This episode is brought to you by the Master of Arts and Catholic Education program at the Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology.

Dedicated to the renewal of Catholic education, this degree equipped school teachers and administrators to bring Christ to the center of every classroom

through a focus on sacred scripture, theology, Christian anthropology, and the traditional liberal arts.

Jimmy Mitchell is director of campus ministry at Jesuit High School in Tampa and founder of Love Good, a formation platform for Christians

focused on beauty. His new book is Let Beauty Speak, the art of being human in a culture of

noise, which has actually a lovely photo of Milan Cathedral on the cover. Welcome, Mr. Mitchell.

Thank you so much, Mark. It's a privilege to be with you.

It really is a culture of noise. It's barbarous and jarring and dispiriting. Has that ever been

worse on that score? It doesn't seem like it. You know, I just read a recent article that

outlined some of the statistics, even just on smartphones. The average American right now

spend seven to nine hours a day behind the screen of their smartphone and over 100

pickups. We're talking about random interruptions as notifications come in. We just live in a noisy,

distracted culture, and that makes our souls very noisy and distracted.

So actually, Jimmy, I don't think I've seen that kind of statistic before, the number of

pickups, just sort of a ding, a text message from, you know, a political campaign. You know, that's actually a very

good statistic, the pickup, because it's an interruption, right? How can you concentrate with 100

pickups a day? That's right. I mean, I think about Joseph Peeper's understanding of leisure. He talks

about contemplative beholding, an immersion in the real,

you know, this kind of stillness that allows us to encounter reality. Well, that's exactly the

opposite of what happens when we're constantly interrupted, constantly distracted. There's no

stillness. There's no silence in a world that is so fraught with, with noise, with busyness. And I'll be the first to

admit, I struggle with that. I'm striving constantly to have mastery over my technology, over

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