After discovering that sin is empty and unfulfilling, turning away from it and living the Christian moral life seems like a pretty straightforward idea: don’t do the things that Jesus says are sins. Check. However, after a bit of time and effort, we find that there’s more to it than we first thought.

For the Catholic seeking God in the mountains, there is an expression more proverbial and iconic than any other. It is a terse Italian phrase, scribbled onto a photograph in 1925 by the late Pier Giorgio Frassati. It remains not merely the key into his sanctified existence, but an insight into the true nature of climbing.

We Christian men are longing to be challenged to love, to conquer not the world or each other, but the evil one. Our minds were made for truth and in a world of relativism and banal platitudes we’re starving for it. If men are barbarian conquerors, then I can assure you there is only One who can conquer us in love and raise up a new type of army. We need Christ.

“Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched…” In this real quote, “greatness” is not ambiguous at all. And it is not success, or money, or fame, or even starting a great Catholic initiative – it is God himself. But he says our hearts are too small for our destiny. It’s a bit of a paradox – we were made to be filled to the brim with something we are incapable of being filled with. But this is why he says your heart must be stretched. They must be stretched because they have been restricted. Our hearts are restricted by our self-absorption, and must be stretched.

I'm afraid of God. I’ve probably always been afraid of Him but just realized it – put it into those words – at the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Mary. May she pray for me now and at the hour of my death. This may be Proverbs 9:10: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” I hedge (“may be”), because the “feeling” I refer to is claustrophobia: I am overwhelmed by His presence and power and feel the need to escape.

“I will fear, love and honor God above all others, even at the cost of my own life.” The early Church was full of martyrs. These men didn’t simply give up their lives for Christ, they faced their death with courage and — sometimes — even jokes! It is said that as St. Lawrence was being roasted to death on an iron grill, he teasingly told his torturers, “I am done on this side, turn me over.” Christ was so real to the early Christians that they counted death as nothing so long as they could be with Him. You may not have to die for your faith. But you may suffer from “soft martyrdom,” such as losing friends over your beliefs. The word “martyr” means “witness.” By holding true to Christ’s teachings, you are witnessing to a higher order of values.

Our world has become aggressively crude and divisive, while the societal pressures on men and boys to hate their own masculinity has taken its toll on all of us. So what are Catholic families to do? John Heinen recently joined The Homeschooling Saints Podcast to talk about Bringing Back Gentlemanliness.

I'm afraid of God. I’ve probably always been afraid of Him but just realized it – put it into those words – at the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Mary. May she pray for me now and at the hour of my death. This may be Proverbs 9:10: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” I hedge (“may be”), because the “feeling” I refer to is claustrophobia: I am overwhelmed by His presence and power and feel the need to escape.