Lord! Make me zealous, fierce, fearless! Prayer of a Catholic man.
Properly, the conversation about the name of our new pope has focused on the integral Catholicism of Leo XIII: retrieval of St. Thomas and the origination of modern Catholic Social Teaching, at once traditional and progressive in the best sense. There has also been a nod to St. Leo the Great. Less attention has been paid to the meaning of the Latin "Leo": Lion.
Cardinal Prevost, who knows Latin, is intuitively drawing us to Jesus as the Lion of Judah. This is the most underrated of the titles of Jesus. It is my personal favorite. It is the one we need most today.
Our societal crisis in noble virility and the emasculation of our Church flow from our failure to receive Jesus Christ as Lion of Judah, Champion, Victor, Hero. We are in flight from virility as fierce, fearless, strong, daring, adventurous, combative, confident. Cultural liberalism fears the "toxicity" of masculinity as assertive, competitive, militant. Culturally correct masculinity is configured as gentle, meek, peaceful, receptive, reassuring. But also as passive, safety-seeking, unthreatening, risk averse, non-confrontational, reconciliatory, nurturing.
Absolutely, genuine virility is gentle, steady, protective, calming, welcoming, nurturing. But that is only one half of the equation. It is also strong, competent, daring,
A good friend recently referred me to an article in America Magazine: "Men and Boys are Lost: the Catholic Church Can Give Them A Better Model..." (March 7, 2025, by Brady Smith.) The piece contrasted the raw, reactive machismo enticing our young men with a different paradigm: the "servant leadership" of myriads of men quietly, generously, steadily, modestly serving their families, parishes, little leagues and so forth.
I completely agreed with and identified with the piece. I would like to think that in some degree I have deliberately and unconsciously emulated just such manly virtue which has surrounded me for my entire almost 78 years. And yet, I felt an involuntary aversion to this advocacy of "servant leadership." Well, I have been hearing this phrase for my entire life: it is tired. But there is a deeper problem.
A man, especially a young mans, needs something else besides humble, generous service. He needs an ideal of greatness. He want to be a hero, a crusader, a martyr, a combatant. He needs a cause greater than himself and even his own family: the Church, a war, the nation, the political battle, generous service of the poor and suffering.
I have always loved, revered and emulated my own father. Today, perhaps most of the goodness that flows through me is a mimesis of him, unconscious and deliberate. But growing up, my aspiration was not to imitate him. Frankly, his quiet, generous life seemed quite boring. I was fascinated by my Uncle Billy, brother of my mother, who was a sharp contrast: eccentric, decorated war hero, life long spy (for army intelligence we learned after his death), entrepreneur, unpredictable, wild, heavy drinker and smoker, world traveler, a character straight out of Graham Green. I decided to pursue a religious version of him as a Maryknoll missionary: on horseback, competent, authoritative, tall and handsome, assisting the poor in South America with education, evangelization, the sacraments, credit union, and more. Gregory Peck in "Keys of the Kingdom." I wanted to be a hero. I still want to be a hero.
The visceral appeal of Donald Trump, in all his moral depravity, to young men is precisely his ferocious virility: fearless, combative, confident, aggressive, unrestrained, bold. If I were to highlight among all the factors that brought him electoral victory it would be: his fist pumping, blood running down his cheeks, after he was shot. Every man looks at that and says: THAT is a man. A toxic, despicable, vile man yes. But that is a man.
To return to Pope Leo XIII. In demeanor, style, presentation he is a darling of the Cultural Left: quiet, modest, good listener, nurturing, caring, loving. He is an icon of "servant leadership." But I sense underneath that calm exterior a backbone of steel. A deep grounding in prayer and God's love. A confidence that is profound and therefore quiet, unpretentious. A sharp, incisive, inclusive intellect. A steadiness. A fearlessness. A ferocity of purpose. A fortitude. A burning zeal for God and His Kingdom. A true solider of Christ. A lion, in the mode of the Lion of Judah!
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