Superheroes.

Somehow, the topic of heroes within society always seems to return to my mind despite long vacations. That shouldn't be much of a surprise I suppose, since virtue ethics is a pet topic of mine. That, and I will give you a earful about why society needs heroes and not role models.

This isn't going to be a long post, just some food for thought really. Heroic virtue is necessary for sanctity, in fact it is something that sanctity exudes, the necessity to go beyond the call of duty, to go beyond what one is capable, constantly pushing oneself in a sacrifice for someone else. I cannot think of a saint who is not a hero in some way or another. In fact, for quite a few of them, their entire lives could very well form the plot of a great comic book. Incidentally, we are all called to be saints. Oh yes, you too. You are meant to be a saint, to be holy. That is, you must become a hero.

So what makes a hero? It's not merely the external acts of valour, bravery and courage that make a hero. It begins from within. It is an interior transformation that must occur, the changing of cowardice to courage, of weakness to tenacity, of tepidity to passion, selfishness to generosity and so on. This takes time and the slow purification and distillation of the virtues within the soul become manifest in the outward actions that we see in real life.

Just think about it. Peter Parker didn't just become Spider-man over night. No, his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, from young, had been teaching him the very necessary virtues to become heroic. It was only the untimely stabbing of his uncle that led sealed in those lessons. Superman was made a hero by his foster parents, likewise Bruce Wayne became Batman because his parents, and later alfred, taught him justice and truth. Likewise, firemen don't dash into blazing buildings without first undergoing months of training; training which is more than just physical and technical but also internal. So to is the saint in the making. His internal change comes from similar means his prayer, penance, fasting and mortification, all which stem from and add fuel to that all consuming fire which is the love he has for God.

The success in virtue is not the only thing which defines a hero, there are also his failures. By now, one must realise that it is impossible to live in the world without falling and failing. This is what happens because of the very simple fact that we are all fallen creatures. That is, no one on this planet is sinless, save two individuals in the past. We live in a world where it is not alright to fail, yet failure is absolutely necessary to growth. We learn best from our mistakes, because successes do not tell us where we can wrong. Morally, of course this mistakes mean the committing of evil actions, however we need them from time to time to learn as well. It is, of course, necessary not to let the mistake define us, but the lesson behind the mistake. Hercules would not be Hercules if he hadn't done the reparation for accidentally slaying his children. Peter Parker wouldn't be Spider-man if he had stopped the thief from getting away. St Augustine wouldn't have become St Augustine if he hadn't fought his lust and won.

That's the lovely thing about being a hero is that heroes are allowed to make mistakes, whereas role models aren't. A role model that doesn't live up to his expectations, fails to fulfill the criteria of the role that he is supposed to be a the model for, thus losing the status. On the other hand, we expect the hero to fall out of his horse from time to time, and then get up and climb back on, this time with renewed resolve to charge at the dragon. Sometimes, he falls, and has to chase his horse, but he eventually gets there and wins, though he never knows if he will.

This actually applies to all aspects of our lives as St Thérèse de Liseux so wisely taught in her little way: to do all the ordinary things extraordinarily. In fact, that is where heroism first manifests itself, in the unseen things, in the things no one notices. When we listen to each patient as if they were the only patient in the world, or just always being on time, or doing each drill as it if it were the exam or game. See, it's never about the quantity of what one does, but the quality one inject into each action. Spider-man would be a hero even if he only saved one person, and only because he put all of himself into saving that one person.

Likewise, this is often where we fail, when we make mistakes. In the little things, and then the little things pile up and drown us. It is a common motif in comic books, where the superhero must juggle his heroism with his personal life. How many times has Spidey missed an important event because he was out saving some part of New York City from destruction courtesy of the Green Goblin? Bruce Wayne is always shown being asleep or uncaring during his business meetings. One of the reasons why Wayne Enterprises collapsed in the movies. Yet, even here, the superheroes apply their heroic skill and courage in starting afresh and reparating for all the hurt they caused. Likewise, when we fall, we have confession, and then once again bathed in the blood of Christ, we come out white as snow, and refreshed and ready to fix whatever harm we've caused.

