Homosexuality article by Joseph Sciambra

Joseph Sciambra: How Our Lord Jesus Christ Saved Me From Homosexuality, Pornography, and the Occult: Band-Aids on Bullet Wounds: Where Faith Based Appr...:

Band-Aids on Bullet Wounds: Where Faith Based Approaches to Homosexuality Have Failed

When the Lord first Saved me from the sad and lonely world of homosexuality – I quickly realized that my problems, past, present and future, would go way beyond just the struggle for any enduring form of chastity. Actually, in the beginning, chastity was rather easy for me; it was like this: when I was a kid, a few times, usually around Easter or Halloween, I would get a hold of a large quantity of candy; unbeknownst to my parents – I hid a huge amount of the stuff and ate until my heart’s content. Subsequently, I was sick to my stomach, the thought of eating candy again was revolting; and, for a while, I stayed away from it altogether; and, I didn’t miss it. It was like that for me and sex; at least for a few years. This freedom from concupiscence made me want to delve deeper: I knew I could be chaste, but I needed to know why I became gay in the first place. 

Upon returning to the Catholic Church, I noticed an immediate emphasis on chastity, especially with regards to any outreach with the gay community or those wanting to leave the homosexual lifestyle. That was fine; after all, an alcoholic who wants to quit drinking, or a heroine addict who wants to stop shooting up – must end using immediately; you don’t go from two bottles of vodka a day to one bottle, or you don’t cut your heroine intake in half, all who have experienced addiction know that such weaning is a set-up for disaster; what you do it quit cold turkey, go through the withdrawals, and then start anew; and as all recovering addicts know – this is where the real work begins. Gay icon and chronic life-long addict Elizabeth Taylor, after reemerging from being dried-out at the Betty Ford Clinic, once said: “I had to face things at Betty Ford I had never had to face before. I learned that I had spent years squelching my real feelings…All the years of covering up the pain and keeping it quiet had created a lot of scar tissue.” 

Yet, there is no Catholic Betty Ford Clinic – and my perception was that the Church, with regards to its gay outreach, seemed to leave homosexuals as sort of dry-drunks; still gay, just not having sex anymore. For myself, that was completely inadequate. First of all, how could I control or master an impulse, same sex attraction, if I had no idea where is was coming from; second, chastity without healing felt forced and unnatural – with my gay orientation still intact, I always perceived that I was denying myself; that God, and the Church, took something away from me, that they were imposing their will; thirdly, I was still in pain – I was outwardly chaste, but I wasn’t happy. Like Taylor, I had a lot of scar tissue and I didn’t really even understand that I had it (see notes 1-5). Because, for the most part, I suffered, as do many gay man, from something called Anosognosia, or the inability to understand that you have a serious mental illness; about a half of schizophrenics have this condition. With that in mind, all the talk about chastity, the importance of prayer, and the need for fellowship and support wasn’t going to mean anything until I could finally admit that I was sick, that I was damaged, and yes – that I was “disordered.”6 And, herein lies the problem with some faith-based outreaches, because there is often some quibbling as to this point; for instance: “—the attraction is disordered, not the person.” 

Following that rational, the disordered inclination is then perceived as something which exists entirely outside of yourself; next, the choice to remain chaste becomes an endless battle against an invisible haunting force; with the effort as incredibly noble, but ultimately exhausting and habitually prone to relapses, discouragement, and an eventual return to homosexual activity. This cycle of recidivism and Confession often locks men into the orientation because the source and cause of those deeper wounds which created the homosexuality are never fully examined. Without this painful dip into the fragile psyche, efforts to address the problem of homosexuality remain focused on “…homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity” while ignoring the equally important statement that: “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”* Therefore, in order to literally reorientate ourselves towards Christ – the faith-based approach must include the healing of the body, mind, and spirit.

This must start with the acceptance that what I am feeling is wrong and that those affections, even though I do not act upon them, are disordered. With that sort of simple clarity, it becomes obvious that in order to remain chaste – the reason for those disordered desires must be explored. At this point, a lack of willingness to enter our own dark hearts often marks a prideful clinging to old ways and a refusal to acknowledge that the gay orientation itself is the ultimate source of the problem; this concept of gay denial has currently materialized in the tendency of some Catholics to still self-identify as gay while simultaneously extolling chastity. Yet, in order to move on, we must Trust in Our Lord Jesus Christ; this is frequently difficult because, as gay men, we carry the sorrow of having been betrayed and broken by others, sometimes by those closest to us, making it a scary experience to allow someone inside our little sheltered world of make-believe safety. Yet, at some point in every gay man’s life, we did let something in – usually it was the unwary promise of happiness by just admitting that we were gay; call it a homosexual demon, but we did accept it and we did let it in; later, a perfectly courageous priest finally freed me of this horrific possession. 

In my own experience, following exactly as Christ taught us to “become as little children,” in order to heal – I had to do just that: go back to all the turmoil, abuse, and hate of my childhood. In general, this collective gay trauma has been subconsciously acknowledged by the homosexual community with the “It Gets Better” project which recounts the terror then speeds to the fantasy of lasting contentment only achieved through gay self-realization. In actuality, going gay only buries the pain. For many years, I did that. And, rather quickly, often covered over by the thickening haze of the porn that filled my head from age 8 onwards – I began to forget that it even existed. Now, I had to remember, because those buried memories were controlling my life: often directing my actions and determining my attractions. In fact, most gay men who experienced some form of trauma during childhood later act out the abuse in a vain attempt to somehow normalize it.7. For instance, when I was a little kid – a very mean-spirited and aggressive boy incessantly made fun of the way I talked, how I moved my arms, and my overall general air of timid sissyness. Much later, when I got heavily into bondage and disciple, the last ultra-perverted stop in the already kinky world of gay sex, all these once submerged humiliations from my childhood returned. Ultimately, reenacting it only helped for a few moments; in the same way – merely embracing chastity, just seemed to suppress the pain as well. Only, when I no longer feared what I would find in my past – did I allow Our Lord Jesus Christ to heal me fully. On my near death-bed, I simply called out to Jesus – and He Saved me; after much struggle, I understood that God didn’t want to leave me chaste and gay: “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” (Acts 3:16)

1. “Gay and bisexual men were more likely than heterosexual men to be diagnosed with at least one of the five mental health disorders assessed in the MIDUS, after we adjusted for possible demographic confounding. In particular, gay and bisexual men were 3.0 times more likely to meet criteria for major depression and 4.7 times more likely to meet criteria for a panic disorder than were heterosexual men. Further, nearly 20% of gay–bisexual men overall were comorbid for two or more disorders, a prevalence exceeding that seen among heterosexual men. Differences observed between gay–bisexual and heterosexual men were unchanged when effects associated with treatment for HIV or AIDS in the prior year were considered…”

“Prevalence of Mental Disorders, Psychological Distress, and Mental Health Services Use Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults in the United States”

Susan D. Cochran, J. Greer Sullivan, and Vickie M. Mays

Published in final edited form as:

J Consult Clin Psychol. 2003 Feb; 71(1): 53–61.

