Forge Virtue Podcast

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

30 Days of Chastity Challenge: Join a brotherhood of 3 to 9 men this November, check in daily, and get a new gem from scripture, the Church Fathers, and theology of the body every morning. Sign up here. → https://fftkingdom.com/

When we launched the 30 Days of Chastity Challenge, the response on X caught me off guard. Men asked whether it meant they couldn't have sex with their wives. Others called it more Christian puritanical suppression of desire.

Most men have never been taught what chastity actually is. I believe a proper understanding of human sexuality and the theology of the body is what our culture will live or die upon. Get it wrong here and it shows up everywhere else: in the family, in education, in the laws.

In this episode I go back to the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ says that looking at a woman with lust is already adultery. I explain why that sounded so strange to the Pharisees. I also cover what happened when a well known Jewish apologist told a Catholic podcaster that pornography isn't sinful.

Then I break down three terms most men treat as one: abstinence, continence, and chastity. Once you know the difference, you'll know exactly where you stand right now. I also answer a question every married man should be asking. Can you lust after your own wife?

One guy I worked with was told by his priest that he'd be fighting this for the next ten years. I have a lot to say about that.

At the end I walk through how the challenge works. We're running it with Blake and Todd from the Vitalist Mafia and Zinc Mode, and it's built to give you tools and brothers in your corner for the full 30 days.

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

FOLLOW ME ON RUMBLE IN CASE I GET BANNED: https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living. → https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person. → https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here. → https://forgevirtue.com/links

Chapters
0:00 What Chastity Really Means
1:58 Lust Is Adultery of the Heart
4:04 The Legalism Trap
6:02 Abstinence, Continence and Chastity
8:11 Chastity Within Marriage
10:28 Forge Virtue Mentorship
11:26 Chastity Is Achievable
15:45 The Defeatist Lie
18:13 Pure of Heart Shall See God
20:07 30 Days of Chastity Challenge
22:28 Summit 2027 and St Michael's Troops

Apply to work with me 1:1: https://forgevirtue.com/

Most men work their 40 hours, clock off, and give the rest of the week to Netflix, the drink, and the Saturday sleep-in. Then they wonder why nothing in their life is moving.

I did the maths on what a man actually gives away when he treats the weekend as his reward. The number is bigger than most guys want to admit. It's more than enough time to learn a trade, build a business, or formalise a skill you already have.

In this episode I make the case that every Christian man needs a side hustle: a project outside his 40-hour commitment that he is building with his own hands. I explain the one thing the modern work week is missing that every man needs in order to grow. I also explain why taking on paying clients forces a kind of discipline on you that a regular job never will.

I share how I moved to Australia and was earning from day one, what I told one of my clients who wants to become a personal trainer, and why the Christchurch Cathedral rebuild exposes a selfishness most Catholic men don't see in themselves.

I close with a reflection from Divine Intimacy on Pope Pius XII's call to Catholic professionals. Then I give four practical steps you can start this week without compromising your prayer, your training, or your family.

If you've had a vague desire to build something and keep putting it off, listen to this one through to the end.

Follow me on Rumble in case I get banned: https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living.
https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person.
https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Mentorship: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly.
https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: Links to all my social media profiles and content.
https://forgevirtue.com/links

Chapters
0:00 Why Every Man Needs a Mission
1:42 Do the Maths on Your Saturdays
4:32 Who Pays for the Cathedral
7:01 Pressure Forms Virtue
8:43 Skill Is Security
10:22 Skill Is Stewardship
12:06 Forged Virtue Mentorship
13:07 Provision for Family and Church
16:40 It Doesn't Have to Be a Startup
17:47 Pius XII on Catholic Professionals
21:17 Four Practical Steps
23:15 Final Word

You're Good But Not Virtuous (Here's Why That Matters): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNqzd0dNvc

Jesus saved His harshest words for the most religious men in Israel. They prayed, fasted, tithed and kept every rule, and He called them whitewashed tombs.

Most serious Catholic men assume that warning was written for someone else. I'm not so sure.

One survey found only about a third of American Catholics believe Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Nobody stood up and preached against the Real Presence. We stopped believing slowly, through how we stood, how we received, and how we carried ourselves in front of the tabernacle.

