Men, the family is not merely a social unit. It is a battlefield.>Any man who believes otherwise has not been paying attention. The modern Catholic household is under constant pressure; spiritual, psychological, and moral. These pressures do not usually arrive as dramatic evils. They arrive quietly, disguised as exhaustion, anxiety, discouragement, and fear. Left unchecked, these vices corrode a man’s interior life and weaken his leadership in the home. A Catholic husband and father must therefore think and act like a commander. He must know the enemy, understand his tactics, and deliberately cultivate the virtues that drive vice from the field.>As Liber Christo by Dan Schneider, PhD rightly demonstrates, spiritual combat is not fought with vague intentions, but with specific virtues, practiced habitually and enforced firmly. Below are five common vices afflicting families today and the virtues Catholic men must reclaim to defeat them.

Originally published in Catholic Manhood. Read original article