2. “Meta-analyses revealed a two fold excess in suicide attempts in lesbian, gay and bisexual people. The risk for depression and anxiety disorders (over a period of 12 months or a lifetime) on meta-analyses were at least 1.5 times higher in lesbian, gay and bisexual people and alcohol and other substance dependence over 12 months was also 1.5 times higher.”

A systematic review of mental disorder, suicide, and deliberate self-harm in lesbian, gay and bisexual people”

Michael King, corresponding author…

BMC Psychiatry. 2008; 8: 70.

Published online 2008 Aug 18. doi:  10.1186/1471-244X-8-70

3. “The 7-day prevalence of depression in men who have sex with men was 17.2%, higher than in adult U.S. men in general…Depression was also associated with histories of attempted suicide, child abuse, and recent sexual dysfunction.”

“Distress and depression in men who have sex with men: the Urban Men's Health Study.”

Mills TC et al. 

Am J Psychiatry. 2004 Feb;161(2):278-85.

4. “Lifetime major depressive episode (MDE) affected 33.2% of the youth. Lifetime conduct disorder (23.6%), alcohol abuse/dependence (19.6%), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 16.0%), and nicotine dependence (10.7%) were also common…Most participants with mental disorders never received treatment, and comorbidity was common.”

“Mental health disorders in young urban sexual minority men.”

Burns MN et al. 

J Adolesc Health. 2015 Jan;56(1):52-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.07.018. Epub 2014 Oct 5.

5. “Gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people were at increased risks of major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, nicotine dependence, other substance abuse and/or dependence, multiple disorders, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts…Findings support recent evidence suggesting that gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people are at increased risk of mental health problems, with these associations being particularly evident for measures of suicidal behavior and multiple disorder.”

“Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality in young people?”

Fergusson DM1, Horwood LJ, Beautrais AL.

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999 Oct;56(10):876-80.

6. “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”

7. “Childhood sexual abuse is associated with high-risk sexual behavior in men who have sex with men…Results indicated that men who have a history of childhood sexual abuse were more likely to: engage in high-risk sexual behavior (i.e., unprotected receptive anal intercourse), trade sex for money or drugs, report being HIV positive, and experience non-sexual relationship violence. Results of this study extend previous research to show that men who have sex with men and who have a history of child sexual abuse are more likely to be at high risk for HIV infection.” 

“Trauma symptoms, sexual behaviors, and substance abuse: correlates of childhood sexual abuse and HIV risks among men who have sex with men.”

Kalichman SC1

J Child Sex Abus. 2004;13(1):1-15.

* “Letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” (1986).

Cycling story of Gino Bartali

Cycling & Sanctity: Gino Bartali’s Race Against The World, The Flesh & The Devil

It was 1948, the Tour de France, one of pro-cycling’s classic races. Riding in it that year was a cyclist who rode for more than simply sporting glory. Drenched in sweat yet with his body shivering in the unseasonal snowstorm that had descended, his race through the frozen Pyrenees was for more than just the winner’s crown. In his case, his wheels kept turning on account of his faith. It was that which had propelled him and would propel him on; the rider’s name was Gino Bartali.

What amazed onlookers could not then have fully comprehended was that that race and its outcome were to have a dramatic impact on Bartali’s home country, Italy. Furthermore, that just a few years earlier, operating out of a Franciscan friary at Assisi, that same rider had been part of a clandestine network saving Jews from the clutches of the SS & Gestapo. On that July day in 1948, as the snow and sleet continued to pelt the by then solitary cyclist, one now far removed from the chasing pact, little could anyone realise that what he was really racing against was the hardest adversary of all and one in direct opposition to his earlier act of faith: a ‘voice’ that kept telling him to quit…

*

Born into poverty, his parents both worked yet even then barely made ends meet. Education was not for Gino; he was happier when outside, what would become of him, his parents worried. Unexpectedly, his vocation was to come in the form of two wheels. On the streets of his home town Florence he noticed workers going to their work on bicycles, even then he envied their sense of movement, their sense of freedom, and so he taught himself to cycle when six years old. Later, as an adolescent, he was to own his first bicycle, and very soon, to his parent’s despair, along with his younger brother, Giulio, it was quickly to become an obsession. His first job was, fittingly, in a cycle repair shop. Its owner was a keen amateur cyclist, sometimes competing in local races. One day the young Gino came with him and the man’s then trainer. They decided to race, Gino joined in… At the end of it the incredulous owner made straight to the boy’s parents, it had begun…

It didn’t end there though. No matter how much his parent’s begged him to forget about cycling and to get a proper job. Soon the boy was racing, and winning, and, helpfully, getting paid to do so – something that helped assuage some of his parent’s fears. In fact, both boys were now cycling, and for all they were worth. They used to joke that they would become the best cyclists in Italy – they very nearly did.

Before long, Bartali had turned professional. Racing was now his chosen profession, and quickly proved a lucrative one. In addition, he was soon sprinting up the consciousness of sports journalists and thereafter the Italian public and at an alarming pace. On the Continent the world of a professional cyclist was a glamorous one, more so than any then movie star. The young dashing Tuscan fitted the bill, and his face fitted the front cover of magazines as well as the sports pages. Soon he had so many fans he had to hire a press secretary to answer his mail. Women in particular were fans – completely smitten by the rider. It was all going so well – or so it seemed.

The Giro d’Italia was, and still is, the premier cycling race in Italy. By 1936 he had conquered it. He did so the next year as well. From his winnings he moved his parents from their tiny flat to a house the size of the apartment block they had left. He went from one of the city’s poor to walking around its streets dressed in a tailored three piece suit, the world was at his feet. And with his younger brother, still an amateur, now rated one of the best in Italy, their hope for a family dynasty of riders was drawing ever closer, but then tragedy struck.

Giulio was badly injured on the descent of a wet downward mountain course. Bartali rushed to the hospital where his brother had been taken.  He arrived only to hold the dying man’s hand. This loss changed everything.

