The Victor's Crown

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Any Circumstance"Lord, I accept all of these circumstances, whatever You want, whenever and however You so desire." — TanquereyHow often do we pray words like these? Probably not nearly enough.What strikes me about this prayer is that it's about circumstances. And so often in life, that's where the real struggle is. Not always the thing itself — but everything around it. What's happening, when, where, how.Circumstances change. The challenge for us is to essentially remain the same. To be the same person — the same soul — in any circumstance. To lovingly accept our Lord's will whether life is easy or hard, familiar or completely out of our control.We are the same whether we're praying quietly in our morning chair, or praying a Rosary walking the streets of New York City, or wrongfully imprisoned, or sick in bed.Circumstances change. We are the same. Or at least we can be.Let us pray. Lord, I accept all of these circumstances — whatever You want, whenever and however You so desire. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Living the Christian life means living a life of discipline. But it’s not discipline for its own sake. It’s not doing hard things just to do hard things.Yes, our days can feel like battles. But we don’t fight just for the sake of fighting. There is an end. There is a purpose. The discipline is a means, not the goal.Getting up early is a means to prayer. Prayer itself is a means to grow closer to God. And growing closer to God — that’s the whole thing. That’s our ultimate purpose.So what are we fighting for?We’re fighting for life with Him.Let us pray. Lord, keep our eyes fixed on what we’re fighting for. In Jesus’ name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Better With You"It is better for me, Lord, to suffer tribulation as long as You are with me, than to reign without You, rejoice without You, glory in myself without You. What would heaven mean to me without You?" — St. BernardTwo things come to mind when I sit with those words.The first: how often do we forget that we are in the presence of God? That the Holy Trinity dwells in our souls — right now, in this moment?The second: that fact is true whether we're in good times or bad. To St. Bernard's point, hard times with Jesus are still a lot better than good times without Him. And of course, we don't have to choose — we have the opportunity to be with Him in all of it.We just have to remember.Let us pray. Lord, help us to remember that You are with us — in the good times and the bad, in the ordinary moments and the hard ones. Never let us forget that You are here. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- "The secret of all progress and of every victory is, in fact, to 'know how to begin again', to learn from a failure, and to try once more." — Georges ChevrotThree of my kids are playing soccer for the first time this year, and it's been great to watch. My 10-year-old is playing with girls who've been at it for years. My 9-year-old is up against boys who clearly know what they're doing. My 7-year-old is still at the age where everybody just runs around in a pack — which is its own kind of beautiful.What's been especially fun to watch is how they respond to failure. Getting the ball stolen. Completely flubbing a kick. Realizing they're not the best one out there. Every practice, every game, is a lesson in beginning again.When I came across this quote, it clicked. Because that's the spiritual life too.Chevrot wrote it in the context of Simon Peter — and Peter is the perfect example. He gets a bad rap, because he dropped the ball so many times. But he was the one actually going up against the challenges. Failing, getting back up, trying again. It's not surprising that he became the first pope. He's the model precisely because he knew how to begin again.We'll face the same. We hit snooze and miss our prayer time. We fall to the same sin for the umpteenth time. We face some trial we've never encountered before and don't handle it the way we wanted to.Begin again. Learn from it. Try once more.Let us pray. Lord, when we fall help us to get back up. Give us the heart of Peter: willing to fail, willing to try again, and never too proud to begin. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- "The secret of all progress and of every victory is, in fact, to 'know how to begin again', to learn from a failure, and to try once more." — Georges ChevrotThree of my kids are playing soccer for the first time this year, and it's been great to watch. My 10-year-old is playing with girls who've been at it for years. My 9-year-old is up against boys who clearly know what they're doing. My 7-year-old is still at the age where everybody just runs around in a pack — which is its own kind of beautiful.What's been especially fun to watch is how they respond to failure. Getting the ball stolen. Completely flubbing a kick. Realizing they're not the best one out there. Every practice, every game, is a lesson in beginning again.When I came across this quote, it clicked. Because that's the spiritual life too.Chevrot wrote it in the context of Simon Peter — and Peter is the perfect example. He gets a bad rap, because he dropped the ball so many times. But he was the one actually going up against the challenges. Failing, getting back up, trying again. It's not surprising that he became the first pope. He's the model precisely because he knew how to begin again.We'll face the same. We hit snooze and miss our prayer time. We fall to the same sin for the umpteenth time. We face some trial we've never encountered before and don't handle it the way we wanted to.Begin again. Learn from it. Try once more.Let us pray. Lord, when we fall help us to get back up. Give us the heart of Peter: willing to fail, willing to try again, and never too proud to begin. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- At the end of September and into October, we celebrate two feasts back to back: the Feast of the Archangels and the Feast of the Guardian Angels. If you're a Pray on Paper Club member, you'll be seeing this reflected in your envelope this month.I recently came across this prayer from St. Thomas Aquinas. When you read it, it will probably sound familiar — what Aquinas wrote is, in a sense, the original. The version most of us grew up with was adapted from this one to rhyme, and became one of the first prayers many of us were ever taught.God has committed each of us — personally, individually — to the care of a guardian angel. Not a watchdog. Not a boss. A guardian. Someone to protect, to help, to lead.That's another example of His merciful love for us.Your guardian angel is with you right now. Spend a few minutes with that this month.Let us pray. O angel of God, to whose guardianship I have been committed by Divine Mercy, enlighten and guard, rule and govern me. