The Victor's Crown

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Arm Yourself For us lay folks, there's a balancing act we have to walk.  We're called to detach from the very world we spend our days in, turning toward the higher things God has to offer. And as much as we might want to spend our days in silent prayer, that's not always our calling.  But...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Roots and Fruit In striving for holiness, we have to balance what you might call the interior life and the exterior life. Faith and works. The contemplative and the active. The interior life is the foundation. Without it, nothing else holds. When we neglect prayer and place all our energy...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Here I am The world tells us we are the masters of our own lives. That we create our own meaning. That we choose our destiny. And in some ways, that’s not entirely false. We have a tremendous — and terrifying — power in the gift of free will. We can make ourselves masters of our lives. We...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- The Gift of Self One of the side effects of modern life is that it's so easy to complicate things. We build massive lists of goals we think will lead to happiness — personally, maritally, in our careers. For raising good kids, we assume they need iPads, expensive experiences, and schedules...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Where's the Good? Oftentimes, what's good for us and what we want are at odds. We know eating right and exercising is good for us — but lounging on the couch with a bag of chips sounds pretty enticing. We know hard work is noble — but YouTube has a way of eating the afternoon. We know pray...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- What we can control When someone treats us with love — does something for us out of love — our hearts naturally respond with gratitude. Or at least they should. Through His sacrifice, Christ has loved us in ways we cannot fully grasp. And more often than not, that involuntary feeling of lo...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Pointing to the Father "Thérèse would move much more easily toward the Father because of having experienced a human father full of goodness and tenderness." We return to that idea of goodness again. And I've been sitting with this one in my own life — as a father of five. There is an oppor...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Confidence in His Goodness Returning to The Extraordinary Parents of St. Thérèse — one of the hallmarks of Louis and Zélie Martin's lives was what the author calls "confidence in the goodness of God." There's an important word in there: goodness. Most of us believe — at least in some sense...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Any State in Life "They learned, little by little, from the Lord that holiness doesn't reside in one state in life but in a trusting and loving response to God's call in daily life." I've been reading The Extraordinary Parents of St. Thérèse, where I came across that line. The Martin famil...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- The Gift of God My parish is holding its 40 Hours this week. In the opening talk, a priest of our diocese said something that really stuck with me: “If you knew the gift of God.” And if my notes are right, that’s from John 4. To someone who has never known God — or who doesn’t understand t...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- A New Land In this time between the Ascension and Pentecost, our Lord's words come back to us: "I go to prepare a place for you." I had a moment this past week where so much of the imagery we hear in Scripture just clicked for me. Here's what I mean. Imagine a father who goes ahead to a ne...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Things I want to do more (part 2) Yesterday I talked about a daily Rosary. Today: daily Mass. And again, this comes from my own personal experience of having five kids. I do not get to daily Mass as much as I'd like to. Now, of course, I have reasons. Like I said: there are five of them, a...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Things I want to do more (part 1) I've thought about a series of reflections titled something like "Things I Want to Do More." And in this month of May, it might not be any surprise that the thing that I would love to do more is pray a daily Rosary. As far as the prayers and devotions that...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- A Place to Return To Not far from us there is a monastery that has Mass which is open to the public. Our family went to Sunday Mass there this past weekend. And for me, it's just one of the places that I know I can find peace and quiet. Of course, there's only so much peace and quiet when...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Do People Change? I think, depending on who you ask, you would get very different answers to this question: Do people change? Even for myself, on the one hand, my first reaction is no. I think, for the most part, people don't change. But it also depends on what you're talking about. There'...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- The Face of the Father My wife and I are fortunate to have welcomed our fifth child back in October, so she's almost six months now, which is always just a fun age. In Mass, she loves to not only be held and look into your face, but she has to touch your face with both hands. It's not lost...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Little Actions Add Up I started tracking what I eat every day with a fancy nutrition app. And while this reflection is not about my personal health and fitness journey, I am continually amazed at the parallels between having a healthy body and a healthy soul—and the lessons that we can tak...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Eat the Frog I’ve been trying to teach my kids the lesson of “eat the frog.” It’s an odd expression that I learned a while ago and had to look up. I didn’t realize it came from a book, but the idea is this: If every day you had to eat a frog, you could either waffle and think about it and...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- When Something Has to Give There are certain things in our lives that need balance. Like playing golf and having a family. Or, enjoying a beer and staying fit. With the right balance, both can exist in your life.  But then there are other things—things that aren't "both/and." They're "eith...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Unhinged An expression that seems to have caught on in recent years is the idea of being “unhinged.” If you are described as unhinged, it is not a compliment. It's the equivalent of being off your rocker, off base, out of control. Funny enough, I was reading a book—written at least a few d...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Breaking the Equation I can't recall exactly where I came across this idea. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Saint Josemaría Escrivá because he just has a way of distilling the faith into little nuggets that are perfect. It goes something like this: 2 + 2 = 4 But 2 + 2 + God = ? Now, ther...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- I recently came across this idea: it's worse to commit an injustice than to suffer one. I don't know about you, but speaking for myself, suffering an injustice—whether that’s outright hate, or just uncharitable remarks or a misunderstanding—has come up a few times. It’s important to rememb...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- A Cramped Horizon "The proud person's horizon is terribly limited: it stops in himself. He can see no further than himself, his qualities, his virtues, his talent. His is a godless horizon. Even other people have no place on this cramped horizon. There is no room for them." — Salvador Cana...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Necessary But Not Sufficient In living a full human life, as God’s creation—where we're not content to just skate by, to live in indifference without any sort of intention—I feel like there are some levels. The first might be what you'd call human virtue. Really, just being a decent human...

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com --- Happy Easter! Lent was about discipline and denial. Easter is about celebration and joy. Then the question is: what do we do with those disciplines that we built and embraced? Do we keep them? Or do we let them go? We don’t continue fasting during Easter in the same way we did during Lent....