Like many who grew up during the “Ninja Craze” of the 1980s, I spent my youth fascinated by the warrior codes of the East. I devoured the Hagakure, Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. There is an undeniable pull toward the esoteric—the “foreign” often feels deeper simply because it isn’t familiar.
As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt—or at least a profound disregard. We look for “meaning” in the mountains of Japan or the scrolls of ancient China, while the most robust warrior code ever written sits on the nightstand in a language we already speak.
The Diluted Message
As I’ve aged, I’ve started to reflect on why Catholicism—my own faith—often fails to appeal to men as a “Code.”
Don’t misunderstand me: the messages of love for one’s neighbor, forgiveness, and “turning the other cheek” are vital tenets of the faith. But they have been so poorly understood—and so poorly preached—that they now feel antithetical to the life of a warrior or a person of service. We’ve turned the “Lion of Judah” into a “Lamb” that lacks teeth, and in doing so, we’ve done a massive disservice to both Catholic men and the Faith itself.
The Ancient Standard
This “softness” is a modern invention. The Crusaders and the Knights of old didn’t view the Gospels as antithetical to manly pursuits; they viewed them as the justification for them.
Christ was not a “soft” figure. Consider the tactical and physical reality of His life:
- Endurance: He survived 40 days in the high desert without food.
- The Grind: He walked thousands of miles, lived out-of-doors, and possessed the physical stamina of a man who worked with his hands in a brutal era.
- The Guts: He was never afraid to confront corruption or look “the dragon” in the eye when people were doing wrong.
In the end, He endured a level of physical agony and psychological pressure that would break the strongest operator. He had the power to end His suffering at any moment, yet He willingly stayed on the Cross. Why? Because the Mission came before the Self. There is nothing more masculine, more “tough,” or more warrior-like than that.
The Easter AAR
As we approach Easter, I want to remind the “sheepdogs” and the practitioners that the path to Heaven was never described as a “walk in the park.” Christ never stated that the way would be anything less than a struggle—an effort equivalent to a warrior’s greatest campaign.
Discipline, meaning, and a code of conduct as “cool” and demanding as Bushido can be found right here in the New Testament. If you can strip away the “sunshine and daisies” rhetoric and truly understand what God is telling us, you’ll find a manual for the “Long Haul” that puts every other code to shame.
The Resurrection isn’t just a miracle; it’s the ultimate victory of a Mission completed. This Easter, look past the “esoteric” and find the “Real Thing” right next door.
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