Unmarried men have the potential to be extremely selfish. There is no one depending on them, no child to take care of in the middle of the night, no wife to force compromise on a TV show. Single guys make their own schedule, and even when they do acts of charity or apostolic work, they make it fit into what they want to do.

Unmarried men have the potential to be extremely selfish. There is no one depending on them, no child to take care of in the middle of the night, no wife to force compromise on a TV show. Single guys make their own schedule, and even when they do acts of charity or apostolic work, they make it fit into what they want to do.

Author: Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

There is much talk about being a ‘real man’: the warrior man, the man without emotions or sympathies, the rival of all things deemed weak. Yet this kind of polemic is a form of extremism—and extremism is the devil’s playground. Satan thrives in extremes. He despises virtue and constantly goads us toward deficiency on one side or excess on the other.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer can offer to the Christian men of our time is a lesson in obedience, a virtue highly unpopular and largely absent from our culture.  The seriousness with which Bonhoeffer viewed obedience to God was evident not only in his life, but also in his theology, which is worthy of note.  Bonhoeffer is well known for his concepts of cheap grace and costly grace. 

Women who stay home do so from a natural and holy urge, but they are made constantly to feel as if they should be doing something of “actual value” out in the world.  Obviously, to a Catholic with even the slightest formation knows the dignity of motherhood is above all other vocations.  There is not a higher work.

God does not want men to be merely nice. He wants us to be strong lions, but not the wild sources of chaos lions can become, or the weak beaten down caged versions. He wants us to be the strong powerful instruments of his will in the world, using all the potential for courage and virtue we have to fight and defeat the enemy and protect and defend the family.

Hope is the virtue that expects God’s help. It places it’s trust in Him, looks to heaven as our final end, and waits patiently for His answer to prayers for help here in this life.