Swept to Safety - Catholic Husband

King Herod, though subordinate to Caesar and his governor, still wielded immense and oppressive power over his subjects. The search must have been massive, as Herod reacted with wanton cruelty to the words of the magi. Despite the scale of the manhunt, Joseph, a simple carpenter, outwitted them all. He strongly and silently swept his family to safety.

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The Great I Am - Catholic Husband

The spark He struck has turned into the roaring flame that spread through the whole world. None of it was possible without a God whose love for His people could not be contained, or without the simple “yes” of a newlywed couple that brought the Christ-child into their home.

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Rethinking Everything - Catholic Husband

Every so often, we need to take a step back, and question everything that we do. What should we start, continue, and stop?

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Nothing to Do - Catholic Husband

As an at-home dad, I feel the pressure to be my children’s cruise director, curating activities to fill their day. There’s a time and a place for that, but there’s also plenty of benefit to them having nothing to do.

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Arrival - Catholic Husband

Advent is a time of distraction, holy distraction. There’s plenty to do, and more that still needs to be done, but everywhere we look, everywhere we go, and everything we hear all calls our hearts back to the true joy of the season; the arrival.

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Gratitude - Catholic Husband

This week we will collectively pause to reflect on the many blessings in our lives. May we be truly grateful for all that we have, and may God’s blessings continue to fill our lives in the days to come.

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Written for Me - Catholic Husband

No matter the situation that I find myself in, I can almost always find a direct relationship to a story or character in the Bible. In those times, it feels as if it was all written only for me.

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Thank You - Catholic Husband

This is a day for us to pause to not only thank those who gave us everything, but the many, many more who gave part of their lives to protect and defend us and our way of life.

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One Second - Catholic Husband

I was one of the last people he spoke to in those 10 minutes as he faded away, and pray that whomever he was, he went from speaking to me to standing in the presence of God Himself.

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Overflowing - Catholic Husband

when we fill up our day with the things we must do, there is neither time nor opportunity for anything else. By filling up our spiritual life with these good things and heavenly delights, we can accomplish the same thing.

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One Thousand - Catholic Husband

Catholic Husband is not meant to be a historical record, but rather a living handbook. These thoughts and ideas are the ideal that I aspire to; these are the ways to think and act for those of us who wish to live as the Holy Family lived. I, like Catholic Husband, am a work in progress. But if I persist, if I run the race, I will end much closer to my goal than if I never tried.

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Things of Heaven - Catholic Husband

I wonder how differently I’d approach stress, conflict, and challenges if I spent a few more minutes each day thinking of the things of Heaven. What ratio would be required to improve my self-esteem, my hope, and my attitude?

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Starting Over - Catholic Husband

Many times a day, a week, a month, I have to start over. And while it may be discouraging at first, having to build momentum again starting from zero, I’m still in the fight. I haven’t quit, I haven’t given up, and I’m not staying where I’ve been. That is something to look forward to.

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Forgetting to Shift - Catholic Husband

Life is constantly changing, and if we forget to shift, we end up in the wrong gear. I have a big reminder on the horizon to shift, and perhaps this is your reminder, too.

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Small Moments - Catholic Husband

We try to go from fresh out of the Confessional to saint in one big leap. But we don’t need history’s best prayer plan, or the most ingenious sequencing of novenas. You just need to find small moments throughout your day, times when there’s a natural pause, and instead of swiping mindlessly, pray mindfully.

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Dig Deeper - Catholic Husband

The funny thing is, when I conserve my energy, the mess piles up. Work, school clutter, all of which can only be conquered through focused, extended work sessions. If I do like I ought, a little each day, the system runs.

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Plans - Catholic Husband

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you

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Cloak - Catholic Husband

We imagine grandeur in every action of God, and they are. But in His majesty, God chooses the simple. A piece of humble cloth, wrapped around us, is all that’s needed to protect us from the gravest danger.

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Hints of Fall - Catholic Husband

As I perceive the first hints of fall, my mind gets back into that higher level thinking. It’s nature’s way of reminding me of the coming winter, and how quickly my life is progressing. The best time to live my best life was last summer; the next best time is starting today.

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Drift - Catholic Husband

St. Paul advises prayer without ceasing, and what better way to drift off to sleep than to spend the day’s final moments of consciousness with the God who made us and the saints who so deeply loved Him.

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Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence - Catholic Husband

It’s easy to think that the end of the world that Jesus promised is some far off date, and unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. With so much to focus on here, now, today, not taking a moment to pause to comprehend the magnitude of this event is easy. The song brilliantly reminds us of the virtue of fear of the Lord. We will experience this great last battle, and if we are on the right side, it will be a time of complete joy.

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Contagious - Catholic Husband

Their happiness is contagious. Adults deal with serious and weighty things, but when you adapt the worldview of a child, the simple pleasures of live become visible once again.

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Magnet - Catholic Husband

No matter where I go, they curiously pursue me. Sometimes they have an ask, something that they want. Other times, they literally follow me to the other room with their activity and establish a new base of operations.

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Sacred Silence - Catholic Husband

There’s little refuge in the world, too few spaces for sacred silence. In the Bible, time and again, God uses the quiet to reveal Himself and His heart. Drown out by noise, He chooses to not pierce through.

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Summer Break - Catholic Husband

It’s another great, periodic reminder of what it means to be a parent. There’s the providing and the protecting, but there is also the play. Children are a great gift, eager to experience life and far from jaded. It’s a vision of the world that God intended, and the one that is to come.

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What’s Next - Catholic Husband

The growth of our children is the perfect reminder that, while every stage of life has its challenges and frustrations, each stage also has its little joys. These joys can only be found when we ask, “What’s now?”

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Liberty - Catholic Husband

Too much time is wasted scrolling, being anxious about a polarized society, or fretting about far off problems. The solution is not a moonshot to bring the whole world together with this one weird trick. The solution is to be the best version of yourself, to espouse a higher form of freedom, and to use your liberty for of others.

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Pausing to Advance - Catholic Husband

Most weeks I delete it from my list, without having done the work, sometime the following week. The reason is as simple as it is predictable. Something came up. The irony is that by not taking the time to get organized, by not pausing to ensure that my systems are maintained, I end up in a greater state of chaos.

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Play-Based Childhood

Giving our children their devices as on-demand babysitters is the easiest thing to do. Fighting for them, protecting their innocence, and giving them the gift of a play-based childhood, although objectively harder, is objectively the right thing to do. It’s the childhood they deserve, and the childhood that will prepare them to be happy and satisfied adults.

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Priorities - Catholic Husband

Whether we set them intentionally or not, priorities are guiding our actions. Even if you set out with a solid plan, it’s easy to become overcome by events.

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A Blast of Trumpets - Catholic Husband

But when you are at Mass, and the entrance procession is welcomed with a trumpet blast, your mind is immediately pulled to Psalm 47 or St. John’s descriptions in Revelation. It becomes so easy to imagine the triumph of Jesus Christ mounting His throne to the fulsome blasts of trumpets.

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Breathing Room - Catholic Husband

While true that impulse shopping feels good, so does a lack of chaos. I aspire to a boring, predictable financial life where the system mostly runs on autopilot. I want a financial life that allows me breathing room to make decisions, where I can add in new priorities without wrecking the essentials. I want to make decisions about what I’m going to impulse on at the beginning of the month, and then be ready to make that leap.

