Challenge Accepted, ISIS
The barbaric Islamic cowards of ISIS have threatened our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and have vowed to “conquer Rome”. The Pontifical Swiss Guard have accepted the challenge of defending him. Threats from Muslims against Christianity, and specifically against the Papacy, certainly aren’t new. Many have been actualized over the years, and many more will most assuredly come. However, the Commander of the Swiss Guard isn’t backing down, and says that the Swiss Guard are on high alert and are ready.
Since the assassination attempt of St. John Paul the Great (Pope John Paul II) in 1981, the security measures of not only the Swiss Guard, but also of the Vatican Police, known as the Corps of Gendarmes, have been significantly heightened. Slight changes were made when Francis was elected, but the world can be assured that the Swiss Guard are prepared.
TrueManhood requires that a man defend the common good. It goes without saying that defending the Holy Father is a good thing, and these incredible elite soldiers who make up the Swiss Guard are assigned to a very good task. When it comes to this good task, I wish I were younger, single, and Swiss – but alas, I’m older than the cutoff, married, and Italian (and Irish, Polish, & Czech).
The young men that make up the world’s smallest army must be between the ages of 19 and 30, at least 5’8.5″ tall, single, a practicing Catholic, and trained in the Swiss Army. Don’t let their Renaissance-esque uniforms fool you – they are trained warriors and ready for the battle. They train in unarmed combat, small arms, and are proficient with their pike and sword. Here’s the oath they swear on May 6th (each time a recruit becomes a Swiss Guard):
“I swear I will faithfully, loyally, and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff Francis and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the See if vacant. Furthermore I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors, respect, fidelity and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!”
Sheer awesomeness – an oath of self-giving, self-sacrifice, and overflowing with the virtue of magnanimity! And I can guarantee that these men don’t take this oath lightly – a true and holy honor to protect the Vicar of Christ. This sort of attitude flies in the face of cultural manliness and stands for authentic manliness – TrueManhood! We here at TrueManhood are proud of these men and so grateful to have them among the ranks who will be the first to defend Mother Church and our Holy Father.
Click Here a news story from Catholic News Agency.
TrueMan up!
A Review: Cultural Manliness
January 1, 2011 by admin
Filed under Blog, cultural manliness, Faith, manliness, pornography, Virtue
I haven’t written about cultural manliness in a while, so I thought I’d review it. Cultural manliness, for those unfamiliar with the term
(which I coined a few years ago) is the idea that “the more power, money, sex and stuff a male has, the more manly he is.” This idea is propagated in our culture virtually non-stop, whether on the television, on the internet, in movies, throughout magazines and newspapers, on billboards, in songs, in advertising and just about anywhere those areas don’t cover. The idea is propagated for a few reasons: 1. men buy into this lie. 2. women buy into this lie. 3. children buy into this lie. 4. people make money off of this lie. 5. the devil wins souls through this lie.
Cultural manliness – being in pursuit of the things of this world – will kill a man. Power, money, sex and stuff doesn’t win our salvation, but it certainly can keep us from it. Cultural manliness easily gets in the way of a relationship with Christ. Why does this matter? Because Christ is the true example of manliness! He is THE TrueMan. He is the reason this site exists. He is the reason why the site is called what it is called. “Blessed be Jesus Christ, True God and TrueMan.” Anything other than pursuing Christ is futile and unmanly.
The world wants to tell a man that he will be ‘happy’ if he has more power, more sex, more money and more stuff. This things, in and of themselves are not bad, but they don’t bring happiness. They may bring emotional counterfeits that men believe to be happiness, but they aren’t happiness.
What then makes a man, if it’s not power, money, sex and stuff? Virtue! Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance – Faith, Hope and Love. Learn them, live them, be a TrueMan! (Read the “TrueManhood Guide to Virtue” here.)
If you’d like to read more on the topic, do a search (in the white box on the upper right portion of each page of this site) for “cultural manliness”. You’ll have plenty of reading material. Or, go to the blog page and click the “cultural manliness” tab. I’d like to know your thoughts on this topic – leave a comment.
TrueMan up!
Men’s Formation Groups
October 25, 2010 by admin
Filed under Blog, cultural manliness, Faith, manliness, pornography, Virtue
Interested in joining a men’s formation group? Sometimes they are referred to as a “small group”. (If you are interested, I can connect you with a group in your area or teach you how to start one on your own.)
If you are in the Colorado Springs area, a new group will be meeting weekly. Any man is welcome to join, at anytime. The format of the meetings follows the highly tested and proven model created by The King’s Men. No matter what stage of life a man is in, no matter his education or experience, no matter his marital status or career, a formation group is good for every man. A small formation group is intended to be multifaceted. Men may experience some or all of the following from being in a small group: friendship, accountability, challenge, spiritual fortitude, fraternity, strength, encouragement, purpose, virtue!
The meetings typically go something like this:
- Group prayer – the Rosary is suggested. 15-20 minutes.
- Discussion based on a masculine resource. 30-45 minutes. (Masculine resources might be “Boys to Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue”, “Be a Man!”, an encyclical/papal letter, “Signposts” or something similar.) The discussion time is facilitated by a leader and kept on-time by the time keeper. The discussion is not a “teaching moment”, but a formation moment where each man has time to share if he so desires.
- The 4-Cs. Commit, Confess, Challenge, Confirm. Each week, each man makes a commitment to something he is going to do over the next week. The next week, he comes back and “confesses” how he did with his commitment. This process continues each week. If a man needs to be challenged, another man may do so. If a man deserves to be confirmed, another man may do so. 30 minutes.
- Closing prayer, including each man’s intentions. 5 minutes.
- Total meeting should be 1.5 hrs or less.
Groups should be kept to no more than 10-12 men. Once a group grows too large, it should be split into two separate groups. This is done so that each man has the ability to share, seek guidance, be formed and grow personally. If a group is too large, it stifles men’s ability to grow.
For more information on formation groups, especially the Colorado Springs group, contact me at Dave@TheKingsMen.org.
TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue
Click for TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue
LEARN VIRTUE, LIVE VIRTUE!
Man up!
Covenant Eyes – Protect Yourself & Family
TrueManhood Men’s Ministry has teamed up with Covenant Eyes to bring you and yours important accountability and filtering software protection for your electronic devices. Today is the day – start protecting yourself now.
Click this link to receive your first month free.
Covenant Eyes provides not only a filtering service, but also accountability for the user. For any man working on personal growth, accountability is essential. This software not only protects you from what you see and come across online, but also sends a list of all sites and content viewed while online to your accountability partner. (Your closest friend, your spouse, whomever. Hey, you could send it to your grandma if that’ll help you stay pure!) Covenant Eyes can track across a wide variety of devices and operating systems, with many more to come. For more info on this product, check out covenanteyes.com.
TrueMan 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!
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!