So which is the real danger? A faith that's all exterior, or an exterior so careless it drains the faith out of us? Both are true, and in this video I show how they fit together.

Man is a body-soul unity. What you do with your knees, your hands and your eyes forms what you believe, whether you intend it or not. Aquinas understood this, Aristotle understood it, and the Church built her liturgy around it for centuries. I go through lex orandi, lex credendi, what the ancient Church settled through the way she prayed, and what the way you receive Communion is quietly teaching you.

Then I turn it back on us. A man can have flawless rubrics sitting on a proud heart. I break down legalism versus morality, how Christ fulfilled the Old Law, why He went straight past the hand to the desire, and how purity of heart is actually trained.

I finish with six concrete practices to take into Mass and into your week, starting this Sunday.

Resources mentioned:

Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy

Athanasius Schneider, Dominus Est

Paul VI, Memoriale Domini (1969)

St John Paul II, Theology of the Body (catecheses on Matthew 5:28)

St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II qq. 98–108

0:00 Why Catholics Stopped Believing

1:11 The Anthropology of Belief

2:31 Lying With Your Body

4:39 How We Act at Mass Shapes Belief

8:29 Forged Virtue Mentorship

9:28 How the Reformers Changed the Altar

11:04 How the Latin Mass Taught Me

15:54 Mother Teresa on Communion in the Hand

19:09 Legalism Versus True Morality

23:01 Practices That Build Reverence

23:43 Recommended Reading

25:09 Reconnecting Body and Soul

Healthmaxxing for Christ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HxyOXe603w

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Gym culture has drifted a long way from where it started. The golden era of bodybuilding had a purity to it. Arnold, Mentzer, Gironda, Platz and Ronnie Coleman trained heavy, trained in the sun, ate well and treated the iron as a way of life. What most young men see in the gym today looks very different, and I think most people can feel it even if they can't put words to it.

In this episode I look at gym culture from a Christian standpoint. I show where the modern version turns the physique into an idol, why so many guys carrying plenty of muscle are actually unhealthy, and how the gym has become a breeding ground for lust and pride.

I also make the case for physical training done properly. St. Paul compares the spiritual life to athletics and warfare for a reason. The Greeks understood something about thumos, arete and the formation of a man that we have mostly forgotten. And there is a direct line between how you eat, train and sleep and how well you hold up against temptation. I explain the connection I see between tracking calories and controlling lust, and why it works.

Physical culture is what led me to Christ. I share that story here, along with where vitalism fits in and why we need more Christian men in the gym.

Resources mentioned:

• My healthmaxxing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HxyOXe603w
• My looksmaxing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVUKecHm-pQ
• FFTK Podcast episode on how physical training builds the four cardinal virtues: Watch here
• Vitalism livestreams, including my interview with a golden age vitalist:

1:1 Mentorship → https://forgevirtue.com/

Check out my video on why you're not lazy (it's much worse): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W07OYChR8Y

The desert fathers had a name for the man who is always busy, always out with his mates, always with something playing in the background. They called him the noonday devil. From the outside it looks like a full life. Underneath, he is running from silence, from presence, and from the life he knows he is called to.

Most men never catch this in themselves because their crutches aren't sinful. The late nights with the lads. The gaming sessions. The binge series. Even the good Catholic friend group. Because these things are lawful, they are the easiest things in the world to justify.

St. Paul gives two tests in 1 Corinthians 6:12 that cut straight through that excuse. Most good Christians fail at least one of them without realising it.

In this episode I break down acedia and how to recognise it when it's happening to you. I go through St. Ignatius on true and false consolation, Aristotle's three kinds of friendship and the signs your friend group is holding you back, and why constant screens and noise betray something deeper than wasted time.

Then I get into what real rest actually looks like, drawing on Josef Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture, and why the world's version of "treating yourself" is doing you more harm than you think. I finish with one question from Ignatius you can ask yourself after every weekend that will tell you exactly where you stand.

