Inch By Inch

By Chris Teague, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

Here is a “poem” Hugh McClelland sent me. His family runs a very large Christian foundation in Chattanooga. I do not know the story behind the poem but I think it is very relative to any man who is dealing with some kind of emotional burden, grief, fear, guilt or addiction. Anyone who reads it should ask themselves, “what is killing you inch-by-inch.”

Tonight Shanghai is burning
and I am burning, too.
But there's no death
so real as the death inside of you.

Some men die by shrapnel
and some go down in flames
but most men die inch by inch
playing little games.

A Few Good Books

By Bill Harkins, Mobile, Ala., -St. Ignatius

Reading the Bible and Catechism are a great way to increase your knowledge of the Faith and enhance your spiritual life at the same time. In order to further develop, I have found that reading other Catholic titles is a big help.

By now, most of us have read Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism. If you haven’t, find a copy in a bookstore, off the internet or borrow one from a fellow Man of St. Joseph. It’s great. In fact, anything written by Matthew Kelly is worth reading.

If you are looking for other books, drop by the Visitation Gift Shop, they have a solid selection. One problem with finding a good book is that there are so many authors and publishers that put out trash concealed by a nice looking book cover and a few select reviews. The last thing I need to pollute my brain with is attacks on my Faith written by disgruntled former Catholics.

There was a time when you could look for an Imprimi Potest, Nihil Obstat and / or Imprimatur listed on the publisher’s info page of a book to determine if it was an authentically Catholic one. These do not mean the writing is official church doctrine, but that nothing in the book is contrary to church teachings. Here is a little more on them:

Religious Superior's stamp: IMPRIMI POTEST "it can be printed"
Censor's stamp: NIHIL OBSTAT "nothing stands in the way"
Bishop's stamp: IMPRIMATUR "let it be printed"

If find a book is written by a Saint, you can’t go wrong in reading it. Though, sometimes they are a little too deep or stiffly written for me. In fact, one day I will actually make it through St. Augustine’s’ City of God, but it is too much for me at this point in my life.
 
There are publishers that are sure to stick with authentic teaching. If I see a label from Tan Books, Ignatius Press or Marian Press, I am not concerned, though some of the Tan Books are a little extreme in their old world conservative emphasis.
 
I put a link to one of my favorites on the MoSJ website. It is The Spiritual Combat, written by a Priest in the late 1500’s. Here is the link: http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/combat.htm

It’s a little “old corps” as we used to say in the Marines, but has tons of great advice on how to overcome the temptations of our world. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Men of St. Joseph Weekly Meetings

Archdiocese of Mobile

Daphne, AL
Christ the King Catholic Church, Immaculata Center, Tuesdays, 6:00 a.m.

Fairhope, AL
St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Seton Room, Family Center, Tuesdays, 6:30 a.m.

Mobile, AL
Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Coming Soon

St. Dominic Catholic Church, Murphy Center, Wednesdays, 7:00 a.m.

St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Marian Center, Tuesdays, 7:00 a.m. (Mass at 6:15 in the church)

St. Pius X Catholic Church, Sarto Center, Tuesdays, 7:00 a.m.

Spring Hill College, Coming Soon

Semmes, AL
Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Thursday, 6:00 p.m.

Archdiocese of New Orleans

Covington, LA
Covington, LA Group, Tchefuncta Country Club pool house, Tuesdays, 6:30 am

Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Pensacola, FL
St. Paul Catholic Church, Cafetorium, Tuesdays, 6:00 a.m.

Men of St. Joseph

By Chris Teague, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

What seems to be so incredible about the concept of a “universal” abiding men’s group with a singular purpose and format, is that it has not already been done successfully within a church as liturgical and “networked” as the Catholic Church!!! Bible studies and men’s groups, and service organizations are old hat in the Church, but there seems to be a real void that the Men of St. Joseph is filling. At least that is our prayer.

The Men of St. Joseph take "church going” men, honest believers who would consider themselves good Christians, but may have fallen into that Catholic trap of “going through the motions,” and help them to learn to walk with Christ daily, to strive harder, to get back up when they fall, and to hold each other accountable for doing so.

