A Simple Rule of Life for Men Who Want to Become Saints

Preface: (To proceed to the article, skip down to “Just tell me how to do it”)

What This Page Is About

This page presents a concise, doable spiritual framework for men who desire to become saints—without needing to become monks or theologians. It is a practical plan for ordering the whole of a man’s life—his relationship with God, his wife, his children, his work, and his spiritual leadership—into a pattern of fidelity.

The 5P Plan is a simple structure that helps a man stop drifting and start living with intention.

Why This Matters

Most men want to do the right thing, but many do not know how to do it consistently. Good intentions alone do not build holy lives. A man needs a plan; and a plan needs practices that can be lived daily, weekly, monthly, and always.

This matters because:

A man’s lack of spiritual order does not remain personal—it spills into his marriage, his children, and his home.
When men do not lead with fidelity, they are led by distraction, comfort, and impulse.
Holiness is not abstract. It is built through repeated obedience in the ordinary.

A saint is simply a man who has learned how to be faithful.

How This Page Fits the Fathers of St. Joseph Mission

This plan integrates and summarizes the themes that recur throughout the Fathers of St. Joseph site: spiritual formation, fatherhood, marriage, sacrificial responsibility, and spiritual authority. Many other reflections expand on one “P” at a time. This page offers a unified framework that a man can begin living immediately.

What You Will Find Here

In this reflection, you will find:

A simple answer to a common masculine plea: “Just tell me how to do it.”
A practical framework that organizes a man’s life into five essential duties
Daily, weekly, monthly, and “always” practices that make holiness doable
A tool (the downloadable bookmark) designed to keep your plan visible and concrete
A pattern for becoming a husband, father, and spiritual leader with consistency

Just Tell Me How to Do It

A relatively famous man confided that his relationship with one of his sons was under duress. At one point during the conversation he blurted out, “Just tell me how to do it.”

Just tell me how to do it…

A man wants to succeed; to win.
He wants the diagram, the game-plan, the instructions needed to complete the task.
He must avoid failure at all cost.

Many of us will turn to YouTube to learn how to grout a tile floor, or fix a belt on a tractor, or fix the struts on the pickup truck. But what do we do when tensions mount in our relationships with our wife and children, or worse, with God?

Generally, we don’t search for, or find step by step, how-to videos on raising sons, daughters, having great marriages, or how to solve the disconnect in our relationship with God.

People are not projects.
Projects can be completed, relationships only terminate with death.
Yet, the earnest desire to solve the “problem” of a son, or a daughter, or a wife, a dissolving marriage or a crumbling family remains.

I am continually trying to develop ways to simplify the spiritual life.
To develop a concise framework that help us thrive in our divine calling, our vocation as husbands and fathers, our work, and as spiritual leaders who can impact and influence society positively.

Considering this, I have developed a concise, doable, highly practical framework to help us become men of power, peace and influence—to become saints.

I call it the 5P Plan.

Our lives can be segmented into five categories:

Prayer (Relationship with God)

Partner (Relationship with your wife)

Pater (Relationship with your children)

Provider (Your occupation and laboring at home)

Priest (Your role as spiritual leader)

In each of these five categories are several practices that put flesh on this 5P framework.
To the left of each practice is either a D (for daily); W (for weekly); M (for monthly) and A (for always).

	Prayer (God)
D	Daily prayer promises
D	Daily hidden sacrifice
	Partner (Wife)
D	10 minutes time with wife
D	1 daily act of affection/ encouragement to wife
A	Be pure (No porn)
W	Weekly date night
	Pater (Fatherhood)
W	Son/daughter date
D	1 daily act of affection/ encouragement to child
W	Take child to 1 daily Mass
M	Take child to Confession
	Provider (Work)
D	Evening family time (Abstain from work/phone)
W	Keep Lord’s Day holy (Abstain from all work)
W	Weekly tithe
	Priest (Spiritual Leader)
D	Nightly family prayer
D	Nightly family dinner
D	Bless each member of your family
W	Sunday Gospel reflection
W	Family fun 1x per week

Don’t be overwhelmed, start small. Choose one practice in each category and build from there. Remember, little changes lead to great results.

From this framework, I have created a bookmark, which you can download here, to help you to become a husband in the image of the Divine Bridegroom, a father in the image of God the Father, and a son who manifests the glory of the Son of God.

The way to fulfill a purpose is to have a plan.
The way to fulfill a plan is to have practices that segment that plan into doable pieces.
The way to fulfill those practices is to participate in them daily, weekly, monthly.

This little bookmark can help us do just that: fulfill our purpose of being living saints.

Send me your feedback. I would like to know if this little tool is helpful.

Further Formation for Men Who Want a Rule of Life

The principles in this plan are reinforced and expanded in the following resources for Catholic men seeking practical spiritual formation:

From The Catholic Gentleman

How to Build a Rule of Life (and Keep It)
https://catholicgentleman.com
The Daily Habits That Form Strong Catholic Men
https://catholicgentleman.com
Spiritual Leadership in the Home: Where It Begins
https://catholicgentleman.com

From Sword & Spade