“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Exodus exists for men to be uncommonly free.
It is normal for men to be distracted, addicted, and enslaved by so many things today. Alcohol. Pornography. Social media. Sports. Gambling. Work. Comparison. Achievement. Wealth. Legacy. It is so normal, in fact, that society’s stereotypes of men are often associated with the very idols that plague them.
What is uncommon in our time is men who are free. A free man is not a perfect man but one who remembers who he is: a son of God whom God has called forth for love. And he knows how much more he can become by the power of grace unfolding in his life over time.
Through contemplative prayer, men open up to a vulnerable relationship with God. Through asceticism, men grow in the power to say “no” to the common things of the world that hold them back. Through fraternity, men have the essential support, encouragement, and mercy of other men striving after the same uncommon ideals.
The freedom of the uncommon man, the Exodus man, is not for its own sake. The world defines freedom as the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want. True freedom is for commitment, sacrifice, and love. Like Jesus on the Cross, the free man takes up his life and then lays it down for others. What is returned to him is a life of meaning, integration, and eternal satisfaction.
It is for this reason that God brought forth Exodus to serve men today.
Our Charisms
The importance of men’s formation in our time cannot be understated. Fortunately, God has provided the power to go about the task with Charisms, or spiritual gifts, which he has bestowed and which animate our work.
The charisms of Exodus, which we have discerned in prayer and experience, are Contemplatives First, Sonship or Death, Ad Orientem, Holy Detachment, and Magnanimity.
The most important part of Exodus is that men grow in the ability and confidence that they are in relationship with the Lord. Our time in prayer each day is about being vulnerable with the Lord and allowing him to transform us from the inside in the silence of his love. Everything we do at Exodus begins in silence. And we submit our very selves, and all of our work, to Him to influence and inspire. That’s being Contemplatives First.
Jesus Christ reveals that we are in relationship with God, who is our heavenly Father. In the knowledge and experience of the Fatherhood of God, you receive an identity: a son who is perfectly loved. In our post-Christian time, and as men at large have drifted away from God and the Church, a corresponding crisis in identity has consequentially occurred. Apart from God, you cannot know who you are, resulting in death. At Exodus, we move forward in the trust of sons in the arms of a perfect Father. We are radically dependent upon His Providence and believe that everything is working out for our greatest good. This is how we define Sonship or Death.
Ad Orientem translates into English as “toward the east.” As the sun rises in the east, so do we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, await his coming in glory from the east in the fullness of time. For Catholics, this phrase takes on a liturgical meaning. When a priest celebrates Mass Ad Orientem, he faces the liturgical east together with the People of God. All together, we face the Eternal Father to whom the Mass is offered. The work of Exodus is about facilitating an encounter between a man and himself, his fraternity, and his Father in heaven. We, too, workers in the vineyard, stand with our men in need of the same encounter.
Holy Detachment is not about a lack of care, concern, or effort. It’s about putting out your highest quality work, transformed by prayer and sacrifice, and then entrusting it to God to make use of according to His purpose. God has his plans, and they are far beyond the minds of men. We do our best, seek to improve, and venture forth in faith, and then we surrender every outcome and result to Him.
Magnanimity means the greatness of the soul. When you are in relationship with God, know who you are, offer everything to God in prayer and sacrifice, and are detached from every outcome, then you can dare to ask God for everything in return. Through the virtue of magnanimity, we overcome the small-mindedness of our time with confidence in God’s provision, favor, and blessing.
Become Who You Are
The fruit by which Exodus is known is that men become who they are, more like who they have been created to be by their Heavenly Father.
More attentive to their spouse, present to their children, concentrated at work, in union with God.
Over the past eight years, more than 100,000 men in seventy-five countries have experienced the Exodus.
We love you, Lord. May you continue to bless the Exodus, especially those men you are calling to Exodus in 2024 to become who they are.
