Virtuous Catholic Men

the tragedy of redemption Depending on how we define some things, Christianity can be called a tragedy.  Christianity is indeed a story – one that you are a part of – and seeing yourself as a part of a cosmic tragedy might give some keen insights to how you see your “place” in it, and […]

patient with those closest Let’s be clear on just what patience is. Some similar words and phrases are tolerance, easiness in the face of frustration, being non-critical and the like. And, impatience is intolerance, displeasure, exasperation, touchiness and so on. Can you think of any instances where you might have been impatient and frustrated with

why friendship? What is the point of friendship? Why is loneliness such a horrible thing? And why, in a culture where we “friend” and “follow” everyone do people feel like they are isolated? I don’t think that anyone would argue the fact that friends are necessary for a wholesome and fulfilling life. We are made

you can’t love your enemies The capacity of man to tame Jesus is staggering.  I don’t mean to tame the reality of Our Lord, but to attempt to make what is hard into something that is easy.  To “tame” something is to make it suitable for our environment – to put the tiger in the

man, where is your heaven? Men, where is your heaven? Examine your goals, your desires – what do you pursue? What you pursue is what you are attached to, what you seek to find your satisfaction in. Do you pursue an eternity of communion with the Trinity in Heaven, or something else? Maybe the pursuit

joy is more than it seems Sacred Scripture and the lives and writings of the Saints agree: as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, joy should not be an occasional state of being. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”, St. Paul writes to the Philippians (Phil 4:4, RSV). St. Theophane Venard

mercy toward your family At Ranch, this past summer a fellow captain from New York said to me something he had heard, “home is where you go when you are tired of being nice to people.” I shared this with my Exodus 90 group this past weekend and it got quite a chuckle out of

jesus defeated death, he didn’t remove suffering One of the cruelest banalities of soft (and false) Christianity is the idea that God alleviates the suffering of the righteous.  In America especially there’s a sense that the lessening of suffering is a sign of your election, of God’s love for you (Calvinism is hard to shake

the hard paradox of the gospel The gospel is full of paradoxes but the one that seems most difficult to swallow is that we have to die in order to have life. We see this in John 12:24 when Christ talks about the grain of wheat that has to fall to the ground and dies

the 10th commandment: vague placeholder or key to happiness? Have you ever thought that the ten commandments kind of start strong and peter out?  It’s like listening to a sermon that starts strong (“You shall have no gods before Me!”), gets appropriately practical (“Honor your parents”), but then gets so broad that it sounds like