What does it actually mean to persevere?

In this episode, Adam and David unpack the Catholic understanding of perseverance—not as white-knuckled suffering, but as faithfully enduring in the pursuit of the good over time.

Using insights from St. Thomas Aquinas, they explain why perseverance is less about dramatic hardship and more about showing up day after day in prayer, marriage, fatherhood, and work—even when there is no immediate payoff.

From the slow labor of a sow giving birth, to the monotony of daily prayer, to the demands of being present as a father, this episode reframes perseverance as one of the most essential virtues for the modern man.

Topics include:

1. St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of perseverance
2. The difference between perseverance and constancy
3. Why perseverance is about duration, not difficulty
4. Why there is no “excess” of perseverance
5. Final perseverance as a gift from God
6. Why motivation fades but discipline remains
7. Practical ways to grow in perseverance as a man

In this episode of The Catholic Man Show, Adam and David discuss the essential role of fathers in catechizing their children... not just by teaching information, but by forming habits, traditions, and a lived love for the Catholic faith.

Adam shares a personal update about his family and the power of prayer and community during a time of serious medical uncertainty. From there, the conversation turns to what real catechesis looks like in the home: modeling prayer, creating a culture of beauty, building liturgical traditions, and making the Eucharist the center of family life.

The guys explore why passing on the faith is less about producing kids who can pass a religion test, and more about raising children who know God is real and worth ordering their entire life around.

Topics include:

1. Why fathers are primarily responsible for catechesis
2. The difference between knowing the faith and loving the faith
3. Teaching children how to pray by example
4. Using beauty, art, and the home to form souls
5. Why habits and traditions matter more than programs
6. Making the Eucharist the source and summit of family life

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This episode moves from a lighthearted family practice of setting “New Year’s disciplines” into a serious, practical conversation on Josef Pieper’s The Concept of Sin. Adam and David argue that modern culture often avoids the word “sin” not because sin disappeared, but because the concept of sin has been replaced with softer language: mistakes, weakness, psychological explanations, or vague “bad choices.” Pieper’s central claim, they explain, is that sin is not merely a moral misstep but a rejection of reality itself.

The conversation ties sin directly to freedom. Only a truly free person can sin, because sin requires knowledge, responsibility, and the willful refusal of the good. Drawing on the Catechism, they frame sin as an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience, as well as a failure in love caused by disordered attachment to lesser goods. Sin is not “missing the mark” in the sense of trying hard and falling short; it is a refusal, a “no” to what is.

They also explore how every sin involves untruthfulness and self-deception. To commit sin, a person constructs a false account of reality that makes the act seem reasonable. This helps explain why rationalization demands constant outside validation and why modern life often tries to remove guilt without removing sin. Against that, the hosts emphasize that forgiveness presupposes guilt, and sin can only be understood alongside grace.

Practical takeaways include building a daily examination of conscience, paying attention to patterns and triggers, naming both sins of commission and omission, and running to confession with regularity. The episode closes with a fatherly focus: how to speak about sin with children truthfully without crushing them, holding together mercy and clarity so that kids learn both the seriousness of sin and the permanence of love.

Key topics covered

1. A family approach to New Year’s disciplines: spiritual, virtue-driven, and “free choice” goals
2. Why “the concept of sin” has faded while sin itself has not
3. Pieper’s claim: before sin is a moral issue, it is a metaphysical issue
4. Sin, freedom, and responsibility: why only the free can sin
5. Why sin is more than “missing the mark”: refusal vs. mistake
6. Sin as rejection of reality and the link to truth and the transcendentals
7. The role of self-deception and rationalization in every sinful act
8. Grace and forgiveness: why forgiveness presupposes guilt
9. Vice vs. sin and how habitual patterns can erode clarity and hope
10. Examination of conscience, confession, and spiritual “trench warfare”
11. Parenting: naming sin without demoralizing children, holding truth with mercy

Notable references mentioned

1. Josef Pieper, The Concept of Sin
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1849 (definition of sin)
3. St. Paul on grace abounding where sin increases