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IOUs - Catholic Husband

We are not robots and none of us are on a perfect hockey stick growth trajectory. Long-term goals require long-term commitment, but missing a month or two or six on saving towards a 30-year goal is not going to make you miss the goal. It’s a small time window on a large horizon.

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Do it Well - Catholic Husband

Every job has its lessons to teach us, and connections to make, which carry us forward to our next endeavor. Whatever it is that you’re doing today, especially if it’s not the work you wish to do for the rest of your life, do it well.

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Custom Parenting - Catholic Husband

Many young adults today shun parenting and its many burdens and challenges. Indeed, parenting is the hardest commitment that any of us can make, on par with marriage. It’s a life-long commitment, to will the good of the other, to build an authentic relationship, and to give them your full heart and attention.

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Pray, Now - Catholic Husband

We need, and benefit from, all types of prayer. Group prayer, liturgical prayer, family prayer, and private prayer, it all places our day on pause and elevates our selves to communion with the God who created us. So there’s no point in designing the perfect prayer program, or waiting for just a few quiet moments during that nap time that’s unlikely to yield the intended results.

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Above All Things - Catholic Husband

Regardless of our time, circumstance, or difficulty, the solution almost always is to love God above all things. If we love Him first, as we were made to do, all good things will certainly flow from it.

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Mercy, Not Justice - Catholic Husband

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not a sacrament of justice, but of mercy. In a true encounter with the risen Christ, out of total love for us, He forgives our worst failings so that we might be with Him forever. That is an unfathomable mercy.

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Sequence - Catholic Husband

Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.

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At Your Altar - Catholic Husband

Benedict and Felicity have attended Mass weekly and, to varying degrees, participated. But there’s nothing like serving at the Altar and seeing the liturgy up-close, physically participating, to make it all possible. Together, in their ways, using their gifts and talents, they served at the Altar, elevating the solemnity of the Mass.

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Renew, Refresh - Catholic Husband

We are material beings, but we’re also spiritual beings. As the house needs cleaning and refreshing, so too does the soul.

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Frozen - Catholic Husband

No one has a right to another person. This is a foundational principle that we wield to battle, in law and life, the evils of slavery, racism, sex trafficking, torture, and kidnapping.

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Talent - Catholic Husband

… these parables put on full display the genius of Jesus that can only be attributable to the omniscience of God Himself. In a backwater, dusty, hot town 2,000 years ago, Jesus crafted a parable that was readily understood by his illiterate followers and is equally understandable by me, in the most technologically advanced society in the history of the world.

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More Important Things - Catholic Husband

My children need to complete their school assignments, but they don’t have to do them between set hours or certain days. School is essential; so is being outside, imaginative play, and family exercise.

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6,570 - Catholic Husband

It’s easy to get bogged down in the daily repetition, but when I take the view that I have 6,570 days to build our relationship, and tomorrow it’ll be 6,569, perspective shifts my decisions. Grace becomes easier, new adventure becomes more alluring, connection becomes more important than rest.

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Contend - Catholic Husband

If you find yourself in line for Confession this Lent, lamenting your usual roster of sins, remember the line that you’re in. You haven’t given up; you’re still in the fight. God doesn’t want us to surrender to our failures, and He doesn’t want us to be perfect. He wants us to fight, to keep fighting, to keep showing that His love is all that we desire and nothing, not even our own stupid failures, will keep us from Him.

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Start Now - Catholic Husband

First thing in the morning, tomorrow will be waiting with its pristine beauty, like a fresh driven and completely untouched snow, the exact right jumping off point to live the life I want to live and be the man I would like to be.

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Platitudes - Catholic Husband

The books of the Bible in the Canon of Scripture were written in adverse conditions, persecutions, war, violence, abject poverty, and even scandal. But the hope that they convey, encourages us to rise above the current circumstance and see God’s plan coming together. So when we are challenged, when we are tested, we do not fall into despair but see the small part that we play in salvation history.

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Daily Burn - Catholic Husband

You will encounter stress and temptation every day. The only question is, will you have enough gas in the tank to fly right past it?

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Chasm - Catholic Husband

Our priests need the full grace and benefit of our Eucharist Lord to strengthen them to fulfill the high calling of their vocation in the midst of a broken, dark, and hostile world. So, too, do the laity.

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Unraveled - Catholic Husband

While deeply sad, the unraveling of this universal human experience represents a core sickness in society. It’s the acceptance of the idea that a child’s life, their existence, presents an obstacle to happiness or fulfillment. This is dangerous.

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Trailhead - Catholic Husband

Plans are great things, but life doesn’t move in a linear fashion. Demands on our time, focus, and attention ebb and flow. Major projects, illnesses, and even just a bad night’s sleep knock us little by little off course. Slowly, over time, we deviate further and further from our objective, eventually looking up to see that we’re way off course.

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Stillness - Catholic Husband

The message is simple. Though our hearts may yearn to be known, respected, desired, honored, praised and consulted, the slave is not greater than his master. We are called to live simple, quiet lives, fulfilling the high duty of our vocation, loving those around us, and walking in Christ’s footsteps, from the hill country of Bethlehem to the rock of Golgotha.

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Counterfeit Sacrament - Catholic Husband

Today, in the midst of the smoke, fog, and confusion around marriage comes Francis, shrouded in the authority of his office, wearing the distinctive white robe of the papacy, to place a bomb right in the middle of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

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Some Greater Glory - Catholic Husband

Glory in ancient times was often found in battle. Seeking it, men marched to foreign lands, though a large number died of communicable diseases before taking the field. They braved harsh weather, rough terrain, scant food, and the great unknown, all to achieve glory for their name and their family. They endured all trials because they knew they had a purpose.

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Just War - Catholic Husband

Although armed conflict should always be a last resort, it’s a lawful tool for the defense of a nation. There are circumstances when, for the defense of innocents and the survival of a nation, war must be prosecuted. When that point is reached, when ethical and moral justifications are present, there is no point to a restrained or proportional response. Instead, the only true choice is to eliminate the threat through a precise, targeted, and intensive military action.

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Aslan’s Roar - Catholic Husband

Whenever the forces of evil are on the march, and victory in their grasp, Aslan always returns in great glory. With a single roar, he marks a return to reality as the force of his voice destroys all who oppose him.

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Moment of Conversion - Catholic Husband

Those they may be fleeting, grabbing hold of these turning points is critical. We are large ships, and turning is never easy. Incremental progress is the tried and true way to success.

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Breaking Faith - Catholic Husband

Throughout Church history, there are many periods when the Church falls into disrepair, and the responsibility to right the ship falls to those outside of the highest echelons of authority. As the ironies pile up, one of the most clear examples is the life of St. Francis himself. Constant reform is the way of the Christian life, and it falls to the vibrant religious communities and the laity to rebuild God’s Church. We find ourselves in need of a new St. Francis to repair the inestimable damage wrought by Pope Francis.

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Love the Path - Catholic Husband

Every step of a marathon is not a joy, but crossing the finish line always is.

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Foretaste - Catholic Husband

Life is not easy, and in moments of stress, exhaustion, and temptation, failure is the path of least resistance when we lose sight of where we’re aiming. There’s a forever of calm and peace waiting for us if only we choose it.