While few Catholics would openly admit or think they need to be “saved,” because Christ is a part of their life and they are believers, almost all will admit they have not truly surrendered to Christ. Part of the reason for this is that they think they are already doing enough by going to Mass each Sunday and sending their kids to Catholic school. In truth, for many that is enough. For those Catholics, their eyes are wide open, they are surrendered to Christ and when they go into Mass they do so with a heart that is truly open to Him, and live their daily lives accordingly. Many more treat their spiritual lives like they are punching a time clock.

I like to think many Catholics are “on the path” but most are standing in one place.

If MoSJ can help move men along that path, I truly believe we could spiritually awaken “the sleeping giant” that is the Catholic Church. Imagine the possibilities for the Kingdom if 1.3 billion Catholics became engaged to the degree they are capable. Truly, our Protestant brothers may have a hard time “saving” Catholics, but other Catholics don’t have that excuse. Through His will it can be done.

The MoSJ wants to help men to continue to move forward by helping them focus on the role of servant leadership, especially within their own families. Put the family in the hands of the Father.

Please, keep us in your prayers.

Remember the Sabbath

Fr. Dwight Longenecker posted this blog over at his site, Standing on My Head. Fr. Longenecker, is a former Anglican priest, who converted to the Catholic faith and brought his wife and children with him. He is now a Catholic priest and serves as Chaplain to St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, SC.

There is a running conversation at St Joseph's Catholic School about the frenetic pace of life for us, our families and our students. American middle class life is crazy in its fast pace and pressure for accomplishment and activity. In many families both Mom and Dad work full time and the kids' lives are packed with high pressure academic expectations, a busy social life and a whole range of excellent, but time consuming extra curriculars. In my family with four kids we have: a cross country champion, a chess champion, a soccer star, a fine pianist, budding actress, altar servers, stage crew, wrestling, softball and part time jobs mowing lawns, babysitting, life guarding, etc.

Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila

October 15, is the Feast of St. Teresa of Jesus (Teresa of Ávila, Spain), died 1582, Carmelite nun, prominant mystic, reformer, and Doctor of the Church.

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

- St. Teresa of Ávila

The First Forty Days (Plus One…)

By Tommy Fulton, Mobile, Ala., St. Dominic

On August 29th, I had the supreme pleasure of attending the Men of St. Joseph Retreat at the Visitation Monastery. If ever there are times in your life in which you are given an opportunity to choose your future, this was one for me. During all of our lives, we are given options…different paths which will lead to totally different experiences. My reasons for getting involved in the Men of St. Joseph may not be the same as most of those who are already there.

A long-time friend of mine has made it his life’s mission to get me to leave the Catholic Church. While I have never lost my love and devotion to my faith, I regretted that I’ve not done a great job of defending it. As I listened to all of the opportunities to meet with my Christian brothers in a small group setting, I really wanted to grow deeper in my own Catholic faith. I’ve enjoyed meeting with those men, and still enjoy their friendship and camaraderie, but it left me somewhat unfulfilled.
 
And then, several months ago, I saw a list of small-group meetings that included a 7:00 am meeting of Catholic men at St. Ignatius parish in Mobile, Ala. That list was the same one I had seen many times before, except that it had never included the St. Ignatius meeting. The odd thing is that I’ve not seen that meeting list ever again. That is, the meeting list is still out there, but it doesn’t include the Men of St. Joseph meeting.
 
As I attended the weekly meetings of the Men of St. Joseph (MoSJ), I soaked up the discussions. I was more excited than ever that we were concentrating on the Gospel and attendees were presenting the Bible in ways not often seen in Catholic circles. When the time came for the retreat, I eagerly signed up. I was not disappointed.
 
One retreat is not enough to change an entire life, but our lives take many turns. I know there will be times when it will seem so much easier to step back into the old ways…to find the easier path. There will always be new challenges which take us out of our comfort zone. It would have been so much easier to just continue to attend the MoSJ meetings at St. Ignatius. After all, other guys were doing all of the planning. All I had to do was show up. But, that wouldn’t have been the right thing…for me, or for my parish of St. Dominic.
 
