Resources

Tools for the Work

Scripture, books, a weekly challenge, and a prayer for men who are done being passive.

A Prayer

A Prayer to Start Showing Up

Lord, you made me to love sacrificially and lead gently so that I may confidently stand in the gap for the people You put in my life.

Help me to stand where I'm supposed to stand,
and to speak, even if it costs me something.

Give me the courage of the saints who came before me.
Make me a man my wife can trust,
my children can follow,
and my brothers can count on.

Where I have been silent, help me speak.
Where I have been absent, bring me back.
Where I have been afraid, give me holy courage.

I am here, Lord and I want to start showing up for those You have entrusted to me.
Amen.

— Where Was Adam, 2026

This Week's Challenge

Have the conversation you've been avoiding.

Week of July 20, 2026

Have the conversation you've been avoiding.

Every man reading this has something he needs to say to someone — a wife, a child, a friend, a colleague — that he's been putting off. Not because he doesn't know what to say. Because it will cost him something to say it.

This week, say it. Not a text. Not an email. A real conversation, face to face or voice to voice. Before Sunday.

The ask: Identify the conversation. Have it before this week ends. Tell someone you're going to do it — that accountability matters.
Scripture

For men who need to show up.

Genesis 3:9

"Where are you?"

The first question God ever asked a man. He's still asking it.

Joshua 24:15

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Joshua didn't wait for consensus. He declared a direction.

1 Corinthians 16:13

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

Paul addresses men directly. The command is active, not passive.

Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

The standard isn't niceness. It's sacrifice.

Proverbs 27:17

"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

You cannot become who you're called to be alone.

Proverbs 4:23

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life."

The battle starts inside. Guard what's in there.

Reading

Books worth your time.

Identity

Be a Man

Fr. Larry Richards

A direct, no-excuses call to Catholic men to embrace masculinity as God designed it — not to apologize for it.

Into the Breach

Knights of Columbus

An apostolic exhortation to Catholic men to reclaim their role as protectors, providers, and spiritual leaders.

A Manual for Men

James Stenson

A clear-eyed guide to what men are for — and how to become the kind of man a family and community can count on.

Terror of Demons

Kevin Vost

Reclaiming traditional Catholic masculinity — what the Church has always said about what men are and what they're called to do.

Behold the Man

Brian Gail

A meditation on Christ as the model of authentic manhood — what it looks like to pattern your life on the only man who got it right.

Boys to Men

Tim Gray & Curtis Martin

The transforming power of virtue — how boys become men of character, and what that journey requires of fathers and mentors.

Men and Women Are from Eden

Mary Healy

A study guide to John Paul II's Theology of the Body — what God reveals about masculinity, femininity, and the meaning of love.

Spirituality

Introduction to the Devout Life

St. Francis de Sales

The classic guide to holiness in ordinary life — for men who want to go deeper without leaving the world behind.

The Spiritual Exercises

St. Ignatius of Loyola

The framework that formed the Jesuits and continues to form serious men — a rigorous, structured encounter with God.

The Imitation of Christ

Thomas à Kempis

The most widely read Christian book after the Bible. A quiet, devastating challenge to stop thinking about holiness and start living it.

Saint Joseph, the Man Closest to Christ

Fr. Francis Filas, S.J.

A deep look at the man God chose to father His Son — and what Joseph's hidden life reveals about faithful, silent strength.

Holy Grit

Tommy Tighe

Saints who suffered, failed, and kept going — stories of perseverance for men who need to know that holiness doesn't require perfection.

The Confessions

St. Augustine

The autobiography of a man who ran from God for decades — and what happened when he stopped running. One of the most honest books ever written.

Story of a Soul

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Don't mistake her for sentimental. Thérèse's "little way" is a radically demanding path — surrender disguised as simplicity.

Faith

The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic

Matthew Kelly

What separates the men who live their faith from the ones who've let it become a background detail in their lives.

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