The Last Song

Every so often I love to watch a nice dramatic chick flick. I know I may be risking my manhood with this one…but this afternoon I watched the movie “The Last Song” with my sister. Say what you want about Miley Cyrus, I think this movie is yet another piece of evidence that Nicholas Sparks is a genius. It’s a beautiful, emotional, and funny story that I really enjoyed. It also centers on a theme that is central to our lives as Catholics: the idea that struggles aren’t necessarily always a bad thing.

Throughout this movie Ronny (Miley Cyrus’ character) undergoes tremendous maturity and growth. She starts out as a selfish, and quite unhappy, teenage girl. She is bitter about everything and just wants to do her own thing. However, at the end of the movie she is portrayed very differently, as a mature young woman. She comes to value and cherish her family. She even begins to embrace her musical talent, sharing her gift with those around her. It is a beautiful story about the transformation of this young girl.

What was it that brought about Ronny’s incredible transformation? It was the extreme struggles that she had to endure throughout the movie, especially her father’s illness and death. Just as Ronny seemed to be starting to get close to her dad, the poor guy has a terrible heart attack, is forced to give up playing piano because of his illness, and then dies. It almost seems unfair that Ronny would have to go through so many struggles over the course of just a couple months, but there is no doubt that she became a stronger person because of those struggles.

Do you ever wonder why life seems to be so unfair sometimes? Why do some people have to go through such extreme struggles? Divorce, teenage pregnancy, and painful illnesses such as cancer are just a few of the incredible struggles that people today have to endure. Although struggles like these could never be wished upon anybody, the fact of the matter is that they do exist. What then should we do with them? Should we lose hope, concede that life sucks and just give up? Should we concede that maybe God loves some people more than others? If God loves each of us as sons and daughters why would he let us struggle as much as we do?

To answer these questions we need look no further than the life of Jesus Christ. Through his life, God the Father fully revealed himself to us. Did Jesus ever struggle? Isaiah 53:5 says “But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.” Jesus had to endure the struggle of the cross. Think about the physical pain: the blood, the whipping, the crown of thorns, carrying the weight of the cross, and the nails themselves. Think about the emotional pain: the ridicule, the embarrassment, the complete rejection by everyone. Think about the spiritual pain: having to carry the weight of all humanity’s sins on his back. Christ suffered more than anyone on this earth, but also think about the blessing of the resurrection that came about because of that suffering. Through the suffering of Christ the whole world was brought back to God’s love. How amazing is that!

God used the suffering of Christ to bring about extraordinary goodness to the world. Can’t God do the very same thing with our own sufferings? If we look at this movie in light of the Gospel, can’t we say that God was able to use the sufferings Ronny had to endure to make her a better person? In the same way, we need to have the faith and hope in our own lives to trust that God is always with us. God’s plan for each of us is far more complex, and even perfect, than we could ever understand. No, maybe it’s not always “fair”, that we have to endure the struggles and sufferings that life presents us with, but if we have faith that God plans on using those sufferings to help bring about the kingdom of God then those sufferings take on a whole new meaning, a holy meaning.

“Heavenly Father, today I want to offer up a new prayer, a somewhat unusual prayer. Today I want to thank you for my struggles, my sufferings. Thank you for allowing me to share in this most important, and most holy, part of the life of your son. Help me to have the faith and hope I need to trust that these sufferings are vessels that you will use to bring your infinite love into the world.”