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---In the Gospels recently, we heard about Jesus healing the sick, curing people, driving out demons. And again and again, we hear this phrase: He laid hands on them.I'll be honest — sometimes I can feel like Christ is playing a game with me. Like He's tapping my left shoulder and standing on my right. I turn around, and He's just out of my periphery. Always close, but never quite where I'm looking.But when I sit with the image of Jesus laying hands on someone, what comes to mind is a parent cradling a child's face. Not a grandparent pinching cheeks — but gently, two hands on either side, holding that face still. It's so intimate you can't help but look into each other's eyes.That's how close He was to the people He healed. That's how close He wants to be to us.He's not playing games. He's not just out of reach. He's asking to be intimately close — healing, helping, teaching, loving — the same way He was two thousand years ago.Spend a few minutes with that image today.Let us pray. Lord, help us to be still enough to feel Your hands. Draw us close to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- My wife and I were talking recently about an idea I've come across before but never quite in these terms.It's called a success floor — the minimum you're going to allow yourself to do and still consider yourself on track. You see it talked about in business and health, but I think there's a parallel here for the spiritual life. "Successful prayer life" might not be the right framing — maybe "fruitful" is better. But the question is the same.What's your fruitful floor?Most of us have a plan A. Something like: get up early. Morning prayer. Daily Mass. A Rosary. An examination of conscience before bed. Good plan. But some days that plan flies out the window entirely.So what's the minimum you're going to hold yourself to? The floor you're not going to go below, no matter what the day throws at you?Maybe it's a morning offering. Maybe it's an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be before your head hits the pillow. Whatever it is — name it, and hold yourself to it. So that you don't wake up weeks from now and realize you haven't prayed in a long time.Let us pray. Lord, on the days when we can give You much, may we be generous. And on the days when we can only give You a little — help us to give that little faithfully. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- I should probably address the elephant in the room: I've missed a couple of weeks of these reflections. Between family vacations and a busy stretch of work, August got away from me. I apologize — and I'm probably going to start building in an August break going forward.But here we are. Turning over a new leaf.One thing I've noticed about myself — and it applies directly to writing these reflections — is that I need mental and sometimes physical space to think clearly. That's not a groundbreaking insight. But it does point to something worth considering in our prayer lives.It's hard to sit in quiet, still prayer when we're surrounded by chaos. Which suggests a couple of things.First, it might mean getting up early — before the house fills up, before breakfast and work and the demands of the day get underway. That early morning quiet is hard to replicate at any other point in the day.Second, our actual prayer space matters. As clean and clutter-free as we can make it. Some people function fine in a cluttered environment, but I think most of us pray better when the space around us isn't competing for our attention.As I get back into writing these reflections, that's what I'll be working on. I'd encourage you to take the same look at your own prayer space.Let us pray. Lord, help us to create the space — in our homes and in our hearts — to hear You. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Prayer WarriorAs members of the Body of Christ, we all have different roles to play. There are really only a few vocations — but they are lived out so differently, and that's part of what makes our faith and our Church so beautiful.One thing we all share: we can, should, and have an obligation to pray.At least speaking for myself, I tend to think of myself on the receiving end of God's graces. During our own times of trial and temptation, we receive help from people we'll never know — whose prayers are quietly at work in our lives. But there's another dimension to prayer that I don't always think about: our prayers can obtain grace for other members of the Body of Christ.That moment we stick it out in morning prayer, or pray a Rosary we don't feel like praying — God can use those offerings, those small sacrifices, to benefit someone else entirely. Someone we've never met.We have an opportunity to be not just prayer recipients, but prayer warriors.Let us pray. Lord, help us to pray not just for ourselves, but for the whole Body of Christ. Use our small offerings for the good of others, known and unknown. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Talk to God About Your KidsI can't remember who told me this — so if you're reading this, thank you.Talk to God about your kids more than you talk to your kids about God.With five kids ten and under, I have no shortage of behaviors I'd like to curb or habits I'd like to help form. And by the end of the day, I notice how many of my interactions have felt nitpicky. Correcting this, redirecting that. It adds up.Lately, I’ve been reflecting on: when do I need to say something — and when do I need to keep my mouth shut and bring it to the Lord instead? When do I need to trust that He's got this, and that my job in that moment is to pray, not to lecture?My vocation as a father is real and it matters. But it isn't only about getting my kids to chew with their mouths closed or even to make good decisions. It's also to pray for them. To bring them to God. To ask their guardian angels for help.That's part of the job too. Maybe the most important part.Let us pray. Lord, help us to bring our kids — and the people we love — to You before we try to fix them ourselves. Give us wisdom to know when to speak and when to pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---My FatherYesterday we reflected on how the Father delights in us. Today I want to take that one step further.Depending on our upbringing — depending on what fatherhood looked like for us, good or bad — it can be easy to keep God at a certain distance. We know He is our Father. But there’s a difference between our Father and my Father.In my own prayer recently, that distinction hit me. How personal this relationship actually is. Not just a Father to humanity, not just a Father to the Church — but my Father.In Scripture, Jesus calls God Abba. It’s an intimate word. Some translate it as Daddy. Maybe Papa, or just Dad, would be more relevant to us. Whatever word carries that weight for you — the word a child uses when he knows he is loved and safe — that’s the word.If that’s never come naturally, that’s okay. However we get there, that’s the invitation: to approach God not just as the Father, but as my