FOLLOW ME ON RUMBLE IN CASE I GET BANNED: https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living. → https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person. → https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Mentorship: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here. → https://forgevirtue.com/links

Timestamps
0:00 Running From Silence
0:50 All Things Lawful Not All Profitable
1:24 The Crutches We Hide Behind
2:52 Paul's Two Tests for Any Habit
6:20 Good Things That Aren't God
7:30 True vs False Consolation
10:20 Sacrificing the Lower Good
14:05 Forged Virtue Mentorship
15:11 Friend Group Validation
17:30 TV and Screens Consolation
18:52 Acedia the Noonday Devil
21:04 True Leisure as Receptive

If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Most men think vice is a bad habit they can drop with one good decision. It isn't. Every sin you repeat leaves a mark on how you think, what you crave, and how much of the truth you can still see. Ten or twenty years of small compromises can't be undone by a single burst of willpower.

In this video I react to a clip from Jordan Peterson on the Chris Williamson podcast about the "10,000 micro retreats" that corrupted the universities, and I apply it to the spiritual life. Peterson watched faculty fold to the administration one small demand at a time. The same thing happens to a man's soul.

Custody of the eyes is bigger than avoiding immodest women. It covers every input you allow in: the music you listen to, the podcasts and shows you consume, the people you spend time with, the food you eat, the alcohol you drink. All of it forms you into someone. The question is who.

Then there is the snooze button. You set an alarm the night before, you gave your word, and the moment it goes off you break it for the comfort of the flesh. That says something about your dignity as a man, and it is being built into your identity every single morning.

We also talk about the frog in the boiling water, the seed choked by thorns in the parable of the sower, and why the courage to live a holy life never waits for zero risk. You are only courageous if something is at stake.

In this video I cover:

• The neurological grip of vice and why one act of willpower doesn't break it
• How desensitization to sin builds up over years
• What custody of the eyes really means
• Why the snooze button is a question of dignity and identity
• How the world, the flesh, and the devil wear you down bit by bit
• Why every moment of your day belongs to Christ

Follow me on Rumble in case I get banned: https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living. → https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person. → https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Mentorship: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: Links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here. → https://forgevirtue.com/links

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Vice Is Deeper Than One Action
• 1:22 Peterson on Micro Retreats
• 2:10 Guard Every Input
• 3:55 Snooze Button and Dignity
• 5:23 Courage Requires Risk
• 7:37 Small Decisions and the World
• 9:05 Every Moment Belongs to Christ
• 10:00 One on One Mentorship

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I've spent years studying health maxing, vitalism, thumos, and virility through a Christian lens. This started back when I was eighteen, diving into a corner of the internet obsessed with physical excellence as a form of arete. Most guys treat the body and the soul like two separate projects. They're not. Every spiritual sin starts in the flesh, and if you're neglecting your biology, you're neglecting your zealousness for God's kingdom whether you realize it or not.

In this video I break down the daily and weekly rules I actually live by. Some of it will surprise you. Some of it will make you rethink your morning routine, your diet, your sleep, and what you're doing to your nervous system every single day without knowing it.

In this video I cover:

• The governing principle behind physical mastery and virtue
• The exact order of operations for your morning (and why breaking it wrecks your whole day)
• The truth about sunlight, circadian rhythm, and why most men are hormonally sabotaging themselves
• Grounding, EMF, and why your bedroom might be working against you
• Cold showers and why heat is quietly destroying your recovery
• The nutrition rules I follow, including what to never put in your body
• Nose breathing, fasting, and training principles that build both muscle and the will
• What to cut completely: alcohol, vaping, and the substances dulling your discipline

FOLLOW ME ON RUMBLE IN CASE I GET BANNED:
https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living.
→ https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person.
→ https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly.
→ https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here.
→ https://forgevirtue.com/links

0:00 Health Maxing And Christian Virility
2:40 The Body As A Temple
6:06 The Daily Rule Begins With Prayer
7:45 Sunlight And Circadian Rhythm
12:13 Grounding And Cold Showers
16:27 Nutrition Seed Oils And Protein
18:53 Nose Breathing And Sleep Environment
25:06 Training Without Burnout
26:55 Fasting And Weekly Rhythm
29:11 What To Avoid Alcohol And Nicotine
31:26 Recap And Mental Health Benefits
34:06 Your Body As A Sacrament
35:17 Fit For The Kingdom Resources

Distraction and destruction come from the same root word. That's not a coincidence, and once you see it you can't unsee it.

