Best-selling author: St Josemaria Escriva writes "The Way"
Who is John Galt?
The book, Atlas Shrugged, is required reading by many schools today. Author Ayn Rand's hero is John Galt. Where did he go wrong? Today is the anniversary of the release of the Ayn Rand archives.
When we hear author Ayn Rand’s challenge—“Who is John Galt?”—we imagine a world that prizes self-creation, self-possession and self-exaltation. In this light, Galt becomes not a hero but a tempter. He suggests we ditch God and go it alone. Galt’s philosophy encompasses rational egoism, objective individualism and the loss of human interdependence.
Atlas Shrugged’s flawed oath
The human person was made by God for truth, love and communion. Christians reject the worship of self-interest as the highest good. Rand answers with Galt’s withdrawal. Her hero swears never to live for another. We can hear his oath echoing in the canyon, cold and sharp. But when we stand in God’s gaze, we feel something different—the grace-filled breath of Jesus Christ—who lays down His life for His friends.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the human person needs to live in society” (1878). When we see Galt withdraw, Christians should feel conflicted. Galt seeks the silence of isolation not the communion of saints or the mystical body of Christ. Galt abandons the weak rather than kneeling beside them.
The false promise of Self-Sufficiency
Rand’s world smells of metal, industrial oil and the pride of human achievement. Conversely, Christians believe that every gift—intellect, creativity and skill—is received, not internally manufactured. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that all human excellence is rooted in God’s generosity. We speak this truth daily in our Morning Offering, when we lift up all our prayers, works, joys and sufferings. For the good of all, we offer to give the best of ourselves.
The Church affirms human creativity in Gaudium et Spes #34 but rejects that creativity is self-originating. We are not isolated inventors. Our hands move because God’s grace moves through them. Our minds spark because His light touches them. Galt’s oath is a closed fist; Christ’s call is an open, beckoning hand.
The call to Communion and Sacrifice
Rand imagines a world saved by withdrawal. Christians imagine a world saved by presence. Christ does not hide. He climbs a hill called Golgotha. He does not preserve His life; He pours it out. We feel the weight of His sacrifice, the warmth of the blood shed for us and the trembling of demons on Easter morning.
- Rerum Novarum is Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical asserts the dignity of workers, the right to private property, and the moral duty of employers, workers, and the state to pursue just labor conditions while rejecting both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.
- Centesimus Annus insists that society flourishes only when the strong serve the weak. This structure forms the architecture of love. St John Paul II’s 1991 encyclical affirms human dignity, critiquing both socialism and unrestrained capitalism. It calls for a society grounded in truth, solidarity and the moral responsibilities of freedom.
Galt shows what happens when the strong refuse to carry the weak. Christ shows what happens when the strong carry the weak.
The Christian answer
Who is John Galt? He is a man who flees a broken world. He is a man who seeks salvation without a Savior. He is the man who believes excellence is self-made. He is a sad, hurt man who needs a hug.
Who are we? We are those who believe salvation is a gift. We are those who know excellence is grace. We are those who stay to rebuild the world with Christ. We breathe the same Spirit. We walk the same road. And we carry one another home.
Prayer/Meditation
He walked where dust clung thick, where sorrow pressed like stone.
His heartbeat throbs for every soul that tries to stand alone.
He let His blood become our hope, His suffering our release;
His passion burns for every soul, until the world knows peace.
He bears the weight we cannot lift, a burden none can share.
His arms stretch wide across the world, to hold us in His care.
He touches wounds we try to hide. He feels us hold our breath.
His love will never turn away. He follows us through death.
The Mother, calls us to His side, to love as He has done—
to gather every wandering heart and lead them to her Son.
Sources
Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB.
John Paul II. Centesimus Annus. Vatican.
John Paul II. Salvifici Doloris. Vatican.
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