Check out our latest episode of Walking with St. Joseph! Hear a motivating talk from New Orleans’ own Arthur Dupre and listen to a dramatic reading of excerpts of Pope Francis’ letter, Patris Corde. 

CANNON BALL MOMENT & PATRIS CORDE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Have you had a “cannonball moment” at some point in your life – a time when God seems to allow a failure or a setback that forced you to rethink the role God’s will plays in your life? What happened and what did you learn? What helped you get through it? Might you be going through a moment like that in your life right now and it isn’t yet clear what it all means? Perhaps sharing and praying with your brothers about it can help.

2. “You know, we try to pray around the cross, and we try to find ways to skip around the cross, instead of praying for the grace to embrace the cross… Men are way too timid in speaking about their prayer life, or speaking about where God is in their life, or speaking about things that are going on in their life spiritually where they feel that they need help. We don’t share when we’re hurt. We don’t share the need for fraternal affirmation or fraternal affirmation among guys.” Let’s not be afraid to pray with the cross in our life, to embrace it rather than try to skip around it. What is one thing that you are struggling with in your life right now? What can we, your brothers, pray with you and for you about?

3. When you listened to the quotes from Patris Corde from Pope Francis, what quotes stuck out? How will these words help you to incorporate the example of St. Joseph in your life?

Chris O’Neill “Walking with St. Joseph” Discussion Questions

Understanding the Virtue of Chastity

“I  think, generally, we have a very narrow understanding of the virtue of  the chastity…[which] does an injustice to St. Joseph and the truth about  the depths of his love for his wife, Mary Immaculate.”

• What was been your understanding of chastity prior to experiencing this talk? What stuck out to you from what Chris shared?

“Our  idea of chastity is often rather simplistic and often very negative. We  don’t consider what chastity makes us capable of. We don’t think of  chastity as…a manly strength…. Chastity has to do with what we see when  we look at another person, particularly another woman.”

• Do you look at the virtue of chastity from a negative or a positive viewpoint? Rather than thinking about what Chastity keeps you from doing, what do you think it might make you capable of?

“Jesus  calls us to something far greater, far more beautiful and challenging  than just fulfilling the minimum moral obligation [as in ‘Don’t have sex  with people you’re not married to.’]“ 

• How chaste am I in the way relate to other women? Can you describe a time when you have been moved by the beauty and goodness of a woman without that turning into a desire to lust or to use? What is that experience like and what does it move you to do?

“In  the integrity of his body and soul, Joseph was a man who was fully  alive. It would be a terrible mistake to think of St. Joseph’s interior  life as one that constantly had to exercise white-knuckle to control  over his desires…[or] to think of him as if he didn’t see, did not know  or was in no way attracted to his wife’s extraordinary beauty [or] that  their marriage was one of propriety and convenience [or] that he wasn’t  deeply interested in her. Their marriage was a true marriage…” 

• What do you think of St. Joseph’s love for his wife? What does it inspire you to strive for in your vocation to love?

Strengthening the Virtue of Chastity

Chris offers 2 practical suggestions to help us strengthen our practice of the virtue of chastity:

1. Radically honest and regular confession.

• What has my relationship with the Sacrament of Reconciliation looked like? What can I do to grow in being honest on the inside and outside with myself, so as to grow in my honesty with God?

• What do I do to examine my conscience regularly?

  2.Relearn generous hospitality and friendship.

• What was my hospitality like prior to the pandemic of the past 15 months? How did this time of ‘social distancing’ effect the way I genuinely opened myself to others? What hungers for authentic, loving friendships awoke in me because of being isolated?

• Chris spoke about the fruits of us as men to gather in men’s groups. How is my experience in my men’s group a “school…to appreciate others in their [wholeness of body and spirit?]” If I’m not involved in a men’s group yet, what’s one step I can take to join one or make the community of men I associate with a community that sees each other in our wholeness?

Check out this year’s kickoff video, then take some time to reflect on the questions below. Bonus points if you can answer the questions with a small group or accountability partner. When you’re done, share at least one meaningful insight you gained in the comments below.