*

Bartali left cycling. He retreated into himself; alone, he asked what was the point of all he had achieved when such a tragedy could strike. He turned inward for answers. Eventually, instead of asking why such a thing happened, he chose to allow his childhood faith to be deepened by it. He became involved in the lay movement, Catholic Action; using his celebrity, he spent his time urging young Catholics to live their faith. Nevertheless, through it all, a question still hung over the cyclist – would he ride again?

The answer came in the unlikely form of a young woman. He had noticed her working in a dress shop. He liked her but was too shy to speak. Finally he did, and she listened, and soon they were in love, eventually to be wed. It was she who told him that his cycling was a gift. He remounted. Soon he was winning again, more so than ever. The nation cheered as their favourite cyclist returned to lay waste to any opposition.  Ominously, the then regime in power also began to take an interest.

Fascist Italy loved sport, and sporting heroes. Bartali was co-opted as a national hero. It was not something he would have chosen, his father was a socialist, and the cyclist’s own creed was Catholicism. Privately, he was sceptical of Fascism in general and more so of its involvement in sport. Frustratingly, his sporting decisions were now to be taken by committee. One that forced an unfit Bartali to take part in the 1937 Tour de France and then withdrew him mid-way through it.  They interfered and meddled; he concentrated on the riding.

And, in 1938, he returned and triumphed. On that Tour de France he became only the second Italian ever to win. The joy of the victory was short lived, however. Soon the Tour and all professional cycling across the Continent would be suspended as another ‘race’ was enacted, one that soon engulfed all of Europe in war. Bartali was conscripted into the military. Mercifully, he became a cycle despatch rider; his fame had saved him from being sent to North Africa or some other battlefield. His posting meant that he stayed in Florence. It was from another city, Rome, however, that he was to receive an altogether different task – one that was to involve great personal danger.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Florence, Elia Dalla Costa, asked to see Bartali. This was not unusual in itself, that primate had married the cyclist and his bride, Andrea, in 1940. But on this occasion, the impetus of the meeting came from the Vatican where the then Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XII, had specifically asked the cardinal to escalate his secret operation that was then helping countless Jews flee the ever watchful eye of the German SS. This operation was centred on a Franciscan Friary in Assisi and consisted of forging travel documents and passports to allow Jews to travel from danger or to remain where they lived but with new identities. Bartali was asked to be one of the chief couriers of these documents – concealed in the inner tubing of his handlebars. His sporting status meant that no one would think anything of his cycling long distances on a regular basis. It was a perfect ruse. It worked.

It was not without danger though. Bartali had already hidden a Jewish family in one of the properties that he owned. Soon the local Fascists, at the behest of their Nazi masters, took an interest in him and began questioning his movements. There was another cost as he hid his activities from his wife. She was already suffering from nervous tension at having to live in a war zone – Italy by then had been invaded from the south by the Allies – and now she was pregnant for the second time. He chose not to worry her, but his actions left a strain on him, something, inevitably, she noticed.  Allied bombing started. One night, there was an explosion near to where the couple hid; Andrea gave birth to a stillborn child soon after. Shortly after that, as the raids continued, Gino cycled alone to the graveyard where he had buried his brother.  He carried with him a small box. It was there in that same plot he laid to rest the child that had not lived.

In August 1944, Florence was liberated.

With the war’s end, Bartali found that the sport he had loved and lived for was shattered. It would take two years before even a semblance of its former races and competitions would be restored but its once lucrative circuit was gone. In addition, the best years of his sporting life were also gone. Aged 30 years old he was deemed too old to race competitively. These next years would be ones of darkness, almost despair, for Bartali. In the end, one night he cycled to the graveyard of his brother and child, it was there he would pray alone for some time, seeking an answer as to what to do next. When he rose from his knees, he mounted his cycle confident he had his answer: he was to race again…

When he started racing again, the slurs that followed were not just about his age. His opponents now openly mocked his faith. He was known to be a personal sporting favourite of the then Pope, with whom he had had a private audience after winning the Tour de France in 1938. At the end of that race in Paris, he had taken his winner’s bouquet to the church of Our Lady of Victories – dedicating his win to the Mother of God. It was known that Bartali not only regularly attended Holy Mass before races but also had a shrine dedicated to St. Therese in his hotel room, whilst all the time exhorting his fellow Catholic riders to practice their faith and to sanctify their professional work.

Italy was in post war chaos, politically and economically, sharply divided between the Christian Democrats and Communists.  In the middle of it all, Gino had started racing again. He was competing but not winning, not so easily anyway. He entered the 1948 Tour de France. He had won it ten years earlier, no rider had ever won it with such a time lapse in between: no one gave him a chance.

That year, 1948, his main rival would be Fausto Coppi, a younger man, and an altogether different one. This would become more than a race between two sporting rivals. It was also seen as one between a cyclist who was favoured by the communists and indifferent to the faith opposed by one who had links to the Christian Democrats and was devout. It was between an urban sophisticate and a countryman, between tradition and modernity, with the ‘modern’ rider fastidious about his diet and his health whilst the man who symbolised the older order ate, smoked and drank with Chestertonian abandon.

*

Through the roads and the mountains of France they were to face each other. Only one could be victor.  And that victory was won on a stage in the mountains. That day, Bartali rode with almost preternatural strength. Crowds, rivals and organisers looked on in astonishment at the figure racing through the snow on those treacherous mountain slopes. Even so they could have not known how hard it was for the former champion, who, by then, was suffering from severe hunger pangs, so much so he was about to stop, to give up, he thought he couldn’t go on then suddenly a hand came from the crowd and offered him some fruit. It was to prove enough for him to continue. No one knows who did this; later reports claimed that it was someone dressed as a priest, but whoever it was it changed everything. Bartali was later to say that from then he felt as if he was being picked up and carried to the finish. On that day, he vanquished his opponents so much so they never recovered – the race was his. On the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he had ascended the mountain, and won.

His victory was to have a unifying effect on his divided homeland – some suggested even averting a possible civil war. Not least because of a picture taken on one of the stages.  It was of the two rival Italian riders caught on camera sharing a water bottle. One passes it to another, they both drink, before the bottle is replaced, and then in the sweat and the heat continue to race. For some, that picture was to become a symbol. Post-war Italy – left & centre – could co-exist, could work together, they were born with a common heritage, something that transcended any new found political posturing.

