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December 23
Robert Bly, John Cantius, and Charles-Michael de l’Épée
David Barnhart
December 23, 2025
2023, own photo.
Today is the birthday, in 1926, of Robert Bly, poet and antiwar activist, who was a major figure in the mythopoetic men’s movement (not to be confused with the misogynist “men’s rights” activism that is so pervasive on the internet today). He articulated an existential crisis of men’s identity caused primarily by patriarchy and capitalism that severed men from emotionally-intelligent fathering and traditions of rites of passage. He popularized the idea of “the shadow,” the part of the self we are unwilling to expose to the light.
Today is the feast day of John Cantius, Polish priest who died on Christmas Eve in 1473. He was well known for his aid to the poor.
Today also marks the death, in 1789, of Charles-Michael de l’Épée, French Catholic priest who shaped education for deaf students and advocated for the use of sign language in their education.
Reflection:
Robert Bly wrote:
“Men are taught over and over when they are boys that a wound that hurts is shameful. A wound that stops you from continuing to play is a girlish wound. He who is truly a man keeps walking, dragging his guts behind.
Our story gives a teaching diametrically opposite. It says that where a man's wound is, that is where his genius will be. Wherever the wound appears in our psyches, whether from alcoholic father, shaming mother, shaming father, abusing mother, whether it stems from isolation, disability, or disease, that is precisely the place for which we will give our major gift to the community.”
Prayer: Wounded Christ, give all of us human beings the grace and capacity to honor our wounds. Amen.