Father.Maybe sit with that in prayer today.Let us pray. Father — thank You for claiming us as Your own. Help us to know You not just as the Father, but as ours, as mine. In Jesus’ name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- He Delights in YouI've been reading a book about the journey from boyhood into manhood. One of the ideas that has stuck with me is this: one of the most crucial things a boy needs to experience is being the delight of his father. Not just being corrected, not just being taught to behave — but knowing that his father takes joy in him simply because he exists.For those of us who are parents, it's easy to get caught up in behavior, in getting kids to listen, in the daily management of a household. And all of that matters. But so does this: do our kids know that we delight in them?For those who aren't parents, there's still something here — maybe something even more personal.This is how God the Father looks at us. He delights in us. In you. Not just when you're behaving well, not just when your prayer life is consistent, not just when you're getting it right. He delights in you because you are His.Maybe you've never experienced that from a human father. Maybe that kind of delight has always felt just out of reach. It's worth bringing that to prayer — to sit with the fact that the God of the universe looks at you the way a father looks at a child he can't help but love.The Father delights in you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us to receive Your love. Thank You for delighting in us. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Trust and WorthThis week's Mass readings keep circling the same theme: wealth. The rich young man who walks away sad. The camel and the eye of the needle. The landowner paying wages. Each of these will hit us differently depending on where we are in life.I've had seasons where things were tight — financially uncertain, professionally unstable, not sure how it was all going to work out. In those moments, the question that kept coming up was simple: who are you trusting? When the security isn't there, you find out pretty quickly where your trust actually lives.But I've also had seasons where things were going well. Some ideas started to land. A little more stability, a little more success. And I found the question didn't go away — it just changed shape. It became less about trust and more about worth. Where do I find my worth? In the success? In what I've built? In the stability itself?I think that's actually two different ways these Gospel stories can reach us.When times are hard, they ask us: who are you trusting?When times are good, they ask us: where are you finding your worth?Let us pray. Lord, help us to trust in You alone — in plenty and in want. And remind us that our worth comes from You, not from anything we could ever earn or own. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Little ThingsWith five young kids, my wife and I talk about parenting a lot. The struggles different kids have, the struggles we have because of their personalities, the difficulties that just come with being a family of seven.But honestly, it's not unique to big families. It's just what happens when you live with other humans. There can be conflict, tension, disagreement.Something we've been coming back to lately — relevant for kids, but really for anyone — is this deep human need to feel seen, heard, and loved. And how often the way to communicate those things is surprisingly simple.Eye contact. A smile. A pat on the back. A hug.It doesn't take much. But sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference.Let us pray. Lord, help us to see the people around us — really see them. Give us the small gestures of love that remind them they are not invisible. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- OrdinaryThis time of year, we find ourselves in Ordinary Time — named not for being mundane, but for its ordered-ness. We count the weeks. We follow the numbers. But there's a fitting metaphor in the name anyway.What struck me over the past couple of months is how many parables and miracles we heard at Mass. And how familiar they've become. So familiar, in some ways, that they can start to feel — ordinary.But look at how our Lord teaches. Look at what He uses. Farmers and seeds. Fishermen and nets. A woman searching her house for a lost coin. He performs miracles around food, around storms, around the weather. The stuff of everyday life.It's a reminder that our faith is not meant to be lived separately from our ordinary life — our work, our home, our families, our daily needs. The Lord belongs in all of it. He's not just waiting for us in the extraordinary moments. He's present in the ordinary ones.Let us pray. Lord, help us to find You in the ordinary — in the work, the meals, the small moments of each day. Open our eyes to Your presence right where we are. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- GenerosityThere's a prayer that came back to me recently — one I prayed every day in high school. Not because I was a particularly holy teenager, but because my high school had us pray it each morning. The Generosity Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola.I prayed it every day for four years, and then seemingly forgot about it for over a decade. I've been rediscovering it lately.One of the real differences between childhood and adulthood — especially for those of us who are married with kids — is what it actually means to be generous. As a teenager, those were just words. As an adult – married with kids, or single – they land differently. There are more responsibilities, more opportunities to give of yourself. And you learn what that actually means. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve You as You deserve to be served, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek rest, to labor and not to seek reward. Except that, knowing that I do Your will. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Everything All at OnceOne thing my spiritual director reminds me of: we don't need to do everything all at once.It's easy to build a list. Daily Mass. A daily Rosary. Adoration. The Divine Mercy Chaplet. The Angelus. Bible in a Year. This spiritual book, that one. All of it good. All of it worth doing.But there's nothing that says we have to do all of it every single day.There's such a thing as a daily routine — but also a weekly routine and a monthly routine. Some practices are meant to anchor every morning. Others are better suited to once a week, or once a month. The goal isn't to check every box by sundown. The goal is a sustainable life of prayer that actually grows over time.Not everything all at once.Let us pray. Lord, help us to build a prayer life that is faithful and sustainable — one that draws us closer to You, day by day. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---PresenceI was visiting family in Virginia recently, and we stopped at a war memorial — one that features sculptures of letters soldiers wrote home across 250 years of our country's history. One of them really hit me. A soldier writing to his wife, closing with this:"When we meet again, I can promise you that there will be no wasted moments. Every minute spent with you will be nothing less than a gift to be cherished. I have found that it isn't necessary to be always doing: talking, eating, walking, dancing, swimming. There are many times I want only to know your presence, to hear you moving around, to see you next to me. There are many ways of loving. Perhaps the simplest are the most satisfying."There's something here for our relationships — marriages, friendships, family. But there's also something here for our relationship with God.We can feel like prayer has to be productive. That we need to be doing something — reading, reciting, interceding. And none of that is bad. But sometimes, loving God looks like simply sitting with Him. Acknowledging His presence. Letting that be enough.There are many ways of loving. Perhaps the simplest are the most satisfying.Let us pray. Lord, help us to simply be with You today — not just to do, but to rest in Your presence. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- The Price of Love"Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice." — St. John Paul IIIn our world today, these words are deeply counter-cultural. The secular world peddles the exact opposite — love without sacrifice. Love without consequence, without demands.But if we're honest, that desire lives in us too. In our marriages, in our relationships with our kids. Loving others is hard, and when it stops feeling like sunshine and rainbows, it's tempting to check out, make excuses, bend the rules. We fall for the lie that love can exist without sacrifice.Now — what about when it comes to our faith?We want our prayers answered. We want blessings. We want salvation. But are we willing to pay the price for those graces? Are we willing to change our ways?In other words — we want Christ. But are we willing to accept the Cross?Let us pray. Lord, give us the courage to love the way You love — without conditions, without holding back, even when it costs us something. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- The Price of Love"Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice." — St. John Paul IIIn our world today, these words are deeply counter-cultural. The secular world peddles the exact opposite — love without sacrifice. Love without consequence, without demands.But if we're honest, that desire lives in us too. In our marriages, in our relationships with our kids. Loving others is hard, and when it stops feeling like sunshine and rainbows, it's tempting to check out, make excuses, bend the rules. We fall for the lie that love can exist without sacrifice.Now — what about when it comes to our faith?We want our prayers answered. We want blessings. We want salvation. But are we willing to pay the price for those graces? Are we willing to change our ways?In other words — we want Christ. But are we willing to accept the Cross?Let us pray. Lord, give us the courage to love the way You love — without conditions, without holding back, even when it costs us something. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---No Courage Without FearThere is no courage without fear.Courage doesn't mean we aren't afraid. In fact, an action isn't truly courageous unless fear is present. The courageous person does the right thing because it's right — even while afraid to do it.In a similar way, we might assume that living a holy, virtuous life means eventually outgrowing temptation. That if we just grow enough spiritually, temptation fades away. That's not true either. Spiritual growth only happens in the face of resistance. The saints are a testament to this — the holier they became, the fiercer the battle.We will be tempted every day. We will be tempted until our final breath. The question is what we do when temptation comes. Do we strike back with a virtuous act — courageously, even when it's hard? Or do we give in to the vices that poke and prod us?Let us pray. Lord, give us courage — not the absence of fear, but the strength to do what is right in spite of it. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Fill the GapsEach day is punctuated by what we do — responsibilities at home and at work, errands, tasks. When someone asks how your day went, that's usually what comes to mind.But amidst all of it, there are gaps. Small lulls. A few minutes here and there.And nowadays, those gaps get filled with one thing: our phones. Any time there's a pause, it's become almost instinctual to reach for the screen. There's a twitch, an impulse. We don't even think about it.It's a habit worth breaking.Here's a simple place to start: the next time there's a lull, lift your mind to God instead. Reflect on a Scripture verse. Say a Hail Mary. Picture Jesus sitting right next to you. Let Him fill those moments rather than a glowing screen.The gaps are already there. It's just a question of what we put in them.Let us pray. Lord, help us to turn to You in the small moments — not just the big ones. Fill the quiet spaces of our day with Your presence. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- One ConstantFollowing Christ is a lifelong journey — and because it's lifelong, our faith lives will go through many changes.We move houses, move towns. Our families grow. Friends come and go. We switch parishes. A favorite priest gets transferred. And we ourselves change — in ways we don't always see coming.That makes us different. Not just our circumstances, but us.And yet, one thing has not and will never change: our call to holiness.Holiness, simply put, is conforming to the will of God. That's it. And no amount of change — no new address, no new season of life, no loss or transition — touches that call.Change isn't always easy. But it doesn't have to be bad, either. The phases of life that feel most unsettled are often the ones where the most growth happens. Use them. Let them draw you closer to Christ.Let us pray. Lord, in every season and every change, keep us fixed on You. Help us to conform our lives to Your will, no matter what shifts around us. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Even the Sticks and the RocksTwo things the Lord never tires of: gratitude and appreciation. He is our Creator, after all. Even in the trials and storms, we have more to be grateful for than we often stop to recognize.Think about the world from a child's perspective. Walking along a path at a local park is an adventure. Everything is fascinating — sticks, rocks, a puddle, a bug. Things they've passed a hundred times. They react to each one like it's the first time they've ever seen it.That awe comes naturally to children. A kid could find a thousand sticks on a single walk and still rejoice at every one.There's a parallel here for how God sees us. He rejoices over us every single time we acknowledge His presence. But there's also a lesson for us adults. We live in an amazing world. We have families, homes, faith — gifts beyond counting. How often do we stop to acknowledge any of it?Maybe instead of fixating on what we don't have, we start with what we do.Even the sticks and the rocks.Let us pray. Lord, open our eyes to the gifts You've placed all around us. Give us the heart of a child — quick to notice, quick to rejoice. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- Grateful for the StruggleAs unpleasant as it sounds, there's something we should always be grateful for: our struggles.Strange, right? Shouldn't we be avoiding challenges, trials, and temptations? Why be grateful for them?Because our lives are full of struggles whether we like it or not — and God uses them to help us grow. In fact, struggles are a sign of His love. They mean He wants more for us than what we already are.The only way to grow in holiness is to be challenged and stretched. It doesn't just happen. God doesn't make the transition for us — we have to work for our shot at sainthood.Think of it this way. Maybe there's been a time you wanted to get stronger or run faster, but the weights and the treadmill sounded awful. Without the struggle of actually doing the work, those goals stay goals. We need the resistance to grow.The same is true in the spiritual life.So the next time life's struggles are getting you down, give some thought to how God might be using them — to make you better, to grow in virtue, to draw you closer to Him.Let us pray. Lord, help us to be grateful even for the struggles — trusting that You are using them to shape us into who You made us to be. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com--- What I Do Not Understand"What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate." — Romans 7:15St. Paul nails it.We know what sin is. We know it's wrong, bad for us, and damaging to our relationship with God. And yet — we still do it anyway.It's not like we wake up each morning thinking, "Today I'll sever my relationship with God." It's subtler than that. We get lax. We get tempted. We wander. And before we know it, we're somewhere we didn't intend to be.So where does sin lurk in our own lives? Where are we most tempted?It starts with the little things. It's rarely one dramatic fall — it's the small compromises, the small indulgences, the small moments of inattention that lead us down the path. That's where we need to be vigilant.To combat sin, we have to keep our guard up. We have to know where it lurks and see it for what it is. And in those moments — in all moments, really — we call on our Lord and our Lady for the grace to persevere.Let us pray. Lord, help us to see clearly where we are most vulnerable, and give us the grace to stand firm. Our Lady, pray for us. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Hear and doWe are called to not just be hearers of God's word, but doers as well.Chances are, you've already heard it all. Between Mass, Scripture, Catholic school, and religious education, most of us have a pretty solid idea of what we should do, what's right versus wrong, and how God is asking us to live. There's always room for discernment — but the broad strokes? We know them.And that's the critical point. Knowing isn't enough. Hearing isn't enough. We have to take the teachings of Jesus Christ and actually live them. There are actions that must follow.Christ Himself says it plainly: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)A true disciple hears — and does.Let us pray. Lord, move us from knowledge to action. Help us not just to hear Your word, but to live it today. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---The path to greatnessDeveloping virtue is a balancing act — finding the golden mean between two extremes.Take magnanimity and humility. On the surface, they look like opposites.A magnanimous person strives to do great things and is deserving of honor. That desire lives in all of us. Think of kids' daydreams about saving the day, being the hero. The desire for greatness is hardwired into us. That's magnanimity.Then St. Thomas Aquinas gives us this definition of humility: "It consists in keeping oneself within one's own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one's superior."So on one hand, we're made for greatness. On the other, we're told not to stretch beyond our own bounds. Opposites, right?Not quite. When we dig a little deeper, we find that both are expected of us — and that it's actually through humility that we reach magnanimity.Humility helps us acknowledge our very real weaknesses, which causes us to depend on the Lord. Greatness is not something we attain on our own. We're human — flawed and sinful — so we turn to the One above us. It's by faith in Jesus Christ that the door to greatness opens. Not by our own power, but His.Knowing who we are, and who God is — that's what frees us to seek greatness in His name, for His glory.Let us pray. Lord, keep us humble enough to depend on You, and bold enough to pursue the greatness You've placed within us. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---One StepNo matter how daunting the road ahead looks — personally, professionally, or spiritually — all we have to do is focus on the current moment.This is especially true for the spiritual life. Let's be honest: most of us are a long way from being saints. It can feel like standing at the base of a mountain, trying to see the peak through the clouds. The gap between where we are and where we need to be seems infinite. And in many ways it is — because without God's help, we can't reach that peak.But our job is simple. Show up in this moment. Don't get caught up in what needs to happen tomorrow, or next week, or a year from now. Just think about what needs to happen right now.The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So take a step. Then another. And another. If we misstep — and we will — that's fine. Redirect and keep moving. Lean on prayer, the Eucharist, and Confession to find the way forward."Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." (Matthew 6:34)Let us pray. Lord, help us to trust You with tomorrow and give our whole selves to this moment. One step at a time, keep us moving toward You. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Set us freeBefore we receive the Eucharist at Mass, we profess the Mystery of Faith."Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free."Think about that: You have set us free.Freedom is part of our everyday lives. We talk about it in our country's history and in our current political climate — freedom of speech, religion, and press, opportunity, equality. All of that matters. But that's not what we're talking about at Mass when we say Christ has set us free.It's much bigger than that.Christ died and rose to save us — setting us free from sin and death. Two of the greatest evils we face. And we cannot escape them on our own. There is no other path to freedom from sin and death except through Him.So let's sit with that today. Do we see ourselves as imprisoned by sin and death? Do we recognize our need for a Savior? Are we calling upon Him — or are we still squandering in sin?Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank You for setting us free. Help us to live as people who believe it. In Your name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---What we desireWe've all heard the expression: we want what we can't have.Sometimes that's simply something out of reach. But other times, we end up wanting what we shouldn't have — something bad for us, or even morally wrong.There are degrees to this. We can desire something good, something attainable, something unattainable, something harmful, something sinful. The object of our desire matters enormously. And so does the question of where we're directing all of that focus and energy.One way to examine this is through the lens of temperance — one of the four cardinal virtues."Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable." (CCC 1809)We have to take an honest look at what we desire. Not just our actions, but our desires themselves. Because even if an unhealthy desire hasn't led to harmful action yet, it's still doing damage. It's cancerous for the soul.Where are we directing our desire? That's worth sitting with today.Let us pray. Lord, purify our desires. Help us to want what is good, what is true, what is honorable — and give us the strength to turn away from what is not. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---The Shallows“You should choose to enter not immediately into the ocean depths, but rather through small streams, for one should reach more difficult matters by going through the easier ones first.”Saint Thomas Aquinas gave this advice to a pupil who was inquiring about methods of study. As for study, the problem for many of us is not that we immediately jump into the deep end, but that study simply isn’t a part of our lives. We might be years (or even decades) out of school and the habit of learning has fallen by the wayside. However, we’ve been given a tremendous gift in our intellectual power, so let’s not bury it in the sand, but grow and nurture that power through study. St. Thomas’ advice also applies to how we approach the spiritual life. Oftentimes in our spiritual lives, we’ve witnessed and experienced two different sentiments. Either we feel on fire for the faith and want to do every devotion known to man, or we feel dry and struggle to keep up with the basics. In both cases, we can heed Aquinas’ words: enter through the shallow end. Start small. Keep in mind though that in study and faith, we don’t want to stay in the shallows. Our goal is to eventually wade out into the depths, both intellectually and spiritually.Let us pray.Heavenly Father, You call us to Yourself. You call us into the shallows and into the depths. Walk with us. Help us. Guide us. In Jesus' name, amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Who am IAt every Mass, we encounter the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. We literally receive our Lord and Savior every Sunday. In response to this profound truth, we ask: “Who am I? Lord, who am I to receive you?”It’s a valid response, because frankly, we are not worthy to receive HIm. We’re fallen and sinful creatures. But, it’s only by humbly acknowledging our littleness and our wretchedness that we see the path leading upwards. Magnanimity, greatness of soul, is only possible through humility. By knowing our proper place, we recognize that we are not worthy and we are in dire need of help. We cannot lift ourselves up by our bootstraps. We cannot attain greatness by our own power. At every Mass, the One who came to raise us up, the One who came so that we may have life, the One who came to show us the way, waits for us. And, we need Him. Our greatness comes through only Him.Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we can do nothing without You, without your Son, without Your grace, without Your gifts, without Your sacraments, without the Eucharist. Help us to know our place so that we may always turn to You, to be with You. In Jesus' name, Amen. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---ProfitFor all of our endeavors and pursuits, for all of the things that preoccupy our minds and hearts, for all of our worries, concerns, and stresses, for all of the wealth or knowledge we accumulate... Do our souls profit?“What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26)Are we seeking to gain the world? Are we so preoccupied with this life that we’re not preparing for the next?To get to Heaven, we must follow Christ. But, to follow Christ, we must first know Him. And then, we must become like Him. It’s not enough to just quote Scripture or define every virtue. We must live it. We must strive for sainthood. We must imitate Christ. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You know how easily distracted we are, how often we miss what is right in front of us, how often we miss You. Help us to live our lives properly ordered, never placing anything above our love for You. In Jesus's name, amen. Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Slow to speakToo often, we simply don’t think about what we’re saying. If you’ve ever had to give up cursing, you’ve experienced this firsthand. Things just slip out...sometimes unnoticed.In regards to sin, we tend to be more aware of our thoughts and actions. We’re always with our own thoughts, and sinful ones, whether about lust, or pride, or anger, are the worst because they directly affect our mood and consequently our actions. But, our words can sometimes fly under our radar because it’s the person we’re talking to that is affected, not us. Thinking before we speak forces us to consider others’ feelings.When we do start consciously thinking about what we are saying — and how we are saying it — we communicate better.Take this as a challenge for the next few days. Be slow to speak.Ask yourself: Is this what I meant to say? Am I speaking truthfully, charitably?Let us pray.Heavenly Father, help us to grow in knowledge of ourselves and knowledge of You, and to see where we are falling short and where we can be better. In Jesus’ name, amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Think Well“Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven.” —Saint Camillus de LellisThink, speak, do. Our thoughts, our words, our actions. It’s basic and fundamental. But each day, do we make a conscious effort to control what we think, say, and do? Or, do we prefer to think about whatever ‘trash’ is thrown in front of us, speak without considering what our words mean, and act out of bodily impulse and desire?We are called to more. We have great power in our thoughts, words, and actions. What do we do with that power? What will you do with that power?Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Rejoice in the GoodnessHave you ever struggled with celebrating?It sounds a little silly, but whenever something good happens, do you hesitate? There's almost a self-defense mechanism that kicks in — don't celebrate just yet, it could all be taken away. You might even worry about jinxing it.Very few things in this life last. Even good things go away eventually. But that doesn't mean God is punishing us when they do. They simply weren't meant to last. And we don't always know what fruit God wants to bear in our lives, or how He plans to do it. It just comes back to trust.God continues to bless all of us — in big ways and small. But we tend to focus on the blessings we aren't receiving, or the ones that seem to have been taken away, or how the ones we have could disappear.Rejoice in the goodness anyway. Let joy and thanksgiving rise up from what God has given us. It takes vulnerability. But if we don't rejoice in the goodness, when would we?Let us pray. Lord, open our eyes to Your goodness today. Give us the courage to rejoice in it — freely, without fear. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---The First BattleAs followers of Christ, there are a lot of battles to fight. But for all of us, the first battle is within ourselves.We can't give what we don't have. We can't share a faith we don't practice. We can't lead others to holiness when we aren't striving for it ourselves. We can't bring others to truth if we aren't pursuing it. We can't bring others to God when we don't know Him.To positively impact the world around us, we have to start with ourselves. That's not selfish — it's just necessary.So what does that battle require? Time alone with God. Self-reflection. An honest look at our own weaknesses and tendencies. Silence. Solitude. Time to process everything we're constantly taking in. Solid ground to return to when the inner battles get hard. That is daily prayer.Let us pray. Lord, give us the discipline to fight the first battle — the one within us. Draw us to prayer, to silence, to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---AbbaThe fallen human heart sees God as an adversary.Even as adults, we can act like teenagers — convinced our Father is out of touch, no fun, making rules for the sake of rules. We keep Him at arm's length. We resist Him. We go our own way.But at the core of that problem — and its solution — is how we see God as Father.Scripture is clear about the relationship we actually have: "You received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:15-16)And St. John marvels at it: "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God." (1 John 3:1)What a gift. Not a distant authority to be managed or avoided — but a Father who has claimed us as His own.That relationship should stir something in us. A desire to live close to Him. To please Him. And in our trials, to turn to His infinite goodness rather than away from it — to let Him shelter us in our littleness.The question is whether we actually live that way.Is your prayer the prayer of a child devoted to his Father?Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us to see You as You truly are — not as an adversary, but as a loving Father who has claimed us as His own. Draw us close to You today. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---For Others"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:12-13)This is our task on earth. And it's our path to Heaven.We can be so caught up in our own lives that we start to think salvation works like rescuing ourselves from a sinking ship — single-handedly, alone, through sheer effort. But that's not the message of the Gospel.God is love. He made us out of love, and He made us to love. Christ Himself tells us there is no greater love than this: to give yourself for others. It's in giving that we receive. It's in losing our lives that we save them.It's not about us.It's in shifting our gaze toward others — in becoming men and women for others — that we find our way home.Let us pray. Heavenly Father, give us eyes to see: to see the people around us, to see You in them, to see what needs to be done, and give us the strength to act on it. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Arm YourselfFor us lay folks, there's a balancing act we have to walk. We're called to detach from the very world we spend our days in, turning toward the higher things God has to offer. And as much as we might want to spend our days in silent prayer, that's not always our calling. But that doesn't mean we can't take a page from the book of those who do."If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation, then, is just as much incumbent upon the laity — because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might make them lose their souls. Therefore they should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues and sufferings of Our Blessed Lord — which are so beautifully contained in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary." — St. Louis de MontfortWe are in spiritual danger every day. St. Peter puts it plainly: "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)We face a constant barrage. But we are not without a weapon.Learn the Rosary. Pray it. Meditate on the life of Christ and Our Lady. Turn your focus from the physical world to what God is offering us — now, and in eternity.Let us pray.Heavenly Father, help us to turn to You for strength, for grace, for everything we need to live our vocation and follow You. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Roots and FruitIn striving for holiness, we have to balance what you might call the interior life and the exterior life. Faith and works. The contemplative and the active.The interior life is the foundation. Without it, nothing else holds. When we neglect prayer and place all our energy in exterior activity, the spiritual life begins to dry up. Faith and love for God have to come first — everything else is built on top of that.And it's from that foundation that our works flow. As St. James tells us, "Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17)The interior life was never meant to stay interior. Whatever fruits grow there are meant to be brought into the world — shared, offered, given away. We're not called to hide them behind the walls of our souls."A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:18-20)Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You have a plan for our lives. You have planted us where You will. Help us to bear fruit as You will. In Jesus' name, Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Here I amThe world tells us we are the masters of our own lives. That we create our own meaning. That we choose our destiny.And in some ways, that’s not entirely false. We have a tremendous — and terrifying — power in the gift of free will. We can make ourselves masters of our lives. We can create our own meaning. But in doing so, we pit ourselves against God. We place our will against His. And that is a dangerous game.This is the banner of our times: unrestricted freedom to do whatever I want. It’s an enticing trap. But as Christ tells us, “For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.” (Matthew 7:13)As Christians, we’re called to a different path. To take the freedom God has given us and choose — freely — to follow His will. When God calls, we don’t answer with “but that’s not what I want.” We answer with “here I am.”It’s only in cooperating with His will that the path opens for us.So today, let’s ask Him: What do you want for me?Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You have given us power and freedom. Help us to make the most of it. Help us to always do Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---The Gift of SelfOne of the side effects of modern life is that it's so easy to complicate things.We build massive lists of goals we think will lead to happiness — personally, maritally, in our careers. For raising good kids, we assume they need iPads, expensive experiences, and schedules packed to the margins. And we often think sainthood means moving to India, starting a religious order, and changing the world.It's too much. Too many things to track, too much to execute on any given day.Here's what I keep coming back to: happiness, good parenting, holiness — all of it starts with simply giving our time. Being present. To our spouse, our children, our neighbors, our coworkers.St. John Paul II called this the gift of self. And it's the simplest path to holiness and happiness there is — one that transcends time, place, and culture.No laundry list required.Let us pray. Heavenly Father, give us the strength to offer ourselves as a gift to those around us, to those that You have put in our lives, so that we may always do Your will and become one of Your saints. In Jesus' name, amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Where's the Good?Oftentimes, what's good for us and what we want are at odds.We know eating right and exercising is good for us — but lounging on the couch with a bag of chips sounds pretty enticing. We know hard work is noble — but YouTube has a way of eating the afternoon. We know prayer is good for us — but so does another ten minutes of sleep.What's good for us loses. Not to something bad, necessarily. Just to something less good.If we want to grow in our faith, we have to learn to recognize the good in front of us. And then we have to cultivate the habit of actually acting on it.Once isn't enough. It has to be habitual. That is virtue.So today — where's the good?Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us to see as You see, to see the good, and to act on it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---What we can controlWhen someone treats us with love — does something for us out of love — our hearts naturally respond with gratitude. Or at least they should.Through His sacrifice, Christ has loved us in ways we cannot fully grasp. And more often than not, that involuntary feeling of love or gratitude is simply missing when we're in His presence. The heart doesn't cooperate the way we'd like it to.But our faith is not a feeling. It's taking what we profess to believe and living in accordance with it.In the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, that means calling to mind what we know to be true — and responding accordingly. Praise. Adoration. Love.What happens when we don't feel it? The truth is, many times we won't. But what we can control is our wills. We can use our intellects to acknowledge what is true, and then submit our wills to that truth.That is faith.Let us pray. May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Pointing to the Father"Thérèse would move much more easily toward the Father because of having experienced a human father full of goodness and tenderness."We return to that idea of goodness again. And I've been sitting with this one in my own life — as a father of five.There is an opportunity before fathers in particular that I don't think we talk about enough. To be, in some real sense, the face of the Father for our children. Not just to model the faith — though that matters — but to let ourselves be, as best we can, a reflection of God's goodness and tenderness in the home.The downstream effects of that are hard to overstate. A child who grows up experiencing a father who is present, good, and loving will find it easier to believe that God is present, good, and loving. That's not a small thing.St. Louis Martin didn't just raise saints. He gave them a picture of fatherhood that pointed beyond itself — toward the Father.That's the calling. Just goodness and tenderness, pursued faithfully, day after day.Let us pray. Jesus, You revealed the face of the Father. Help us to do the same in whatever way You want. Amen. Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Confidence in His GoodnessReturning to The Extraordinary Parents of St. Thérèse — one of the hallmarks of Louis and Zélie Martin's lives was what the author calls "confidence in the goodness of God."There's an important word in there: goodness.Most of us believe — at least in some sense — that God is all-powerful. That He can do anything. That's not usually where our faith struggles.But do we believe that He is good? That He doesn't just provide for us, but that He is so loving, so attentive, that He is involved in every corner of our lives? That He wants the best for us? That He works tirelessly for our good?Louis and Zélie's lives were not without struggle. Not without trial or hardship. And yet they carried this confidence in the goodness of God through all of it.That's a different kind of faith. Not just believing God can — but trusting that He will, because He is good.Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we believe that You are good. We believe that You love us and want the best for us. Increase our faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Any State in Life"They learned, little by little, from the Lord that holiness doesn't reside in one state in life but in a trusting and loving response to God's call in daily life."I've been reading The Extraordinary Parents of St. Thérèse, where I came across that line.The Martin family is a remarkable example of this. Louis and Zélie Martin — now saints themselves — raised five daughters, all of whom entered religious life. The most famous is St. Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the most beloved saints in the history of the Church.Thérèse became a saint as a Carmelite nun. Louis and Zélie became saints as husband and wife, as parents. Different states in life, but the same trusting response to God's call.It wasn't the state in life that made them saints. It was what they did within it.Whatever our state in life — married, single, religious, widowed — holiness isn't waiting for us somewhere else. It's available right here, in whatever God has placed in front of us today.Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us to follow Your will this day, in the way that best pleases You. Help us to look for You in our daily lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe