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| Men, you are called to be priest, prophet and king of your family! |
That creates real problems when I've bought it for a gift, because I need enough time to read it before I wrap it and give it away. I also can't read it drinking a cup of coffee or eating lest I splatter the pages with brown coffee stains or red spaghetti sauce. And heaven forbid I take it in the bathtub. Who wants a book with water marked, dog-eared pages?
But that's all a digression. This morning I read a paragraph in a book I bought as a Christmas present, The Three Marks of Manhood. It shares a truism, but one many seem to be missing today:
If there is to be a wholesome future for the West, if Christianity is once again to make inroads into a heathen world, then the Christian family must be miraculously restored. For it is the family that will produce the saints of tomorrow, be they bishops, priests, religious, fathers, or mothers. And it is the Christian family that is on the front lines of today's conflict between good and evil: it bears the brunt of that battle as the very last defense against the total domination of the secular and the profane.Who can deny the truth of that paragraph in the light of the redefinitions of the family to include same sex "parents" who obviously can't generate new life. As Lucia of Fatima tells us, the Blessed Mother said the final battle would be over the family. We see it daily.
The psychologist author, G.C. Dilsaver goes through a litany of devastating statistics about the decline of faith, marriage and divorce, cohabitation, single parent families, etc. and then describes what he calls the "specific tonic to rejuvenate the wasted family."
The feminists will rage against it. The effeminate metrosexuals and same-sex attracted will roll their eyes, but:
the restoration of the family, indeed the restoration of ecclesiastical leadership and Christendom itself, is only possible with the advent of a new Christian patriarchal order: the fatherly rule of family, community, and Church....in order to meet today's unprecedented challenge the Christian patriarchal order of the family established must itself be unprecedented. Indeed, the Christian patriarchy must be a new order purified of all selfish motives or worldly modes of brute dominance and based for the first time solely on Christ and his divine commission.No easy task, since the author points out how unfit the current crop of men is for the task. Modern man has "pawned his patriarchy for pleasure" and is "thoroughly inculcated in the values of extended adolescence....For the most part, even remnant orthodox Catholic families are matriarchies."
That reminds me of a sermon a friend described years ago. The priest, a Dominican, told his congregation that the women needed to come down off the cross and the men needed to take their rightful place on the cross willing to sacrifice their lives for their families.
I'm only on the first chapter of the book, but it's clearly one that women should read as well as men. Women are called to assist men to embrace their role of spiritual headship. The old expression that behind every good man is a good woman is as true today as it ever was. As spouses, we are called to make each other better than each of us would be alone. What a challenge and what a blessing!
The book is only 200 pages and the last 50 are appendices. Maybe it would make a good Christmas gift for a man in your life too. Best of all, you have plenty of time to read it!
I've regularly dined with four Catholic families and one Protestant families, all practicing Christians. In only one of these, the father said grace. In three of these, the mother always led the family in praying grace. Oh, and in one family, I was always invited to say grace.
ReplyDeleteYes, if you're serious about the Christian life, then Dad should lead the family prayers.
Insightful comment, but so sad.
ReplyDeleteWhen family are visiting us we always have night prayers and a dad (or grandad) leads. We always say a decade of the rosary or a "super-decade" when more than ten are in the room.
How much our world needs holy patriarchy. I know too many families where the fathers demand their wives bring in money so they can afford more toys and "stuff" instead of making it possible for their wives to stay home to rear the children. Some women want to work outside the home, but many would gladly be homemakers like the worthy wife and mother in Proverbs 31.
Sad times!
Homosxeualisation and feminism are the two scourges the modernists have wielded to whip the Body of Christ and the epicene ecclesiastics let it happen because they fear the way of the world.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should look at the bearing and behavior of their local Bishop and consider whether the is a man or not.
The vast majority are not and neither have the Popes acted like men since Pope Saint John 23rd was elected. In the opening speech to Vatican Two (written in part by Montini) the Pope said the world was changing for the better and that while he could use discipline, he was chasing to overcome error with love).
Lord have mercy - the blind "reading the signs of the time."
Pope MUST teach the truth and punish heretics and apostates but they prefer to be loved by their enemies and one way that is easily seen is the refusal of the modern Popes to wear the Triregnum. Jesus let His enemies crown Him King but the modern Popes refuse to let their friends Crown them and that is because they fear having to stand before the world and condemn its sins.
As it is the case that Jesus established a Hierarchy, the masculine resurrection can only begin in the Pope and Prelature.
Where are the men? Not Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. He KNOWS who Francis is and what he does and what his plans are and yet he refuses to work to remove him.
The VAST majority of Cardinals are girly men.
I love this quote from Dr. Dilsaver's book, Three Marks of Manhood: "A woman's place is in the home, not because she isn't good enough for the world but because she is too good for the world."
ReplyDeleteHe also has another out entitled Celebrating God-Given Gender: Masculinity & Femininity per Nature & Grace.