Writing is really hard. That's what I heard from an interview between Matthew Kelly and Allen Hunt. I agree! In fact, though I've been told that I'm getting better at it, the more and deeper I write about Catholic male spirituality the harder it gets.
But it is all worth the effort because Jesus says in Isaiah 55:11 about His redemptive actions that anything He says through you does not come back void, that he blesses it, and I definitely see many blessings from the impact that many of you reading this say you have experienced with CMCS!
But now I have some help! The newsletter software that I use now has a new feature called Smart Content. It is a sentence generator that uses 'AI' or artificial intelligence. So, if you have writiers block for instance, you simply enter a few words or a sentence and it provides you a writing prompt. So I entered the words 'Male Catholic Spirituality' and it gave me two options; to write new words or to rewrite my words.
Here is what it gave me:
1)
"The term "male Catholic spirituality" refers to a type of Catholic spirituality that is favored by many men. It focuses on developing one's own spirituality and on helping others do the same. This type of spirituality emphasizes the importance of self-discipline and personal growth. It also focuses on developing a close relationship with God and on helping others do the same."
2)
"Catholic spirituality for men is a little different from the spirituality for women. For instance, men tend to focus more on the spiritual journey and spiritual practice, while women tend to focus more on the spiritual aspect of relationships."
Not bad, eh? I find this helps me to not only write better, but helps prompt my thinking as well. But I am careful not to let it do my thinking for me, and instead to tweak what it gives me to mean what I am saying.
For example ..
In these Advent days towards the Christmas season, many men turn their thoughts to spiritual preparation, a time of reflection and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Santa Claus may be a part of popular culture, but for some, the true spirit of Christmas is the coming of the Christ.
Some men choose to focus on prayer and contemplation during the Advent season. As whatever is sacred, whatever is important, it is worth preparing for. Preparation is the key to opportunty, as the saying goes.
Others may create Advent calendars with their family, filled with religious symbols or images to remind them of the coming of the Christ, and that all men are called to be witnesses to others of His coming.
Sacred things are worth preparing for. That's why Advent is so important – it's the time to intentionally recognize the spiritual hunger and emptiness in our lives, and that makes Christmas all the better because we say "here is the answer".
Jesus Christ is the answer to our spiritual hunger and emptiness. We don't need to look around us to see the darkness of our world, when we can see within our own hearts the darkness and when we work to remove this then we allow more room for God.
We can forget about God as Catholic men, myself included. We often live as if there is no God, and even more so that we are our own god's, that we control everything, when it is God who is in control of our lives. We are in charge of the course correction through the depth of our belief in Jesus, and Advent and Christmas is a good time to reclaim that.
For example, in the same way that I now use AI to make something new from my words, when you and I give Jesus the baggage and the clutter from our lives, He makes something new from it. This is not easy, in fact it can be really hard. But the effort is well worth it.
A blessed Advent and Christmas to you all.