The Avengers - I've Got Your Back

I finally saw The Avengers today and I definitely wasn't disappointed!  It didn't take very long for me to fall in love with one of the highest grossing movies of all time.  Everything from the amazing characters and actors, to the intense and suspenseful plot, and even the moments of witty humor combined to make this, in my humble opinion, an incredible movie!

The main premise of the movie is that by putting together all of Earth's most amazing superheros into an epic team called "The Avengers", Earth would be prepared to tackle the potentially dangerous forces of the universe, such as Loki, when they threaten the safety of our planet.  In this movie we see Ironman, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye team up to defeat Loki and save the human race.

As amazing as they are, these guys make a pretty strange team.  They spend a good part of the first half of the movie arguing with each other.  Thor battles Ironman, Ironman and Captain America bicker constantly, Thor fights the Hulk in an attempt to control the Hulk's rage, they can't seem to agree on very much.  They aren't the perfect team, they aren't even really best of friends, but when they combine their forces they are literally able to do the impossible.

This movie can be seen as a beautiful example of the importance of teamwork, showing that if we pool our gifts and talents we can accomplish so much.  However, I want to look at it in a different way.  For me, The Avengers is a perfect example of our very real need to accept help from others when we are most in need.  Watching this movie I couldn't help but notice countless moments where one of these characters showed up just in time to save another who was in desperate need.  This happens over and over throughout the movie with all the characters, but the instance which struck me the most was when Captain America saved Ironman on the helicarrier.  The only way to fix the helicarrier's broken engine (and save everyone aboard) was for Ironman to get inside the giant fan and get in running again.  However, this would mean risking getting shred into pieces by the fan itself unless Captain America could pull the lever to temporarily slow down the fan speed in time for Ironman to escape the fan's blades.  In an epic scene, Captain America gets to the lever just moments before Ironman is killed, and Ironman returns the favor by taking out an enemy who was trying to kill Captain America the whole time.  It was such a fast, but awesome scene, as these two characters saved each other's lives, as well as everyone aboard the helicarrier!

Stepping back, I was really touched seeing how as each of these characters faced moments of real danger and vulnerability someone was there for them.  Had either Ironman or Captain America tried to face this scene alone they would have failed miserably and died.  Fortunately for them, they never had to face this battle by themselves.  Someone was there for them to pick them up, to rescue them when they were most in danger.  This happens repeatedly to all the different characters throughout the movie.  Just when someone is in real danger, someone else shows up just in time to help them, to protect them, to save them.

I think sometimes it's hard for us to accept help, even when we really need it.  Sometimes it could be about pride, we don't want to admit how much we need help which would show our weakness, or maybe because we don't want to burden the ones we love with our problems.  Regardless, I think this movie made me think about how loved we really are.  When we need help, God's grace provides it, sometimes in ways we never would have thought possible.  Our task is to accept that help, to allow the grace of God to pick us up, to help us, to protect us, to save us.

Think about a time in your life where you felt in danger, vulnerable, defeated.  Who are the angels that God sent to you?  God loves us too much to let us face these dark moments by ourselves.  How much do we believe in that amazing love of God?  How much do we believe in the love that our family and friends have for us?  How amazing is it that God doesn't let us endure such difficulties on our own, but sends us angels to be by our side...

Soul Surfer

I recently saw this movie, Soul Surfer, a true and quite inspiring story about a promising young surfer (Bethany Hamilton) who loses her arm in a shark attack. It is a very emotional film, portraying Beth's journey from being one of the best surfers in Hawaii, to her near death experience with the shark, to her attempts to relearn how to do so many basic tasks with just one arm, to her getting back in the water and surfing again. Even more incredible is that this is a true story.

This is the type of movie that doesn't need a written analysis...it stands on its own as a beautiful Nugget of Truth. Beth's amazing journey and personal growth, coupled with the centrality of her Christian faith in her life, make for a truly inspiring story. It is a movie I would recommend to anyone. However, there was one quote that Beth offers during her struggle to relearn how to surf with only one arm that struck me in a special way. As Beth is committing herself to get back in the water and learn to surf again, her family of course reminds her how difficult a task this will be with only one arm. At this point Beth beautifully tells her parents...

"I don't need easy, I just need possible."

