Rosary for Men

One of the challenges that is faced in attracting good men to be priests is the false conception that to be serious in the faith is only for women. In reality, to take the faith truly seriously, to live it to the nth degree is a very manly thing to do. (Try it, you'll see.)

To help that cause, Theophilus posts (or directs, actually) some reflections he wrote up on the rosary for men. High quality stuff, this:

Sorrowful (Tuesday/Friday)
1. Agony in the Garden- It’s the most stressful time of your life. You are besieged and know you are going to lose. Your closest friends fall asleep on you - one even betrays you. You pray to God with all that you have . . . and yet you know what you must do. It’s tough but you just know what you have to do and you go do it. You know you have to do the right thing, all of the time, no matter how hard. You look at Peter, John & James. They are asleep. How often are the men of this world asleep? How often do they let God down? How often do they let their family and friends down? How often?
2. Scourging at the Pillar- You are completely alone and experiencing pain beyond your worst nightmares. You know you must offer all of the pain up to God, but too much of you is human and it is tough. Yet, you stay strong. You hope that the next time anyone feels pain that they do not think they can endure, they will think of you on that pillar and gather strength from your endurance. You keep thinking about Pilate. He could’ve done the “right” thing and sprung you. But, he listened to the crowd, to the cheers, and he condemned you, an innocent man. How many times do men take the easy way out? How many times do they give in to the popular sentiment? How many times do they just want an unpleasant situation to go away and take the low road? Men must do the right thing, all of the time. They must remain strong under the worst of adversity. Maybe, this day will give them the strength to do so.

Gut Check

From Tarek Saab's book Gut Check, pg 124:

Catholic Churches are like a box of chocolates, to borrow the analogy from Forrest Gump, you never know what you're gonna get--especially in California. I attended Mass at my local parish like I had every Sunday, but I still failed to connect with the promise of mystery in my Catholic belief. Absorbing the mind-numbing strum of sappy, seductive guitar hymns, os the fiftieth iteration of the "God loves you" sermon from a happy-go-lucky preacher, was a gut-wrenching experience for any man with an ounce of testosterone. Flowery emotional appeals don't resonate well with pragmatic men, which is probably why men have an aversion to modern churches.

Bingo!