We’ve had two meetings so far at the new St. Dominic chapter of The Men of St. Joseph. I’m thrilled at the early response and the support we’ve received. In a really ironic twist, I owe my rededication to my Catholic faith to the persistence of my friend. Thanks to his efforts to push me away from Catholicism, I’ve become even more dedicated to appreciating and cherishing my relationship with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ. I bet my friend may not see the beauty of that. Too bad…
 
(St. Dominic's Men of St. Joseph meet at the Murphy Center, St. Dominic parish in Mobile, Ala., on Wednesday mornings, 7:00 a.m.)

Attention all men (and the women who love them):

The Archdiocese of New Orleans, is offering all men an opportunity to find God in a place of great struggle – the area of personal chastity and a truly integrated sexuality (see info below). The keynote speaker, Dan Spencer, has been active in various Catholic ministries at the parish, archdiocesan and national levels for over 15 years. He is the Founder of The St. Joseph Center - a lay Catholic Men's apostolate, a Co- Founder and Executive Director of the Kansas City Catholic Business Network, a Catholic Business Coach for executives, the Chairman of the Kansas City Catholic Men's Fellowship and serves on both the Kansas City Archdiocesan Board of Evangelism and "My House" Anti-Pornography initiative. In addition, Jason Angelette will be giving his testimony and Archbishop Aymond will be celebrating Mass, not to mention opportunities for Confession.

13th Morning of Men’s Spirituality

Saturday, October 17
9:00AM to 12:30PM (coffee & donuts at 8:15)
St. Rita Church – New Orleans, 2729 Lowerline St. Click here for directions

Commitment - Being ALL IN

By Todd Sylvester, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

I just returned from visiting my son at the seminary and it took me a few days to process the sea of emotions that I swam through. I was obviously elated at seeing him and the wonderful formation that he is ascribing to, but what took me by surprise was his sense of commitment. He honestly doesn’t know yet if God is calling him to the priesthood, but he is committed to finding out. He is committed to doing whatever it takes to grow closer to God and learn more about His love and His Church. He is committed to embracing all the precepts of the seminary schedule- the 6am Holy Hours, the daily prayer and spiritual direction. He is committed to not dating while he is discerning and he is committed to whatever God asks of him and wherever that may take him. In other words, he’s ALL IN. The word commitment comes from a Latin root that means to begin a course of action and to hold fast.

I think we get into trouble when we lose this sense of commitment. Letting my “Yes” mean “Yes” and my “No” mean “No” would solve so many of my mistakes and problems. God desires us to be fully committed. There is only one place in the whole Bible where the term “lukewarm” is used. Revelation 3:16- "So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth." Not a pleasant image. Today I invite you to recommit yourselves to your faith in God. Let’s not just say the creed, let’s live it. Peace, Todd
 
(Todd's son, Stephen, is a first-year seminarian for the Archdiocese of Mobile, at St. John Vianney Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attends St. Thomas University.)

Run the Race

By Anthony Tobin, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

Almost a month has gone by since the Men of St. Joseph retreat and it is so awesome to see you all working hard to be the spiritual leaders of your families. I see when you strive to come consistently to the Tuesday morning meetings, wanting to be there, with ears open to listen and ready to share your faith and even your hardships and struggles. I see this in the husbands and fathers who show up at Mass during the week with their families, committed to bringing their families closer to God. I see this at Sunday Mass when a father comes with his teenage son or daughter to the Lifeteen Mass, trying to instill priority in their lives. And yet, as I know through trying to be a better husband myself, we have to admit there is a struggle to be holy day in and day out.

This reminds me of a picture of the Resurrected Jesus that has a caption that reads “I never said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it.” I know that there are a lot of you who wanted to return home a new man, with a different attitude, a new way of thinking, and thought your wives and children would follow with smiles on their faces. And unfortunately you realized that wasn’t going to happen. All the years of not making God a priority in your family and all the decisions that were not focused on Him, left your family desensitized to God. And so, your wife thinks your “too holy” and your kids refuse to pray with you or go to Mass. It seems like your family is in a different book instead of being on a different page. And at that moment you may realize this, your heart sinks and you understand that this is not going to be easy. Maybe even some of you decided that it isn’t worth it.

