Justice League

Living in a society of possible gods and goddesses

12/07/2017

Matthew 7:21, 24-27 Jesus said to his disciples: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  And it collapsed and was completely ruined."

       I love a good superhero action movie, like Superman or Batman, or Wonder Woman. But what I have never understood is why you need more than one superhero to save the world, like in the recent movie, “Justice League,” which teams up five superheroes. Clearly, Superman can defeat mankind’s enemies single-handedly, and so can Batman and so could Wonder Woman. So, doesn’t it seem like overkill to have a movie like “Justice League” where we need Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman to save the world? These are the things I stay up late ruminating on and cause me to lose sleep.

        And I’m not alone. Do you recall that memorable dialogue between Hurley and Charlie in the television series LOST where they argue over who’s faster, Flash or Superman? Charlie states: “You’re insane mate, Superman can fly around the plant in the blink of an eye!” Hurley retorts: “Dude, if we’re going by a pure footrace, Superman would get dusted by the Flash.” Charlie counters: “Well, why would the Man of Steel agree to a sodding footrace?” To which Hurley matter-of-factly answers: “Uh, for charity, and Flash would totally win, cause he can vibrate through walls and stuff.” How can you argue with logic like that? Nevertheless, the one question superhero movies never address is: Why do you need more than one superhero? Isn’t Superman enough? People like me (and Hurley and Charlie) just instinctively answer: the more the merrier.

          Today is the feast of St. Ambrose, the holy and wise bishop of Milan, Italy. And we might pose the same question to our Catholic faith: isn’t one saint enough, or to raise the stakes even higher, we could probe: isn’t Jesus Christ enough to save mankind? Indeed, I would suggest to you that this question is precisely what lurks behind many Protestant objections to Catholicism. Why more than one Superhero, namely, Jesus Christ? Why do Catholics insist on the veneration of Mary and the Saints? Well, to be sure, Jesus’ work of salvation is alone sufficient and enough. But like a master painter does not stop with one masterpiece, but displays his genius in countless works of art, so Jesus’ grace and glory are displayed in countless masterpieces called the saints up and down the centuries. Or to change the metaphor: just like we see how beautiful light is when it is refracted through a prism, emitting a rainbow of colors, so the saints refract the love of Jesus in every age. You can love the Lord more when you see his legacy in the life of his saints.

           St. Ambrose lived between 340 and 397 AD, but like the Justice League, he was surrounded by other superhero saints. Ambrose taught and mentored St. Augustine (one of the greatest minds of the Church), Ambrose counseled and comforted St. Monica (Augustine’s mother), Ambrose debated with St. Jerome, the fiery translator of the Bible. And it’s not any different today, because we are surrounded with spiritual superheroes like St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope St. John XXIII, Pope St. John Paul II, and Blessed Stanley Rother. We might ask: why all these saints? Isn’t this a little overkill? Isn’t Jesus enough to defeat all the enemies of mankind? Indeed he is. But deep down Christians instinctively know it is precisely Christ’s glory and greatness that’s refracted in the lives of his saints; and the more the merrier.

          By the way, I am convinced that C. S. Lewis must have been a superhero action movie fan, too, when he wrote his famous essay, “The Weight of Glory.” He said: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.” My friends, it is not only in the movies that we meet superheroes; they are all around us, if only we had the eyes of faith to see them. Then, we, too, might say, the more the merrier.

Praised be Jesus Christ!