Bartali retired from the sport soon after to lead a quiet life in his native Florence. Not until many years later did it become public knowledge what he had done for so many during the war. So much so that it was only after he had been dead 13 years that he was declared Righteous Among the Nations. He was equally self-effacing about his many sporting triumphs. On being asked by one reporter about his medals and trophies, he replied the only ‘medals’ worth having were those received in Heaven.

In May 2000, after a Requiem Mass, he was laid to rest dressed in the robes of the Carmelite Third Order, with the Scapular of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel a reminder of Bartali’s greatest earthly victory, and the promise of a heavenly one.

http://catholicexchange.com/cycling-sanctity-gino-bartalis-race-against-the-world-the-flesh-the-devil?mc_cid=e7b2b54aed&mc_eid=c4a194860b

Holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit

And that's all there is to it. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately!) there is much more to it than that.  It does take courage and patience, undoubtedly.  But it is certainly not true that holiness is the result of a program of life we set ourselves.  There are several reasons why holiness is not the work of human beings; here are two main ones. 

1.  The task is beyond our power

It is impossible to attain holiness by our own power.  The whole of Scripture teaches us that it can only be the fruit of God's grace.  Jesus tells us: "Apart from me, you can do nothing."[1]And St. Paul says: "I can will what is right, but cannot do it."[2] The saints themselves witness to this.  This is what St. Louis Grignon de Montfort says, speaking this sanctification that is God's plan for us:

What an admirable work: dust changed into light, filth into purity, sin into holiness, the creature into the Creator, and man into God! Admirable work, I repeat, but a work that is difficult in itself, and impossible for unaided nature! Only God, by his grace — abundant, extraordinary grace — can accomplish it; and the creation of the whole universe is not such a surpassing masterpiece as this.[3]

However great our efforts, we cannot change ourselves.  Only God can get to the bottom of our defects, and our limitations in the field of love; only he has sufficient mastery over our hearts for that.  If we realize that we will save ourselves a great deal of discouragement and fruitless struggle.  We do not have to become saints by our own power; we have to learn how to let God make us into saints. 

That does not mean, of course, that we don't have to make any effort; but if our efforts are not to remain fruitless, they must be directed to the right end.  We should fight, not to attain holiness as a result of our own efforts, but to let God act in us without our putting up any resistance against him; we should fight to open ourselves as fully as possible to his grace, which sanctifies us. 

This opening of ourselves demands a great deal of humility because it means renouncing our tendency, born of pride, to want to manage by ourselves; it means accepting our own poverty and so on.  But at the same time it is very encouraging. 

The reason it is encouraging is that our own powers are limited, but God's power and love are not.  And we unfailingly can obtain the help of that power and love for our weakness.  All we have to do is peacefully recognize and admit the fact of our weakness, and place all our trust and hope in God alone.  Basically, it's very simple; but like all simple things it takes years for us to understand and, above all, to practice. 

The secret of holiness could be described as discovering that we can obtain everything from God, on condition that we know "how to get hold of him."  That is the secret of St. Thérèse of Lisieux's little way: God has a father's heart, and we can unfailingly obtain what we need from him, if we know how to take him by the heart.  Here is a passage from a letter by St. Thérèse of Lisieux that can help us to understand what this means:

I want to try to make you understand, by a very simple comparison, how much Jesus loves those souls, even imperfect ones, who entrust themselves to Him.  Imagine that a father has two children who have been naughty and disobedient; and that when he comes to punish them, he sees one who trembles and runs away from him in terror, knowing in his heart that he deserves to be punished; and that his brother, instead, throws himself into his father's arms, telling him that he's sorry he has displeased him, he loves him, and to prove it he will be good from now on.  Now if that child asks his father to punish him with a kiss, I believe that the happy father's heart will not be able to resist his son's filial trust, since he knows his sincerity and love.  Yet he also knows that his son will fall into the same faults again, but he is always ready to forgive him if his son always appeals to his heart.[4]

I think St. Thérèse found this idea that we can obtain everything from God in the works of St. John of the Cross, who was virtually the only teacher she had.  This is what he says in the Spiritual Canticle:

Great is the power and persistence of love, since it overcomes and binds God himself.  Happy is the soul who loves, because that soul holds God captive, and obtains from him all that he or she desires.  For God's nature is such that, if we take him by love, in the right way, we will make him do what we want.[5]

This daring expression about the power that our love and trust can exercise over God's heart contains a beautiful and very deep truth.  St. John of the Cross expresses it elsewhere in other terms: "What touches God's heart, and triumphs over it, is firm hope."[6]And, again:

God has such high esteem for the hope possessed by souls that are ceaselessly turned toward him and rely on him alone, that one can truly say that they obtain all that they hope for.[7]

Holiness is not a program for life, but something obtained from God.  There are even infallible means for obtaining it, and the important thing is to know what they are.  We all have the power to become holy, simply because God lets himself be won over by the trust we put in him.  The aim of the following sections is to put us on the right track. 

2.  Only God knows each person's road

A second reason why we don't become holy simply by drawing up a plan for ourselves is that there are as many forms of holiness, and hence also ways to holiness, as there are people.  For God, each person is absolutely unique.  Holiness is not the realization of a given model of perfection that is identical for everyone.  It is the emergence of an absolutely unique reality that God alone knows, and that he alone brings to fruition.  No individual knows what his own holiness consists of.  Holiness is only revealed to us by degrees, as we journey on, and it is often something very different from what we imagine, so much so that the greatest obstacle on the path to holiness may be to cling too closely to the image we have of our own perfection. 

What God wants is always different, always disconcerting; but ultimately it is infinitely more beautiful, because only God is capable of creating totally unique masterpieces, while we humans can only imitate. 

This uniqueness has an important consequence.  To reach holiness, we cannot be content merely to follow the general principles that apply to everyone.  We also need to understand what God is asking of us in particular, which he may not be asking of anyone else.  How can we discover what it is?  In different ways, naturally: through the happenings of our lives, in the advice of a spiritual director, and in many other ways as well. 

Among these ways, there is one that is so fundamental and important that it merits an explanation: the inspirations of divine grace.  In other words, the inner promptings, the movements of the Holy Spirit in the depths of our hearts by which God makes known to us what he is asking of us, and at the same time gives us the strength we need to accomplish it, at least if we consent.  How we should discern and receive these inspirations will be discussed later. 

To become holy, to become saints, we must of course try as hard as we can to do God's will as it comes to us in a general way that is valid for everyone: through Scripture, the Commandments, and so on.  It is also indispensable, as has just been said, to go further: to aspire to know not only what God demands of everyone in general, but also what he wants more specifically of us individually.  That is where the inspirations referred to above come in.  These inspirations are necessary even to know God's general will for us. 

