October 24: Defeated generals, mere privates

How frequently Pope Francis uses military metaphors! In a lengthy interview with a priest-editor representing Jesuit journals last year, he offered a new way to describe the Church: “ I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle.”

In a series of interviews conducted when he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he explained why he chose to become a Jesuit. “After studying at the archdiocesan seminary of Buenos Aires, I ultimately entered the Society of Jesus because I was attracted to its position on, to put it in military terms, the front lines of the Church, grounded in obedience and discipline.”

His fondness for military terms may have been shaped by the legacy of the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola, who was a soldier and founded the Society of Jesus on soldierly principles of obedience and discipline. But in Evangelii Gaudium, we find the limit of this military mindset.

“[Spiritual worldliness] also feeds the vainglory of those who are content to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army than a mere private in a unit which continues to fight. How often we dream up vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals!”

Pope Francis sharpens the contrast between defeated generals and mere privates; on reflection we find that this contrast is defined by proximity to battle. A general makes meticulous plans back in air-conditioned comfort, while privates continue fighting even if the battle seems lost, right on the front lines—next to where a field hospital stands, tending to the wounded.