The Role of a Catholic Man

How many of us, at one time or another, have been unsure of why they are here? What is my purpose? How many of us have felt lost, unfulfilled? How many of us have thought,” I know I am not reaching my potential as a man!” How many of us have been searching for answers to the hole we feel in the core of our soul?

The answer should be, all men have felt this, or something very close to this, in our lives. I would venture to guess if you are reading or listening to this talk, you have already, in some way, turned to Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit and perhaps the Blessed Mother for help in this area. If so, what a very wise choice you have made.

Today, let’s unravel what it means to not only answer some of these questions, but also see what it is that God wants from us to be the men He wants us to be. In order to do this, it is important to look at some of the common challenges we meet in the world that can get in the way of finding out what a man’s role is as a Catholic, or the man God wants us to be.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges that men face is to understand the Love and Mercy of God the Father. When a man (or woman) does not feel loved, is ostracized by a group, feels unimportant, this kills a man’s self esteem. It creates a culture to make one make bad decisions that can harm themselves and others. The person gets deep into habitual sin in many cases. Examples of this are all over our country. When fathers do not spend time with theory kids, or divorce results in the child being neglected, the example being set to the child is that they are not important. So they look for other areas to fit in, gangs, drug usage, sleeping around, and crime, anything to get someone to notice them.

However, if one could only know that God, the creator of the universe, has a specific plan for that person, and that His plan is incomplete without each and every one of his children, that person has self esteem, has self respect would feel important and above all LOVED! An example of the deepness of God’s love and Mercy is below

David

In the Old Testament, David is a huge story. As a young man, he slew Goliath. As an adult, God the Father stated that David was “A man after my own heart”. Yet, despite David being this, he sinned greatly. He committed murder, adultery, and lied to name a few. His lust overcame him in a time of boredom. Yet, David is a Saint in our Church. David repented; God forgave and loved David tremendously! This is not advocating doing the things David did. It is to show all that anyone who sincerely repents, God will know if they are, God will forgive. As an added bonus, Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit love us even when are not repenting

Culture

Our culture presents many challenges: Gender Ideology, Televison shows portraying Fathers as buffoons, a family court system that is very slanted versus men, pornography all over the place, the idolization of athletes who beat women and have multiple children with multiple women, abortion, the list goes on and on. This is not to judge the men that do these things or support these actions. We are all sinners, that is for sure. However, when a man steps up to challenge these things, many times they are shamed for their beliefs. This shame keeps many men quiet.

What to DO!!!

So, we could talk for hours about all the things that challenge our masculinity, but we need to move on. Where do we start with our role? Here are the fundamental answers to that question

All men in all walks of life have three main roles:

1. Husbands

2. Father

3. Friend

These roles have for actions to them

1. Serve

2. Protect

3. Sacrifice

4. Provide

They have skill sets

1. Listen

2. Lead

3. Be vulnerable

So, let’s break this out:

As a husband, I know some men are not married, Father and Friend the four main things we can do in these roles are

1. Worship God

2. Proclaim the Gospel

3. Teach and maintain the faith

4. Administer means of grace

What example do we need to model ourselves after, why Jesus of course. Who was a better servant leader than Jesus? No one is the answer. The most powerful man ever, He never used his power in a vengeance way. He served mankind by revealing the love and mercy of the Father. He protected us, his children, by sacrificing himself so we can gain entrance into heaven. He provided instruction on how to behave and what to do by following his teachings. He listened to the apostles and their fears and worries and reassured them of their salvation. He listened to the poor and downtrodden, healing them along his way when spreading the Gospel. He led by example and by constant reminder that the true power lays with God the Father and not the people who were persecuting Jew and gentile alike. He was vulnerable at the cross, again, the most powerful human ever, allowed themselves to be murdered out of love for us.

When we Worship the Lord, our wives, friends and children, they notice. When we answer questions about decisions we make and say “based on my Catholic faith, I believe this” we proclaim the Gospel. When we take the time to pray before a meal with our kids at a restaurant, we are teaching and marinating our faith. When we forgive those who really have hurts us, we administer grace.

In closing, this topic is too big to cover in one session, I would label this session as an introduction. Let us ponder a few questions:

Questions

1. Knowing that daily mass, confession, and fellowship are three big weapons in our arsenal to fight for our roles as Catholic men, which ones do you plan on using more, or do you use now that help you?

2. Can you share a time when you felt lost and the Church, or someone in the Church, was used by Christ to get you through this time?