My brothers and sisters. It is so good to be with you right now and so good to be with my dear friend Mario Enzler, who I has been up close and personal with so many saints that I think he's technically a third class relic. There's grace from just touching the man. So we're gonna dive into the, the up close and personal story of saints on this beautiful All Saints Day. Thanks for being with us before we dive into the interview today, I got some exciting news. Uh I'm a grandpa again. Let's bring the picture up on that screen so I can swoon. Um It's my little grand baby. Welcome to the world Charlotte Stefanik. She was born on my 46th birthday. That is the best birthday gift a man could ever ask for and uh just, just contemplating the gift of this new life. Just have me contemplating the gift of life in general. And what is it when, when God scans the infinite amounts of possible human beings, what is it that that makes him draw forth the people who uh from the infinite sea of people who could exist, those who get to and I think it's something in, in the father's heart and mind that just delights when he thinks of that person when he thinks about you. And, and there's a good meditation to send you with this week at the end of our show, maybe spend five minutes thinking about what, what is the Father delight in when he thinks about me? And, and I'm not asking you to puff yourself up in pride. But guys thinking about that, it, it makes you intentional about guarding that cars and that grace that God gave you and developing it. You see the saints all stand out from one another. I mean, people who fall into different sins, they all start to look like people in that category of sin. Sin doesn't just take grace away, it takes your individuality away. You could pick people out of a crowd who are smoking a lot of weed or into a particular kind of drug just by the look on their face. You can pick people out of a crowd who who have given themselves over to lust every time they're with a woman, the way their body language is being a saint makes you fully alive fully. You John Paul the second said this when we were at World Youth Day. This is John 1010. My favorite scripture. I'll never forget. His voice. Echoes in my heart saying it, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. The saints live life abundantly. Christian path is about, isn't about self negation like Buddhist. The more closer we get to our God, the more we stand out and become fully us, that's the story of the saints and here to talk about some of the saints with us. My dear friend Mario Enzler, former Swiss Guard, founded a, a school uh in, in New Hampshire uh is a, a teacher of business in Houston. I'm so exci I, I can't wait to visit uh the University of Saint Thomas and uh most importantly, that of five. Correct.

Well done on that. Thank you very much. Praise the Lord. It's an honor and a pleasure to be here and uh three kids engaged. So I think I'll be a grandpa sometime soon as well. And

I love you Mario because you're one of the few people that makes me uh look tired and introverted.

I take that as a compliment.

Ok, real quick. What is a Swiss guard? And how do you become one?

Ok. Well, a Swiss guard is uh a bodyguard of his holiness and to become a Swiss guard, you have to be Swiss and I am Swiss. Correct. So, I am Swiss because my dad was Swiss, my mom, Italian, I was born and raised in Italy, but with a Swiss passport. And when I finished graduate school, I decided to join the Swiss Army and from there I involved and joined the elite Swiss army. That's when I used to be Rag Ansom. And uh and I think you, thank you. Thank you. But that's it. So Swiss and, and, and that's it. So you

got very close uh access to Saint John Paul. The great. Yes. Uh How many years were you working

under him? Under him? I did 3.5 years as a Swiss guard. And then I got to uh embark into a banking career and I basically went back and I served as a financial advisor because, you know, even a, even a Pope as a financial advisor,

when did you realize that this isn't just an average guy? Ok. Well, being a Pope, you can presume this is not an average guy. When did you realize this is a saint?

About six weeks in the service? Ok. I had um seen him from afar but not yet had an interaction with him one on one within the apostolic palace. And so he was notified that he was gonna come through. So you have to follow a protocol cues, you know, close doors, make sure that nobody shows up and then you go to your attention and here he comes here is a little secret for you, Chris uh Saint Pope John Paul, the second shuffled, you know, he didn't really clack clack, clack but was more like sh sh sh walking. I think that was uh because of Parkinson at the beginning, you have hard time picking up your legs. So when he came, I was so proud and I thought maybe he's gonna stop and in, you know, say something, I can't talk unless he talks first. All right. That, that's the rule. So I mean, attention and he stops and he looks at me and he says, you must be a new one when he said that, you know, I came out of attention. I had my white glove, I took it off. I went straight with my hand and I introduced myself six second, seven second. My name where I was coming from. He kept my hand. He noticed everybody. Oh Yeah, yeah. He kept my hand. He brought his left hand sandwich, my hand and said, well, Mario, thank you for coming to serve. Who serves? Thank

you for coming to serve, who serves.

