Article 16: John Wayne and St. Ignatius
I haven’t seen the movie in years, I’ve never heard it mentioned as one of John Wayne’s best, and heck maybe it isn’t good. But, as a little boy, my favorite John Wayne movie was the “Fighting Seabees”.
In the movie, John Wayne plays Wedge Donovan, a construction company owner that builds bridges for the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He eventually fights to have his company become part of the Military and this leads to the formation of the C.B.s or construction battalions; combat ready construction workers.
But of course, none of that meant anything to me when I was 8. The only thing I cared about was this one amazing scene. In this climactic scene, Donovan realizes the American troops are pinned down and decides to take action. He takes explosives, jumps into the seat of a bulldozer, raises the bucket for protection and in John Wayne style, drives right into the teeth of the Japanese troops, sacrificing himself, destroying the thickest part of the enemy forces and saving his men.
An incredible act of heroism and even though it meant his own death, I knew at such an early age that not only was there something so good about what Wedge Donovan had done, it was something that I sort of dreamed I could do.
For the women out there, you need to understand this. Men have a deep craving to be heroes. I mean full fledged, do something crazy, medal of honor worthy heroes. Most men have had some version of the daydream about what exactly they would do if for instance a gunman comes into Church someday. Its not just that Men are willing to sacrifice themselves for those they love. Men, deep down, have a strange longing or calling to be willing to sacrfice themselves even for folks they don’t know. And wow, isn’t there something Holy and Beautiful about this longing?
St.Ignatius grew up with a tremendous desire to show his bravery on the field of battle as a heroic Knight. But Ignatius fell into despair after a cannon ball shattered his leg and we was he was laid up for several months in a dark and dreary castle. Ignatius was depressed that because of his injury he would never fulfill his heroic dreams and as depression set in, he began to read the only book he could find, the Lives of the Saints. As he turned the pages, his spirits rose as he began to see that maybe he could still be a Hero, still demonstrate his courage, still push himself in battle. But now, instead of a battle waged for the honor of a lady, Ignatius would, just like these brave Saints, be waging a battle for Jesus, against the Enemy.
Today, more than ever, the world needs heroes….the world needs men to be heroes. The world needs Wedge Donovans. The world really needs Ignatius of Loyolas. The world needs little boys to want to become Men who do heroic things. Because this longing that we feel is….. the image of God written into our souls. This longing that we have to be heroes, is our natural inclination to be like Christ. For who was a greater hero than Christ? A man, a real man, who voluntarily underwent unimaginable pain and suffering……to save all of us.
So guys, next time you’ve got one of those weird daydreams about you singlehandedly saving a bank full of people from some gunmen or about how you save your entire neighborhood from a division of German troops, allow this wonderful and Holy inclination to take you straight to the Cross….and to the person of Jesus. And then pray that St. Ignatius can give you special Graces in order to understand that for most of us, our Heroism can be even more difficult than driving the bulldozer into enemy lines in a ferocious moment of courage. Maybe true Heroism is our daily journey, where inch by inch, we allow ourselvs to die a little more to self and conform ourselves more fully to the person of Jesus.
God Bless and Good Luck!
