Pontius Pilate, What You Did Was NOT Manly
I thought several times throughout Holy Week, as well as when I watched “The Passion of the Christ” on Friday night, that Pontius Pilate (pronounced pon-chus pi-lot) was not manly in his decisions to condemn Jesus to death. He tried, yes, at first, to tell the people that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Where he went wrong was when he worried about what sort of uprising the Jewish high priests would start and what the people would do. He let self-preservation win out over justice.
He’s infamously remembered by Catholics in our Creed (our profession of faith) “…He (Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate…“. This is because Pilate had the power to prevent Christ’s horrible torture, scourging, carrying of His cross and His death, but failed to act; all out of fear. He was a coward. Even the movie “The Passion of the Christ” (picture above from a scene with Pilate and Jesus) shows Pilate’s wife as a hero and a servant, with compassion and deep sorrow while Pilate simply looks on, worried about himself. Pilate leaves us with a good example of what not to do.
Christ tells us that we’ll be persecuted because of Him, because we follow Him and because we love Him. We should be ready and prepared to persevere. We prepare for this by training (prayer and fasting, mostly). When it comes down to it, who will you side with? Will you take the easy way out and deny Christ or will you stand firm in your beliefs, in your faith and in HIS love and witness for Jesus? Only time will tell.
Again, society tells men that we must look out for ourselves and self-preservation. Christ, the Church and TrueManhood.com say something different. We all say “defend Christ, defend Mother Church, defend Truth” – God will provide for us and will raise us up on the last day. A True Man does this. A man like Pontius Pilate doesn’t. What kind of man are you?
Man up!
Business Owner
I just came from the tax guy this morning and received great news – a refund! (I can’t believe I waited this long!) I wasn’t sure this year because things changed for us in several ways and I went from having part-time businesses to being fully self-employed. I highly recommend that you (everyone) becomes a business owner – at least a part-time home-based business. The business can be anything you want (I recommend something that you are passionate about), and the distinction of business vs. hobby is simple. You ask the question: “Am I in the pursuit of profit?” and if so, whatever you are doing is a business. The IRS doesn’t care what you are doing to be in the pursuit of profit, they simply put the laws out there and if someone chooses to take advantage of it, great.
Here are the reasons why you want to own a business: tax deductions! It’s all about the tax deductions. Not to mention that you can create your own schedule, you are solely responsible for the success/failure of the business and you don’t have to work for the man. Why tax deductions are important: tax deductions decrease the amount of income that you are taxed on. So, if you are an employee, you are taxed first and then left with whatever you are left with to pay your bills and have fun BUT if you are a business owner, you pay your expenses first, then are taxed on the smaller amount and then have more left over to have fun with! (Or, if you are prudent and responsible, more to invest, save, and plan with.)
As I was sitting across from Ed today, I realized that a great number of people who belly-ache about taxes and money and the “rich people getting richer” and so on, don’t take advantage of the tax laws. The rich own businesses. The tax laws date back long ago, when land and possessions determined a person’s wealth. The government wanted to benefit those who were involved in commerce, so the tax law is written in a way that does so. You can reap the benefits of owning your own business and you can start today, with no money out of pocket. Do it today for yourself, for your family and for your future. Wanna know how? Shoot me an email. proveritasspeakers@gmail.com.
Man up!
What Does it Mean to Be Manly?
I came across a few videos today on YouTube that were a bit frustrating to watch. I’m not posting them here because 1. they are frustrating 2. they are inappropriate for my site and 3. I don’t want to promote the males that made these videos. What I found in these videos was a misconstrued image of manliness, but not in the normal sense (aka – “cultural manliness”, as I refer to it –> money, power, women, stuff…) but in a sense of bashing overly manly activities, ideas, thoughts and practices. Taking it to the other extreme; calling men to be more feminine. Yuck.
Let me make it clear to the readers of this blog what I mean when I say words like MANLY, MANLINESS, TRUEMAN, TRUEMANHOOD, etc. In essence, I mean virtue. In none of the three videos that sparked this post did they ever mention anything about virtue. It might get old hearing about virtue, and yes, I write about it frequently, but virtue = manliness. TrueManliness. Plain and simple.
Others can blog/vlog about whatever they want, but when it comes to talking about manliness, they aren’t my compass. My compass points are Christ and St. Joseph, combined with other saints and men who are alive (both literally and figuratively) in the faith. These men live(d) out “the greatest of these” – Love. Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, Faith, Hope and Love. Live them.
If you would like a copy of some virtue materials, contact TrueManhood.com at proveritasspeakers@gmail.com.
Man up!
An Explanation on Ephesians Chapter 5
On semi-regular occasions, I come across stories of men and women who look at Ephesians Chapter 5 in a different way than the Church does. It often appears that they take the writings out of context and make them something that they are not. I want to take a few minutes to explain portions of this sometimes mistaken portion of Scripture. Note: I am not a Biblical scholar – I recommend that you cross-check my words here with other sources for full understanding.
Starting at verse 21 in chapter 5, St. Paul tells Wives and Husbands “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, He Himself the savior of the body. As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.” A few hard-hitting verses. If we stop at this verse, we see the writer (St. Paul) asking women to be subordinate to their man in everything. It almost appears that a woman should blindly follow her husband simply because he is 1. her husband and 2. the head of his wife. We might look at this and say that a wife needs to be “below” her husband and always do as he tells her. The image of a slave and a master comes to mind here. After all, it’s right there in Scripture – right?
Not quite. We need to continue reading to finish out this section. 25: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed Himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of His body.” We see a much different story when we continue reading. St. Paul isn’t writing this to women alone. Most importantly, he is writing this to husbands; husbands are the readers who especially need to heed these words.
Look at this with me: scripture tells us that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Christ didn’t love the Church out of dictatorial power… He loved the Church out of service, out of self-sacrifice and out of pure virtue. If we leave this part out of our understanding, our understanding lacks truth and our relationship with our spouse suffers. Again, St. Paul is speaking to the men, saying “Men, serve your wife! LOVE you wife! Give up what you want for the sanctity and holiness of your wife! Love her as you love yourself! Want what’s best for her, never thinking about yourself first!” I can imagine him being incredibly frustrated with men who were lacking as husbands, trying to get them to see that Christ set the example of being a real husband (a TrueMan) for them and that they simply need to emulate Him in order to succeed.
This means, for us men who are or who will be husbands, that we MUST act as Christ acted. We must be perfected so that our actions, thoughts, words and deeds line up with how Christ would have done them. We must be sacrificial in the way that we treat our wife. Christ was a servant leader, He said “I come to serve, not to be served.” Do that… don’t live to be served.
On a practical note: as you look at your marriage and begin to digest what you are reading, realize that countless blessings will come from being a servant leader for your wife. Being a servant leader means that you are serving while leading. Service comes first. Want respect from your wife? Respect her first. Want your wife to honor you? Honor her first. Want your wife to trust you? Trust her first. It’s a simple formula and this formula will change your life. Christ calls us to act in the manner He acted, so guess what… if you are trying to act as Christ acted, you can’t be selfish, ever. Serve your wife, serve your kids, serve your co-workers, serve everyone, and do it ahead of yourself and your needs. It will change your life.
Man up!
Opening Day (Holy Week)…Opening Day (MLB)
April 6th, 2009… opening day for two important institutions. One, as you will read quite obviously, is much more important than the other. [The other simply lasts much longer than the first.]
The first “opening day” is Monday of Holy Week– the week leading up to the Triduum and Easter Sunday. Technically, Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday. Holy week signifies a time in our lives where we remember (commemorate) Christ’s passion, death and resurrection from the dead. It’s incredibly important. Easter begs us to ask the ever-philosophical “chicken or the egg” question – is Christmas or Easter more important? I won’t get into that here. Easter, whether more/less important than Christmas, is incredibly important for us because it signifies the culmination of salvation history in Christ’s conquering of death on the cross. Christ – the ultimate servant leader. I encourage everyone to make special time this week to take part in the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday – actually one continuous liturgy). Open your heart and your mind to what God is calling you to. The end of Lent can still be a fruitful time for you. Give it a great deal and you’ll receive a great deal in return.
The other institution (although, a bit difficult to talk about following that Holy Week piece) is Major League Baseball. MLB has been a part of my life since birth. Now, I’m not trying to convince the baseball-haters of the world that baseball is a great sport – heaven knows that soccer fans won’t convince me that soccer is a great sport – I simply want to call to mind that opening day for the 2009 season is today. This marks a special day for baseball fans everywhere when we know that basketball is ending soon 🙂 and we have sunny summer days at the ballpark to look forward to. Double-plays, stolen bases and home-runs.
A thought… if the Pirates win today, I suggest that they end the season early and end their pitiful 16-year streak of playing sub-.500 baseball. It would be a great thing for us Pirates fans to have a “winning season”. Just kidding – I guess.
Either way – Man up!
The Power of Observation
A TrueMan is observant. Observation, in this context, means being incredibly aware of what’s going on around you at all times and in all circumstances. What I’m speaking of could almost be considered hyper-observation. (Put that in the man dictionary!) Being observant prepares a man to act, to respond and to plan ahead. It’s an incredible tool – learn it. Here are a few examples of how The Power of Observation comes in handy:
As many readers know from my post on Monday of this past week, my truck was stolen in the middle of the night and has not been found, even now, almost a week later. Good thing I’m observant. I have a photographic memory; I know exactly where something is (was) in my truck, including the consoles, the glove box, the back seat, the tool boxes and the bed. Why does this matter? My observant mindset gives me a list, in full, of what was in my truck when it was stolen. I’ll take that list to the insurance company and be refunded It’ll cost me more paperwork and a home-owner’s claim (along with my auto claim) but I’ll gain a ton of money to replace my stolen property. If I didn’t have a photographic memory, I would miss many items.
Another place where observation is important is in public. I am always aware of who’s in the room, what they’re doing and how they might pose a challenge. I trust that most people are good, but in reality, I know that some people like to cause problems. The bank could robbed, the gas station could be held up at gunpoint, the restaurant I’m eating in could be endangered. Heck, my plane could be hijacked. In any case, I’m ready to respond to a threat. I’m also always aware of the exits and the quickest route to the door.
Yet another example of how observation plays a powerful role is while driving. If you (any driver) is not observant, you could possibly be endangering the lives of others around you. Let’s say you’re driving down the highway at 75 mph and all of a sudden, the cars in front of you slam on their brakes. You have mere seconds to react. If you’re observant, you know where other vehicles are around you and you know you can/can’t change lanes, you can/can’t slow down soon enough, etc.
The bottom line is this… be observant, it really pays.
Man up!
Man Night Tonight
Tonight, I’m hosting Man Night for cadets at the Air Force Academy. We’ll be having lots of Food, a Yard Game Tournament (Horseshoes, Washers and Ladder Ball) along with a Fire Pit Grunt Session (topic – Manly Purity). Great fun.
I thought, in the spirit of all-things-manly, I’d post this hilarious video clip today.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-6ph7NWoBM]
Man up!
