True Devotion to Jesus, Through Mary
Today is the feast day of St. Louis de Montfort. St. Louis lived in the 17th and 18th centuries and his greatest contribution to the faith
was that of perseverance in the face of critique and encouragement of the Church to be devoted to Jesus through Mary. For many, this Catholic teaching is hard because they may see devotion to Mary as an unnecessary practice, and in some cases, as blasphemous. Others may see devotion to Mary as something less-than-manly. On the contrary! Devotion to Mary, which St. Louis stressed in both writings, words and deeds, is the way to grow incredibly close to her son, our Lord, Jesus. As men, we have a great deal to learn about obedience and can learn a lot from Mary’s example.
First, the Maryology… there’s too much that would go into giving a dissertation on Mary here, however, I will draw attention to her place in salvation history. Mary accepted God’s will in her life and enthusiastically followed. Through her ‘yes’, Christ came into the world. Christ means King, and Mary therefore is the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother sits with the King petitioning for His loyal servants. (1 Kings 1:19.) By her ‘yes’, we reap the benefits of our Saviour.
St. Louis shows us that the theological virtues are the way to TrueManhood. He set a great example for us to achieve the virtues of faith, hope and love. The world attempts to tell men that these virtues are feminine and unnecessary. Take a look at just about any piece of media and you will see a direct attack against these virtues. St. Louis demonstrated great courage in the face of opposition and persecution to strive for faith, hope and love.
Lastly, a brief word of encouragement in regards to the Rosary. Faithful Catholics don’t just ‘say’ the Rosary, we ‘pray’ the Rosary. The Rosary is a mixture of reciting communal prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, etc.) AND a deep meditation (simultaneously, mind you) of the mysteries of the Rosary. The mysteries point directly to Christ’s life and ministry, culminating in His saving work of dying on the cross for our sins – the greatest example of manliness we have! Pray on!
The Rosary is our sword in the battle of Good vs. Evil.
TrueMan up!
Lighten Up, Cool Guy
A good majority of my posts are about serious topics and are written in a serious tone. Rightly so. Today however, I thought I’d change it up. Here’s a video I just saw (not the newest) but a good laugh.
If you can’t view the video, click HERE.
TrueMan up!
A Way for a Woman to Guard Her Heart
I was asked not too long ago what “guard your heart” really means. The answer isn’t cut and dry, especially because each of us has different experiences, different relationships, different baggage, etc. However, when asked this question, I attempted to answer with an analogy that I’d like to share with you now. I told the young woman the following:
(For the Ladies) Imagine that your heart is inside a giant mansion. Imagine that at the outskirts of the mansion there’s a guard tower
with an armed guard inside. Surrounding the mansion is a 15′-high electrified fence. Inside the fence are several Dobermans who haven’t eaten lately. On this side of the dogs is a large, triple-thick, rock wall with a gate that has a special code used to get in. Inside the rock wall is a large bullet-proof metal door with 7 deadbolts.
Now imagine that you’re early in a relationship with a man. Guarding your heart is prudently allowing the guard to take an extended leave of absence. The fence is still electrified, the dogs are still there, the gate is still down and the door is still locked – 7 times no less. The man gets a little closer to your heart, but still doesn’t have unlimited access. Little by little you reduce the security and over time, through prudent thinking and decision making, you begin to allow the man closer to your heart and allow him to have more access to you. He gazes into your heart from a distance… sort of like looking through the windows of the mansion… and from his gaze, he begins to learn about your heart. Seeing into the heart is different than having unabated access to the heart.
For many people, it may seem too hard to guard their heart. For many people, it may seem too late to guard their heart. If pain from relationships-gone-bad, lack of trust after a break up (or after every break up) and utter disappointment in relationships in general is fun for you, then keep up the common mistakes and lack of protection for your heart. If, however, you come to understand that your heart is worth guarding because you are a precious daughter of God and because you deserve only the best in life, then take the necessary steps to start guarding your heart now. If a man in your life is too close to your heart (or maybe inside the mansion), do what’s best for you and ask him to take a few steps back. It will be hard at first, and may even seem pointless, but in the long run, it will be a blessing. Trust me.
The analogy is based on the context of a relationship, but we should each be guarding our hearts from evil, sin and unclean outside influences as well.
Men, if you are too close to a woman’s heart, or inside the mansion, do the respectable, virtuous thing and take some steps backward. This is not to suppress your feelings, your love or your desire for her. This behavior is to show her that she’s worth the very best. At the right time, you take the proper steps to win over her heart fully. Once married, hearts become one in the Sacrament.
TrueMan up!
Earth Day 2010 – Nature’s Greatest Gift
Congrats to Brian Burch and the folks at CatholicVote.org for putting together an awesome Pro-Life marketing movement, using Earth Day as the catalyst… and for encouraging Americans to think about nature’s greatest gift. These posters have been plastered on buses, subways and trains in numerous large cities around the country, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Check out the video they put together getting folk’s thoughts on the street. Click HERE if you can’t view the video.