The first reason for this is that if we aspire to perfection, we have so many things to tackle, so many commandments and virtues to practice, that it is impossible for us to fight on all fronts.  And so it is important to know at any given moment which virtue we should give priority to, not according to our own ideas, but according to what God actually wants of us, because that is what will be infinitely more effective.  And it isn't always what we may think.  It can happen that we make superhuman efforts to improve on one point, while God is asking us for something else.  For example, we may be making a supreme effort to correct a character defect, while what God is asking us to do is accept it with humility and gentleness toward ourselves! The inspirations of grace are invaluable in enabling us to direct our efforts correctly, among the many battles we have to wage.  Without those inspirations, there is a serious danger that we may either let ourselves off too easily on certain points, or demand of ourselves more than God is demanding of us, which is just as bad, and more common than we might think.  God calls us to perfection, but he is not a perfectionist.  And perfection is reached not so much by external conformity to an ideal as by inner faithfulness to God's inspirations. 

There is a second reason, shown by experience.  Even though we know that God's will and commandments apply to everyone, we do not always have the strength to fulfill them.  Now, every time we respond faithfully to a motion of the Spirit, out of a desire to be docile to what God expects of us, even if it's something almost insignificant in itself, that faithfulness draws grace and strength down on us.  That strength can then be applied to other areas and may make us capable of one day practicing the commandments that up until then we had not been capable of fulfilling entirely.  This could be seen as one application of the promise made by Jesus in the Gospel: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much."[8] One can deduce a fundamental "spiritual law" from it: We will obtain the grace to be faithful in the important things that at present we find impossible, by dint of being faithful in the little things within our grasp, especially when those little things are the ones that the Holy spins asks of us by calling to our hearts with his inspirations. 

Finally, there is a consideration of capital importance that can motivate us to want to be faithful to these inspirations.  If we decide to make an effort to achieve some spiritual progress according to our ideas and our own criteria, we are by no means sure to succeed.  As we have seen, there is sometimes a big difference between what God is actually asking of us, and what we imagine he is asking.  We won't have the grace to do what God is not asking of us.  But for what he is asking, he has promised us his grace: God grants what he commands.  When God inspires us to do something (if it really is God who is the source of that inspiration), at the same time he supplies the ability to do it, even if it is beyond our capacity or scares us at the start.  Every motion that comes from God brings both the light to understand what God intends, and the strength to accomplish it: light that illuminates the mind, and strength that gives power to the will. 

3.  Faithfulness to grace draws down further graces

Here is a little story from Sister Faustina, again taken from her Diary. 

This evening I tried to do all my exercises before Benediction, because I felt sicker than usual.  Right after Benediction I was going to bed.  But as I went into my cell, suddenly I felt inwardly that I had to go to Sister N.'s cell because she needed help.  I went straight to her cell, and Sister N.  said: "Oh, how good it is, Sister, that God sent you!" And she spoke in such a low voice that I could hardly hear her.  She said: "Sister, please bring me a little tea with lemon, because I'm so thirsty and I can't move.  I'm suffering so much."  And she really was suffering a lot, and she had a high fever.  I settled her more comfortably and quenched her thirst with a little tea.  When I went back into my cell, my soul was penetrated with a great love for God and I understood that we should pay great attention to inner inspirations and follow them faithfully.  And faithfulness to one grace attracts others.[9]

This text illustrates some of the things we have just looked at.  It underlines a central point: each act of fidelity to an inspiration is rewarded by more abundant graces, especially by more frequent and stronger inspirations.  The soul is drawn steadily on to greater faithfulness to God, a clearer perception of his will, and greater ease in accomplishing it.  St. Francis dc Sales says, likewise:

When we profit from an inspiration that our Lord sends, he then sends another, and thus our Lord continues his graces as long as we continue to profit from them.[10]

And that is the fundamental dynamism that can lead us little by little to holiness, our faithfulness to grace drawing down other graces.[11] St. Thérèse of Lisieux also witnesses to this "dynamism of faithfulness" that makes accomplishing God's will progressively easier:

The practice of virtue became sweet and natural to me; to begin with, my struggle often showed in my face, but little by little this disappeared and renunciation became easy to me even at the first moment.  Jesus said this: "To everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance.  For one grace that I received faithfully, he granted me a host of other.  .  ."  [12]

It should be added that this process is accompanied by the grace of joy: even though obeying the Holy Spirit is often hard for us at the start, because it conflicts with our fears, our attachments, and so forth, that obedience is always, in the end, a source of joy and happiness.  It is accompanied by an outpouring of grace that enlarges our hearts and makes our souls feel free and happy to travel along the Lord's paths: "I will run in the way of thy commandments, when thou enlargest my understanding!"[13] God rewards us as generously as only he can.  He treats us as only God can.  Another spiritual law, which is worth taking note of and that is confirmed by experience, is this: this path of docility to the motions of the Holy Spirit may be very demanding, because "the Spirit breathes where he will,"[14] but it is a path of freedom and happiness.  We may journey without constraint, our hearts not confined but expanded.  This enlarging of the heart is a clear sign of the presence of the Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is rightly called the Consoler.  When the touches of the Spirit, enlightening us and impelling us to act, are well received, they pour into our hearts not just light and strength but solace and peace, that often fills us with consolation.  This happens even when their object is something unimportant; because these touches proceed from the Holy Spirit they share in God's power to console and fulfill us. 

Just a minute amount of the unction of the Holy Spirit can fill our hearts with more contentment than all the riches of the earth, because it shares in God's infinity.  Richard of St. Victor says:

I boldly affirm that one single drop of these divine consolations can do what all the pleasures of the world cannot.  The pleasures of this world cannot satisfy the heart; and one single drop of the inner sweetness that the Holy Spirit pours into the soul, delights it utterly and causes it a holy inebriation. 

"Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overfloweth," we read in Psalm 23 [22].  And this unction of the Spirit is unfailingly spread in the souls of those who do the good that the Holy Spirit inspires in them.  Here we find another great law of the spiritual life: what is really able to satisfy our hearts is not so much the gifts we receive as the good that God inspires and that we practice.  There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.  

We can see, then, how fruitful it is to welcome and follow the motions of the Spirit, to the point where we can say with Sister Faustina that this is the main means of our sanctification.  Various questions arise from this.  How can we recognize and distinguish these motions of the Spirit?  Does everyone receive them?  How often?  How can we foster their presence in our spiritual life? 

