $4,000 worth of video equipment. I am telling you, Our Lady is a winner. At World Youth Day in Spain, I went to Holy Mass at Saint Dominic’s Church. I was praying before a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary when I felt an overwhelming sense of Saint Dominic’s presence. It was so strong that I almost felt that I was standing before a statue of Dominic and not Our Lady. I can’t describe the exact words, it was more of a deep interior understanding that I had a mission to promote the Rosary because that has answers to the world’s problems. I resolved to do that with the help of tools he didn’t have. I began to research everything about the Rosary—its history, its composition, its elements, the saints who prayed it. The more I studied it, the more I realized how much it provided answers. Conversions and victory in the spiritual life were fruits of the Rosary. The more I promoted it, the more I succeeded. As part of this mission, I developed a YouTube channel, Gabi After Hours, which also has content on raising children in the faith, fasting and deliverance. The Rosary is the fuel for my apostolic work. When we pray The Rosary, we can clearly hear Our Lady. The Rosary is like a sword that severs the shackles with which the devil has bound us. It is a perfect prayer. I currently work full-time in youth ministry with kids just like myself. The majority of them come from underprivileged families, many with only a single parent in the household. Since most of these children are fatherless, with mothers working two jobs, some fall into bad habits behind their parents’ backs, like smoking marijuana or drinking. However, when they are introduced to the Virgin Mary, the scapular, the miraculous medal and the Rosary, in particular, their lives radically change. They go from sinners to saints. From slaves of the devil to servants of Mary. They don’t just become followers of Jesus, they become apostles. Go all in with Mary. Go all in with the Rosary. All of the great Saints agree that following Mary leads you on the fastest, most secure, and efficacious path to the heart of Jesus Christ. According to Saint Maximilian Kolbe, it is the goal and the role of the Holy Spirit to form Christ in the womb of Mary perpetually. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must become like Mary. The Holy Spirit flies to Marian souls. This is the model for victory that Our Lord desires. We give ourselves to Mary, just like Jesus did. We cling to her, like baby Jesus did. We remain small so that she can live in us and bring Christ to others. If you want to win the battle go with Our Lady. She brings us to Christ and helps us to become like Christ. 

Victor Gallardo holds a B.A. Business Administration from University of Cal State Fullerton and holds a Master’s in Theology, with a Concentration in Sacred Scripture, from The Augustine Institute. He currently works in the real estate and mortgage lending industry doing full-time contract work, structing, underwriting and consulting for a wholesale lending branch located in Orange County.

Victor began by doing high school faith formation in 2002 and in 2006 began teaching adult faith formation. Teaching the faith, and not opinion, he seeks to hand on the one who has consumed him; “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Professionally, Victor taught Jr. High Theology for 3 years primarily using the Bible and Catechism. It proved to be successful, students found it refreshing and parents loved it. Challenging questions about divorce, same sex marriage, different religions and yes, a zombie apocalypse were dealt with on a regular basis, and students appreciated tough answers given with reasons. Having now taught most levels of education, Middle School, High School and adults, Victor has found that by simply knowing the faith well and teaching it well, individuals are better disposed to the grace of conversion. Victor believes that that in this day-and-age one needs an excellent philosophical and theological formation to battle all the information or “miss information” the faithful are bombarded with, no matter the age level. Before stepping down, Benedict XVI spoke on the “religious illiteracy” currently in the Catholic Church. Victor believes his mission is to better inform adults and parents so that they may be better prepared for their families and their workplace to combat the current crises of faith. He and his beautiful wife Marisa live in Santa Ana with their two children Abraham and Bernadette. An exceptionally popular speaker and teacher, Victor has delivered various talks on a wide variety of topics related to Scripture and the Catholic faith. He has been involved in catechetical efforts working as a collaborator and instructor with Confirmation programs. He currently teaches adult faith formation classes at Our Lady of the Pillar Church (Santa Ana), is committed to Evangelization, dedicated on bringing others into the Catholic Church and to the Re-Evangelization of Catholics. His lectures have been effective in helping many rediscover the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.

Lunch will be provided in this conference. The video recordings will be uploaded to the Brotherhoods YouTube Channel once they are edited.