7 Days of Virtue; Day 3 – Fortitude
Think of virtues like your muscles. You work your muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed. Virtue is the same way. You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.
Day 3 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 3 – FORTITUDE.
Fortitude is also called COURAGE. This is a great virtue… very manly! Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulty. It is a resolve to resist temptations. The opposite of fortitude is timidity (cowardice) –> don’t be a coward. Courage helps us to persevere in everyday life. Courage moderates our fear and it helps us live for something great in our lives. There are 3 sub-virtues of Fortitude:
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Magnanimity: means “Greatness of Soul”. Being Magnanimous means that we don’t shrink from greatness. Be especially careful not to fall into vanity when thinking about Magnanimity; it is an easy trap to fall into. Being Magnanimous is incredibly manly!
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Patience: Endurance of difficulties through Joy and Peace.
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Perseverance: Determination. Makes us persist firmly to carry through.
Fearlessness and Rash-boldness are counterfeit vices, meaning that they may appear to be courageous, but are actually vicious. When a man is fearless, he doesn’t give death or evil their due respect. When a man acts out of rash-boldness, he takes on something that he shouldn’t. Be careful to protect against these.
Man up!
7 Days of Virtue; Day 2 – Justice
Think of virtues like your muscles. You work your muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed. Virtue is the same way. You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.
Day 2 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 2 – JUSTICE.
Justice is the good due to others. This removes the emphasis from self and places the emphasis on others. Overemphasis on rights misses the concept of justice. There are seven sub-virtues of Justice:
- Honor – recognizing the worth (value) of something. In ancient times, if something was weighty, it was valued (ie: gold). In ancient Greece, dishonor was symbolized by mist or steam.
- Religion – a head virtue. Habitually honoring and praising God in all we do.
- Piety – Honor and Service. Honor through obedience and respect.
- Observance – honoring our leaders/those in positions of authority over us. Observing the office they hold.
- Gratitude – honoring our benefactors. St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that we 1. Recognize the favor 2. Express thanks 3. Repay the favor.
- Kindness – intending comfort/pleasure for those around you. Anticipating others’ needs, habitually.
- Truth – our words and deeds correspond to reality. We owe reality to one another.
Practically, I am a justice-seeker, meaning that if I see someone who is not receiving “the good due to them”, I tend to step in and make it right. I’ve done this since I was a kid – if I saw someone bullying someone, I stepped in and forced the bully to respond to me. (Most often, the bullying stopped.) Knowing this, regularly for me, seeking justice can easily overlap with anger, which is dangerous. We want to afford people with the ability to receive the good that is due to them, yet we must be careful of how we go about that. Use the virtue of prudence to know when to purposefully seek justice and when to not step in.
Man up!
7 Days of Virtue; Day 1 – Prudence
Think of virtues like your muscles. You work you muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed. Virtue is the same way. You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.
Day 1 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 1 – PRUDENCE.
Prudence is wisdom for practical everyday life. This means that you take practical knowledge and right reason and you use them to make decisions throughout your day.
“Knowing how to do the right thing, at the right time in the right way.”
Prudence directs all of the other virtues; therefore, we must always have the end in mind so that prudence can guide us to our goal. There are three sub-virtues to Prudence; 1. Counsel 2. Judgement 3. Decisiveness. Counsel is gathering information to make a good decision. (You seek help in making your decisions.) Judgement is sort of like being a court judge; you gather information using counsel and then you weigh that information. Decisiveness is the action that you take after counsel and judgement.
Prudence comes down to choices and actions. Our choices are incredibly important, thus we must know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Being prudent means that you react out of knowledge and information, not out of emotion, impulse or passion. Being prudent means that you have given the choice a good deal of thought. Being prudent means that you aren’t afraid to commit to a decision.
If you want to grow in the virtue of prudence, practice being prudent. (Practice seeking counsel, making good judgements and being decisive. You must also pray that God presents you with opportunities to receive grace so that you may become prudent.)
Man up!
