Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 420

The angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah
that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite.
While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press
to save it from the Midianites,
the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said,
"The LORD is with you, O champion!"

Leadership appears from two quite different sources. Every institution has its own way of selecting and empowering its leaders; and their first duty is to protect and promote the institution. But leaders may also appear from unexpected sources; they arise charismatically, empowered by their own personal traits of energy, intelligence, charm, and vision.

Ancient institutions often relied on the sons of their rulers to provide the next generation of leadership. If these men demonstrated the capacity to take charge of their father’s followers, and could ward off challengers, the people were content to obey a man with a familiar name and similar features. In many cases, even if the present king was not quite up to the challenge, the institution seemed to sustain itself with everyone’s compliance despite the ruler’s incompetence. Any ruler is better than the chaos and violence of no ruler.

More recent institutions have developed democratic ways to select their leaders from a broader pool of talent, but the old ruling families still have cachet.

But always there are charismatic individuals who appear with neither lineage nor credentials to challenge the institutions and their leaders. When the old ways no longer serve the new times, old institutions, fixed on their hoary traditions, collapse for lack of interest. A new generation of leaders, energetic, bold, visionary and talented, compete in a power vacuum until they have established their own institutions with new laws, hierarchical structures, and customs.

Gideon was a charismatic leader. A ferocious warrior, capable ruler, attractive personality, the oppressed Hebrews rallied to his call and fought with him against the Midian overlords. (Unfortunately, he had far too many sons by too many wives and none could succeed him; especially after the meanest, most unscrupulous of them murdered all of his siblings.) 

In today’s first reading we hear the story of Gideon’s ascendance. One of the least of his brothers in a family of no consequence, he could not be handed leadership by the old traditions. But the moment was right, and the Lord inspired the people to follow him into battle and conquest.

The lesson for us? We sometimes detect charismatic leadership among our bishops and popes, but we should not expect to find it there. Their job is to preserve the old ways against innovation. If they succeed, they will have allowed the new to find its roots in the ancient traditions, while the old regains some of its spirit under a not unfamiliar form.

I think of Pope Saint John Paul II and his willingness to promote (and canonize) Saint Faustina with her updated image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Just when the Vatican II generation thought the Sacred Heart had faded away, it reappeared brilliantly under the patriotic colors of red, white and blue. Faustina had the inspired vision, John Paul had the authority to place the new icon before the entire Catholic Church.

A second lesson: Don’t be surprised or scandalized by religious turbulence. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to purify and renew the Church, despite the best efforts of her priests.