Guide to Virtue

Men, and Virtue, and How to Attain It

I wrote an article for “Made in His Image” ministry on men and virtue.  Typical stuff for TrueManhood, but something that Maura’s readers might not get a lot of.  To help support her and what she’s doing, please click the link to take you to there.

“Men, and Virtue, and How to Attain It” – CLICK THIS LINK

What MIHI is all about is helping women who struggle with eating disorders and/or who were victimized by abuse.  There is currently no other Catholic organization specializing in inpatient medical care for the healing of women, and Maura is working on creating this much needed resource.  I greatly applaud Maura for her efforts.  The issue of eating disorders and abuse can go hand in hand.  For countless numbers of women, young women specifically, a lack of self-worth can spur into many psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual issues.

For men, the issue that is constantly looming over us is the issue of sexual integrity, mostly dealing with pornography.  Not every man struggles, but just about every man did, does, or will.  For women, one main issue (compared to men’s issues with pornography, lust, etc.) is self-esteem and eating disorders, most of the time stemming from abuse of some kind.  Not all women struggle with this, but many do and more will if nothing is done about it.

I plan to write an article soon on the problems that women face when they fail to find their value from the proper source.  Watch for that soon.  You’ll be seeing more about MIHI on TrueManhood.com in the future.

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TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue

Click for TrueManhood’s Guide to Virtue

LEARN VIRTUE, LIVE VIRTUE!

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Guide to Virtue

Click here for TrueManhoods-Quick-Guide-to-Virtue

Please enjoy this quick and simple guide to living a life of virtue! This document has been updated. Please share it with all your friends, on socials, and encourage people to visit TrueManhood.com to download their own copy!

Virtue – a MUST

I feel like I’m constantly either writing or talking about virtue, but nearly everyday, I realize that we all need to hear about virtue more and more.  Virtue is vital to living a Christ-centered life.  What is virtue?  In short, virtue means manliness (from the Latin virtus).  Maybe that doesn’t make sense… how can Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance mean manliness?  They don’t – they mean what they mean.  It’s the opposite – manliness means possessing the virtues.  Does that mean that in order to be manly a man must be virtuous?

Precisely!  Authentic [true] manliness (the whole point of this website!) is living virtue!  Plain and simple.  Alright, so how do I know if I’m virtuous (or manly)?  Take the test; the definition is “Virtue is the habitual and firm disposition to do the good.”  You can’t partially possess virtue – it’s all or none.  The test: do I perform the virtue as a habit while also doing it promptly, easily, consistently and with joy?  If not, you don’t have that particular virtue.  If so, then you do.

If you want to grow in virtue, it takes two things: 1. Grace and 2. Practice.  The grace part isn’t up to you, but the practice part is.  If you want to grow in virtue, practice makes perfect!  Ask God for opportunities to practice each virtue.  If you ask (sincerely), He’ll give you the opportunity.  Try it, you’ll see.  I recommend that you think long and hard about which virtue you need/want to work on the most (and soon!) and ask God for it.  (I’d like to know how this works out for you – please keep me posted via comments or emails.)

So, then does that mean that women can’t be virtuous, or shouldn’t even try to be?  No, not at all.  And it doesn’t mean that a woman who is virtuous is manly.  In the case of women, they should also be striving for virtue, which also means character, excellence, valor, etc.  Women grow in virtue the same way men do, through grace and practice.

For a more concise explanation, check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1803-1845.

“The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.” – St. Gregory of Nyssa.

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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

 

 

 

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7 Days of Virtue; Day 7 – Love

Think of virtues like your muscles.  You work your muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed.  Virtue is the same way.  You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.

Day 7 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 7 – LOVE.

Love, also called charity, is the form of all virtue.  Love is friendship with God and love leads us to God.  An important aspect of love is that it is a verb; it requires action from us.   To perform acts of love, we must surpass our own abilities; we require supernatural grace.   (Supernatural = super –> beyond… natural –> nature… beyond our nature.) 

Society often tells us that love is something that we get, instead of something we give.  We’re often told to seek it for our good, instead of the good of another.  This leads us to selfishness and seeking our our passions, desires and wants.  Instead, we should love unconditionally, especially our spouse and our children – making a freely given gift of ourselves and our lives.  Love brings us:

• Joy – seeing love in others.
• Peace – right relations, when we are united (or under reconciliation)
• Mercy – a compassionate heart for another’s unhappiness.   (The greatest virtue in relation to others.)

Love also occurs in:

• Passion – the desire for something.
• Natural virtue – when you want what is best for someone else.
• Theological virtue – the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. 

Man up!

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