Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint

In honor of the feast of All Saints, I’d like to offer you a book review of a Saint from the city of New Orleans.

Often, men feel lost in the Catholic Church, especially if they are not discerning a religious vocation.  If a single man under forty attends a couple of daily Masses or stays for a few minutes to pray after Mass, he sticks out like a sore thumb.  Inevitably a well-intended person (usually a lady advanced in years) will ask the man if he has considered the priesthood, as if all holy men should be priests.  The young man may become frustrated since although we pray that all holy priests be holy men not all holy men must be priests.  So, how do lay men grow in holiness in an authentically male way?

The book, Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint by Danny Abramowicz, offers some great insights into this question.

The book begins with a brief history of the Danny’s life, from his days as a sports-loving youth in Steubenville, Ohio through his success as a player and coach in the NFL.  Danny talks about his struggles with alcoholism and how his decision to put the Lord in the center of his life was a major turning point in his recovery.As he tells his own life story, he also explains steps an average male Catholic should take in order to build his spiritual life.  To help the sports-loving reader, he compares this process to a NFL player’s physical fitness program.  For example, he compares the Holy Spirit to a personal trainer, personal prayer time to daily stretching, an examination of conscience to a scouting report on the other team and the devil, the world and the flesh, to the opposing team.

Throughout the book he promotes the building blocks of a strong spiritual life including prayer, spiritual direction, frequent reception of Communion, Confession, and fellowship with other strong brothers in Christ. Each chapter ends with a small checklist that summarizes the main points of the section and gives practical suggestions on how the reader may implement the theme of the chapter in his own life.

Interspersed throughout the book are Scripture verses that help reinforce points made within the chapter and time out sections where Danny asks the reader to reflect on the themes of the chapter in his own life.  He also weaves in some amazing personal stories about how the Holy Spirit has worked in his life and those around him including coaches in the NFL.  At the end of the book, Danny provides his own spiritual action plan as an example and lays out the groundwork for each man to develop his own spiritual action plan.  In addition, he provides an outline of how to structure a Catholic men’s fellowship group.

I really enjoyed the book because the author does a good job of making Catholicism relevant to the modern man. As a guy who hails from the football-crazed city of Pittsburgh, I could certainly relate well to the author’s analogies between football and a man’s prayer life.

This book is certainly a great resource for Catholic lay men because it helps them see that holiness is not reserved simply for pious old church ladies or priests but everyone, including lay men, whether they are doctors, lawyers or coaches.

Hopefully, this book can aid a renewal of male spirituality within the Church.

So, the next time you see a devout lay man in church praying, instead of asking him about being a priest, consider handing him a copy of Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint and encourage him to grow in holiness.  For if all the holy men in the Catholic Church become priests, with whom does that leave the Catholic women who are called to the married life?

Bob Waruszewski

Bob Waruszewski

Bob Waruszewski is a cradle Catholic from Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from St. Vincent College with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics. Currently he works in the energy industry in the Pittsburgh and is enjoying life as a married man and father to his one year old daughter. He enjoys hiking, reading a good book and competing on the athletic field.

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2 thoughts on “Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint”

  1. That is so unfair – now I’ve got to find and read that book.

    Reminds me of Jerry Markbreit – a former NFL Referee and a jew – who joined a refereeing crew which had a tradition of attending Catholic Mass before officiating a game. He recalls in his autobiography the occasion when they (7 officials) in smart dark suits walked into a small church just before Mass and the priest had to make a special announcement to welcome the ‘football referees’ in order to reassure the congregation.

    LF

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