A TrueMan is Virtuous – the start to a 7 day look at Virtue
***My apologies for the delay in posting over the past few days, I was on retreat all weekend and away from technology.***
Virtue (in Latin: virtus) means manliness. In order to truly be manly, we must possess virtue. Virtue means having the “firm and habitual disposition to do the good”. If a man possesses the virtue of Courage, that means that he’s courageous 1. with joy 2. with ease 3. promptly and 4. consistently. Every time, without fail. In order for a man to gain virtue, he must practice. He must also ask for God’s grace to help him acquire virtue. (Note: women can attain virtue as well, and it doesn’t mean that they become manly.)
I’m kicking off a 7 day look at virtue, starting tomorrow. I’ll dive into each of the 4 Cardinal Virtues and each of the 3 Theological Virtues, one each day. Prudence, Justice, Fortitude & Temperance and Faith, Hope & Love. If you want to be a TrueMan, become a virtuous man.
Man up!
Everyday Examples of Manliness
There are a lot of things a man can do on a daily basis that are manly… here are somethings I’ve done this week that were manly.
Loved my wife, loved my kids, played with my kids, read my daughter stories, prayed with my kids, prayed the Rosary daily, washed my vehicles, filled my wife’s gas tank for her, fixed my American flag, took out the trash, was a courteous driver, followed through on job requirements without being micro-managed, explained the faith to someone, spoke with my accountability partner, planned a talk called “Mastering Christian Discipleship”, grilled meat, went to daily Mass, went to Confession, prayed the Stations of the Cross twice, spoke to a fellow man about how to overcome the pitfalls of pornography and masturbation, worked hard at achieving my future goals, disciplined my child, told my wife how special she is to me… what did you do this week?
Man up!
Lenten Devotion – A Prayerful Man
Often times, society tells us that prayer is for women, young children and hermit-type religious folks. Not true. In order for all of us to know God, we must converse with Him. It simply wouldn’t work to not speak to my wife for weeks-on-end and expect things to be okay between us. The same goes for us and God. We MUST stay in constant conversation with God. It’s like any other relationship, it takes bothparties to be in relation with one another. God has proved to remain faithful (He has made many covenants with us, His people), we are the ones that must change our behavior and devote time to Him in prayer.
Men, be careful to not fall into the modern idea that prayer/spirituality is a feminine characteristic. Females have a beautiful spirituality, but that doesn’t usually work for us. (There’s a reason why most of the Mystics of the Church are women.) For me, my prayer life reflects my demeanor, my personality and my outlook; it’s rugged, straightforward and unwaveringly positive. Most of my prayer reflects my need for Christ as a fallen, sinful man working at changing for the better. It also reflects knowledge that our faith is the Truth and the fullness of it. It’s important that your prayer life and spirituality reflect who you are, because like in any relationship, both parties need to honest, open and real. It won’t work if you try to have someone else’s spirituality. The great news here is that there’s at least one Saint who you can emulate, one Saint that was like you. Find that Saint and follow them to Christ.
Man up!
Celebrity Apprentice – Season 2
Are you familiar with Donald Trump? The multi-billionaire business man that created the show “The Apprentice”. Although he’s very good at what he does in business, he’s not the example of TrueManhood. He’s at it again, this time season two of Celebrity Apprentice. This show has been getting some big press and, as in years past, gains traction throughout the season. Season two started last night, although I didn’t watch it, I found this commercial clip for it. Watch…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90zttzBDhZs]
I can’t begin to count the bad examples of manhood throughout the show… I can’t even keep up with them in this short one minute promo. Clint Black is “ready to go the wild side”, Pierce Morgan (altough he proclaims to be a Catholic-family man) is a crude, rude, pompous, arrogant man. Don’t even get me started on Rodman or Andrew Dice Clay. Tom Green is “stabbing people in the back”, and wearing wedding dresses on the street corner. We hear Trump say, as he flies around in his private helicopter, “It’s all about fighting for what you believe in.” I’m not sure what any of these celebrities believe in.
The show isn’t horrible, overall, as most of the money that is raised goes to (mostly) worthy charities. So, there’s at least one good part to it. It’s not at all what TrueManhood is about. If you can stomach it, watch an episode on nbc.com and see what you think. Are any of these men setting an example of TrueManhood or are they fulfilling society’s idea of “cultural manliness”? You decide.
Man up!
