The Recovery of Authentic Manliness in the Modern World
Please see the new tab I made on this site, at the top… “Writings”. There you will find a paper I just wrote for my Master’s degree. I appreciate any and all feedback, positive or otherwise. Thanks.
Good Friends Bring Joy to Our Lives
Good friends bring joy to our lives. Good friends build us up. Good friends challenge us and hold us to a higher standard.
Are you a good friend? Are you a living joy? Are you building up those around you? Are you holding those around you to a higher standard? If you aren’t, check yourself, make a change and start to. If you are, you are greatly affecting change in this world. Living this type of life is not only a great benefit to others, but it affects us in a positive way too.
For the men… being a good friend means that you are living a life that challenges, encourages and leads your male friends to something more than drunken women-chasing. It means real, tangible efforts to build each other up. One of my favorite passages of Sacred Scripture is from The Book of Proverbs. It’s short and sweet, to the point, no frills. “As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens his fellow man.” (Proverbs 27:17). Iron is a very tough metal and the only way to sharpen an iron sword is to use another piece of iron. Once this piece of iron is sharp, it can be used for it’s purpose – fighting in battle. In order for a man to be a sharp man (ready for battle and ready to be used for the purpose in which he was created) he must have been formed by other men.
It is imperative for men to have good man friends. More on this next time.
Man up!
From Plato's Republic, on Virtue
I received this little snippet from a cadet yesterday. Thought it was something good to think about.
Vice in abundance is easy to get, The road is smooth and begins beside you, But the gods have put sweat between us and virtue and a road that is long and steep.
Republic, Bk. II: 364d
Man up!
Killing a Good Man Quickly
My wife and I were talking the other night about something that’s very important for men. Man time. She said, so profoundly, “I’ve never known a female who longed for, or who needed time with her girls like guys need time with their buddies.” She also said, “If a man is married, the quickest way to kill him is to take away his time with the guys.”
We talked a bit about this topic and as I thought about it, I realized more so that night than any other, that my wife supports me hanging out with my buddies because she knows it’s best for me, our kids, our marriage, the Church and our world. She supports my time with the guys because she knows that my friends are solid men that challenge me to make myself better. She supports me because our time together makes me, and them, an all-around better man. Some women might not know about this concept, so let’s bring it to light today.
There is a caveat here. If the “buddies” aren’t good men, this idea doesn’t work. If the men are out doing vicious (un-virtuous) things, it’s not going to build anyone up to be a better man. So, this idea only works when the group, as a whole, are striving for excellence in all things. If time with the guys involves drinking too much, finding women or causing trouble, it’s obviously counter to quality man time.
This is also not to say that man time should supersede family time, or spousal time. A proper ordering of time with one’s friends is important anyway, but when a wife and/or children are involved, the time spent outside the home needs to be properly regulated. This regulation should be the man’s responsibility; if you’re out of the house 5 nights a week with other things (whatever they are), it’s not good to be out another night on a regular basis. Keep it monitored and all will be well.
To the women: the idea of men getting together, hanging out, drinking a beer, maybe watching a game, might sound trivial and pedestrian to you. In some cases, you’d be correct. However, when the caliber of men increases in the group, the effect the “man time” has also increases. Encourage your man to find solid friends, men who are leaders and who love their families. Men who are virtuous and who are striving for excellence. This time away will benefit the family in ways you may not know are possible.
To the men: there’s a big responsibility with man time, so don’t blow it for the rest of us. Keep it pure, keep it focused.
Man up!
Steelers' Santonio Holmes – NFL Fantasy Files
Here’s the best one of all of ’em. This video shows Santonio Holmes practicing keeping his feet down after making a catch. You might remember his Super Bowl 43 game-winning touchdown catch after you watch this! Go Steelers!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu414kpBjeA]
Have You Seen This?
Awesome video for NFL Fantasy Football League Drafts. I don’t have time for fantasy football, but I’d want my team to be filled with all of these guys. About 6 mins.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Ij18ViQvw]
Man up!
Caritas in Veritate
I snagged this from Zenit.org. Pope BXVI’s words in this encyclical are a more-than-fitting follow up to my posts on love. Check it out.
Cardinal Bertone: Encyclical Not Just for Catholics
Based on Natural Law, Appeals to Atheists Too
ROME, JULY 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- “Caritas in Veritate” is directed to believers and nonbelievers alike, since it is based on natural law, the Pope’s secretary of state affirmed today to the Italian Senate.
In a presentation which he discussed last week with the vacationing Benedict XVI, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone showed how the Holy Father was able to unite the themes found in the title of his third encyclical: “caritas” and “veritas,” love and truth.
“The Holy Father enables us to understand that these two fundamental realities are not extrinsic to man or imposed in the name of an ideology, but rather are deeply rooted in the human person,” Cardinal Bertone said. “This truth is not only vouched for in Biblical revelation, but can also be understood by every person of good will who uses his reason uprightly in reflecting upon himself.”
The secretary of state explained in this regard that the proposals the Pope makes in his encyclical are based on natural law, which, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, “expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie.”
In this sense, Cardinal Bertone linked the encyclical with the document recently published (so far only in French and Italian) by the International Theological Commission precisely on natural law. This document, which was begun under the direction of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was president of the commission, was explained by the Pope in his April 2008 discourse at the United Nations.
Human rights, he said on that occasion, “are based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations.”
“Removing human rights from this context would mean restricting their range and yielding to a relativistic conception, according to which the meaning and interpretation of rights could vary and their universality would be denied in the name of different cultural, political, social and even religious outlooks,” the Pontiff contended.
Cardinal Bertone explained at the Senate that the document from the theological commission “precisely illustrates how truth and love are essential exigencies for every person, deeply rooted in their being.”
“In his search for the moral good,” he added, “the human person harkens to what he is and becomes aware of the fundamental inclinations of his nature, which move the person toward the goods necessary for his moral fulfillment.”
Man, the cardinal continued, is therefore made to know “the truth in all of its fullness, that is, he is not limited to acquiring technical know-how so as to dominate material reality, but rather open to encounter the Transcendent and to fully live the interpersonal dimension of love, the principle not only of micro-relationships — relationships of friendship, family and groups — but also of macro-relationships — social, economic and political relations.”
“Precisely ‘veritas’ and ‘caritas’ indicate to us the demands of natural law that Benedict XVI presents as the fundamental criteria for reflection of a moral order on the current social-economic reality,” Cardinal Bertone affirmed. Thus, the “proposal of the encyclical is neither of an ideological character nor reserved for those who share faith in divine Revelation, but rather based on fundamental anthropological realities, as are, precisely, truth and charity.”
