Holy Action Figures!!!

When I was a kid, like so many young boys with wild imaginations, I LOVED action figures.  I would spend countless hours (not to mention Lord knows how much of my Nana's generously given dollars) picking out my favorite heroes - Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, Zeddemore, He-Man, Darkwing Duck, Luke/Han/Obi-Wan, Batman... you NAME it!

No contest... After all, who do you think Batman turns to when he can't
find the keys to the Batmobile? My patron St. Anthony, of course!

When I surrounded myself with these guys, I was transported to other worlds, other places where good and evil duked it out to the death.  I was in control of their every move.  I made them go wherever I wanted, say whatever I wanted, do whatever I wanted.  I called all of the shots and it felt pretty good - usually much better than it did to do homework, clean up my room or let my brother play what he wanted to play.

Recently, it occurred to me as I was glancing around at the plethora of religious figurines and statues I have surrounding me at work, in my car and at home just how similar this characteristic of my life these days is to when I was a kid with all of my action figures.  I don't collect toys of my heroes from Ghostbusters, Star Wars or Ninja Turtles anymore (although every now and then I'm tempted to!).  But I have other heroes - SAINTS!  Men and women of courage and devotion who gave everything in the name of justice, peace, honor and love.  They have great names, too - Saint Ignatius of Antioch (bishop who knew the Apostles and who was eaten by lions in ancient Rome), Saint Tarcisius (killed by a mob for refusing to hand over the Eucharist he was carrying to condemned Christians in prison), Saint Therese (paradigm of humility and pure witness to the love of Christ).

These are my heroes now.  But I notice that there is one HUGE difference with these "holy action figures."  I don't bend them to meet my will - it's the other way around.  When I look at these depictions of my true heroes, I'm once more transported to other places where good and evil duke it out to the death.  But I'm not in control of their every move.  I don't make them go wherever I want, say whatever I want, do whatever I want.  I don't call any of the shots - and it feels pretty good.  These heroes call me out of myself.  They invite me to a life of service, a life of love in which I look to them for guidance on how to bend my own will to be more like the will of Him whom they all cherished to the end and beyond.

I wonder if this isn't the reason we all search for heroes in the first place?  In the end, they indeed exist.  But the most powerful ones of all are the ones who discover what true power is - to lay down one's life for Another.