Men Are Pigs

I have been hearing it a lot lately from my girlfriends, from a lot of men in my life:

“Liz, men are pigs.”

At a chastity talk I gave a question was posed by a young girl, “why do boys have a pink marshmallow bunny for brains?”  I tried to disprove this statement, but I’m pretty sure there was no convincing this young girl that boys do in fact have human brains as brains.  Why do men get such a bad rap?

When people say this to me, I am upset, because I’d like to hope for better.  And I know better.  There are some awesome men in my life.  My Dad, my Brother, my Uncles, my Grandpa….and yes there are even men, many men, outside of my family - good friends of mine that are amazing strong holy men.

The truth is that all men and women are human.  We all screw up, and we are all sinners.  As men and women we must work together to achieve holiness.  We need to be able to hold each other accountable, and build one another up.

A Saint that I have developed a huge devotion to in the past few months is St. Joseph.  My new roommates and I have even devoted our house to him.  What a man.  If any of you saw “The Nativity Story” over Christmas you know exactly what I am talking about.  He was pretty flippin’ amazing!  I have been praying the litany of St. Joseph a lot lately.  Take a look at the litany:

St. Joseph, pray for us
Renowned offspring of David,
Light of Patriarchs,
Spouse of the Mother of God,
Chaste guardian of the Virgin,
Foster father of the Son of God,
Diligent protector of Christ,
Head of the Holy Family,
Joseph most just,
Joseph most chaste,
Joseph most prudent,
Joseph most strong,
Joseph most obedient,
Joseph most faithful,
Mirror of patience,
Lover of poverty,
Model of artisans,
Glory of home life,
Guardian of virgins,
Pillar of families,
Solace of the wretched,
Hope of the sick,
Patron of the dying,
Terror of demons,
Protector of Holy Church,

Let us pray. O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever.  Amen.

Joseph stood for what was good, what was pure, and he continues to guard and protect us and our church.  I love being Catholic because we have saints, great role models to look up to, and even better we can ask them to pray for us.  When I pray this litany I ask that Joseph pray for all of the men in my life.  What a great example he was of what a strong, holy man should be. 

I know it is not easy to be a holy man in today’s society, so thank you, thank you, thank you (bunches) to all of you who are striving to be holy men!!!  Thank God for you!

 As women let us continue to lift men up, and men please do the same for us (Lord knows women need it too, men aren’t the only ones hanging out in the mud).  Jesus, Mary and Joseph pray for us.