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A Job Well Done - Catholic Husband

No matter what your role is in the division of labor, if you’ve done your best work and helped others, then that’s a job well done.

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Fresh Start - Catholic Husband

We get so few fresh starts in life. When they do come alone, it’s best to seize them.

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Every Single Thing - Catholic Husband

I’ve had to physically touch every single item that we own, and decide on a new place to store it. We grow numb to the magnitude of our property, to the amount of stuff that resides inside our four walls. We have everything we need, everything that could make us comfortable, entertained, even productive.

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Natural Conclusions - Catholic Husband

Everything in my life is about to change, as we set off on a new adventure. As I look back and the years that we’ve been in our current town, I start to see the good in things again. Those ordinary moments that shaped our family, the progress we made in taking care of our home, and the business that I’ve grown all take on new meanings for me.

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Bend, Don’t Break - Catholic Husband

The only way to succeed each day is to inject plenty of flexibility. There may be an “ideal” time to get something done, but there are also plenty of other acceptable times, too.

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Scriptural Confession - Catholic Husband

Despite my failings, God always reminds me of the unfathomable depths of His mercy, greater than any sin I may commit. And if I doubt, I can read the words He spoke to the prophet Malachi thousands of years ago and half a world away, as if He spoke them just for me.

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Potential Energy - Catholic Husband

We can’t always see the change happening, especially within ourselves. The only thing that we can perceive is our daily actions, and the trajectory that they send us on.

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The Genius of Mass - Catholic Husband

For one hour a week, we have to do none of that. We don’t have to worry about the report that’s due, the sink overflowing with dishes, or the cars that we haven’t waxed in nine months. It’s the one protected hour when we can finally rest.

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Bottomless Tasks - Catholic Husband

Life is impermanent, always ebbing and flowing. By definition, you’ll always be ahead of your work or behind it. Adding more hours to your schedule will get more done, but is unlikely to have an overall meaningful impact.

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Disrupt - Catholic Husband

To grow as a person, as a spouse, as a parent, and as a Catholic, we must continuously disrupt the lifestyle choices that hold us back. It’s a well-worn concept, one that St. Francis took to fanatical levels. It’s what Pope Francis meant when he instructed us to go out into the world and make a mess!

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Inconvenience - Catholic Husband

When we let inconvenience loom large in our minds, we miss an opportunity to sharpen ourselves. We let a tiny detail derail our whole day. We welcome defeat without the least bit of resistance. Inconveniences happen; we choose our response.

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Limitless - Catholic Husband

Let go of the false messages that you tell yourself. Be bold enough to break out of your element and experience the serendipity of newness. Reengage the spark of curiosity of your younger self. Climb higher summits, explore new horizons, dream of new possibilities. Why let your life be limited?

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Fifty-Four - Catholic Husband

If we want to build a strong habit of prayer, we have to commit and sustain our good works, especially on days when it’s not easy.

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Restart - Catholic Husband

The best way to succeed in any plan, program, or life change agenda is to start small, and start today.

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Trust - Catholic Husband

We all have prayers to which the answer is a resounding, “No.” Disappointed as we may be, in time, the things that we asked for are forgotten. It’s prayers that were answered, and the gifts granted to us that are beyond our limited imaginations that matter. Taking a wider view, we see the waypoints, decisions, and impacts in our lives stringing together in a way more beautiful and perfect than we ever could’ve designed.

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Free - Catholic Husband

Our freedoms allow us to work, associate, play, and pray as we so choose. It’s a freedom that few other humans, outside the ruling class, have experienced.

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More | Catholic Husband

The real problem is that we’re reaching for the wrong “more.” We seek a net increase in the quantity of our possessions and social stature. We should instead be investing our energy into a life of the good mores.

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Fatherless | Catholic Husband

Instead of minimizing their importance, or treating them like feckless children, we should celebrate fathers who have laid down their lives in humble service of their families.

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Symbiosis | Catholic Husband

Every family has their defined roles, each member taking on a share of the tasks required to keep the household running. But in times of stress or crisis, those roles can be up for grabs. This is an undersold and poorly remembered attribute of healthy marriages. Spouses are jointly responsible for all of the needs of the family and the household.

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Empty | Catholic Husband

It’s not a mistake for a father to share a piece of his identity with his family. My sense of emptiness comes not out of a dark place, but out of a place of truth. In a world where children are seen as an accessory, I sense my children’s essential nature.

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Quiet - Catholic Husband

Life with small children is never easy, but it’s always full of great meaning and beauty. I’ll enjoy the quiet time ahead, focusing on what needs to be done. But I’ll look forward to when my children return, and things are less quiet.

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New Beginnings - Catholic Husband

We’re starting to take things off the wall, preparing for painting and putting the house on the market. As I took that first hook out of the wall, I felt that moving feeling that filled my childhood. As the fresh paint dried, my nose picked up on that familiar scent that always signaled something new.

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Garage Doors - Catholic Husband

The pile continues to grow, but instead of trying to fix the problem, I’m just letting it be. It’s an exercise in patience, especially since it’ll be another two weeks before the door is fixed. For now, things are broken, and accepting the chaos is an okay thing to do.

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Checkpoints - Catholic Husband

I want to have checkpoints sprinkled throughout our day, with short opportunities for prayer. In a way, it’s like water stations along a race route. I never want us to be too far from prayer.

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Fruits of Labor - Catholic Husband

St. Joseph was a tradesman who had a very hard life. He’d walk miles each way to job sites, work in the hot and dusty climate of the Middle Easy, and carefully craft raw wood into finished products using simple tools. He labored during the day, and rested on the Sabbath. Not only that, but he brought his son into his work, teaching him the trade. We can only imagine the conversations that they had. On the holiest day of the week, he prayed and rested as God desires.

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The Idea - Catholic Husband

This sea change was all possible because of Jesus’ simple philosophical idea that changed everything. It’s the idea that built the modern world.

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Transform - Catholic Husband

If God can work all of that good through a random anonymous fisherman, what good can he accomplish through my participation in his Divine Plan?

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Summits - Catholic Husband

In every journey, and along every path, we find waypoints as we struggle to reach our ultimate destination. Then, when we’ve reached the summit and accomplished our mission, we look out to see God’s creation from a whole new vantage point, and the new challenges that lay before us.

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Homeostasis - Catholic Husband

Homeostasis is the resistance we experience to our good work. Why do we not do the things that we ought to do? Why do I hit snooze for 45 minutes extra sleep when I know a morning workout will set my day up for success? Why do I scroll YouTube when reading a book is far more relaxing? It’s the resistance that homeostasis brings that causes me to tend towards idleness.

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The Simple Path to Holiness - Catholic Husband

In these mundane, rote, and mediocre tasks, I’m giving of myself. While I make the breakfast, the children laugh. When I help with homework, their minds unlock. When I’m doing the laundry, they’re free to run and play.

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Ten - Catholic Husband

This body of work represents something intimate; it’s the place where my deepest thoughts come to the fore. This is a nice place for me to be and to write, and I hope that in another decade, I’ll share a similar reflection in a post titled, “Twenty.”

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Calm - Catholic Husband

I need to find calm in the chaos throughout the day. I need to process the cacophony of my household not as a noisy abyss, but as a symphony of joy. These are the sounds of life, of joy, and of youth.

