THE SPIRITUAL LIVES OF MEN

With today being father’s Day, I would like to spend a few minutes reflecting on “Masculine Spirituality…….Masculine Spirituality.”

·       While the spiritual lives of women and men have much in common—but most men have  a special slant in our faith development which is worthy of consideration.

I gained some insight about this, a long time ago, by observing my son when he was 3 years old.  His driving passion was to demonstrate his personal strength to the world.

·       For this boy, strength meant shooting his enemies with a toy gun in one hand, while holding his stuffed bunny in the other hand.

·       By age 5, this boy, demonstration of strength involved imitating a superhero: He did this by lifting up his tricycle above his head, and dashing it to the ground.

In short, this child was like the Pharisee, described in today’s Gospel reading. As you may know, the Pharisee was a first century religious scholar; and also a self-important snob.  As described by Jesus, the Pharisee, like the boy, was a man who believed that he possessed by immense strength; and who wanted to display that strength to the world.   The Pharisee measured his strength through his self-control, in his ability to resist temptation, & his self-righteousness.

·       In his prayer, He did not ask God for any help.  He felt like he didn’t need help. He had convinced himself of his own personal power, of which he actually boasted before God.

Like the boy, most men cherish and prize one or more personal strengths, which becomes the basis upon which we relate to the world.

·       Some guys value our PHYSICAL STRENGTH & good health, which we nurture with exercise, good food, and lots of care—all of which gives us a feeling of energy, vitality and power.

·       Others of us value our mental strengths—our winning personalities, or our courage, or our ability to make money, or our keen intellects. Such mental strengths lay the foundations for our relationships, our challenges, and our personal joys.

·       Still other guys values both their mental and physical strengths, which are frequently used in combination to do work, at least during one phase of our lives. Whether working on Main Street, at home, in the community—even as a volunteer—many men prize their personal strength which enables us to successfully accomplish the work which we cherish….which can become the basis for our personal happiness and security.

And that may be fine for a while---but there is one problem: Regardless of how strong we may think that we are, we all possess an Achilles heel.

Achilles was a mighty warrior of Greek mythology—whose whole body was supernatirually protected by the gods—except for his heal.  Achilles was the most fantastic warrior of all time, as arrow and swords would just bounce off of him.

But one day, an arrow pierced his heal—and he instantly died. PAUSE  And like Achilles, all men may not like to admit it –but we are all very vulnerable in some aspect of life. And as we age, our strength begins to wane.

·       Beginning at age 25, a man’s aerobic capacity & muscular strength begins to decline 1 to 2 % per year. ·        Bone loss is 3% per decade. ·        Generally speaking, between ages of 25 to 50, men can expect to lose 1/2lb of musical & gain one or more lbs. of fat. One scientist writes, “All aging humans will develop some degree of decline in cognitive capacity as time progresses.” In another vein, men can be sapped of their strength not just over time, suddenly and unexpectedly: sudden illness or financial & employment trouble,  or the death of a loved one.  But I want to take this one step further: THERE COMES A POINT IN THE LIFE OF EVERY MAN WHERE HE WILL FACE A CRISIS OF PERSONAL STRENGTH. This occurs when we are hit in the face with a crisis where we feel weak and/or defeated. We do not know what to do about it, because our own personal strength has let us down. ·       And women, I want you to know that in the life of a man that moment is a moment of truth, which can be a make or break the man. How we men handle that crisis could very well shape the rest of our lives. ·       Frankly, most men have more than one such crisis.  So, guys, this crisis is to be expected. The issue here is: How will the man respond to the crisis? With victory or defeat???? Now there are many ways to be defeated.  You can panic; you can give up; you can blame yourself or others; you can become resentful; you can turn against God and/or your family.  Thus Jesus says, “Wide is the way of destruction.” ·       However, there is one way that a man can achieve victory: And that is to swallow your pride, admit that you are weak and seek Jesus anew—that you might partake of His supernatural strength.  King David tells us in the psalms,”Happy are those whose strength is in the Lord. Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs.  The Lord is our strength and refuge…a very present help in times of trouble.” King David of Israel ruled about 2800 years ago. He faced many crises of strength throughout his whole life.  However, most of the time he achieved victory by swallowing his pride, admitting his weakness and seeking God’s strength—that it was always forthcoming, if sincerely requested. Many men face their personal crisis of strength in their 30s –through their 80s.  But David faced his first crisis of strength when he was a teenager. ·       You see, as a teen, David was a shepherd—and as a mere child he had to fight lions and bears who attacked his flock. David wrote on how he was dependent upon the strength of God to win these important battles. ·       Likewise, today’s first reading describes David’s fight against Goliath, a great warrior and a giant of a man.  Goliath was such a blood thirsty brute, than no one in the Israelis army would fight him in the arena of battle; but David, a young teenager at the time, volunteered.  David cursed Goliath to this face, saying, “I come against you in the Name of the Lord.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.  I will strike you down& cut off your head that all the earth will know that there is a God who saves, for the battle belongs to the Lord.” ·       Well, the enraged Goliath, who charged toward David, as he swung his huge sword; and by God, David defeated Him with his sling shot by driving a rock into Goliath’s head. That, my friends, as David later testified, was the strength of the Lord. PAUSE If we turn to God and ask for His strength, He will provide. One modern story of how God most powerfully provided strength to a man in need was told by the Rev. Benjamin Weir.  From 1984-1986, he was held as a hostage by Islamic terrorists.  He was thrown into a small cell, with little light, little food, and total isolation. His loneliness and fear just about killed him and he thought that he would go crazy. Up until that time, despite being a minister, he describes his faith as being “shallow.”   Then one day, He decided to turn to God in prayer…and prayed for days at a time. ·         He heard the Muslims praying each day, so he prayed with them and prayed for his captors. ·          Then he decided to thank God for every good thing that had happened in his life—after all, he had plenty of time.  He had no bible so he recalled some bible stories and prayers.  ·         Slowly, over the days, He began to realize that, indeed, Jesus was with him, comforting him. ·           He saw some nails on the wall which made the form of a cross. So he thanked God for providing him with his own personal chapel. ·         Benjamin Weir slowly began to discover that God was His strength; and that strength sustained him throughout his captivity, until he was finally released. So friends, please do not dismiss this message of love.  Please repeat this pray after me: O Jesus, come and be my strength, now and forever.  Amen.

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