When I clicked on a video about “Braco, He Who Gazes” I kept waiting for the punch line. I did not imagine that people were actually spending money for a man to look at them.  

It must be a satire, I thought. No way this could be serious! The video showed thousands of people who paid $8 each to see a man stare at them in five-minute sessions with a spacy, smirk-like expression. No speaking. No juggling. No singing. No punch line. 

Braco (the “c” is pronounced like “tz”) livestreams on his website so that people can “receive free help through Braco's gaze from every corner of our planet.”

Braco, who is originally from Croatia, travels the globe to stare at people. Lots of people. Videos attest that indeed, no small number of people are seriously deluded. After getting gazed on, people report everything from emotional hot flashes to tears, to all-encompassing solutions to life problems.

He does not claim to be a faith healer, and Braco never speaks in public, but merely gazes — his form of spiritual expression. Some call it “soul gazing.” I call it, “what the hell?” because what else could this be?

It is so hard to believe this is not a colossal joke. Under a video about his Hawaiian gaze session it said:

Set against the breathtaking landscape of the Big Island of Hawaii, Braco's work and the remarkable stories shared by those who met his gaze, most for the first time, easily transport the spirit to the lush realm of the miraculous. Even those who had previously experienced Braco in Croatia, say the Hawaiian gazing sessions were the most extraordinary and powerful they've ever experienced.

How could anyone be serious about this?

According to Christian Answers for the New Age, Braco is either lying, deluded or under a demonic influence. The fact that he had a teacher/mentor who was a psychic lends credence to the latter possibility. The Catholic Church strongly warns against psychics and any sort of fortune telling or sorcery. It breaks the First Commandment: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have any gods before me.”  

 

Perspective of an Exorcist

I called Msgr. John Esseff, who has been a priest for almost 65 years and an exorcist for more than 40 years, to get his perspective. He was a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, accompanied her to China and met with Padre Pio once.  He has flushed out haunted houses, exorcised the possessed and lived amid terrorism in the Middle East. Msgr. Esseff is a founder and president of the board of directors of the Pope Leo XIII Institute, which trains exorcists and is dedicated to bringing the healing of Christ to those afflicted by evil. 

Msgr. Esseff has seen and heard a lot over the years, but never had he heard of anything like Braco. It took a bit of explaining for him to understand such a thing is really happening.

“It shows how lost and confused this generation is,” Msgr. Esseff said. “People are in the dark.” 

It’s not just about being gullible, according to him, but a lack of common sense and understanding. “They have no awareness of where this might be coming from — that it could be something that has an evil source,” he said. “There is only one source of light and healing, and it is God.”

Msgr. Esseff said that the situation reminds him of one of Abraham Lincoln’s sayings: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” And so, some of the people are being fooled in a big, unbelievable way. A way that does not seem possible without a punch line.

It really magnifies the beauty of the Catholic faith, where we can go to the Blessed Sacrament and gaze upon Jesus. Nothing can compare to that. Several churches actually livestream the Real Presence. Go here to be present during live Perpetual Adoration brought to you by EWTN.

 

The Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.

May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.