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Start with Listening - Catholic Husband

Prayer takes many forms, but perhaps it would be wise for us to slow down, take a moment, begin with Scripture, and then listen.

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Preparation - Catholic Husband

Prayer strengthens our relationship with God, breaks our hearts of stone, and opens our minds to the will of God. Fasting removes obstacles to holiness in our lives. It breaks the power of mindless rhythm and shakes us awake, calling us back to the reality that Christ is coming again, and we must be ready. Almsgiving separates us from ourselves, and makes us attuned to the suffering around us. It reminds us of our obligation to care for the sick, the hungry, and the poor among us, all of them being Christ in disguise.

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All on the Field - Catholic Husband

The truth is, if I leave everything on the field, all things will be done well. It means I’ve woken up early and taken the time that I need to train my body and prepare myself for the day. It means my family has eaten, learned, prayed, and played together. It means my home is picked up, the kitchen is clean, and the laundry is put away.

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Ski Trip - Catholic Husband

This trip, more than anything, emphasizes the importance of play. For the child’s brain, play is equivalent to work. It’s necessary and helps with overall growth and development. For adults, play is still important! It’s the best form of stress management, and it gets everyone out of their element and into a new environment. Away from the ordinary, we can build our relationships in new and unique ways.

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Obedient to Prayer - Catholic Husband

If I were to sketch out a schedule for my ideal day, there would be several opportunities for prayer sprinkled throughout. No matter where I was in any given day, I’d only be a few hours away from a pause. The positive benefits of prayer are well established, spiritually and psychologically. Why is it so hard to commit?

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Work from Home Dad - Catholic Husband

It’s a daily challenge to balance my responsibilities at work and at home, but my children and I now share a special bond. I get to involve them in my work. They see what I do, got with me to visit customers, and get to share my love of aviation. I remember how special it was as an Air Force kid to go over to the squadron and hang out in my dad’s office, or walk out on the flight line and see the jets. Now my youngest daughter jumps with glee when I announce that we’re going to the airport.

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Permission to Push - Catholic Husband

The best way to get back to a manageable pace is to push due dates. There are some tasks that are true priorities, but most can be accomplished in the reasonable near future. Getting behind is normal, so rescheduling overdue tasks to be completed in the coming days is usually all you need to get back on top.

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Work or Workout - Catholic Husband

The truth is, I work better when I’ve exercised. Sleeping in gets me an extra 60 or 90 minutes of sleep, but those precious minutes don’t make nearly as big of an impact as waking up on time does.

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Create Beauty - Catholic Husband

But when we look up from our screens, when we behold the world around us as it truly is, there’s nothing but beauty. Colors, textures, weather, and creation changes from moment to moment.

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The Bible in a Year - Catholic Husband

Following the narrative of the story, and watching the puzzle pieces slowly come together, one day at a time, was the perfect way to study, explore, and discover the Bible. All it takes is showing up every day, and pressing play.

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Silent Night - Catholic Husband

A silent night, a holy night, in a cave in a rural town, an anonymous family witnessed the singular event that changed all of human history. In those ordinary moments, they thought not of the challenges ahead, but of the peace and quiet joy of the night.

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The Year It’s Been - Catholic Husband

As the calendar turns over to another year, it’s the perfect reminder to check ourselves. Are we using these moments well, or do we need to yet again set down the things that are holding us back and embrace the daily rituals that take us one step closer to the people that we aspire to be?

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The Prodigal Son - Catholic Husband

I think it reminds us of the relationship that God wants with us. He doesn’t just want us to pray, but to pray actively. He doesn’t want us to just go to Mass every week, but to go joyfully. He doesn’t want us to just pick up our cross, but to embrace it.

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Time to Care - Catholic Husband

Like the oxygen mask on the airplane, we need to take a moment to secure our mask before we help others. The same is true for our daily lives. We must eat, pray, exercise, and relax, or we’ll be hopeless when managing the daily stresses of caring for those we love most.

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True Gratitude - Catholic Husband

Amid this pause, we collectively take a breath and focus on gratitude. This year, my thoughts are turning more towards true gratitude. It’s simple, and right, that I should be thankful for the many helping hands in my life, or the relative peace that my family enjoys. But true gratitude goes back to the source; true gratitude orients our minds and hearts to the giver of all good gifts.

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Enjoy Today - Catholic Husband

Each day may not feel like a gift, but they all have little treasures buried deep inside. The way to find the treasure is to be present, and dig. It may be a funny quote from one of your kids, a completed project at work, or just one of your smallest children climbing into your lap and falling asleep.

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Torrents of Mercy - Catholic Husband

There is no limiting principle to God’s mercy; that’s one reason it is so unfathomable. How can God forgive such grievous offenses? How can He continue to put up with our habitual sin, our failure to course correct, and our inability to live the truth of the Gospel and trust in His love?

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Constant Renewal - Catholic Husband

Impermanence is the nature of life; things are always in motion and changing. Embracing a mindset of constant renewal inspires a sense of exhaustion, but also one of hope.

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Overrun - Catholic Husband

The feeling of being overrun with sin is a tool of the devil. As CS Lewis masterfully illustrated in The Screwtape Letters, if we can be simply worn down to the point of giving up, then darkness wins. While we may feel overrun, we can never be made to give up. That’s a choice that we have to make ourselves.

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The Emperor Has No Clothes - Catholic Husband

The truth is, people respect those who admit their faults and make corrections. Silently, we all wish that we had the courage to do the same. Events can transpire outside our control, but if we refuse to pick up the mantle and get to work resolving our issues, they’ll only become bigger.

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Share Your Best Work - Catholic Husband

The truth of the matter is that you are your worst critic; it’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, your critiques push you to work when you feel uninspired, and to chisel down your ideas, leaving only your very best. On the other, it can paralyze you. Fear can quickly overtake even the strongest in moments of weakness, leaving your work and your art all alone, with no one to enjoy it.

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The Sexualization of Everything - Catholic Husband

True human connection is authentic, emotional, and comes out of a deep desire for community. Our sexuality is an integral part of who we are, but it’s not a prerequisite for having a meaningful human relationship.

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Balance - Catholic Husband

My days are stuffed with tasks, to-dos, school, and work, but I’m also feeling incredibly fulfilled. I see progress in my professional life and progress in my children, but as a result, my health has fallen by the wayside.

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Plese Destroy - Catholic Husband

It was the perfect teachable moment. We talked about how what he was doing, destroying the paper that had his sins written on it, is precisely what just happened to him in Reconciliation. God tore up his sins, never to remember them.

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A Single Spark - Catholic Husband

That’s the funny thing about inertia; it’s so hard to overcome, but is completely broken by a singular step. Once you’re on the other side, momentum builds, and you start to wonder why it was ever able to hold you back.

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Freedom Squandered - Catholic Husband

Freedom is not free, and even now, there are Americans standing guard around the world, separated from their friends and family, maintaining our peace and security. This is a flawed, but great nation, an experiment worth defending. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Let’s stop using our freedom to attack each other, and instead use it to build a better nation.

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Homeschooling - Catholic Husband

There are many things to be said about homeschooling, but I think the simplest takeaway that I have is this. I like that my children are receiving a liberal arts education, starting from Day One of Kindergarten.