So, it's actually rather simple to be a hero. We should be heroes, beacons of hope for our children especially, and our family and friends. Start today. It merely begins by loving God with all your heart, and mind and soul, and then to living out his commandments.

PS: Yes, I did promise a short post, but unfortunately brevity is not one of my heroic fortes.
PPS: I wrote this for you, and yes, I think you're a hero already.

EDIT: Thanks to the Anti-Modernist. I left out one very important point. Heroes always strive to do the right thing. They may make mistakes here and there, but they always come through in the end, even making reparation for their mistakes. Think of Boromir in Tolkien's famous epic, the Lord of the Rings. He attempts initially to steal the ring from Frodo, only to end up in sorrow realising his great sin. Well, Boromir doesn't remain there in sorrow, he gets up kicks orc butt saving Merry and Pippin...well until he dies at the hands of the archers. Nevertheless, a hero redeemed.

Our Love For the Church

The Church is the Bride of Christ, she is our Mother; we ought to love her because she brings us to Jesus and unites us to Him. We ought to love and revere her doctrine, because it is doctrine of Jesus Christ; to love her prayer and associate ourselves with it because it is the prayer of the Bride of Christ, and there is none safer for us, none more pleasing to Our Lord.

We ought to attach ourselves to the Church, to all that comes from her, as we should have been attached to the very Person of Jesus and all that came to us from Him, if it had been give us to follow Him during His earthly life.

St Pau compares her to an edifice 'built upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.' (Ipso summa angulari lapide Christo Iesu).

We live in this house of God, '…no more strangers and foreigners: but fellow citizens with the saints…' It is Christ 'in whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.'

- Dom. Columba Marmion, Christ the Life of a Soul

Marriage and Vocations Pt 3

Da Boyz.

The men are not off the hook either. Just like there is a jarring loss of authentic femininity  in women today, there is also an equally jarring loss of masculinity in men today as well. Heck, in this case, I’m even willing to go as far as to say it was this loss of authentic masculinity that resulted in reaction known as the feminist revolution. However, unlike women who went wayward in a movement aimed at bettering women’s lives, men lost themselves in a slightly more complicated fashion.

Authentic Masculinity

To understand the heart of the problem, one first must understand what the man is supposed to be. The very essence of man is the need to sacrifice himself for the good of his family. In the bible, Christ reminds the Pharisees that, in the beginning, ‘a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.’ This very act of leaving the caregivers of his life to enter into the unknown world is in itself a sacrifice. From then on, he will put aside his needs and desires and physically exhaust himself in a job that he may or may not like to bring home dough for his wife and children. In the past that would mean putting his body on the line to go hunt, in the modern world, it is sitting at a desk all day long.

All this can be observed through natural law. In some tribes there are coming of age rituals, signifying the boy’s transition from boyhood to manhood. From then on, he is expected to keep the company of the men, where he learns to be one of them and to hunt and protect his family. Even biology mimics this, where at the age of 4, the boy must separate himself from his mother and join to his father, or gender identity disorder may occur.

It is in this bond that the boy learns how to carry out his masculine duties through imitation, how to sacrifice himself and treat every woman as a lady, to put himself second, and give her the first place.

To draw a parallel, it is this same path that Christ, Himself, took. He left heaven and took on the form of man, where, He then went and sacrificed His body through the beatings, scourging, the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross, and finally the crucifixion itself in order to redeem the entire world. It is this external sacrifice that is innate in masculinity that allows a man to become a priest and to act in persona Christi, in the person of the most masculine, to offer up the sacrifice of the most innocent to God the Father.

Hence the occupations that boysmost identify with often require some form of physical sacrifice. Every boy at one stage has wanted to be a soldier or a policeman or a fire fighter. To serve and protect is practically innate within the male. That is why men were given such great passions and energy, to channel it for the greater good of society. It is in growing up that we learn to master these passions and to defeat dragons, the first of which being ourselves. Only when we have the discipline to conquer our passioned wants and needs will we have the ability to take on other dragons, to be ready for battle. We were meant to be knights in shining armour. So where did we go wrong?