It is worth looking at the last of these questions first. 

Endnotes: 

1. John 15: 5.
2. Romans 7:18. 
3. St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, beginning of the first part.
4. St. Thirese of Lisieux, Letter 258. 
5. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle B, strophe 32, I.
6. St. John of the Cross, Maxim 112. 
7. St. John of the Cross, Maxim 119.
8. Matthew 25:21.
9. St. Faustina, Petit journal, p.  282. 
10. Letter 2074 in the Annecy edition.  Father Ravier, introducing the essential points of the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, says: "Inspirations are one of the means the Holy Spirit uses to guide each person at every moment.  The ability to discern and follow them is one of the most important points of the devout life": Francis de Sales, Lettres d'amité spirituelle (Bruges: Desclée de Brouwer), p.  818
11. This does not mean that all is lost if at any time we are unfaithful to them.  This point will be discussed further on.
12. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Autobiography, Manuscript A, folio 48.
13. Psalms 119 [118]: 32.
14. John 3:8.
15. http://catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/spiritual-life/holiness-is-the-work-of-the-holy-spirit.html

Liberal Christians try to Nuance Abortion - Crisis Magazine

Liberal Christians try to Nuance Abortion - Crisis Magazine

The Pity of Christ - Crisis Magazine

The Pity of Christ - Crisis Magazine

The Pity of Christ by Fr. George Rutler-NYC

Christ cannot be psychoanalyzed because he is perfect.  It would be like seeking flaws in pure crystal or long shadows at high noon. That is why he may seem from our fallen state in a singularly ill-contrived world as both severe and merciful, ethereal and common, rebellious and routine, rustic and royal, solitary and brotherly, young and ageless.  His perfection is a stubborn enigma to the imperfect, but if there is to be one hint of the art that moves his mind, it will be in his pity.  It will be in his pity for the whole world when he weeps over Jerusalem; but most wrenchingly it will be in his pity for each soul when he sees us scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd.

He warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt.7:15) and that disguise was the cunning deceit and dark tragedy of the modern age.  The modern wolves, those seductive tyrants and demagogues, wandered freely and devoured as they did because they were given fertile pasture and friendly forests by a stranger creature in more subtle disguise. Churchill detected it when he called Clement Attlee a sheep in sheep’s clothing.  Here is the moral weakling who thinks the wolf is a sheep because he sees no difference between the two and if he did, he could not care less.  
Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in “The Great Liberal Death Wish”:

Not Bolshevism, which Stalin liquidated along with all the old Bolsheviks; not Nazism, which perished along with Hitler in his Berlin bunker; not Fascism, which was left hanging upside down, along with Mussolini and his mistress, from a lamp-post—none of these, history will record, was responsible for bringing down the darkness on our civilization, but liberalism. A solvent rather than a precipitate, a sedative rather than a stimulant, a slough rather than a precipice, blurring the edges of truth, the definition of virtue, the shape of beauty; a cracked bell, a mist, a death wish.

Now that Planned Parenthood has been exposed for those who have willfully been blind during these years of its atrocities, all that its CEO could sheepishly manage to say of a Senior Director of Medical Services sipping wine as she cited prices for infants’ body parts, was that her “tone” was “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”  Cecile Richards, who employs Dr. Nucatola, draws a salary of half a million dollars from the $528 million dollars of taxpayers money which our government contributed last year to Planned Parenthood’s annual budget.  That same week, 94-year-old Oskar Gröning, who had been a functionary in Auschwitz, was convicted by a German court on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.  He admitted knowing something was wrong when a camp guard grabbed a crying baby and smashed its head against a wall.  With untutored diction and uncoordinated syntax, Dr. Nucatola blithely spoke of ways to crush a baby’s skull. Affecting Latinity with which we may assume she is otherwise unfamiliar, she called it a “calvarium.”  Has anyone heard of Calvary?  In terms of the number of inflicted deaths and consequent dismemberments and experiments, Dr. Nucatola makes Dr. Mengele seem like Florence Nightingale.

Yet Richards, a sheep in sheep’s clothing, could only manage to say that her “tone” was “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”  But the next day, Richards angrily backtracked and insisted that such horrific procedures promote scientific research. Benjamin Franklin said, “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” Richards ruined it. Her words were a descant on those of the Nazi doctor Julius Hallerworden, trying to justify himself at the 1945 Nuremberg trials: “If you are going to kill all these people, at least take the brains out so that the material may be utilized.” A few days later, and awkwardly for Richards who insisted that the body parts were not being sold for profit, another “medical director,” the coarse Mary Gattner was filmed saying, “It’s  been years since I’ve talked about compensation, so let me find out what others are getting, and if it’s in the ballpark then that’s fine. And if it’s still low, then we can bump it up—I want a Lamborghini,”

For several years, the Manhattan headquarters of Planned Parenthood have been directly across the street from my church and its school building, where children learn to read and write while smaller children are being dismembered in the opposite building.  They have sold their 70,000 square feet of condominium space for $35 million and have moved downtown near the Church of Our Lady of Victory where I also once served.  I thought of the dutiful exterminator—an indispensable figure in New York—who came with his fatal sprays on Memorial Day.  I expressed surprise that he had come on a holiday, to which he replied, “Rev, roaches don’t take holidays.”  True, they move from one place to another, always “roaming about” like Satan—and like abortionists.

At the time of the Planned Parenthood exposé, a young Muslim killed five armed forces personnel in Chatanooga and the White House issued no formal statement.   During a conversation on other matters, President Obama managed sheepishly to say that it was a “heartbreaking circumstance” and then he issued a statement wishing Muslims  “Eid Mubarak”—a blessed last day of Ramadan—and in New York, rather than dimming in grief, the Empire State Building was lit up in Islamic green lights. One remembered how Obama said in a United Nations speech in 2013: “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” While he was quick to go into deep mourning for Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Freddie Gray, Obama neglected to grieve for Kathryn Steinle whose murder by an illegal immigrant was politically inconvenient.  Only after several days did he yield to public pressure and lower the White House flag to half-staff for the soldiers.

In contrast, a mere few hours after the Supreme Court decision on same-sex unions, he had the White House, a national building, turned into a political billboard illuminated in rainbow colors.  Obama’s “heartbreaking” epicene angst was another instance of a sheep in sheep’s clothing, and as the bodies of the soldiers were being prepared for burial, he attended a Broadway show and played a round of golf.  The liberal death wish became raucous when CNN national security analyst Tom Fuentes said of the shooter Muhammad Youssed Abdulazeez, “I know what the name sounds like, but we don’t know it’s a Muslim name.” Now, the murderer was not Luther Abdulazeez, or Calvin Abdulazeez, or Wesley Abdulazeez.  There are few Lutheran or Presbyterian or Methodist chaps baptized Muhammad.

