Dan McGuire, creator of The Blue Knights Boys’ Club
The Boy and His Stick in Nature
A famous axiom of St. Thomas Aquinas is: Grace does not destroy nature; rather it builds on and perfects it. What the Angelic Doctor was trying to convey is that God works with our natural inclinations to leads us back to Himself. I think of this when I see pictures of my grandson (15 months old) with his stick. Every time he goes for a walk he carries a stick that he finds along the way. I chuckle because I still have a walking stick I found 3 years ago when I was exploring the woods near our new home, not unlike the boy and his stick. Boys will pick up a stick and it can become anything in their imagination – but quite often it is a weapon: a club, a sword, a gun…even a magic wand. It becomes an extension of his own power.
Blue Knights Boys’ Club and Formation
This is why one of the most popular of the Blue Knights crafts is the sword of respect for authority. Boys gravitate towards the sword (and the spear, and bow/arrows) because it is a means of increasing or projecting power. Of course, they don’t understand it that way. That is why they need a Dad to take that nascent and natural urge and mold it along the proper path. Formation of the man is what drives the Blue Knights. Explicitly it is about Dads forming their sons in virtue and faith. It is also about forming the Dads at the same time.
