Parish Life & Community

Prayer is conversation with God. The time you spend in prayer during Exodus 90 is the most important part of the journey. Your daily Scripture passage and reflection from Exodus have been crafted to help you start your conversation with the Lord each day. We offer them for men like you every day of the year, not just during Exodus 90, and we hope that we become your trusted guide for spiritual formation throughout the year.

During Exodus 90, we will strive for an hour of daily prayer, and within that hour, we encourage you to spend at least twenty minutes in silent prayer, listening and sharing openly with the Lord. Amid the responsibilities of your life and vocation, an hour of prayer may not be possible each day. Do not become discouraged, feel shame, or give up on prayer because you cannot hit an hour. Do the best you can with the time that you have. If you need to start small with a few minutes and build up your time over the the first few weeks, we encourage you to do so. From experience, most men find it easier to pray early in the morning or late at night, and it is most likely to happen if we schedule our prayer time and make it a priority in our plan of life each day. The Disciplines Tab of the Exodus app is meant to help you stay accountable to prayer.

As intimidated as you may be as you begin to pray, brother, you can do it. The more you practice prayer, the more familiar it will become for you and the more confidence you will gain, like so many other things in our lives. But, we must persevere no matter the challenges we face because, apart from a life of prayer, we quickly get lost and forget who we are, like a lost child without his mother and father. And how can we possibly lead our families and local communities if we are not led first by the Lord?

Asceticism means acts of self-denial. Though it is often underemphasized in our time, throughout Church history we see the importance of asceticism in the teachings and lives of the saints, our fathers in the faith.

Asceticism is about saying “no” to lesser things so that we are able to say “yes” when God asks greater things from us. Though we should strive to reject evil in every instance, we should also abstain from good things for periods of time so that we can remain focused on what matters most in our lives.

Asceticism is not about proving something to yourself, showing that you are strong enough to others, or earning God’s grace. Exodus 90 is not a spiritual marathon or another secular men’s challenge. Exodus 90 is a spiritual exercise crafted for you to become uncommonly free for the love that God has called you to. And these ninety days are just the beginning of a new, more free way of life.

Acts of asceticism break us down in order to open us up to God. They should not lead to a puffed-up chest so much as a bowed-down head in prayer. Through the ascetic way, we are humbled. By denying ourselves, we learn to depend upon God for everything and to ask our brothers for prayerful accountability, support, and encouragement.

What is Fraternity?  So many men are isolated and alone today, and in that place we are susceptible to the whims, temptations, and empty show of the devil. Many men have buddies with whom they can watch sports and drink beer, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But we also need to have brothers who know who we are, what we are going through, and to whom we can be accountable.

During Exodus 90, you will meet once a week with 5-7 men. One of the men in your fraternity will be your anchor, and you will check-in with him each day. Prioritizing Christian brotherhood, especially for married men in the hustle of work and family life, is challenging. But that time is essential. You’ll invite other men you know to form your Exodus fraternity. If you need help finding a fraternity, check out the Community tab on the Exodus app where you can see local fraternities near you, or you can join a remote fraternity on the app as well.

Exodus fraternities are one of the few places in the entire world where men can be open and honest with each other. It’s not about what you know, what you have accomplished, or how you’ve got it all together. Exodus fraternities are meant to be the absolute opposite of this worldly perspective of masculinity, a place to be real about the struggles we all experience.

What do you talk about in your fraternity meeting? We have crafted a unique meeting guide to support your conversation each week of Exodus 90, and also for every week the rest of the year beyond the 90.

Please pray about who you should invite, and when the Holy Spirit prompts you to invite a man that surprises you, please do not say “no.” Exodus fraternities are not places for perfect Catholic or Christian men. Because none of us are. Invite the man that God places on your heart, whether he practices the faith or not. You will get “noes,” but you will be shocked by who says “yes.”

It is never too late to invite a man into your fraternity. As you start, there may be men who want to join, especially in the first few weeks of Exodus 90 or at the start of Lent.