As a woman discussing what it means to be a man, it seems that some kind of apologia, or justification, is necessary! At the beginning of his Love and Responsibility, Karol Wojtyla, later St. John Paul II, asks a similar question: how can a celibate man speak on married love? Despite lacking any first person experience, Wojtyla writes, he has a wide third person experience through his pastoral work. Following in his steps, I must admit that as a woman, I don't have any first person experience of what it means to be a man! However, having spent the last 19 years of my life more or less in a seminary, I do have a wide third person experience. Like Wojtyla, I have sought to confirm my experiential insights through discussion with students and friends.
Here, then, is an offering of the first fruits of this endeavor, a conversation with Dr. Mario, licensed marriage and family therapist, on his podcast, Always Hope. I invite you to listen and to engage, to find God's goodness amidst the joys and struggles of living out the masculine genius in an authentic way!
Let the discovery of the masculine genius begin!