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Behold, Your Mother - Catholic Husband

Holding Mary in this place of honor is not an invention of the Church or a theological musing, but Catholics taking seriously the truths entrusted to us in Scripture. Mary is our mother, and we treat her with the love and respect that she deserves.

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Come Let Us Adore - Catholic Husband

Adoration is an opportunity to enter into God’s rest. It’s a chance to give ourselves permission to not worry, to not fret, to not be concerned with the stresses of our daily lives, but to pause and encounter the eucharistic Christ.

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Comfort - Catholic Husband

Despite overcoming almost every natural barrier, we haven’t found happiness. Like the people of Israel, we have a direct connection to knowledge of God, but we choose not to let it change us. They had the prophets, we have the Eucharistic Christ and all of His words. Still, we are asleep.

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Letting Go of Efficiency - Catholic Husband

I’m a very efficient person, but when it comes to each day and each task, it’s okay if I invite my children into my world, and I perform at a level just a few notches below peak.

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Diligence - Catholic Husband

The spiritual life is the biggest project any of us ever undertake. Enduring a lifetime of trial, triumph, defeat, and temptation requires that we, as St. Paul said, run the race. We have to put in the effort, do the work, and not let despair set in.

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Spring Water - Catholic Husband

When you think about the best glass of water you’ve ever had, it’s analogous to the refreshing nature of God’s love. A cool, clear, clean, crisp, and fresh relief for a tired and weary soul.

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Slow Progress - Catholic Husband

Over the centuries, the Christian concept of the human person started to be accepted by society and enshrined in law. No longer were people valued for their utilitarian values; they were valued for existing. Christians placed a value on the life of a child, and the world followed.

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Pause - Catholic Husband

It was not easy at first, and I knew I was storing up a massive backlog when I returned. But my choice was simple: vacation means vacation. Permission to not think about work, do work, or worry about work. I was free to be in the moment, say yes to most activities, and to recharge my batteries.

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Worth Celebrating - Catholic Husband

The voices of despair rise and fall, and we hear them daily today. But they look at a narrow window of our nation’s history, a snapshot in time that fails to capture the stunning progress that we’ve made. We are a flawed people, but despite our shortcomings and mistakes, we still seek to build a more perfect union.

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The Work Begins - Catholic Husband

Our message, from the very beginning, is so simple that we teach it to kindergartners. Every person has value and is worth protecting. Now if only we can get our society to internalize it.

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Fathers for Good - Catholic Husband

God has shared with us His power and His title, may we strive to be worthy of the gift.

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Universal Church - Catholic Husband

In a confessional at the back of his parish, he received the loving mercy of Christ, and didn’t understand a word that the priest said. That is a really cool thing.

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Friday Night Adoration - Catholic Husband

Benedict is still a little boy, flexing his autonomy, but not yet at that period of growth when he will seek more distance from his parents. He was excited to spend Daddy and Me time, without the presence of any girls, on a Friday night.

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Sacred Treasure - Catholic Husband

The Sacraments are our fuel to get us through the journey of life. I hope that Benedict carries this treasure with him, wherever he goes.

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A Time for Play - Catholic Husband

We need a time for play in our schedule, and it needs to be more than just on the weekends. When our children come and ask for our time, we should give it to them, even in small doses. But working to finish by Friday and have an open weekend is a worthy goal, too.

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Parental Love - Catholic Husband

Parenthood is a journey of weighty responsibility. But it’s a journey that is necessarily rooted in the total gift of self, a complete surrender of the parent’s priorities for the child. That is true love.

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Turn On Your Brain - Catholic Husband

A sad consequence of this indulgence of rage is that it rewards the party that can convince the highest number of people to turn off their brains. Alexander de Tocqueville marveled at the educated electorate that he met in America, and how everyone engaged in the democratic process. He’d be shocked to see that it only took 200 years to convert that America into a mob.

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A Fresh Look - Catholic Husband

It’s easy to feel trapped in the same sinful inclinations, day in and day out. Our character flaws pigeon-hole us into the same types of sin. But while we may feel trapped, Easter invites us to take a fresh look. A bit of TLC, a little time changing our environment or refreshing our perspective reveals two truths. God defeated sin, and so we can conquer it. Our God is a God of mercy who gives us all the resources we need to embrace and live His Law. All we have to do is put in the work to make the change.

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The Paradox of Time - Catholic Husband

There’s a balance to managing the many responsibilities that we have in life. In the face of them, we can’t surrender to idleness or overwork. Like our spiritual life, making this balance requires daily effort and some amount of failure. Try harder next week.

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Victory - Catholic Husband

Now that we’re into the Easter season and our Lenten practices are over, it’s time for an annual reminder about the point of what we just did. Lent, Holy Week, and Easter are only the beginning. They’re the keys that unlock the true freedom of Christian life. They’re the exercises and disciplines that draw us into our call to constant conversion.

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Increments - Catholic Husband

God understands the heart of man, and he understands that the fundamental conversion that he calls us to is a difficult one. He asks for us, with the weakness of original sin, to set aside our desires and aspirations so that we can think and act perfectly in concert with God’s mind and heart. To accomplish his ultimate vision, and with full respect of our free will, God invites us to incremental change.

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Examination of Conscience - Catholic Husband

He was experiencing a conscience properly functioning. His conscience a discernible plumb line, and he knew that he’d gone out of bounds.

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A Sense of the Sacred - Catholic Husband

There is no doubt that Catholicism possesses the best theology and liturgical life, but that doesn’t mean that we live our faith the best. We could learn a thing or two about how Muslims approach the Koran, the courage of LDS missionaries taking two years off to knock on strangers doors, or how the Baptists are always first on scene in a natural disaster.

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Desensitized - Catholic Husband

In days like these, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. We are looking evil in the eye, that reality that we tried so hard to deny. We pray for peace, but still see suffering. Despair is a terrible thing.

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Never Wasted - Catholic Husband

Lent is a time when we’re reminded of the importance of prayer in our lives. We need it for our healthy growth, and to remain focused on our core identity as a child of God, in the midst of the chaos of the world.

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13 Cents - Catholic Husband

Our failures in Lents past may come from our obsessive focus on the sin itself. We don’t have to beat sin or conquer sin; Jesus has done that already. All we have to do is to reassert that victory daily.

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Icy Slopes - Catholic Husband

Our nature and weakness largely shape the mistakes we make in our spiritual life. Skipping one day of prayer because you overslept or were on vacation may seem like a small matter. But temptation is always like ice. It’s smooth, slippery, and sometimes hard to spot; it wants to guide you quickly and helplessly into sin. We know our weak spots, we know our blind spots, but vigilance is exhausting.

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Detailing - Catholic Husband

Reconciliation is that detailing, a thorough cleaning that returns us to Baptismal purity. The white garment that we pledged to keep clean for the banquet of the lamb, restored to its original state. As soon as we walk out of the Church, temptation awaits. Try as we might, we will pick up dirt and trash as we go through life.

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Keto Recycle - Catholic Husband

The goal of holiness isn’t perfection. The goal is to live as perfectly as possible, contending with and overcoming your faults through grace.

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Noticing Progress - Catholic Husband

We tend not to give ourselves credit for the tiny steps forward we take each day. Yet, taking a moment to step back and pan out reveals the actual trajectory of our progress. That’s something worth appreciating.

