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!
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!
The Most Important Relationship of Their Lives
February 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Fatherhood
I have the privilege of staying home with my daughters on Tuesdays. Technically, it’s my day off every week. I cherish Tuesdays with them and know that I am blessed to be able to have such dedicated and devoted time taking care of them. I cherish this time because I know, without a doubt, that there will never be a more important relationship in either of my daughter’s lives than their relationship with me. I don’t say this out of pride or out of attention-seeking. I say this because it is the truth.
Think about it… where does a young girl learn about love? Where does a young girl learn how to be treated? Where does a young girl develop her idea of what her future will hold? Where does a young girl learn self-respect and self-esteem? From her father. [This is NOT to underscore the relationships a young girl has with anyone else, especially her mother. It is to show that a father has a vital role in the future of his daughters. In my estimation, the most vital role.] Her father must demonstrate love; love of his spouse, love of his children, love of his God. What happens if a father doesn’t fulfill this role or if he fails to fulfill it in the correct way? Simple, the child’s understanding of how a man should act and treat others is skewed. This skewed understanding can lead to multiple problems, namely disordered relationships.
Fathers, love your wives. Set the example for your daughters of how they should expect a man to treat them. Teach them to set the bar high and to never settle for less than the best. If they see you being disrespectful, unloving and/or hurtful towards their mother, they are going to grow up thinking that similar behavior is normal and okay. It’s not. They will learn not only what love is, but more importantly, how to love and how to receive love from your example. It is a big responsibility, but that’s what you signed up for when you had sex with your wife.
Man up!
Security in Purity – A Message to Women
So many women in our society (especially young women) have a lack of self-worth and a deeply rooted insecurity in who they are. They want to fit in, be accepted and ultimately, receive love. This sometimes (more often than not these days) leads to dressing inappropriately and engaging in promiscuous sexual relationships — all in the name of finding love. They think that in order for a man to think they’re attractive, to be excited by them and to love them, they must “put out”. [After all, they are being fed lies from this menu everyday by society.] The problem arises that this simply is not real, lasting love, and the feelings of insecurity and perpetual emptiness persist. It pains me to see young women who think this way because they should be thinking the exact opposite… that they are an amazing and precious creation from God the Father and that they should never settle for anything less than the best. A man is only worthy to be in their presence if he upholds their dignity and shows them the utmost respect. Women deserve better than what they are typically given and owe it to themselves to require a True Man.
If you are a woman that struggles with self-worth and insecurity, please take my words to heart. You are worth nothing less than the best. You are worth being in a relationship with a man who loves you (real love), who adores you and who respects you. You don’t have to have sex with him before marriage… if he really loves you, he’ll wait for you. (If he’s a True Man and really loves you, he’ll want to wait for you because you’re that special!) When it comes to the way you dress, you describe to men what you are seeking by the way you dress. If you wear something revealing, it tells a man “I want to reveal myself to you”. *Keep in mind the distinction between dressing attractively and dressing to attract. If you want to draw in the right type of man, dress with respect and purity. You’ll find real security, love and worth if you seek purity. You are worth it.
For the women out there that are confident and content in who they are, continue to be an example to women everywhere and continue to set the standard high for what men should be striving for. Never lower your standards.
When a Man Loves a Woman
You know those relationships where you can tell, no matter how long a couple has been married, that they really love one another? I had the opportunity this weekend to experience one of these relationships first hand for the past 5 days out on the east coast. My wife’s aunt and uncle celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year and from the looks of it, they have an incredibly strong marriage… I believe it’s because of how much he loves his wife. He’s one of those men (a True Man, in my book) that treats his wife with an incredible amount of respect and genuine love. He’s set an amazing example for their son and for everyone else out there who watches them interact.
You and I have seen the opposite… relationships where the man is unloving, ungrateful, unsupportive and so on. A relationships like that is not what men need to see. We need True Men to set the standard high, to challenge other men to something better and, also incredibly important, we need women to expect this genuine kind of love and to never settle for less.
Fatherhood Friday – The Love of a Father
February 6, 2009 by admin
Filed under Fatherhood
I have two daughters. Lily and Emma. They are amazing and sweet little children. They mean the world to me. I would do anything for them. As I think about how I treat them… with such love and admiration, with kisses and hugs, snuggles and story time, prayer and discipline… I know, without a doubt, that my relationship with them is the most important relationship they will ever have. This isn’t to toot my own horn! Expand it in a broad sense: the most important relationship any young girl has is with her father. I do not take this responsibility lightly. At the foundation of all of their coming relationships (friendship/romantic/work/personal/professional) is the love that I show them. The burden lies solely on my shoulders, to show them how wonderful and precious they are. It’s my responsibility, as their protector and defender, to prepare them for the world. I must encourage them and build them up. I must help them to see the jewel that they are, the treasure that they are, the perfect creation that they are. A huge part in showing them this love is by loving my wife in the way that proves to all three of them that my wife is a jewel, a treasure and a perfect creation.
It is my goal, in my relationship with my girls, to have them set their bar high, to never settle, to never feel inferior or to never doubt their abilities. This is a monstrous goal. It is a gigantic task.
Man up!
