Summer Time Spirituality
Since many of TrueManhood’s readers are in college, I think it’s important to take some time to talk about a spiritual life during the summer months. Many of you have a strong faith community and spiritual support system while on campus and many of you are heading home (or at least away from your group) for the summer; how do you keep a strong spiritual life going? Well, it’s easy to get back into old, bad habits when you go back into an old environment. Some of those old, bad habits might be as simple as forgetting to pray everyday. They might be more serious (with lasting effects on the rest of your life) like excessive drinking and promiscuous sexual activity. That said, here are a few suggestions of how to keep your spiritual life going – and growing!
- Pray daily. Take time (whichever part of the day is best for you) to make this a priority. As with any relationship, it requires that you speak and listen to the other person. God, in this regard, is no different. Talk to Him.
- Make Sunday Mass a priority, and get to daily Mass as much as possible. The grace received from the Eucharist will help you fight temptations toward old, bad habits.
- Stay in touch with your friends from campus. (Your good friends – NOT your nasty friends.) A support/accountability/prayer connection helps a person significantly. We are relational beings – created to be with one another. Your friends want to help you, so talk to them. It’ll probably end up helping them too.
- Do spiritual reading. Find one or more (good/orthodox) Catholic spiritual books and read. This might also include taking notes, journaling about what you read and/or about how it applies to your life or talking about it with someone else.
- Do your best to keep Christ first and foremost. I listed this last, but it’s not the least priority, but yet the highest priority. I write about Christ last so that you remember that it’s all about Him. Keep Him #1.
Man up!
What Does it Mean to Be Manly?
I came across a few videos today on YouTube that were a bit frustrating to watch. I’m not posting them here because 1. they are frustrating 2. they are inappropriate for my site and 3. I don’t want to promote the males that made these videos. What I found in these videos was a misconstrued image of manliness, but not in the normal sense (aka – “cultural manliness”, as I refer to it –> money, power, women, stuff…) but in a sense of bashing overly manly activities, ideas, thoughts and practices. Taking it to the other extreme; calling men to be more feminine. Yuck.
Let me make it clear to the readers of this blog what I mean when I say words like MANLY, MANLINESS, TRUEMAN, TRUEMANHOOD, etc. In essence, I mean virtue. In none of the three videos that sparked this post did they ever mention anything about virtue. It might get old hearing about virtue, and yes, I write about it frequently, but virtue = manliness. TrueManliness. Plain and simple.
Others can blog/vlog about whatever they want, but when it comes to talking about manliness, they aren’t my compass. My compass points are Christ and St. Joseph, combined with other saints and men who are alive (both literally and figuratively) in the faith. These men live(d) out “the greatest of these” – Love. Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, Faith, Hope and Love. Live them.
If you would like a copy of some virtue materials, contact TrueManhood.com at proveritasspeakers@gmail.com.
Man up!
All or None
Christ requires that we are all or none. There’s no middle ground when you are a follower of Christ – a Christian. I recently heard it put like this… if life was a game of Texas Hold’em, Christ would ask us to go “all in” – that’s the only bet allowed. Why is it so hard for some people to “go all in”? Why is it so hard to let go of control and simply let God? I’ve been blessed, in regards to this situation, to have a trusting disposition. I rely fully on and I know, wholeheartedly, that He will provide all that I need and more.
Trust is a huge piece that goes into following Christ. And trust, although seemingly insignificant at times, plays a vital role in pushing all our chips into the center of the table. The Catechism tells us that Adam, the first man, lost trust in God his creator, thus, the first sin. What sort of trust level do you have in God your creator?
I know that some things are uncertain and some things are scary, but relying on God to get you through them is a vital part in following Him. We’re given amazing examples in Scripture of men who trusted – namely, Abraham. His level of trust, obedience and faith is incredible. Read his story in the Scripture and you’ll see what I mean. When it comes down to it, he chose trust over everything else and God rewarded him for it.
Man up!
All Eyes On Me
All eyes on me… and you…
I know Dennis Rodman said “I never asked to be a role model”, but he’s in the spot light. And you – although probably not in the spot light – probably never asked to be a role model either. Guess what? You are a role model. You’re a role model whether you want to be or not. Whether you are at home (with siblings, parents, spouse, children or friends) or at work, or at Church or in public… all eyes are on you. Maybe you didn’t ask, but it’s the fact of the matter.
So why does this matter? So what if everyone is watching me? It matters because all of those eyes are connected to brains that are forming impressions about you. And you don’t only represent yourself, you represent all men, everywhere. If you are a father, you represent fatherhood. If you are a Catholic, you represent Catholicism. If you’re doing a great job of setting a great example, then great! Keep up the good work! If, however, you are setting a poor example, then you are making my job much more difficult. If women look at you and think that the behavior you live out is what a man is, shame on you. If children look at you and think that the behavior you live out is what a man is, how dare you. If non-believers look at you and think that the behavior you live out is what a Christian (man) is, may God have mercy on you.
You might not ask for it, but all eyes are on you. You can make this seemingly gigantic task have an incredible outcome if you live as a TrueMan should. How does a man live as a TrueMan? First and foremost, he is virtuous. This includes being faithful to God and being loving. After these two vital virtues, he respects others, honors his wife and children and is hard working. I could continue on for pages. Summed up, a TrueMan is a virtuous man.
Man up!
7 Days of Virtue; Day 6 – Hope.
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 6 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 6 – HOPE.
Hope – the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of Heaven as our happiness. Because of hope, we trust in God’s promise to help us. Hope is the bridge between faith and love. Hope allows us to keep our eyes on our goal of Heaven. Hope keeps us going, especially when times are tough, because of the promise of Heaven.
Despair is the opposing vice to hope. Despair is the belief that God will not forgive me for my sins. It is, simply put, giving up. When you give up (on God or on yourself) you believe that God can’t really help you. There’s also something that can appear to be hope, which we call a counterfeit vice, called presumption. When we presume, we believe that we’ll get to our goal without God’s help. This is not depending on God and not seeing the need to.
Hope is the unending desire to see God, to know God and to be with God. Never lose hope, never give up, never give in. Living a good life, striving for excellence, serving our neighbor… that is living a hopeful life. You have the power to pass on hope to those around you who are in despair. More than ever, people are despairing because they lose the belief that God cares about them. When you go it alone, you will despair. Stay strong, our hope is in the Lord!
Man up!
7 Days of Virtue; Day 5 – Faith
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 5 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 5 – FAITH.
Faith, simply put, is a relational trust in God. Trust is an incredible part to faith. Trusting in the unseen is difficult, but an amazing experience when you allow yourself to do so. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that faith is the intellectual assent to God’s revelation (intellect) and a personal adherence to God (entrusting one’s self to God) (will). Therefore, faith is the intellect plus the will. Thinking and doing.
Intellect allows us to think about faith. There are a few vices that can get in our way, however…
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Unbelief – either by ignorance (no knowledge) or by opposition (choice not to believe).
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Heresy – a choice to disagree with what Christ taught.
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Doubt – a lack of understanding.
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Blasphemy – making jokes about God, the Church, etc.
In relation to the will, our actions allow us to believe.
Faith is an incredible thing, and an amazing gift to possess. For some, it’s difficult to really believe, to really let go of the pieces of life that we can control. When you get to the point of being virtuously faithful, it will change your world. All of us, as with all virtues, can gain the virtue of faith, meaning that we have the habit of being faithful (trusting) and that faith comes to us 1. easily 2. joyfully 3. promptly and 4. consistently. Practice and Grace… that’s what gets us to all the virtues.
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!
