What is the Masculine Genius?

The perfection of masculinity lived by Jesus Christ isn’t simply an ideal but the expectation for the life of every man.  This masculine genius is lived only when man slides his feet into the sandals of the Way, the Truth, and the Life and traverses the gritty path first carved into the earth by the wood of a bloodied Cross. The power of man living this imitatio Christi is that it is both the weapon and the shield in the spiritual battle waged against marriage, family, and the dignity of the human person. 

What is the masculine genius? …The genius of the masculine is revealed through these characteristics:

He is a father, protecting and providing for his family and his community. God created every man to be a father, whether adoptive, biological, or spiritual, all men are created to love with the Father’s heart. 

He is a son, living the Imitatio Christi. God created men to live the offices of priest, prophet, and king in a uniquely masculine way. Following the model of Christ, men are to offer their life as a sacrifice, share the Gospel first with their hearts, hands, and feet, and lead by taking the lowest seat.

He is first, forging ahead with obedient action. God created men as initiators, protectors, and promoters of His divine love to uphold the dignity of the human person.

He is chaste, serving both God and his family with an undivided heart. God created man to have a uniquely masculine reverence for the sacredness of God’s design for life and love and a duty to uphold it within the created world.

This Sunday, we read Jesus’s words, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” Today, more than ever, we need men willing to leave earthly cares behind by accepting the grace of their God-given masculine genius and courageously leading those entrusted to their care to heaven.

Don’t forget to spend time sharing the “masculine genius” with your child this week!