And then he left my land my hand and he walked away. That's the day that I taught this man is special. He has something that I want. I don't know what it is, but I gotta pay attention because he's special. So

this is the uh the the world business leader who breezes past everybody working for him. He noticed everybody. I noticed everybody I love and he wrote um he wrote in a a rise Let us be on our way. He wrote, I hate the word crowd. I love the word multitude. Uh because he, he noticed every person and I, I'll, I'll never forget being in a crowd of 750,000 people here, you know, maybe 10 miles from the city

in 1993

teenage kid, the, the phenomena of feeling like I'm a quarter mile from him. He's a speck up there and I felt like he's talking to me and everybody felt that there was this, this, this heart of the father inside of him. And it's beautiful to hear that it confirmed in the way he interacted with people on a regular basis.

You know, being, being in his proximity, especially in, in small audiences. It was always hard for us because you know, he will, you know, you split up the people in small groups and his holiness will go first to a first group and then we go to the second group and you clear, ok. And once I remember we were in Castel Gandolfo and I cleared and a kid probably five, maybe six years old sneaked out and went back to him and I tried to tackle him and he holiness saw me and he burned me with his eyes. Meaning let the kid come and I opened my hands and I let the kid go and his holiness, you know, gave him a caress and then the kid came away. He never denied himself to anybody. Unbelievable.

Listen, I'm gonna hug you about myself. But if you're watching, you wanna ask Mario questions or me questions. Text 7206500100. Again, it's 7206500100. And we'll get to your questions. Did he regularly stop and, and notice you or is it just a one, a one time thing when he, when he first saw you or did he spend time in, like, he regularly check it, check in on you see how you're doing?

He did uh I would say a combination of things and uh I would say every time that he walked by me or he walked in a place where I was and he was by himself or maybe with just one or two people, he would always find those 10 seconds to come and shake hands and ask how are you? Because you knew sometime you are alone into this massive room for hours on your feet and it will console you sometime because of protocol. It will just walk by. All right. But in many occasions, he will look at you, you know, so you will go up in attention. He will come and he will lock your eyes so that you know that he noticed you, maybe he didn't talk to you, he didn't touch you, but he noticed you and I will feel that I knew that he noticed me

as convicting to me as a dad. I don't have a Pope has a billion. He's become the holy father. He has a billion Catholics, his kids in some sense, I got six kids and how often I fail to say like make that eye contact and make that person feel special on that

matter. He, he really taught me how to notice all the people around me. And I always tell my students at the business school that you mentioned whenever you grow in your career, whichever position, never forget to say good morning to the door person to the janitor. You need to know who they are. Always be humble and reach out to everybody because that's what s John the second did to an humble dude that I was he found an interest in.

OK. Before I dive into some more serious questions, I got a pretty fun one from Harrison and, and I'm glad he asked because I wonder this kind of thing. Is it difficult to stand still for so long? Yes,

very difficult. I still remember Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati beatification in Saint Peter's Square. I was the Sentinel, you know, which is one of the four guards with the ala board next to the altar. The picture is very

trained and actually had to use the word. Yes,

you are. That's scary. I stood without moving for four hours and 20 minutes. That's hard. But I will follow mess. I will sing, you know, the ki the creed in my brain. I will pay attention and I'm just a symbol. I'm not in security details. I'm just a symbol. OK? But God gave me the grace and uh yes, then when you get off, you need a couple of beer to rehydrate yourself. But four hours and 20 minutes that long, we,

we saw, we got to see John Paul. The second's great struggles, not only with the culture of death and with, with communism, uh but with Parkinson's and, and he had this, we, we talk, I, I think often about the joy of the saints. He had this supernatural smile, this grin that I think made the evil one very nervous and the entire world and the leaders of the communist uh regimes that were crushing the faith in Poland. There's like this grin that almost said like I know who wins. You know, um you got to see him suffer in the small ways with a lot of grace. There was one time he smashed his finger in a door that shows that it is,