I want to reassure you that it is worth it. We can see from our lives that anything that has worth, any accomplishment that has value, comes with struggle. To me working out is a great example of the spiritual life. My legs hurt when I run, but if the minute I feel pain I stop and sit down, I wouldn’t even have run out of my drive way. No, I continue to run through the pain because I know that this is best for my body, that this exercise will help me become healthy, and that as soon as I reach my goal I will be satisfied.

Unfortunately, for us this is a marathon- not a 100 yard sprint. There will be pain, there will be resistance, and there will be times when we just want to sit down or quit. But men, we need to keep running. If our families are not on board right away, keep running. If our kids cry and scream that they hate us, keep running. They will see by your tenacity and consistency that this is real and that more then anything will call them to holiness. So men keep fighting the good fight, keep running the race, so that in the end you and your family may not be disqualified.

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

(Painting: "The Battle of Lepanto" by Paolo Veronese, c. 1572, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice)


By Rob Moreland, Mobile, Ala. - St. Ignatius

Pope St. Pius V established October 7, as a feast day for Our Lady of Victory, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary's assistance in securing victory for the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto. It was a horrific battle, with the loss of 30,000 Muslims and 7,500 Christians, but was a huge victory for Christian Europe. In thanksgiving Pius added "Help of Christians" to the Litany of Loreto. Later Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast day to Our Lady of the Rosary because it was through the praying of the Rosary that the battle had been won. 

On October 7, 1571, in the Bay of Lepanto, off the coast of western Greece, one of the bloodiest naval battles in history was fought between the Holy League and the Ottoman Muslims. The Ottoman Muslims had amassed a huge naval fleet of galley ships  in an attempt to control the Mediterranean Sea and invade the continent of Europe. 

Pope St. Pius V, in order to defend against the threat of the Ottoman Muslims,  organized the Holy League composed of Spain, Venice, Tuscany, Savoy, the Knights of Malta, and the papacy. Together these powers amassed a fleet of war ships to meet the Muslim threat.  John of Austria,  a half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, was selected to be the  commander-in-chief of the Christian fleet. 

Entrusting the Christian fleet to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Pius urged every Christian to  prepare for the battle by reciting the Rosary. But, it appears that Mary also assisted in the victory of Lepanto as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In Maria of Guadelupe, German author, Paul Badde (Ignatius Press: 2008), writes about Our Lady of Guadalupe, who appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico in December 1531. The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadelupe is imprinted on Juan Diego's cactus cloth cloak and is venerated today in a shrine in Mexico City.  

Badde tells us of an interesting connection between Our Lady of Guadelupe and the Battle of Lepanto, fought 40 years after the St. Juan Diego's vision. He recounts that the Genoese ships were under the command of twenty-four year old Admiral Andrea Doria. (Yes, the same Andrea Doria the ill fated cruise ship was named for.) At one point during the battle, things were working against Doria and his ship. In desperation, he went below to his cabin, knelt and pleaded before a new miraculous image of the Virgin Mary. It was the first copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to reach Europe. 

In 1570, the archbishop of Mexico had a copy of the original image made,  and gifted it to the king of Spain, Philip II. The king passed it on to John of Austria, who, in turn, entrusted it Andrea Doria, to bring good fortune. Doria brought the image aboard his ship and it went into battle with him.

Soon, after Doria returned to deck, the winds changed to the favor of the Christian ships. This change in winds proved to be one of the deciding factors in their victory. 

Badde relates that "after the battle of Lepanto, the image had been in the possession of the Doria family, in the Malaspina Castle, outside Genoa, until Cardinal Giuseppe Doria willed it, in 1811, to the tiny highland parish of Santa Stephano d'Aveto, whose church became a shrine for pilgrims." The image remains there today.

"Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world"

Pope Blessed Pius IX

Feast of the Guardian Angels

October 2, is the Feast of the Guardian Angels.

No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone - Psalm 91:10-12

“Beside each believer stands an angel protector and shepherd leading him to life."

-- St. Basil the Great

The following is an excerpt of a homily by St. Bernard of Clairvaux  and is used in the Roman Office Readings for October 2nd: 

He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. Let them thank the Lord for his mercy; his wonderful works are for the children of men. Let them give thanks and say among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him? And you do incline your heart to him; you show him your care and your concern. Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and promise him a vision of your countenance. And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers.