Many young men have spent thousands of hours inhabiting gaming worlds where purpose is immediate, enemies are obvious, and victory is visible. The online battles they fight cost them nothing but time. The real-life battles men fight are far less cinematic most of the time. They consist of changing diapers, caring for aging relatives, remaining faithful in marriage, navigating the intricacies of raising teens, showing up to work, and praying when God seems silent, uninterested, and distant. A generation of Call of Duty veterans, replete with digital war stories of heroics and violent spectacle, is filing into the pews every Sunday. And many of them are bringing a militaristic aesthetic along.
With this new fashion and its accessories, many of these men are also bringing a peculiar sense of doom along for the ride. There is a visible, palpable preoccupation among some young Catholic men with the collapse of Western society and societies as a whole. Instead of focusing on the joy of the Resurrection and the promise of eternal life in the Beatific Vision, emphasis is placed on the need to ready oneself to serve as a lance in the angelic host’s vanguard.
On the surface, this spiritual call to arms seems relatively harmless, if not a bit aesthetically overdone. Rosaries made of molten shell casings, olive-drab green T-shirts with black outlines of St. Michael holding the evil one underfoot, and heavy metal music with lyrics about blood and sacrifice are de rigueur for the “serious,” online, modern Catholic man. There is nothing inherently wrong with those things, and they are not problematic, by and large. The problem is not that young men are becoming attracted to sacrifice, discipline, or spiritual warfare. The problem is that many seem convinced that defeat is inevitable.
Too often now, faith becomes less about Christ and how we practically apply belief in Him and more about signaling seriousness. The result is a Catholicism defined by posture and reaction rather than confidence in the Resurrection. This new application of Catholicism, while attractive to some, carries with it a dangerous possibility: the adoption of an outward image that transcends faith in the Resurrection as the ultimate means of victory over sin and death.
It makes perfect sense why so many modern, Western men feel compelled to a more militaristic Catholicism. The realities of spiritual warfare dictate that the laity, both men and women, need to understand the gravity of their decisions. Indeed, the faithful should feel called to confront evil both spiritually and physically. However, that call needs to be firmly grounded in an unwavering trust in Christ’s death and Resurrection as the final word in the discussion.
If Christ has already won the war, why are so many young men enlisting in a fight with a foregone conclusion?
The answer is simpler than one might think. Young men are searching for purpose in a world that offers comfort as a medicine for restlessness. Struggle, whether emotional, physical, or mental, is all but alleviated in the swallow of a pill, the brain-scrambling pace of the digital world, and the glow of the screen. Restlessness of the soul is untouchable by modern therapeutics and medicines. While distractions exist to help men ignore spiritual restlessness, they are momentary and ethereal. In watching and reading the news, it would seem all but hopeless to keep fighting for the world. Clearly, it is all over, and the forces of darkness have the upper hand. Perhaps one last valiant stand and charge could be enough to turn the tide.
This sort of thinking energizes and motivates the mind but does little for the soul, even if it seems as if this fight is just what the doctor ordered. For men, the overwhelming need for purpose is sated most profoundly in the cultivation of a durable relationship with their creator. While the actions we undertake to shore up our lives for the benefit of our souls and the souls of others are absolutely paramount, they must be undertaken with confidence in a God who has already set us free.
Life in the West today is a series of job interviews, popularity contests, and a constant weighing on the scales of pop culture and value. Christ calls His faithful to a radical realignment of the perception of value. This new way of determining worth dictates that those who wish to be counted as members of His flock must eschew the trappings of modernity and seek a life lived in objective truth.
As G. K. Chesterton said, “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” Young men are increasingly falling victim to that trap within the framework of faith. This is not the fault of faith or the Catholic Church. It is a product of a world that has conditioned young men to believe that devotion and faith are character commodities whose authenticity is forged within a corollary of aggressive display. If overemphasis on one’s visible membership in the Church Militant becomes the foundation of faith built on the assumption that salvation is even partly attained through exaggerated displays of fashionable devotion, then the underlying truth of salvation cannot be fully realized within the individual.
The mission of the Church is now, as it always has been, to replace the fragility of human logic with the transformative power of divine revelation. Christ, as the apex of salvation history, offers humanity a vivid contrast to lives based solely on the pursuit of visibility and power. Not only was humanity gifted with a Savior, but a Savior who modeled behavior that leads to salvation for those He was sent to save.
Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. (Is. 53:7 [NAB])
Catholicism should not be made up of milquetoast believers who are happy to be pushed around by the aggressive nature of a fallen world. However, the Savior Himself directs us to pick up our own crosses and to follow Him. A robust, unflinching witness to Christ made manifest in our joy and willingness to give of ourselves to others is the truest form of Catholic fashion. It is understandable why young men today fall under the misconception that faith in Christ requires a sword and a shield. Swords and shields are infinitely attractive to people who have never been forced to carry them, either out of desire or necessity.
Men and boys will find outlets for aggression wherever they can. Some find it in efficacious and laudable modes of service and sacrifice. Others turn it on themselves and self-destruct. The Church is a spiritual hospital for both camps. Still, it must meet the two in the same fashion, with the same gospel and the same objectives: to create an army of men who evangelize through radical love, joy, hope, and an aesthetic that transcends fashion.
Christ conquered through His cross. The Catholic man carries a cross, not because he expects defeat, but because he knows who the victory ultimately belongs to.
Photo by Michal Mikulec on Unsplash