I open this one with something I do with the men I coach directly, a habit that looks meaningless from the outside but is doing more work than anything else in their lives. Then I get into why the device in your hand is not a neutral tool, why prayer feels impossible for you right now, and the actual math on what this is costing you over a decade.

Most guys think they know how bad their screen time is. They don't. And the men who do wake up to it are the ones who actually start living with intention instead of getting dragged along by an algorithm built to keep them exactly where they are.

If you've ever wondered why silence feels unbearable, why you can't sit still with your own thoughts anymore, or why your prayer life has gone dry, this is the video that explains it and gives you the way out.

In this video I cover:

• why distraction is a spiritual problem before it's a productivity problem
• the science behind why your brain can't just "put the phone down"
• the real reason you struggle to pray
• the compounding cost of your screen time over years, not days
• a practical rule of life to regain autonomy
• why brotherhood and the Sabbath are non-negotiable in the fight

FOLLOW ME ON RUMBLE IN CASE I GET BANNED:
https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living.
→ https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person.
→ https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly.
→ https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here.
→ https://forgevirtue.com/links

Timestamps
0:00 Distraction Leads To Destruction
0:53 Why Daily Accountability Matters
3:42 Proverbs On Vision And Purpose
4:24 The Algorithm Is Not Neutral
7:12 Why You Can't Pray Anymore
9:52 Mary And Martha Distraction
11:05 The Compounding Cost
15:06 Reclaiming Your Autonomy
17:01 Brotherhood And Accountability
17:28 Keep The Sabbath Holy
18:18 Live With Intention

Pope Leo XIV told the world on 26 August 2026 that the faithful must not be "strangers and silent spectators." Almost everyone will hear that as a call to do more at Mass. It is not. In this live stream we go back to the actual documents, in Latin where it matters, and show what the Church has meant by active participation from Pius X in 1903 to the present day.

For sixty years "active participation" has been read as activity. More lay roles. More movement. More words. More jobs in the sanctuary. And the more activity we added, the fewer people came. We put the numbers on screen and let them speak: Mass attendance in the United States falling from 75 percent in 1955 to roughly 20 percent today, Australia dropping from 11.8 percent to 8.2 percent in five years, New Zealand losing Catholic identification while the population grew. If activity were participation, the busiest liturgy in history should not have the emptiest pews.

Then the question that flips the burden of proof. If the old Mass really was a silent movie of a man's back, why did people cross oceans, walk miles and fill churches every Sunday for 1,500 years? Were the greatest saints in the history of the Church simply sitting there confused?

What we cover live:

• Pope Leo XIV's full August catechesis series on Sacrosanctum Concilium and why he calls the reform continuity, not rupture
• The seven false versions of "active participation," named and dismantled on air
• Which parish practices are legitimate options and which the Church herself condemned in Redemptionis Sacramentum
• Tra le Sollecitudini 1903 and the Latin text that does not contain the word "active"
• Pius XII in Mediator Dei: you truly offer with the priest, but you are not a concelebrant
• Sacrosanctum Concilium read line by line, including Latin, Gregorian chant and reverent silence
• John Paul II in 1998: silence and stillness are demanded by active participation, not opposed to it
• Ratzinger on the oratio: "external actions are quite secondary"
• Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, the perfect icon of participation with no words, no function and no movement
• A practical guide for men: how to actually pray the Mass, part by part, at the Novus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass

Bring your questions. Live chat is open throughout.

FOLLOW ME ON RUMBLE IN CASE I GET BANNED: https://rumble.com/c/tomasmones

Skool: Stop doing this alone, join a brotherhood of Christian men who will hold you to the standard you already know you should be living. → https://www.skool.com/fit-for-the-kingdom

FFTK: Come train, pray, and build with men in person. → https://fftkingdom.com/

1:1 Coaching: If you're tired of knowing exactly what you need to do and still not doing it, apply to work with me directly. → https://forgevirtue.com/

Find out more: links to all my social media profiles and content can be found here. → https://forgevirtue.com/links