When Christians ask where the answer to the evils of the age must begin, the first reply cannot be “they.” It must be “with me.”
I have attended a lot of funerals this year—not as many weddings, and still fewer baptisms. It’s a sign of the times. Death it seems is still mandatory, the others optional...or so we think.
So, my dear friends, I want to begin with the words Saint John Paul II prepared for the hour of his death.
In his testament, he wrote: Totus Tuus ego sum—I am all yours. It was the language of belonging entirely to Jesus through Mary. He placed his last hour, his Church, his homeland, and the whole human family into her hands. He quoted the Lord’s warning: “Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Then he added the words that still pierce: “I thank everyone. I ask forgiveness of everyone. I also ask for prayers, so that God’s mercy may prove greater than my own weakness and unworthiness.”[1]
This is the voice of a shepherd who knew the times are hard, as is our need for grace, and was never afraid to say so. Yet across the years, I still hear his great summons: “Be not afraid!”
He understood persecution. He understood confusion. He understood that the Church’s path can become difficult for pastors and people alike. And still his message was clear: Do not lose heart. Look ahead with trust. Do your duty. That attitude—hope lived as courage—draws down the help of God.
That is the invitation of this hour. Not a program. Not a slogan. A call.
The Universal Call
The universal call to holiness is not a devotional extra. It is the ordinary demand of baptism. Every Christian, whatever his state of life, is called to the fullness of Christian life and the perfection of charity.[2] This vocation requires a deepening life of prayer and sacramental communion, and it is measured by the two commandments on which the whole law depends: love of God with the whole heart, soul, and mind, and love of neighbor as oneself (Mt 22:35–40).
From that love comes mission.
In the parable of the laborers, the landowner repeatedly goes out and finds people standing idle. To those he encounters at the third hour, he says, “You go into the vineyard too” (Mt 20:4). John Paul II made those words the opening summons of Christifideles Laici. From that distant day, he wrote, the Lord’s call has never ceased to resound. It is addressed to every person who enters the world—not only to pastors, clergy, and religious.[3]
Commenting on the same parable, Saint Gregory the Great urged his hearers to examine their manner of life and ask whether they were truly laboring in the Lord’s vineyard.[4] That examination begins not with our assessment of others, but with ourselves.
According to a famous story—thoroughly characteristic of G. K. Chesterton—when asked what was wrong with the world, he answered, “I am.”
The same answer, turned toward repentance, marks the beginning of renewal. When Christians ask where the answer to the evils of the age must begin, the first reply cannot be “they.” It must be “with me.”
The Field of Battle
The present confusion concerning marriage, the family, sexual identity, and the meaning of the body did not appear from nowhere. It is the acceleration of a long moral unraveling rooted in false understandings of the human person. At its center is a vision of freedom as the power to invent human meaning rather than receive and fulfill it.
Christians have watched law, culture, and popular opinion shift with remarkable speed. Increasingly, even childhood has become a field on which rival understandings of the human person contend. Beneath these disputes lies a more fundamental question: Do man and woman, marriage and the body possess a meaning we receive, or only a meaning we invent?
John Paul II warned that a true culture of human life cannot be built unless the young are helped to understand and live sexuality, love, and human existence according to their real meaning and intimate interconnection.[5] Sexuality is not an isolated appetite. It belongs to the vocation of the whole person to make a sincere gift of self. When that meaning is obscured, both love and life become vulnerable.
As marriage and the family go, so goes civilization.
This is an ancient battle employing modern tools. Many of those tools—technologies, media, and scientific discoveries—are good in themselves. They become destructive when placed in the service of the first lie: “You will not die.… You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4–5). The temptation remains what it was in the garden: to reject the limits of creaturehood and claim the authority to decide for ourselves what human nature means.
Yet the people confused, wounded, or deceived by these errors are not the enemy. They are the neighbors to whom Christians have been sent. The apostolic attitude therefore rejects both cowardice and contempt: it speaks the truth because it loves the person.
Cardinal Carlo Caffarra recounted that Sister Lúcia of Fatima had written to him while he was establishing the institute for marriage and family entrusted to him by John Paul II. In that letter we find written, “The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and the family.” She added, “whoever works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought against and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. But don’t be afraid, Our Lady has already crushed his head.” Its message is not one of fear, but of confidence in the ultimate victory of Christ.
Cardinal Caffarra added that “speaking with John Paul II, you could feel that the family was the core, since it has to do with the supporting pillar of creation, the truth of the relationship between man and woman, between the generations. If the foundational pillar is damaged, the entire building collapses and we’re seeing this now, we are right at this point and we know it.”
“And I am moved when I read the best biographies of Padre Pio,” the Cardinal concluded, “about how this man was so attentive to the sanctity of marriage and the holiness of the spouses, even with justifiable rigor at times.”
Love That Sends
The answer is not panic. It is the God who is love.
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Benedict XVI placed those words at the threshold of Deus Caritas Est. Christianity begins not with an ethical program or abstract idea, he taught, but with an encounter with Jesus Christ—an encounter that opens a new horizon and gives life a decisive direction. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16).
Faith is the response to the God who reveals Himself. In an age that can attach the name of God to vengeance, violence, or political power, the Church must begin where revelation begins: God is love.
Formation is therefore not optional. An unformed laity will offer the world personal opinions dressed in Catholic language. The Church was not entrusted with a collection of opinions. She was given Christ and sent on a mission.
The Father sent the Son. The Son sent the Apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19–20). Saint Paul made the urgency of that commission his own: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).
That urgency does not belong to bishops and priests alone. The Christian vocation is, by its nature, a vocation to share the Gospel. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, the Church was founded to spread the kingdom of Christ, enable all people to share in redemption, and order the world toward Him. Every activity of the Mystical Body directed toward that purpose goes by the name of ‘apostolate’.[6]
In this living body, no member plays a merely passive part. “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph 4:7, 11-12).
The vineyard is the world (cf. Mt 13:38). Weeds and wheat grow together. Evil and good, injustice and justice, anguish and hope stand side by side and sometimes intertwine. That mixed field is precisely where the faithful are sent to be salt of the earth and light of the world (Mt 5:13–14).
The vineyard includes the home and school, but also the workplace, the professions, political and cultural life, care for the poor, defense of vulnerable life, works of mercy, and the ordinary relationships through which a Christian either reveals or obscures the face of Christ.
Because the vineyard is the world, the lay apostolate requires more than indignation or goodwill. It requires formation. Through faith and the sacraments of initiation, every disciple is configured to Christ, incorporated into the Church, and given an active share in her mission.[7]
Formation: Begin with the Claymore 10–5
The work of formation can appear overwhelming. Claymore offers a simple place to begin: the Claymore 10–5 Formation Starter—ten minutes with God in the morning, followed by five minutes of spiritual reading and reflection later in the day.
Fifteen minutes will not complete a man’s formation, but fifteen faithful minutes each day can change the direction of his life.
Readers can download the complete Claymore Battle Plan Outline at ClaymoreMilitesChristi.com/battle-plan. The outline explains the larger path of prayer, sacramental life, study, fraternity, family leadership, and cultural engagement.
The Claymore Ten-Minute Morning Ritual
Knees before the phone. Before reaching for the device that brings the demands and distractions of the world into your room, kneel beside your bed. Let the first act of the day be an act of humility before Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).
Pray with Mary. Join your prayer to the obedience of the Mother of God: “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Then receive the direction she gave the servants at Cana as a command for your own day: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).
Turn temptation into an invitation to pray. Temptation is not itself sin. Jesus Himself was tempted, yet remained without sin (cf. Heb 4:15). When temptation comes, turn your gaze toward the Cross. Expose the temptation to Christ instead of hiding or negotiating with it. Offer it to Him and pray, “Jesus, I trust in You.” The Claymore Battle Plan Handbook develops this practice in Act 11, “Praying with Temptations.”
Pray and meditate. Spend at least a few minutes with Scripture or another trustworthy spiritual text. The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska is one fruitful option. The daily Mass readings are also readily available through Catholic prayer applications and publications. Do not approach this time as one more piece of information to consume. Read slowly. Listen. Ask what God is revealing, what He is asking you to surrender, and what concrete act of obedience should follow.