tell me that story. So that story is that he was coming back from a week at the hospital. OK? The gel because he had a benign cancer. And so they removed the benign cancer. And when he came back, uh I was in service in the Damaso courtyard, you know where the car arrived and, and he had to just walk by me to get into the elevator. All right. And uh I knew that he was weak. OK? And that he was probably in need of even climbing three stairs to come up from the car and I was ready. All right. But when the car arrived, the Mercedes, this old Mercedes nothing fancy but was convertible. Ok. So when the Pope arrived, the driver comes out and they, they open the roof, you know, so that then I see him and he looks pale. He had lost weight, he gets out of the car and, uh, when he got out of the car before he took the step to come up, he almost lost the balance. Ok? And so he, instead of falling back into the car, he took a step and with his back, he went against the side of the Mercedes and uh his left hand went where the door was. Ok? And so not me. Thank God. The, the butler closed the door, the butler, Angelo closed the door and his finger five and four got shot into the door, which is, you know, a bullet proof door so heavy and they open immediately. And his holiness took his hand. He didn't swear he didn't complain. He didn't judge, you know, the only thing he did, Chris, he put his chin down and he sucked it all in. That's when I realized that suffering is actually good. Suffering is redemptive. I don't know. But if you take your, I don't know if you put your fingers here and you smash them with a hammer. I don't know what you will say. Right? I know what I would

say. There you go.

Me as well.

These are stories that make me realize that I'm so not a saint.

But uh yeah, suffering is redemptive. I'm convinced because I saw and, and then I remember calling my mom and telling her what had happened and I said, you have to watch Dango that was on a Friday and on Sunday, he came to the window and yet the left hand wrapped up and the things. And so my mom knew in advance it's the little

things that made people say, see, we, we often overlook the little things and think if I can do great things. If John Paul the second spoke really well and drew large crowds but was a jerk in the little things. Not a saint. Sorry. I've got a great question. My, my grandmother's family is Swiss. Can I be a Swiss guard? This is, does

he have a Swiss passport if he has a Swiss passport?

Work on the passport and then you got a shot, a shot? Ok. That's awesome. Um You, you, you know, you're working for the church. You, you, you wear uh an outfit that looks funny, right? I was gonna say it. No, but it's kind of cool though too. It's a medieval outfit, you know, but you're also legit soldiers and bodyguards. And so there's, there's things that go along with that that you, you, you, you, you think of with soldiers who sometimes they're hanging out with their buddies and they do stupid things. Um, or, or, you know, a bad word flies here or there? And were you ever caught by the Pope just goofing off inappropriately or like what happens when a pope walks in and, and, and see these guys just,

well, we uh unfortunately because we are sinners. We did as a matter of fact and the way that we got caught so to speak is uh four of us were playing cards. OK? And in Castel Gandolfo the summer residence and uh uh me and a buddy and against two and then um the my buddy put down a card which was not the card that I was expecting. And so I said a bad word, I called him a bad, a bad word. And after that came out of my mouth, the zucchetto, you know, the cap arrived in the middle of our table and we said, what the heck? And we looked up and his holiness was on the balcony and he looked at us and he touched his head and he said, oops, there was no wind, Chris, there was absolutely no wind. So he threw the zucchetto down as a sign. Hey, you don't need to say that. So I got caught and I got spanked.

Now, you might be the only person I ever knew who let a bad word fly in front of two Canonized Saints. Yeah, you're setting a record. Here. That's, uh, but before, before I get to the second stint story, Steve asks, what kind of training did you go through to be a Swiss

guard? All right. So, first of all, you, you have to go through 17 weeks of training in the Swiss arm in Switzerland. Ok. So you go through boot camping. Correct. Correct. Right. It's an officer school, right. 17 weeks. And then when you come out, then you go to Rome and you have six weeks of specific training, which is detail on protection, the person harms and fights and all of that. And you do that part time in Switzerland and part time in the Vatican. And then at the end of that, you have to pass a test and if you pass that, then you enroll and the more you, you acquire seniority in service, the more experience, the closer you get to the only father because ultimately you swear to take a bullet for him. Right? You said you swear, you swear, I've seen that. Yes, we swear on the name on the name of the father, the son and of the only spirit

and, and during the consecration, I've seen you guys kneel and exactly. That's beautiful. Right. And, and, and this is almost disturbing. You actually learn how yes, we do.

Well, you need to understand, you know, as a guard, you learn, you learn self defense, we carry guns, especially during the nights. But because we have that stick as my kids call it. Ok. Well, you know, it's not that we do tae Kwon do, ok? But we definitely know how to use it. It's a bad

day if you guys have to

use that. There you go. I never really used the A I did the sore one. Ok. Not that I took it out and cut somebody's ear like ST Peter. But there was a poor man that he was kind of pushing it and pushing it and then he took a syringe out at me. And so I did not lose my temper, but all I did the, no, I pulled the sword out and there is like a knot on top of it and I just pulled my sword and put the knot right there. Boom. So that'll do that. Did the trick that did the trick.