Utilitarianism

The fallout of traditional philosophy during the enlightenment period gave rise to empiricism and skeptism, which led to the ethics of Utilitarianism. As mentioned in the previous articles, Utilitarianism can be summed up as ‘whatever means to achieve the greatest pleasure’. It is a relativistic course of ethics whose moral principles largely depend on what one can get away with. Hence, the spawning of the ‘me’ generation whose effects can be largely seen in almost every aspect of society. In economics, duty and honour between employers and employees has since been thrown out the door, it is how much the employer can milk his employees for profit. In healthcare, doctors have been relegated to prescription writing, pill dispensing units thanks to the application of Prinicipalism which has utilitarian roots. In advertising it has become developed to the point of whatever sells the product, and of course, that is sex. One hardly comes across an advertisement nowadays that isn’t sexed up in some way.

When applied to the man, this idea of I’ll use whomever I want to give me pleasure, has eroded the presence of the truly masculine in society. Once men were protectors, they have either become predators, just going around using women for their personal gain or they never grow up, being stuck in front of the computer screen all day long, indulging in their fantasies. This uh mascularism, if you will, the corruption of the masculine with utilitarian principles, is why women who desire to get married to a good and loving husband will be hard pressed to find one.

Over-sexed Culture

It doesn’t help that the culture has become sex-obsessed. The gender-sociologist have turned sexual preference into an identity, elevating it from an accidental feature of humanity into an essential feature, and the only essential feature, hence the LGBT movement and this silly notion that one’s gender is completely a social construct, never mind the staggering research into the physiological and anatomical differences between men and women. You can choose whether you want to be a boy or a girl in the head, but not whether you’re attracted to boys or girls. It’s all rather odd if you ask me.

What’s more, in today’s culture, boys are expected by society to watch pornography, masturbate and be promiscuous. This could not be more contrary to nature! Pornography addiction is particularly prevalent and its incidence is on the rise. What’s the big deal you ask? Well, leaving aside the obvious problems for the moment, like that it’s a grave sin, it denigrates the marital act in its fiction and teaches men to objectify women, what about the fact that porn stars themselves are horribly damaged and abused individuals? That’s right, as long as you watch pornography, you are supporting the abuse of men and women who are completely broken and damaged inside. (see theporneffect.com)

Masturbation is also a very dangerous habit. I won’t say much and let C.S Lewis do the talking for me, ‘For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back, sends it back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides. And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifices or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no real woman can rival.’

Read more about that here in an article by Fr John Harvey, OSFS on the Courage website http://couragerc.net/Masturbation.html

I think I don’t need to speak as well about how sleeping around will mess a man up completely as well.

Chivalry is Dead

All these grave sins have lead to a huge rusting of the shining armour that men once proudly wore because the armour of virtue and chivalry cannot be worn by a man who is unable to lead such a life. The armour requires a great strength of mind to put on and to sustain, a great strength that can only come from God. When one is his natural state of sanctifying grace, in that communion with God, how light he is, and how light this armour will be. The opposite will of course be when he bogged down by these sins. In essence, the modern man, shackled by the fetters of pornography and sexual addiction, will have to overcome great obstacles in order to remain true to his essential nature, his masculinity. These sexual sins in particular have lead to an objectification of women, and ultimately to their degradation. When men view women as a objects, as commodities, they will no longer see persons to protect but things to possess, and there goes the masculine.

In addition to these woes, the feminist movement has also put a stop to the little courtesies that men afforded women in their external sacrifice of the self. The sacrifice of the feminine is an internal one, a sacrifice of the ego, in her mercy, she allows the man to care for her and look after her. It is in this act, that she allows the man to fulfil his masculinity. However, in becoming feminists, the women have essentially said no to masculinity and allowed men to become jerks. That said, I will agree that it is the men’s fault that the feminist movement erupted in the first place.

In Brief

Boys, you have a duty to God, to society, to women and to yourself, to be masculine men. To be the gentlemen regardless of how you are treated and to protect always, even those whom you have never met (but are tempted to view electronically).