Title: Leadership
With A Lion’s Heart
One of my
all-time favorite scenes from a movie is at the very end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
It’s that famous scene where the lion Aslan is walking along the beach away
from the castle, and Lucy and Mr. Tumnas are watching him. The faun turns to
the girl and says, “You know, he’s not a tame lion.”
Lucy just
looks sweetly at her beloved Aslan and replies, “No, but he is good.”
And indeed
he was. He was so good that he would lay down his life for the children, and he
protected them and fought for them powerfully. But he was definitely not tame –
just ask the White Witch, who found herself fighting against the good side.
This, to
me, is the essence of a good leader – good leaders fight for those who they’re
responsible for, even to the point of laying down their lives for them.
Probably
the best leader I’ve ever met was the man who served as Scoutmaster when I was
in my boy scout troop, Mr. Long. He was a very laid-back man, who loved all of
the scouts in the troop as his sons. But what I remember most about him is that
he would always fight for us – he would always be our advocate and the person
we’d go to if we ever had problems. He would try everything in his power to
fight for us and intercede for us in anything. If we ever thought we were being
treated unfairly (which happened every now and then with those doggone merit
badge counselors), we would be able to go to him and he would try to fix the
problem. We always knew that he was on our side.
Plus, he
was a man who sacrificed so much for us. He often worked long hours at his job
(he worked for the county and did things like plowing snow in the middle of the
night) but would always be around at every Scout meeting, ready to offer his
wisdom and his counseling to us.
And this is
the key to a good leader, I think: someone who’s willing to fight for and
sacrifice for those under him. This is the kind of leader that people love to
follow, because they know that these leaders are on their side and are truly
interested only in their well-being.
I think
about the King of Kings, Jesus. While He deserves our allegiance simply because
of who He is, He showed us ultimately what it means to be a good leader. He
could have demanded our obedience without showing us His love. But He preferred
to sacrifice everything to win over our love and obedience. We know that He is
on our side! He is fighting for us! He lives forever to intercede for us! What
an awesome leader He is!
And this is
what a priest must be for his people. I am excited to truly lay down my life
for my flock, to sacrifice everything for them and to fight for them, so that
they may go to Heaven.
Archbishop
O’Brien said something that I’ll always remember. He said that he learned in
the army the principle for good leadership: “Officers eat last.” It’s that
simple. If the officers eat last, after all of their subordinates have enough
food, then they will have earned the respect of their men. And it’s the same
with any leadership position: sacrifice for others, advocate for them, and you
will be a good leader.
It
sometimes amazes me how different groups can clamor for “more leadership” in
the Church, as if leadership just meant power, influence, and decision-making
ability. Leadership is so much more than that – it’s a total life-sacrificing
donation to ones’ constituents. We should tremble at the thought of more
leadership, because those who lead others will be judged more severely!
But it is
precisely this laying-down of life for others that a priest must embody,
following the leadership example of Jesus. A priest must be willing to fight
for his people – to fight against sin, against the devil, against corrupt
social systems which oppress them. This type of leadership is hard. This is
leadership with a lion’s heart!
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