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Applied Bioethics - Catholic Husband

When making care decisions, we need the intellectual tools to choose the ethical path and to make them with confidence. That’s my goal with this new magazine.

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Preparations - Catholic Husband

A life well lived in accordance with God’s Law is much sweeter than a life mired in sin and darkness.

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Image and Likeness - Catholic Husband

The Catholic worldview rests on a simple premise: all people are created in the image and likeness of God.

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All Things New - Catholic Husband

Two lousy years are over, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s time to stand up and dust off.

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Love So Deep - Catholic Husband

The joy of the season is now here after weeks of preparation. Leave your lights on and your tree up. Don’t put away your Christmas dishes and decorations. Leave them up and relish the joy of a love that gave up everything just to be with you forever.

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Now - Catholic Husband

The objective is to live a saintly life. Ordinary men and women of all backgrounds, overcoming their human nature and striving for holiness despite their failings. That is the life we’re meant to live.

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Creating Evil - Catholic Husband

God, in His wisdom, granted humankind creative powers. We can create ideas, art, and structures. Our greatest creative capacity comes in our ability to co-create new life. But when we use this creative capacity for darkness, evil enters more deeply into the world.

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Make Straight Paths - Catholic Husband

The prophets tell us to make straight the paths of the Lord, to focus on Him and move directly towards Him. God knows us and knows our hearts. He doesn’t expect perfection. He patiently anticipates failures and deviation. That’s why He gave us the Church and the Sacraments. These mile markers and road signs guide us back to where we want to go.

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[Pivot - Catholic Husband](catholichusband.com/index_fil…

Structure is good, but rigidity is fatal. We have to be willing and able to pivot. We have to look forward and see disruption coming, and ensure that we’re living our best lives.

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Simple Truths - Catholic Husband

A child can accept and embrace the simple truths of our deepest mysteries. They should have the full benefit of the Eucharist at the earliest reasonable age, and not be denied years of sacramental participation simply to satisfy the theoretical musings of a few.

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Scripture Before Phone - Catholic Husband

Morning is a beautiful time, one that should be enjoyed slowly with good exercise, good coffee, and quiet time spent in reflection. Nothing spoils a morning like 30 minutes of swiping and scrolling.

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Dads on Duty - Catholic Husband

Active, engaged, and loving fathers have the power to change the world. If only we’d let men step up to the plate and crank it out of the park.

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Acceptance - Catholic Husband

Acceptance is the humble admission that the great plans of God are far superior to the limited ones we have for our lives.

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Unglued - Catholic Husband

If you wonder why society has come unglued, why hated and bigotry are suddenly spotted everywhere, and it’s because of this. When we reject the fundamental sacredness and specialness of life, acting against it becomes easy and unglued.

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Stony Hearts - Catholic Husband

When we reject God’s plan for us, we accept a lesser existence, a life with opportunities for joy and fulfillment left unrealized. We seek comfort, God seeks adventure.

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Perfect Heroes - Catholic Husband

Heroes inspire us to live our lives more fully, but expecting them to be perfect is a fool’s errand. Instead, we should accept them for the good that they have done and forgive them for the mistakes that they have made. We should hope that others treat us with the same kindness.

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Month of the Rosary - Catholic Husband

Praying the Rosary every day doesn’t require any planning, strategizing, or optimization. It only requires 15 minutes and the willingness to accept the grace of stillness.

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Do Nothing - Catholic Husband

The busyness of the waking hours keeps us all moving. While I have a lot to do, maybe I need to add “Do Nothing” to my list. Permission to stop, pull one of my kids aside, and do nothing with them for a few minutes.

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Nine - Catholic Husband

The plans that we set nearly a decade ago and the hard work that it took to accomplish those plans is starting to show results. In a sense, we’re settling in to the life that we spent nine years building.

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When A Child Prays - Catholic Husband

When a child prays, they do it simply. They don’t have an agenda, they surrender to the moment and to the weight of the words. They don’t try to come up with a better prayer or a fancier verse, they adhere to the simplicity that is given to them. They approach God openly and innocently, as they are.

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Incremental Progress - Catholic Husband

Life is incremental progress, the great work of perfecting ourselves in the model of Christ. Conversion happens slowly, incrementally, and imperceptibly.

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Building Momentum - Catholic Husband

I don’t give momentum a lot of credit, but that’s because it’s the silent partner of success. By taking the excuses off the table, it’s easier to just do what I had planned than it is to rationalize why I shouldn’t.

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The Monk and the Merchant - Catholic Husband

Most of us are not called to the missionary field. Most of us are not called to travel to Haiti after an earthquake, or to Kabul to save people from the shadow of a dictatorial theocracy. But we are called to help. We can make a positive difference by giving generously to charities that have the experience, capability, and manpower to make a tangible difference on the ground.

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Humble Fatherhood | Catholic Husband

Fatherhood is not about being the boss, but about accepting responsibility with love. It’s hard to do perfectly, but I can probably do a better job of it tomorrow.

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Environment | Catholic Husband

I want my children to see books throughout their day, pictures and statues of saints, and beautiful art on our walls. I want an environment that quietly draws us into prayer, meditation, and reading throughout the day.

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Second New Year - Catholic Husband

Back-to-school time is like a second chance new year. We can reorient, restart, and refresh our goals. That’s what I’m doing.

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Spiritual Wokeism - Catholic Husband

The Christian life isn’t about a life lived perfectly. It’s embracing our human flaws and, through grace, living out our vocation fully despite them.

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Lazy Summer Days - Catholic Husband

God created many things. Indeed, that first week was full of much of the busyness that we know so well. But the seventh day, even He set that entire day aside to see what He made and that it is good. I should do the same.

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To the Lake - Catholic Husband

I’m slowing my pace, relaxing, and restoring. My life will fill up again soon after we return home. But for this week, all I have to do is nothing.

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A Quiet House - Catholic Husband

Children are a beautiful gift and a source of great joy.

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Regret - Catholic Husband

I prefer not to have good years and bad years, I want great years. I want years when I have the energy and clarity of mind to take care of my kids, my household, and still have enough gas in the tank to play.

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A Father’s Love - Catholic Husband

The true measure of a man, and his success as a father, begins simply. It’s his presence. In words and deeds, on good days and bad, he’s there, ready to give his family whatever they need.

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Sprinting - Catholic Husband

Long-term goals are challenging to stick with, but they tend to be the most important ones in our lives. Along the way, especially in the lonely middle, it’s tempting to get lazy or even give up. The hope for a better tomorrow starts to wane. But as the end draws near, hope springs eternal.

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Faith Enrichment - Catholic Husband

If we want our kids to grow up into mature adults who take ownership of their faith, we need to go the extra mile in exposing them to it while they’re young.

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Team - Catholic Husband

Marriage is broadly misunderstood, either as a committed friendship or some sort of business arrangement. There’s something very romantic about teamwork that’s so natural that it’s almost imperceptible. We’re a team in every sense of the word.

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Kill the Golden Calf - Catholic Husband

When you strip away the rhetoric and the one-liners, we can actually find a great deal of common ground. We can take opportunities to work together, to give a little, and to agree to a compromise that takes us both closer to where we want to be.

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Invest Today - Catholic Husband

If I want to raise those healthy, functional adults, I need to take the time to invest in my children and our relationship today.

