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!
7 Days of Virtue; Day 6 – Hope.
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 6 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 6 – HOPE.
Hope – the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of Heaven as our happiness. Because of hope, we trust in God’s promise to help us. Hope is the bridge between faith and love. Hope allows us to keep our eyes on our goal of Heaven. Hope keeps us going, especially when times are tough, because of the promise of Heaven.
Despair is the opposing vice to hope. Despair is the belief that God will not forgive me for my sins. It is, simply put, giving up. When you give up (on God or on yourself) you believe that God can’t really help you. There’s also something that can appear to be hope, which we call a counterfeit vice, called presumption. When we presume, we believe that we’ll get to our goal without God’s help. This is not depending on God and not seeing the need to.
Hope is the unending desire to see God, to know God and to be with God. Never lose hope, never give up, never give in. Living a good life, striving for excellence, serving our neighbor… that is living a hopeful life. You have the power to pass on hope to those around you who are in despair. More than ever, people are despairing because they lose the belief that God cares about them. When you go it alone, you will despair. Stay strong, our hope is in the Lord!
Man up!
A TrueMan is Virtuous – the start to a 7 day look at Virtue
***My apologies for the delay in posting over the past few days, I was on retreat all weekend and away from technology.***
Virtue (in Latin: virtus) means manliness. In order to truly be manly, we must possess virtue. Virtue means having the “firm and habitual disposition to do the good”. If a man possesses the virtue of Courage, that means that he’s courageous 1. with joy 2. with ease 3. promptly and 4. consistently. Every time, without fail. In order for a man to gain virtue, he must practice. He must also ask for God’s grace to help him acquire virtue. (Note: women can attain virtue as well, and it doesn’t mean that they become manly.)
I’m kicking off a 7 day look at virtue, starting tomorrow. I’ll dive into each of the 4 Cardinal Virtues and each of the 3 Theological Virtues, one each day. Prudence, Justice, Fortitude & Temperance and Faith, Hope & Love. If you want to be a TrueMan, become a virtuous man.
Man up!