In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis called these sheep in sheep’s clothing “men without chests” because their perception of reality lacks objective moral reason.  Consequently, they really have no heart, if the heart is the seat of a righteous will, and thus they are ruled by whim, incapable of courage. The eagle on the Great Seal of the United States has arrows and an olive branch, but the sheep in sheep’s clothing would carry a limp pre-Raphaelite lily.  For them infanticide is no big matter provided it is described in gentle tones; and the shooting of unarmed soldiers (deprived of defensive weapons by the sheep in sheep’s clothing) is just “heartbreaking.”  That is easy to say for men without true hearts, but it is not what men with chests would say. Varro did not wispily call the slaughter of his sixteen legions at Cannae “heartbreaking,” nor did Boudicca of her 80,000 lost men, nor did Lincoln when cannons fired on Fort Sumter, nor did Congress when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  For that matter, Jesus did not say that the collapse of the tower of Siloam was heartbreaking.  He said, Repent (Luke 13:4).  And we know what he said about those who harm the least of these little ones.  From the depths of the sea, they may find the “tone” of God’s judgment “inappropriate.”  And they will learn that Obama’s blasphemous prayer in Washington on April 26, 2013,  “God bless Planned Parenthood,” fell on deaf ears in the heavenly realms.

It is telling that Obama once masqueraded as an august moral paragon to define sin as “Being out of alignment with my values.”  Thus speaks the sheep in sheep’s clothing.  Thus speak men without chests.  They are in our legislatures, and universities and corporate headquarters and sometimes sadly in our churches, for offensive to the Good Shepherd is a sheepish shepherd who has no chest on which to hang his pectoral cross.  Their fabricated world is like the Ivor Novello song “The Land That Might Have Been” that dreams: “Somewhere there is another land / Different from this world.”  In that other land, it is even considered courageous for those without chests to proclaim that men are women and women are men, and that marriage can be turned inside out by the opinion of a Supreme Court judge who lamely thinks that he is a philosopher by the merits of ingenious telepathy from Hell.  But because “The Land that Might Have Been” is fantasy and not Heaven, it is devoid of all joy and soaked in perpetual melancholy.

General Patton was thought by some not to have much pity.  But he had a chest.  When he entered Ohrdruf, the sub-camp of Buchenwald, his reaction to the corpses and crematoria surprised his soldiers.  He did not say the lurid scene was “inappropriate” or “unacceptable” or “heartbreaking.” He bent over and vomited.  And the medals on his chest rattled. When the people who lived outside the camps protested that they did not know what had been going on, General Eisenhower ordered them to walk through the fetid buildings and look at the corpses.  Perhaps there will be a day when remnants of our sheepish generation are dragged through the moral carnage of our land and feel some of the pity that Christ feels for us.

12 Ways to Become a Committed Catholic Man

There is a Catholic “man-crisis.” Large numbers of men who were baptized Catholic have left the Church and the majority of those who remain are “Casual Catholic Men”, men who do not know the Catholic faith and don’t practice it.

This large-scale failure of Catholic men to commit themselves to Jesus Christ and His Church has contributed to the accelerating decay of the post-modern culture. The long list of examples of cultural decay is obvious to those willing to look: industrialized slaughter of babies in the womb; the self-sterilization of contraceptives; epidemic promiscuity, pornography and sexual perversion; the avoidance of marriage; rampant divorce and adultery; so-called “marriage” of homosexuals; substance addictions; gender confusion; filth and coarseness in media; the loss of a connection to nature and escape into virtual “reality”; environmental exploitation; rampant materialism; the lost of the dignity of work; racial animas; commercialized gluttony; the dysfunctional political and legal system. Post-modern society is sick.

In midst of the societal decay, there are men who seek the true, beautiful and the good and are working to bring the peace and joy of Christ to the world: Committed Catholic Men. These men have completely committed themselves to the Almighty King, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to His Holy Church, realizing that true manhood is Catholic Manhood. This is the truest of loves, to love God with one’s full being and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.  Committed Catholic Men have realized the great blessings that flow from being committed to Christ and His Church.  Committed Catholic Men have made Sainthood their goal and have made their purpose to lead their families and as many as others as possible to Heaven.

Committed Catholic Men realize that behind the cultural decay, lurks Satan. They have come to know that Satan is real, Hell is real, Sin is real and that life is a battle to confront and defeat Satan, the Evil One who is waiting at every turn to devour the unprepared. Committed Catholic Men are not perfect, but take seriously Christ’s call to perfection. It is only in Christ, that Committed Catholic Men find the courage to persevere when they fall into Sin and are continually strengthened for the battle against Satan.

Every Catholic man is called to give himself fully to Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church. How does one become a Committed Catholic Man? Here are 12 steps to grow in loyalty and devotion to Jesus Christ:

1. Develop a rousing case for why Jesus Christ is your King – If a man is asked to describe why he loves his parents, wife, children or friends, most can quickly rattle off a long list of reasons for his love. But for most men, Jesus Christ is abstract, conceptual or a long-gone historical figure. Large numbers of men don’t know Jesus as real, alive and present. Each Catholic man must to be able to give a rousing argument for why Jesus Christ is the greatest Man and why Jesus is his King. If a man is not convinced about Christ’s greatness to the point of being able to articulate the case, his growth in faith will be stunted and he will be unable to draw others to Christ. Committed Catholic Men can make the case for Christ. 
2. Commit to be a Saint of Christ the King – There are no nice people or good people in Heaven, only Saints. Most men have not made a commitment to strive for Sainthood. Men are stuck in mediocrity and need to raise the bar higher; there is no higher bar than Sainthood. Christ’s first words of public ministry were to “Repent!” and every man must repent or die. By making a commitment to Sainthood, a man starts with repentance and aspires to greatness; in this he realizes his own spiritual poverty. In the recognition of spiritual poverty, a man comes to both humbly recognize his need for God’s mercy and to cry out for it. Aspiring to Sainthood changes everything.
3. Go to Reconciliation at least once a month – While the Church teaches each man must go to Reconciliation at least once a year, any man who is truthful with himself and Christ knows he needs the Sacrament of Reconciliation much more frequently.  Keep a guide to Reconciliation with you, recalling regularly the 10 Commandments. Make the commitment to go to Reconciliation on a pre-determined schedule each month and go to Reconciliation immediately when you fall into grave sin (e.g. when you view pornography). Regular and frequent Reconciliation changes men, for supernatural Grace flows to men during Absolution. 
4. Pray for 15 minutes every day – Only about a third of Catholic men pray daily; some smaller number, a much smaller number, pray for 15 minutes. How can a man know Jesus if he never talks to Him? He can’t. Commit to get to know Christ the King on a personal basis by approaching His Throne and talking with Him every day for 15 minutes. It is in this personal conversation that Christ will make His will known to each man.
5. Discover the majestic manliness of the Mass – The Mass is the “source and summit” of the Catholic faith, and yet, the majority of men claim to “be bored by the Mass” and to “not get anything out of the Mass”. This is because they don’t know what is occurring in the Mass: they have little understanding of the manly symbolism of the Mass, a Sacrament that has been devoutly passed down for 2000 years. They don’t realize that during the Mass they are witnesses to the actual Bloody Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. If a man doesn’t actively participate in the Mass because of ignorance and boredom, he can’t receive the Graces that flow from the Eucharist. Learn the Mass to such a degree that you can explain it to others with the reverence and devotion that Christ’s Sacrifice deserves.
6. Participate in Sunday Mass + 1 – It is the minimum obligation of each Catholic man to attend Mass every Sunday; but only about a quarter of men do so on any given week. This is both a catechetical failure and an outrageous insult to Our King. In addition to attending Mass every Sunday, each man should go an additional step to encounter the Eucharist at least one more time during the week either by participating in daily Mass or by kneeling in Adoration for 30 minutes. Most men have much to make up for and precious little time; drawing closer to Christ more regularly will help men make up for lost time. A warning: never approach the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin.
7. Pray the Rosary regularly and carry the Rosary with you – Only about 40% of Catholic men ever pray the Rosary, and only 1 in 10 carry their Rosary with them. Praying the Rosary draws a man closer to our Holy Mother and to her Son, Jesus Christ; it is the manliest of rituals, prayed by the greatest Saints over centuries, in quiet places and in the din of the battlefield. It is a manly act of loyalty and fidelity. Commit to carry the Rosary as a sign of your loyalty and faith and as a weapon against the daily onslaught of Satan; Satan hates the Rosary and fears it. Have the Rosary handy at all times to pray a decade in times of gratitude and stress, relying on the Holy Mother to bring your prayers to Jesus Christ. The Rosary is part of the uniform of the Committed Catholic Man.
8. Get to know your Patron Saint and Guardian Angel – We believe in a Communion of Saints. Many men don’t have a personal relationship with a Saint or their Guardian Angel.   Many men don’t feel connected to the Church, in part because they are not connected to the Saints or to the Guardian Angel that Jesus Christ has appointed for each man. Saints and Angels intercede on men’s behalf and stand by to protect and defend men from daily assault of Satan and his demons. Don’t go into daily battle without a Saint and your Guardian Angel guarding your back.
9. Read Holy Scripture for 15 minutes each day – All of Holy Scripture is about Jesus Christ. When a man reads Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ is with him, not figuratively or conceptually, but in a real and actual way. Jesus Himself came to earth to speak the words of Scripture for all men, across all time, to read and contemplate, drawing strength and wisdom and Grace from His words. Reading Holy Scripture can be done by working through books of the Bible and by reading/praying the Divine Office. A man can’t know Jesus Christ without contemplating His Word.
10. Be a priest, prophet and king in your home – In the face of a secular culture that attacks valid patrimony, Catholic men need to reassert their rightful roles as priest, prophet and king of their family. We are not talking about being a chauvinistic tyrant, but a true Saint of Christ, with each man serving his wife and children with humble sacrifice, holy example and courageous commitment to lead his family to Heaven. Be a priest by leading your family in prayer. Be a prophet by teaching the truth of Christ and His Church. Be a king by defending your family from the perversions of the culture, correcting them when they fall into error and by leading them the Eucharist and Reconciliation.
11. Build a brotherhood with other Catholic men in your parish – In Acts 2:43, the Apostles from the earliest days of the Church give the “formula” for Catholic brotherhood: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. For a man to grow in faith he must build brotherhood with faithful Catholic men who can challenge and help him grow in holiness. There is an epidemic of loneliness in modern men,  even in regular mass-attending men. Make the commitment to build brotherhood with other Catholic men, particularly younger men, men who are at grave risk as they enter adolescence and move into adulthood. Gather the men of your parish in large groups and small, to pray, to learn, to teach and to serve the poor. Be a catalyst, be a leader, working with your priest. Christ will hold all men accountable for their personal response to His command to “Go and make disciples.”
12. Commit to tithing and begin to work toward it – The willingness of a man to give his hard-earned money to the Church is a direct indicator of the strength of his devotion and loyalty to the King Jesus Christ. Sadly, many Catholic men give little to the Church, both in absolute terms and relative to other Christian’s gifts to their churches. Tithing is the giving of 10% of a man’s income to the Church including a parish and other Catholic charities. While you may not be able to give a full 10% due to economic constraints, commit to tithing and begin to work toward it, making progress each year, guided by the Holy Spirit.

Being a Committed Catholic Man is the greatest challenge to which a man can aspire to accept and the commitment can seem daunting. Don’t be deterred; be a Catholic Man! Make the resolution, right here, right now to be a Committed Catholic Man. Print this list off and post it where you will see it every day. As in all things, start with prayer. Pray that Jesus Christ will send the Holy Spirit to help give you the strength needed to become a Committed Catholic Man. Pray with your whole heart to Christ and do your best. Our King has promised to answer those who persist in prayer.

Jesus Christ will never let a man down who is committed to Him.

The post 12 Ways to Become a Committed Catholic Man appeared first on The Catholic Gentleman.

This article is reprinted with permission from our friends at The Catholic Gentleman.

By Matthew James Christoff

Matthew James Christoff is a Catholic convert. He is the founder of The New Emangelization (http://newemangelization.com) Project which is committed to confront the Catholic “man-crisis” and to develop new ardor, methods and expressions for the re-evangelization of Catholic men. Matthew is also a co-founder of CatholicManNight, a parish-based men’s evangelization effort that has drawn thousands of Catholic men into Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, fellowship and lively discussion. Matthew lives in Minnesota with his beautiful bride (and childhood sweetheart); they have 4 adult children, 3 “in-law” children and two grandchildren.

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