Archbishop Aymond Discussion Questions

1. Archbishop Aymond reflected on the 2020 Men’s Conference being a “historic” day in the Archdiocese.  Were you there?  
   
   If you were: What do you remember about that day? Looking back, what impression did it make on you?  Was it just a single good day, or did the day have a lasting impact?  Explain.  
   If you were not:  What was your experience of what was shared about it? In what ways can a community of men sharing their spirituality with each other help you draw closer to God?

   Archbishop Aymond pointed out that right after last year’s Men’s Conference, the COVID-19 pandemic began in our area. Many of us experienced darkness and loneliness as a result of the pandemic and its effects on all aspects of society and life.

   
   

2. What struggles and difficulties have you faced in the past year?  How have you coped?  What role has your faith and your friendships (your male friendships in particular) helped?  What could we as men do to support one another better going forward?

   Archbishop Aymond shared that in St. Joseph we find a man of strength and courage, a man who experienced great fear, but trusted in God as he embraced the anxieties and ambiguities he faced. 

3. What aspects of St. Joseph’s life and witness stuck out to you?  How does St. Joseph’s life and example help you to find strength in seeking goodness & seeking God?  

   Archbishop Aymond felt as if St. Joseph were saying to us this year, “I held Jesus in my arms, but, fellow men, I want you to hold Jesus in your heart.”

4. How can we hold Jesus in your heart? What are the practical steps? How can we help each other hold Jesus in our hearts?  

Fr. John Brown, SJ Discussion Questions

Fr. Brown suggested that St. Joseph’s role as father was important to Jesus as not only protector and provider, but as model for Jesus of what a father’s love looks like.

1. What does it mean to be a father? What experiences have contributed to your understanding of the meaning of fatherhood?  What experiences have obscured your trust in fatherhood?  What does it mean to you to call God “Father,” as Jesus did?

   According to Fr. Brown, God shares with us a “creative responsibility.” In this sharing, God is always present with us and active in our lives, but wants us to feel the consequences of our actions – even if that risks getting a little hurt – in order to grow and become better men.

2. What do you think about that statement? When have you experienced this type of growth that comes from feeling the consequences of your actions? Have you felt God close or distant from you during that time? 

   God doesn’t always answer our prayers.  Rather, Fr. Brown said, God loves us like a Father and wants us to feel the consequences of our own actions – even though He knows that doing so risks a little bit of hurt.  Fr. Brown said it makes us better men when that happens.  

3. Is that true?  When was there a time when God didn’t answer your prayers, when He seemed absent or far away?  Did that experience shake your faith or make you doubt?  Was there a way that experience made you a better man? 

   Fr. Brown reminds us that, because we are called to share in this creative responsibility, “there’s no quitting the family business…especially when times get tough. When things are tough, we’re just that much more responsible for our share in the Father’s business of loving the world.”  

4. How do we answer this call to be a force for good?  How can we, as a group of sons and of friends, help each other better fulfill our responsibilities in the “family business”?  How can we better work together to share God’s love for the world, especially when things get difficult?

Danny Abramowicz/ Men’s Group  Discussion Questions

1.  Jesus personally calls all of us men to live a life of holiness, and something inside us tells us we could be great and that we are made for more. What do you think prevents you from setting the bar high concerning your Faith walk?

   
   

2. Getting into physical shape requires a time commitment and perseverance on our part; getting into spiritual shape requires a time commitment and perseverance also. Are you willing to make this time commitment and persevere in the effort in order to get into spiritual shape? What are some of the steps you will be willing to take with the help of the Holy Spirit?

   
   

3. What areas of your life are you living by worldly principles? What areas are you living by Godly principles? How can you improve on the Godly principles?

   
   

4. Christianity is not lived in isolation and that is why Jesus called 12 men together to form a small men’s group. Why do you think it is so important to join a men’s small accountability group? How do you think this would benefit you?

   
   

5. Do you think sharing with your brothers on a consistent basis would help you grow spiritually? Why?

If you think that you may be interested in being a part of a men’s group, check with your parish to see if they have a Men’s Group and when it meets.