(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show is Catholic ultramarathoner Jonathan Kuplack. We discussed his recent 101-day run from California to New York, his nonprofit training apostolate Sebaste’s work to help young Catholic men abandon comfort and convenience and embrace true Christian masculinity, and more.
After briefly discussing his background and how he became interested in running, I asked Kuplack about why he decided to make this 101-day run, which involved running 35 miles each day. Kuplack explained that he did this most recent run and several previous runs in support of his apostolate Sebaste, named after the 40 martyrs of Sebaste, who chose to freeze to death rather than deny Our Lord.
Then, diving into the various training programs Sebaste provides for young men, Kuplack stressed our responsibility to maintain healthy bodies.
“As a human being, you’re a mover. We’re made to move; we’re made to use this body. We don’t just inhabit the body,” he said. “We are, in a sense, the body and the soul. It’s not just, ‘I’m a soul in a body,’ and we have a responsibility to take care of this (body).”
READ: Running with a saint: How an encounter with Padre Pio inspired a pro-life apostolate
“I always ask the guys, ‘If you had a million-dollar racehorse, would you take that through McDonald’s?’ But you have a temple, the Holy Spirit here, and you’re hitting that all the time,” he added. “We need to respect and honor and nurture and cultivate this, so we have the energy and the strength to serve the people around us and to live a flourishing human life.”
I jumped in to note that it’s easy to desire to live a more comfortable life, so I asked Kuplack how he gets these young men to move beyond that and desire a life of sacrifice. He highlighted how difficult this can be given that most young men enjoy their “easy lives.”
“As men, we’re made for the strenuous life. We’re made to provide, to protect, we’re made to serve. We’re made to spend our strength in the service of a worthy cause, in the service of others,” Kuplack said. “And that’s when we’ve come most fully alive. And it’s so beautiful, and most young men they’ve never tasted that.”
READ: Wall Street Journal highlights Gen Z’s interest in the Latin Mass, reverence
“What’s desirable for most young men is their parents’ couch and an Xbox and a giant Coke and some potato chips. That’s what most of them desire, but they don’t actually desire that,” he added.
“That’s just been this artificial desire that’s been cultivated by our culture. But when they actually taste the joy of the struggle, the joy of the battle, and we start living in imitation of Jesus Christ and the way that He came to this earth to love and to serve and to show us that way, they come alive. They want to be challenged, but nobody challenges them.”
To hear more from Jonathan Kuplack, tune in to this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.
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