To the Ends of the Earth
Character
To the Ends of the Earth
Character
Mark C. McCann
OurSundayVisitor
www.osv.com Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Huntington, Indiana 46750
Nihil Obstat
Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.
Censor Librorum
Imprimatur
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
September 18, 2018
The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.
The Scripture texts used in this work are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible — Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Where noted, other Scripture texts are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Excerpts from The Roman Missal, copyright © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.
Copyright © 2019 by Mark C. McCann
24 23 22 21 20 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-68192-382-6 (Inventory No. T2266)
eISBN: 978-1-68192-383-3
LCCN: 2018959183
Cover design: Tyler Ottinger
Cover art: Shutterstock
Interior design: Lindsey Riesen
Printed in the United States of America
To my father-in-law, Gerald Davino, who taught me that a Catholic man is both a strong leader and a solid friend, a tireless and tender provider for his family, and a serious and sober defender of the Faith. You are a true follower of Christ — a believer with an open heart, a humble worldview, and a willingness to grow as a man of God. Thank you for being a shining example of Christian manhood and for accepting me into your family. Thank you most of all for nurturing the daughter who became my beautiful bride and shared God’s salvation story with me.
Table of Contents
Preface
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Is it about spreading the word of God to others or living a holy life free from mistakes and sin? Is being a disciple a task or a lifestyle? Is it both, or neither, or something more? These are important questions.
For Catholic men, these questions take on even greater significance. We are called to be salt and light to the world and to serve one another in love. We are part of a body of believers whose mission is to share the message of Christ with all those we meet. How we carry out our faith as men matters. It might not feel easy to follow Jesus; yet he has told us that his yoke is easy and his burden light (cf. Mt 11:30). For us as Catholic men, the key to the Christian life lies in understanding what it means to be a man of faith: to be called by God, redeemed by Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out our faith in a broken world.
These days, the culture has blurred the lines of what it means to be a man. Television programs, commercials, and movies present men either as incompetent weaklings, or as burly, beer-drinking, gun-toting, fast-and-loose
