Example to the Example – St. Joseph

Happy Feast of St. Joseph!  As you’ll hear in this vlog (below), St. Joseph is my favorite saint.  He is such an incredible example to us, and for me personally, has played a huge role in me growing into the man I am today.  St. Joseph is so complex, and has so many dimensions, it is hard to decide what to discuss!

I titled this post “example to the example” because it forces us to look a level or two deeper than we normally look.  St. Joseph is not merely a saint.  Not merely Mary’s husband.  Not merely the most chaste spouse.  St. Joseph is the example by which Jesus – the perfect example of masculinity –  learned to be a man.  Whoa!  What a huge role that was.

St. Joseph – I ask you to intercede for me.  Take my needs to your son, The King, and beg Him, on my behalf, for the grace necessary to be the man, the husband, and the father He is calling me to be.  Thank you for your example to me, and the daily reminder you give me through my wife and children.

TrueMan up!

Here’s an old video that I was asked to help with, back in 2011, to help promote the movie “Courageous”.  In this video, I speak about being a chaste spouse.  [This project was a St. Joseph Novena – a video a day, leading up to Father’s Day.]  (Disregard dates, my title, etc. – the information is outdated.)

Porn Shop Shuts Down Near Buffalo, NY

Lots of people ask us if we believe that we can make a difference with our protests of sexually oriented businesses.  We always answer “Of course!”  When we’re out there, it’s easy to question our effectiveness, but we do make a difference.  The Catholic men’s group in Buffalo, NY knows this well, too.  They call themselves The Men of Jesus Christ.  I suggest you check out their website.  Here’s a recent story from them about a porn shop they were instrumental in shutting down.

Now this isn’t news from the Wall Street Journal, but for us in this small town of Kenmore NY, it is a tremendous victory.  I am talking about the Village Books and News adult shop located in one of the most densely populated family areas in Buffalo.  It is a full fledged porn shop and has been in the town for over 30 years.  Indecency laws have been passed to ban pornography shops in the town, but since this the shop was established before the laws were passed, they were grandfathered in, and has remained the eye-sore of the community.  The other day as I was passing by I noticed that the neon sign that says “Adult Video” has been turned off for the first time in 30 years, and a sign that says the store is closed.  A shop that was open 24 hours a day is now gone.

The last time people protested the establishment was in the days of its inception back in the late 70’s and since then it has been tucked in a plaza that most people don’t pay attention to, not because they feel it isn’t harmful, but because it has been there for so long, and its reign has finally come to an end.

It wasn’t until a couple years ago when a couple of us guys decided to pray out there on a weekly basis when a revival began, and it was met with a fight.  We decided to engage in prayer and nothing else in front the place.  Peaceful and prayerful.  We were met with the police threatening arrest, to people screaming and shouting at us, to engaging conversation from people wondering what we were doing.  This one time we were praying as we usually do, and a guy was walking toward us.  When he passed us, there was no eye contact, no conversation, and he planted himself right next to us and started praying with us. When we finished, he kept on his way.  It was simply an amazing act of the Holy Spirit.  It is difficult though.  There was a time when a couple of girls were passing by and asked us what we were doing. We told them and they were shocked, only because they felt there there is nothing wrong with it. After a long conversation. the one girl admitted that her father had a huge porn addiction and went on to explain how that affected her as a female and her relationships with other men.  It was touching, but at the same time devastating.

I have a tendency to think we were doing good out there, but when it comes down to it, it was God’s will that lead the way. I cannot help to think that it was prayer that led to the shutdown of this joint, and it was difficult, to say the least to keep it going.  In Buffalo, when its cold, well, its COLD.  And during prayer we got in the habit of kneeling as we sung the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which needless to say was not pleasant to listen to when you hear voices like ours.  We know it had an effect though.  There was a night when we started singing, and the clerk as he heard us, would increase the volume of a movie playing in the shop.  As he raised the volume inside, we raised the volume outside. You just knew there was a spiritual battle taking place.  We would start with the St. Michael prayer and then entrust the closing of this place to Mary, a living sign of purity, the real Woman, followed by a rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  It was our Mother that guided the closing of this place.  It is Her that is leading this mission.

I want to simply conclude that anyone reading this can make a difference in your area.  All you need to do is say YES!  Say yes to going to a place to pray in public even if it makes you feel incredibly uncomfortable.  Christ knows that, and all He asks is for you to be His vessel and He will do the rest. Christ has allowed us to be disciples in His mission and He is calling you too!  You just need to answer the call.  Three guys joined together in prayer in front of multiple indecent shops and this is what God has brought from it:
1) We prayed out in the warmth and the cold for such a long time, and this book shop shuts down after over 30 years.
2) We prayed once outside of the hamburg strip club, the place shuts down a few weeks later
3) We prayed and acted on the pornographic building with a cover sign facing all traffic of a major turnpike, the sign was removed within 2 weeks after the owner said it would never come down.
4) Family Video has yet to get a tenant to their building, which is the cornerstone to them staying economically viable.
This was achieved with a small number of guys. You men reading this can do the same.  What if there were 10 guys?  What if there were 20 guys?  What if there were 100 guys? What of there were teams scattered around the city protesting these places?  We could change an entire community!

You are being called as men to organize and shut these places down, which includes porn shops, strip clubs, and abortion clinics.  If you have not been out, get motivated to change this culture, and in return God will take care of the rest. We will be engaging in more battles to come so stay tuned to the site.  Stay strong brothers and God Bless