WILMINGTON – God wants a relationship with each of us, and there are concrete steps men can take to live more authentically as a Catholic and grow that relationship, a nationally known speaker said Oct. 3 at Saint Mark’s High School.
Matthew Leonard, the founder of the online formation program Science of Sainthood, addressed the inaugural Catholic Men of Delmarva conference. His audience was a group of men from around the Diocese of Wilmington. Organizers said 388 men attended.
Leonard delivered one of three keynote addresses; the daylong conference also included Eucharistic adoration, confession, a presentation on vocations, and a question-and-answer session with the speakers. Bishop Koenig was the principal celebrant at the closing Mass.
Leonard challenged the group to live more like the saints and gave the men tips on how to make this happen. Saints, he noted, come from all kinds of backgrounds. St. Augustine lived a notoriously sinful life, and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta could be found cleaning toilets in one of the convents of her religious order.
“(Saints) allow God to be their strength,” Leonard said. “They wanted to be holy more than anything else.”
He called saints “game changers, and the world is in need of change.”
Leonard outlined three things to do to become better Catholic men. The first is to learn how to love. Leonard decried the “manosphere,” a network of influencers who promote aggressive masculinity, male supremacy and opposition to feminism. He called their message “bunk.”
“It’s not a matter of us being better than other people,” he said.
Tension between men and women occurs because we don’t love enough, he continued.
The second is to take advantage of the sacraments. God is available to us every day, Leonard said. How many of us make ourselves available, he asked.
“When you really love someone, you want to be with them 24/7,” he said. “That’s the kind of relationship he wants with us.”
Leonard challenged the men to ask themselves what they are willing to do for God. The more we are united with God, he continued, the more we become the body of Christ.
The final thing is prayer, which is the primary way of preparing for an encounter with God, he said.
“He wants a relationship with us. Prayer is that relationship,” Leonard said.
We should be praying all the time, and it’s not just talking. There are different forms of prayer. One is blessing and adoration. Others include petition, or asking God to address our needs; intercession, which is praying for others; thanksgiving, giving gratitude to God; and praise.
Leonard suggested the group become familiar with meditative prayer, taking time just to be silent with no distractions. That, he said, will be the hardest thing they do. It involves finding a quiet time and space, quieting the mind, talking with the Lord internally, and praying for the grace to act upon what God shows you in prayer.
We have to make the decision to act, he said.
“The question is are you ready?”