Pray the Saint Michael Prayer. This is a Spiritual Battle, seek protection!
Love the next person you see. Conclude the morning ritual by resolving to perform one concrete act of charity. Holiness cannot remain inside a prayer routine. It must become patience, attention, sacrifice, truthfulness, forgiveness, and service.
Five Minutes of Formation
Later in the day, read and meditate for five minutes on one Act from the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook.
Ignorance and sloth are allies of the enemy. Study can become an act of worship when it is directed toward Truth Himself. To learn the faith is to prepare for service; to teach it faithfully is to advance the mission of Christ and His Church.
Five minutes may seem insignificant, but consistency is more fruitful than an occasional burst of enthusiasm. Read one passage. Consider one question. Choose one action. Then return the next day.
The complete Battle Plan is not intended merely to provide information. It is designed to move a man from knowledge to prayer, from prayer to virtue, and from virtue to apostolic action.
There is no Plan B.
Young Men United in the Eucharist
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.… This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:25, 32).
This nuptial mystery stands near the heart of the Claymore movement. Christ is the Bridegroom, and the Church is His Bride. In the Eucharist, He gives Himself to her—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The Eucharist is therefore not an ornament added to Catholic life. It is its source and summit.[8]
Every human longing for love and communion finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. In the Eucharist, young men encounter a strength radically different from domination, posturing, or self-assertion. They encounter the Crucified King, whose strength is revealed in obedience, sacrifice, fidelity, and self-giving love.
The Eucharist forms men who can protect without controlling, lead without using others, suffer without surrendering to bitterness, and love without calculating the cost. Through baptism, every Christian shares in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission of Christ.[9] A man formed by the Eucharist learns to offer his life for others—as a husband and father, a spiritual father, a brother, a mentor, a worker, and a citizen.
Claymore organizes this mission around three essential spheres of human life: Restoring the Person, restoring Marriage and the Family, and Socio-Political Mission—restoring the common life through which a people seeks justice and the common good. These spheres are distinct, but they cannot flourish in isolation from one another. The man rooted in the Eucharist is called to serve and strengthen each of them.
This is not a call to private self-improvement. It is a call to communion and mission.
Young men, all men, need other faithful men. They need fathers, mentors, brothers, and friends who will tell them the truth, remain beside them in struggle, summon them to repentance, and remind them of their dignity when they have forgotten it. As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another (Prv 27:17).
The Claymore Battle Plan is therefore not simply a reading program. It is an invitation to discipleship, fraternity, accountability, and mission. It begins with the individual heart, moves into marriage and family, and then reaches outward into parish, culture, and civic life.
To read the full outline and learn how to begin, visit ClaymoreMilitesChristi.com and download the free Claymore Battle Plan Outline.
Conclusion
The question is no longer whether the vineyard needs workers. It is whether we will remain in the marketplace explaining our idleness, or answer the voice that has been sounding since the third hour of that first day:
“Why do you stand here idle all day?”
The answer to the evils of our age begins when I stop waiting for someone else to become holy. It begins when I surrender to Christ and accept my place in His vineyard.
When the world whispers compromise, answer with conviction.
When the culture mocks holiness, respond with joy.
When evil threatens the innocent, stand your ground in truth and love.
Saint John Paul II’s first summons as pope remains the proper answer to every age of anxiety: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.”
So take up your sword.
Take up your Rosary.
The King is calling.
There is no Plan B.
Notes
[1] John Paul II, “Testament of the Holy Father,” originally composed March 6, 1979, with subsequent additions, published April 7, 2005, Holy See, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2005/april/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20050407_testamento-jp-ii.html.
[2] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (November 21, 1964), nos. 39–42; John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (December 30, 1988), no. 16.
[3] John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, nos. 1–2. The exhortation takes “You go into my vineyard too” from Matthew 20:4 and applies it directly to the vocation and mission of the lay faithful.
[4] Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 19, no. 2, cited in John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, no. 2.
[5] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (March 25, 1995), no. 97, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html.
[6] Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem (November 18, 1965), no. 2, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html.
[7] John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, no. 3; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes (December 7, 1965), no. 11.
[8] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, no. 11; Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1324.
[9] Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 783–786; Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, nos. 31 and 34–36.