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Backyard - Catholic Husband

In those minutes that they spent in the backyard, they were whatever they wanted to be and exactly who they are. Backyards are special places.

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Weakness - Catholic Husband

God did not make us to be strong on our own, but to be channels of His grace for our hurting world.

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Two Weeks - Catholic Husband

Physical health is the building block of life, and it’s something that you have to get up and fight for every single day.

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Bribe - Catholic Husband

I think that children should do the right thing because it’s what’s asked of them. But now and then, it’s okay to hold out a carrot and see what happens.

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Mercy - Catholic Husband

Anxiety is the body warning us. In a way, I think that the anxiety of current events and culture is an alarm that we’re forgetting to place our trust God’s love and mercy.

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He is Not Here - Catholic Husband

Faithfulness to God’s plan for our lives requires a daily dedication and an internal commitment to live as we should. While it may not lead to a life of comfort, it will lead to a life of joy, an eternal spring of the soul even in the midst of trials. He is not here, giving us a reason to commit to living this holy life.

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Lent. Oops. - Catholic Husband

We think too little of Lent, aim to do small sacrifices when, in reality, the true calling is to sacrifice everything. Our pride, our ambition, and our goals get in the way of God’s perfect plan for us. If anything, this Lent is a reminder that my plans are not worth pursuing, only His are.

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The Family Home - Catholic Husband

Our connection to the saints, is something exceptional within the theology of Catholicism. These holy men and women were people, just like us. They lived mostly ordinary lives except for their extraordinary virtue. If St. Joseph could attain holiness in the simple act of patching a hole in his home’s wall or addressing a leak from the roof, so can I.

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Milestones - Catholic Husband

When Alison and I are at Mass, and we’re simultaneously praying and wrangling four kids, I often marvel at what we’re able to accomplish. We started this project together, and together we’re raising our family. It’s my sincere hope that by continuing this blog, I will keep growing in my vocation to love, lead, and serve my family.

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A Day of Play - Catholic Husband

Work and play may be exhausting, but they can also be restorative. I’m going to try to spend more days working, playing, and praying.

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I Know What to Do - Catholic Husband

Every time I face boredom or laziness, I know the solution. I know the steps to take to improve my physical health, and I know the steps to take to improve my spiritual health. I just need to be brave enough to take the first step, which is always the hardest.

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A Week of Warmth - Catholic Husband

St. Joseph protected his family as he walked through the desert to Egypt. He protected his family during their time in a foreign land, and all the way back home. This week, he protected my family. For his intercession, I am grateful.

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Lent IRL - Catholic Husband

I expect to gain something tangible each day: time. I’ll seek to invest that time increasing spiritual opportunities for my kids, and doing more of the things that I’d like to do with them each day.

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Building Your Domestic Church - Catholic Husband

The Domestic Church may sound quaint, but it’s vitally important. It’s the training ground for saints, and the classroom of Catholicism. It may feel like an overwhelming task, but it’s the vocation that you were called to. Along with that calling comes the grace necessary to fulfill your calling.

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Scripture Under the Stars - Catholic Husband

Now, thanks to Fr. Mike and Ascension Press, the first fruits of my day can be given over to prayer. I can start my morning quietly hearing the Word and carry it with me throughout the day.

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Off the Wagon - Catholic Husband

Physical health and spiritual health are two sides of the same coin. The human person is integrated, each component and system symbiotically impacting and effecting the other. To care for the physical self is to care for the spiritual self. To care for the spiritual self is to care for the emotional self.

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These Days - Catholic Husband

This is the time that we build the relationship that we’ll share for my lifetime. These are the days when they store the memories of “my dad” growing up. This is my chance to make a real impact on their formation, to set them up on a course to go through life confident in their identity as human persons.

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Uncertainty - Catholic Husband

There were others who believed that the Messiah was coming to liberate Israel and establish a new Davidic Kingdom. They thought that Jesus was coming to deliver a political solution. They were thinking small.

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Taste - Catholic Husband

If we were to make the tiniest forward motion towards God, and taste just a portion of HIs goodness, that taste would satisfy us.

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Time Lost - Catholic Husband

This year, we endured the tyranny of uncertainty. We lived through the misery of human separation, unable to spend quality time physically present with those that we love. Not only that, but we tasted the bitterness of spiritual isolation from our parishes and, above all else, our Eucharistic Lord. Despite all of this, as the poet Alexander Pope once wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”

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Waiting - Catholic Husband

They may have waited for a singular day on a calendar, but we were waiting for the King!

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Carrying Too Much - Catholic Husband

Advent is the time to lay down our sinful habits, big and small. It’s a call to reorient ourselves towards God, to be reminded of our identity as His children. It’s an excuse to break even the smallest of vices that keeps us from living in the true freedom of God’s law.

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A Prepared Heart - Catholic Husband

A prepared heart is attuned to the moment. It listens to the message of the Liturgy of the Word. It follows the breadcrumbs, so carefully laid out, leading it deeper into the joy of Christmas

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Thankful for What - Catholic Husband

A grateful heart acknowledges the hardships of our days, but has the vision to see that for which we can give praise.

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Praying As A Parent - Catholic Husband

Parenting, like gardening, isn’t about efficiency. It’s about patience. The daily work of pruning ensures that my little saplings have all the nurturing and attention that they need. Nothing nurtures a child’s heart like being taught how to pray.

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What Did We Learn - Catholic Husband

It’s sad to see how much a national election cycle weighs on many Americans. The government wields significant power, but that power is frequently checked. A single candidate can’t fix your life or ruin it. The biggest personal impact you have on our nation is the way that you live your life and raise your children.

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Live Today - Catholic Husband

Yesterday is gone and tomorrow will be here in its time. How will I choose to accept the gift that is today?

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Election Eve - Catholic Husband

Be an active, faithful participant in civic life, but don’t place your hope in a transient political movement. Place your hope in the God who has always loved you, and who has never fallen short of His word.

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Off the Reservation - Catholic Husband

It’s clear that these aren’t little slips of the tongue, loose words, or errors. When Pope Francis speaks, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing it on purpose. Unfortunately, it’s the definition of scandal: speaking to cause confusions. How are we to respond?

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Time to Go - Catholic Husband

We may not be able to go back to the old ways, but we still have the gift of today. How are you going to spend it?

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Life with Four - Catholic Husband

I know how to care for an infant, a toddler, and a big kid. Now I just need to pull those pieces together to get acclimated to my new normal.

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Pandemic Confession - Catholic Husband

As the reality of how delicate life truly is set in, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering how well I’m living the life that I profess. I’ve considered my track record within my vocation and as a father. Without the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I could never rise to this high calling. My shortcomings would prevent me from living as the person, husband, and father that God has called me to be.

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Reading Together - Catholic Husband

Time spent reading aloud to my children is more than education, it’s bonding. It’s special time in our day when we can sit next to each other, snuggled on the couch, and explore a new world together. I hope that this simple activity builds not only their curiosity and academic prowess, but memories of us that they’ll treasure forever.

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The New Evangelization Stumbles - Catholic Husband

The New Evangelization demands that we use new methods and the technology that we have to spread the Gospel. This pandemic was the perfect excuse for us to try new things and experiment. When you try something novel and half a million people show up every week, you don’t just turn it off because it took some extra effort.