What's the part of Christian life? People don't always like to look at sometimes you have to use physical force in self defense or the defense of others. And sometimes,

you know, Jesus turned tables upside down and I knocked the guy with the bulb on top of my. So

OK, so there's a really good question on the screen. But before we get to that, the, the second saint that you, that you were reprimanded by which I, I gotta apologize. I, I shared a, I shared a video clip of, of uh another interview with Mario that had uh that many, many people saw and, and your friends all started calling you sissy afterwards. I don't think you're a sissy. I think you're, you're the man. Thank you. But let's hear this

story very quickly. And when a Swiss guard gets into trouble, right? And so you are entitled to some social service and for the guards in my time, go to the missionary of charity and help out in their soup kitchen. Ok? And I've been there before. Obviously, I'm very cic. And so sometimes I will push and trouble meaning curfew. You know, you have to be back by one and you come back at 30, you have two hours times, 36 hours of social services. All right. And so I was there and I was washing pots and I threw a temper attention because the pots were not getting clean. And the right. And so when I threw the pot into the triple sink that you wash and sanitize and rinse when I threw the pot in water came out and got my jeans, my shoes, my underwear and I threw a bad word all of out of, ok. I don't need this. All right. And when I said that right, when I said that I noticed that there was a nun next to me and you know, the s the missionary of charity, they all look alike, you know, they, they, and so when I actually focus on her, I realized it was mother and I had never met mother. I've seen her from afar but never really met mother. And so when I look, mother, mother looked at me and, uh, she told me in Italiano, but I'm gonna tell you in English, she says, wow, you sure sound like a sissy. So when she said that III I almost felt like a si I'm 62 £200. I, I almost wanted to take a pat please and cover her. Say, I'll prove you who's a si I never done it. But uh you know, a

horrifying moment when you let it fly and you look over and there's mother Teresa and she called it and then you're called a sis uh and she gave you a miraculous. Right.

Right. So uh at, at the end of the day, she had left a little miraculous medal for me and then I took it and then I lost it. All right. And then almost six months later, almost to the clock, I was in the apostolic palace and I saw her again and I made myself a promise. I'm gonna go and tell her I am not a sissy, but when I interacted with her, rather than me telling her what I wanted to tell her, you know, she came in front of me and there were two other guards and the other two, they saw that she was coming at me. So they moved away and uh she's not a priest. So I don't have to do the salute. Ok. So I'm looking at her and she was very petite, right? And, you know, out there, uh you know, she has, she had the, the stall here and she moved the stall and she took a miraculous medal off a pin that she had. All right. And I'm looking at this and then without even knowing in a mechanical way, I went like this with my hand and she put the metal in my hand and she looked at me and she said, and this time don't lose it. Sy So first of all, how did she know that? I lost the medal? And second of all, how did she remember that? She called me c it just

gives me chills and it's hilarious. This is all

about the saints. They focus on people and it's

literally, it's, it's a down to earth and mystical experience of a human at the same time. Is there any when you think about these encounters with the saints? And you also got to meet Blessed Alvaro del Portillo who uh was the head of of Opus day after Jose Maria is correct. Tell us about what his person was like. Get a third class relic here

man. So blessed Alvaro blessed Alvari, you know, beside being Jose Maria esque, our personal secretary. OK. He was an engineer. So uh he really, you know, orthodox thinker, but I got to know him at the opus de headquarter in Rome where they will host this open house for men. And hey, you give me food, you give me booze, you give me tobacco. I'm there. All right. And so I will go there and blessed Alvaro will just use the way you know the, the, the book of Jose Maria Esbar. And he will say, oh tonight, we're gonna lead only three points. The other are 1000 points and then he will talk and I will just listen and say this makes a lot of sense to

me. It's a beautiful down to earth. You got it. Very simple. Google the way. Yeah, little tiny booklet and, and the wisdom of the saint is so accessible and, and

he will tell us footnotes because he was, he was Jose Maria sa Jose Maria is our secretary and he knew when he was writing this because he helped him process that, you know, and then, you know, I got to know him. And then when he was ordained a bishop in 1991 I was at his ordination and uh I will never forget when we went to an event. The next day, he gave me a big hawk and he told me, remember I will always love you. And you know, I thought, wow, I said, whoa, beautiful. I know it's I, I always thought that engineers are a little dumb but uh he was quite an engineer, probably somebody that is engineer, sorry. But that's how it is. That's