Tomorrow, Thursday, April 22, 2010, is Earth Day. I challenge you to take a good look at how you view Earth, nature, creation. Do you value it as the incredible gift that God has given to you or do you take advantage of it? Squander it? Disrespect it? Heck, don’t only do that on Earth Day, do that every day.
TrueMan up!
Vocational Discernment
Something that I’ve been discussing lately at the Air Force Academy among some of the faithful Catholic cadets is the topic of vocational discernment. For those who may not know, a vocation is a calling. (From the Latin, vocare.) The world would like to suggest that our calling is to something like an occupation; something we are drawn to and enjoy. Vocations, however, are much deeper than this. Vocations are about the call from God that will bring us fulfillment and happiness in life, to prepare us for life eternal with God in Heaven. The discernment part is how someone goes about listening to the call and applying that call in their life.
Many of the young men I have been discussing vocations with lately seem to know that they are called to the priesthood – however, they are all in different places with their decision making process. One young man is denying his call. Another is preparing to leave to enter seminary in a few months. Another wants badly to leave and enter a religious order, yet, doesn’t have the support from important family members. They are all journeying towards Christ. In this journey, they will find their way if they keep their eyes on Christ.
If you are currently discerning your vocation – married, religious or consecrated single life -, I recommend you take the following steps.
- Have an active, daily Sacramental and prayerful life.
- Seek a qualified spiritual director and meet with him regularly.
- Read good quality, orthodox, Catholic spiritual books.
- Talk to lots of people – priests, religious, seminarians, married men, married fathers and single men. Gather that information and prudently process it. (Ask lots of questions.)
- Spend at least 2 minutes per day gazing at a crucifix contemplating Christ’s example of love.
A word to family and friends of men discerning their vocation. I urge you to support them, whether you agree or not with their decisions. If a young man chooses the priesthood, via a call from God, don’t think that it’s an abrogation of life, or life as you know it. The priesthood is an incredible calling and must be respected and supported. Many believe that the priesthood is suppressing reality and suppressing sexuality and suppressing the desire to have a family. This is simply not true. Please, refrain from being a stumbling block in a man’s discernment. Support him, love him, answer his questions, attempt to guide him. In the end, however, it’s the man’s decision, not yours.
Here’s a short clip called “Fishers of Men” from the Vocations Office in NYC. Click HERE if you can’t see the video below.
TrueMan up!
The Holy Father’s Week
This week marked Pope Benedict XVI’s 83rd birthday. Happy Birthday to him, and may he have many more! Recently, in the news, the Holy Father has been under siege by the secular media. I’ve been debating with myself whether or not to join the discussion, and have decided to say only a few words.
First, Pope Benedict XVI is the successor of St. Peter and with that comes both a great deal of responsibility and [should also come with] a great deal of respect. Secondly, the media has been everything but respectful, and honestly, they have been downright scandalous in regards to their comments, attacks and accusations. (I expect nothing less from the media; they are anti-Catholic and despicable.) Thirdly, Pope Benedict has not, nor does he, nor will he, condone abuse of children, whether it comes in the form of pedophilia, ephebophilia, homosexual acts by priests or other. He has never, nor will ever, cover up sex-abuse scandal and simply does not operate that way. The secular media paints a picture of Pope Benedict as the responsible party in the sex-abuse cases over the past 50+ years, and simply put, PB16 does not deserve to be treated this way.
If the faithful take time to realize what’s going on, each of us will see that the salacious claims against PB16 are another ploy by the culture to discredit, undermine and attempt to destroy the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict is a great shepherd and is leading the Church well.
Knights of Columbus, and others, all around the world have united to pray for protection, strength and clarity for Pope Benedict XVI. I recommend you join the cause.
TrueMan up!
Keep Fighting
Men, Whether you’ve been on the battle field for a long time or have just begun the fight, I want to encourage you to continue to fight!
The devil is strategic in how he attacks you and a period of freedom (any amount of time) can at times play games with a man’s mind, allowing him a sense of “I’m done with this” – that’s called complacency. No matter how long you’ve experienced freedom (1 day or 10 years), you can never let your guard down. The path to holiness is paved by discipline and you must remain disciplined in order to successfully achieve holiness. Holiness, a complete imitation of Christ, in Heaven is our goal. If you’re reading TrueManhood for the first time, then you may not know what I’m talking about. Here at TrueManhood, we directly attack the evils of the culture, one of those being a most grave evil – pornography.
For men who are reading this for the first time (or for someone who knows a man who has an addiction to pornography but hasn’t yet sought help), please visit the links posted below to get started in battling your addiction. If you’ve already seen all these resources, it may be time to read them again. Take back your life and strive for TrueManhood – a life of virtue in Christ Jesus.
- For “TrueManhood’s 5 Step Plan to Overcoming an Addiction to Pornography” Click HERE.
- To read other articles about the fight against pornography, type in ‘PORN‘ or ‘PORNOGRAPHY‘ in the search box towards the upper right.
- For Porn Addiction Resources, Click HERE.
- For “TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue” Click HERE.
- To view videos of my talks against pornography addiction, Click HERE.
- For free anti-porn software, click HERE.
- If at anytime you need assistance with your battle, email me directly at Dave@TrueManhood.com.
TrueMan up!