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Troops - Catholic Husband

As a father of a son, I’ve found the Troops of St. George to be particularly helpful in my vocation to raise him as a man.

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Default to Yes - Catholic Husband

I’d like to jump at these little opportunities to play with my children, to build our relationships, and to enjoy our company. I’m all too aware that these cute little ones will soon be too big and too busy for me. Besides, is what I’m working on really all that urgent? Surely it can be put off for another time.

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Eight - Catholic Husband

The lessons that I’ve learned, re-learned, and written about in this space are the same. I need to continue to love and to serve, to put myself last, and to always defer to the needs of my wife and family.

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Answered Prayers - Catholic Husband

Throughout this process, I struggled with doubt, with anxiety, and with disbelief. What is trusting God, what is testing Him? These are very human experiences with prayer. God knows our hearts, He can read us better than we even know ourselves.

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Together - Catholic Husband

Therein lies the true beauty of marriage. Not perfection, perseverance. Not selfishness, unity. Not emotion, total surrender. Together we can, and we will, do anything.

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Start - Catholic Husband

I don’t need a fresh start tomorrow or next week or next month. I need a fresh start right now. I need prayer to bring calm, peace, balance, and rest into my life right now, today.

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Four - Catholic Husband

Certainly children are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Psalm 127:5

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Focus - Catholic Husband

While some major events naturally tend to lend focus, giving yourself a momentary pause to catch your breath and evaluate your life might be all that you need to course correct and get moving in the right direction.

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A Few Extra Minutes - Catholic Husband

Even in the rush of morning, make sure that you have the time you need to get yourself a nice shower, fresh shave, and a comfortable outfit that makes you feel great. Then you’ll be ready to take on the world (and your kids).

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Our Responsibility - Catholic Husband

Get the job done, together, and don’t begrudge your spouse when they need some time off.

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Daily Preventative Medicine - Catholic Husband

Perfection is not possible; virtue is. The path to virtue is through prayer.

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Opening the Domestic Church - Catholic Husband

The doors to our parishes may be closed and locked, but a new Church has been opened in every home. Never before has there been such a profound opportunity to live out this idea. Our circumstances encourage us to pursue an active faith life at home.

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Beyond Routine - Catholic Husband

Routine is more than just a cycle. Routine is your goals, broken down into daily steps, and assigned a specific time to work on them. Woven together, these days bring meaningful progress over time.

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Safety and Stability - Catholic Husband

We live comfortably, but that’s rarely the experience of Catholics.

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First Communion - Catholic Husband

Frequent reception of Communion can have a dulling effect on the senses. That routine can easily bring me to the point where I put more faith in Tylenol than the Eucharist. When I take Tylenol, I expect something to happen. Do I have the same expectation of the Eucharist? How can I physically come into contact with life, love, and goodness Itself and not walk away a changed, transformed person?

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Contemplating Life - Catholic Husband

I hope that I will not soon forget the gravity, mystery, and majesty of this birth.

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Some Gave All - Catholic Husband

These fallen heroes deserve our admiration, and their families deserve our support.

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The Lessons Learned - Catholic Husband

These past two months will forever shape who we are and how we operate. May it be for the better.

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Resisting Structure - Catholic Husband

It feels like my routine is going to restrict or suffocate me, when in reality, it’s going to set me free.

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Dive Into Something - Catholic Husband

Idleness dresses itself up in the trappings of rest, but it ends up leaving me feeling empty.

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Do What Works - Catholic Husband

So when I now find myself needing to get back to that point of health, I don’t need to struggle with developing a whole new program. I don’t need to tinker with the habits or routines.

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Out of the Tomb - Catholic Husband

If you find yourself this Easter still trapped in sin, having failed to achieve any meaningful reform during our Lenten journey, take courage. God paid too great of a price to give up on us before the very last possible moment. He didn’t go through the agony and grisly torture that is scourging and crucifixion to let you slip out of His grasp.

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Mind Your Diet - Catholic Husband

If you sit on the couch all day, scrolling through the news and stress-eating, you’ll succumb to panic and anxiety.

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In the Desert - Catholic Husband

I will not forget the profound spiritual experience of these last few weeks. I’ve become desensitized to the lull of my modern life.

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Renewal - Catholic Husband

It was only through this crisis that I discovered the wonderful resources on YouTube, to include live-streamed Eucharistic Adoration and pre-recorded celebrations of the Mass.

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St. Joseph - Catholic Husband

St. Joseph is humble in ways that I will never understand. He lead, protected, and provided for the Holy Family of Nazareth, but he never seeks credit or adoration.

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Connecting While Isolated - Catholic Husband

I feel a sense of separation, having been unable to receive the Eucharist physically. We do have to endure this physical separation for a time.

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Specter of Pandemic - Catholic Husband

we are called to care about those suffering around the world.

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Kids and Lent - Catholic Husband

Thankfully, at the center of the teachings of the Church are simple truths.

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Let Us Go to God’s House - Catholic Husband

It’s time for us to wake up from our deep slumber and let that joy fill our hearts on Sunday mornings once again.

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Teaching Kids Why - Catholic Husband

I do know that if I can spark that interest in them, they will eventually find what they’re seeking.

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Preparing for Lent - Catholic Husband

The spirit of Lent is not the 40 day timetable with breaks on Sunday. The spirit of Lent is the same one shared by St. Francis, constant renewal.

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Consistency - Catholic Husband

Being consistent as a parent is the hardest thing to do, but it’s the most important thing to do.

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Normalcy - Catholic Husband

If you can only build the better version of yourself when things are normal, that better version will always be out of reach. Get the work done, even if it’s imperfect and even if it’s not on schedule.

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Cherish Your Children - Catholic Husband

If I cherish my children, and I want there to be no doubt of my love in their little minds and hearts, then I need to arrange my life to communicate that.

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Seeking Rest - Catholic Husband

Rest is something deep; it’s finding a sense of peace. You can only get that peace when you fulfill your responsibilities and take care of your physical needs.

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Twenty Twenty Focus - Catholic Husband

Distractions and thoughts percolate, but when I’m meditating, I have permission to not act.

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A Remarkable Year - Catholic Husband

In the past fifteen years of my life, none have been as categorically successful as 2019.

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The Joy of the Season - Catholic Husband

What better way to crown the year than with the joy of Christmas.

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Not from Scratch - Catholic Husband

Perfection is mythology; don’t need to reinvent the wheel just to do something nice for your family.

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Everybody Helps - Catholic Husband

We can’t all do the same thing, but we can all do something.

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Poverty - Catholic Husband

Donating to a food pantry, or making a financial contribution to a charity working with migrants and the displaced, makes a difference. We have the power to ease the suffering of our neighbors.

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Reaching A Goal - Catholic Husband

I was six months out of college, living on my own, and suddenly in the worst physical condition of my life. How did it come to this? I was still learning how to live, but something needed to change.

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The Importance of Self-Care - Catholic Husband

Opening up that time has been critical to my success and stability as a stay-at-home dad.

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Read A Book - Catholic Husband

Many of us haven’t read a single book since our formal schooling ended. That’s a huge mistake.

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Self-Awareness - Catholic Husband

Curiosity is a wonderful gift, and a strong sense of self-awareness is a trustworthy guide.

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Transformation - Catholic Husband

The same elements that contribute to an improvement in physical health are required for the improvement of spiritual health.

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