a place we have to not be afraid to go as Christians. I, I'll never forget. I got to interview Pastor Rick Warren once you were a purpose driven life. He never met me before, but we started the interview. He goes have I told you lately that I love you. I thought that, you know, what, what, what, and, and that, that is how the Lord approaches us. And that's not unmanly. It's not cheesy, it's not, it's touchy feely. That that's true strength. It's to love people. Uh You know, we all grown up Catholic have these ideals of saints that um you know, it almost makes it, they're so holy card ish and not human that they no longer challenge us. You know what? And you got to see three people that you knew personally that you encountered, who would have been able to say, oh, Mario, how's it going um later in your lifetime be, be canonized or beatified? What a gift that is what surprised you about these personalities that, that broke through those, those molds of those, those people who uh are up there in a pedestal and don't really challenge me because they're caricatures of, of, of, of saints. What surprised you most, most about the personalities, the person of the

saints. I would say obviously a common denominator of the three simplicity, simplicity, simplicity, simple people, extremely humble down and hurt and they had a relationship with God that was not only authentic but palpable you knew, ok, that whenever they would say something or they would act in a certain way. It's because God was somehow whispering in their ear, in their soul. Right? And so simplicity will be my, my, my definition because they, they never, how can I say? They never sat down on a pedestal saying, hey, come and bow to me. No, no, no, no, no, exactly the opposite. And yes, there is an office as I will say. But simplicity, I,

I'm going to see Paul tells us that we should strive for a simple life and a lot of us think I don't want to sim, I, I wanna go and be a go getter and he just more and more. And John Paul the second, we talk about a complicated and busy life and yet his spirit was so simple that in the midst of the chaos of his, his role he could walk past. Oh, there's a new guy and he knew what mattered most of. And that's human beings.

You know, one day I was in the turf war of the apostolic palace and I was feeling a little upset because my day off had blown, you know, and so I was tired as a Swiss guard at my time. You used to work 100 hours a week out of 168. So you have 68 to sleep and

no way they're gonna hire millennials to do that job. No offense.

So that day I was a little sad, upset. Let's use that word. And when they told me that his holiness was gonna walk by, ok. I really thought, oh, let's hope he's gonna say something to me. I just want him to notice me and not being just like a tapestry on a wall. All right. And he comes, I go up in the attention and he walked away. He didn't stop Chris and I, and so I remained in attention and I closed my eyes and I felt so sorry for myself because I really wanted him to acknowledge my existence. And when I reopened my eyes, maybe a second and a half later, he was right in front of me. I had absolute no perception that he had walked back and there I am in position and he's staring at me and John Paul the second at this uniqueness, he will stare at you with his blue eyes sometimes for 10 seconds. You know, how long 10 seconds are that? Somebody stares at you and doesn't talk. So I'm standing there and I'm thinking, OK, what's going on here? And I noticed that he went with his hands in the pocket of his cassock. OK? And then all of a sudden he comes out with a rosary, not this one but a very cheap rosary. And he holds the rosary like this, OK, with his 1st and 2nd finger and he looks at me. And he says, Mario, the rosary is my favorite prayer. Marvelous in its simplicity and profundity take my beats. And when he said that I came down from attention and he put his beats in my hand and he said, and make them your most powerful weapon. So I closed this. He did two steps away from me and then he stopped and he looked at me and he said, remember, never be afraid. And he walked away, he knew that day that I was upset, discouraged and he stopped and he gave me his marvelous in its

simplicity and profundity that sums up the saints. Uh We got 30 seconds before they wrap us up. Please lead us in the closing prayer. Thank you and thank you Lord for, for the marvelous simplicity of your saints.

I would like to say in the name of the father and of the son and of the only spirit. Amen. El Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed, our Tao and women and blessed is the fruit of Thun Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God. Pray for us sinners. Now only the hour of our death. Amen. Saint John Paul. The way pray for us. Saint Mother Teresa. Pray for us, the name of the father, the son and of the

youngest brother. What a gift to be with you. Thank you so much guys. Thanks for being with us. Don't miss next week we're gonna be talking about how to, how to live in gratitude and enter the joy of the saints. Love you guys.