Keeping in mind the fact that Beth literally almost died, and is now forced to go through the rest of her life with just one arm, I am absolutely amazed that she can find the determination to utter this statement. Nobody would have blamed Beth for rolling over and given up, but she says very clearly that she doesn't care how difficult it is, she will not give up surfing, something which brings her so much joy. It doesn't need to be easy, just possible. Sounds almost like a very famous scripture passage..."I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

If I truly believe that God loves me, that He loves me enough to help and guide me along every step of my life...I really don't need to be afraid. Beth knew that even though the road towards surfing again seemed incredibly difficult, God would be walking right alongside her. Do I believe that? Do I believe that God loves me so much that He is not only watching over me and listening to me, but that He is walking alongside me....no...that He lives within me? When I receive Jesus' body and blood in the Eucharist, God actually lives within me. If Jesus loves me so much that He would actually enter into my heart, what is there to fear?

Superheroes

This morning I went out for a nice run around the neighborhood and noticed a few advertisements for the movie “The Green Lantern”, which comes out in a couple weeks. That got me thinking…we really love our superhero movies, don’t we? Aside from The Green Lantern and Captain America, which come out this summer, over the last few years we’ve seen movies about Thor, Ironman, The Fantastic 4, Spiderman, Batman, Ghost Rider, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, and Blade…just to name a few. As I continued my run, I began to think that this love for superheroes is not new to our culture today. Didn’t all of these superheroes first become popular decades ago through comic books? Superheroes have been loved by our society for decades.

This makes me wonder…if superheroes are so readily accepted, and even loved by society why do we have such trouble accepting and loving God? Isn’t it interesting how many people would pick up a Spiderman comic book rather than the Bible, or how many more people will pay 10 bucks to see The Green Lantern than go to Sunday Mass? It’s an interesting question with an infinite number of possible answers. Today, I’ll offer you mine…which centers around our inability to accept God’s humility.

Whenever a superhero saves the day, he always does it in the most epic way possible. His superpowers are put on display for the world as he rescues the people from whatever danger is threatening them, and then receives the standing ovation afterwards. Think about your favorite superhero, with the exception of maybe Batman, doesn’t he follow this pattern? I’ll go back to the first Ironman movie. Tony Stark defeated all odds to take down the bad guy, fighting in incredible technologically engineered iron suites, throwing Obadiah Stone into the reactor to save the day. The next day, the whole world shows Tony Stark their appreciation when they find out that he is, in fact, Ironman.

We love our superheroes because of their “epicness.” They save the world right in front of our eyes for all of us to see. God, however, seems to work in a very different way. Usually, God doesn’t “save the day” on the grand stage with huge flashing lights and explosions. God works in a much more humble way. This is shown perfectly in the story of the Exodus, God saving his people from their slavery in Egypt.

I always thought it was very interesting that of all the ways God could have brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he chose to use Moses. God could have played the “superhero” and saved the Israelites in the most epic way possible, but instead he chose to work though Moses, a man who seemed to be the most unlikely person to lead the nation of Israel back to the Promised Land. God chose to save the Israelites through a socially awkward criminal. By our standards not only is this not epic at all, it seems almost inefficient. We as a society don’t want to cheer for the humble God who works through his people, we want to see superheroes who put their talents on display for everyone to see.

The beautiful thing about God is He is not motivated by “epicness”, but rather by love. God is love and everything he does for us is motivated by perfect love. One thing God shows us is that humility is an absolutely essential element of true love. Humility ensures that love remains selfless, as true love can never be self-centered but always self-giving. As we read throughout the Scriptures we see God constantly putting his humility, not his “epicness”, on display as an example of true love for us. This is of course most perfectly shown through the person of Jesus Christ who “Emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). The fact that God became man to save his people, people who constantly sin against God, people who add nothing to God’s infinite greatness is incredible. Not only that, but God didn’t save us through any “superhero epicness” but in the most humble of ways: death on a cross. How blessed we are to have such a perfectly loving, humble God.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me so perfectly. Your love is so amazing, so perfect it’s almost incomprehensible for us. Help me, guide me to come to know and appreciate your love for me more fully. Allow that love to really penetrate my heart, that it may transform my life.”

The Notebook – True Love Perseveres

Those of you who know me probably are aware of the fact that I have a soft spot for chick flicks. One of the most famous, and most beautiful (if you take out the couple premarital sex scenes), chick flicks of all time is “The Notebook.” It is another masterful movie adaption of a Nicholas Sparks novel. It’s a very long, deep movie, but for the purposes of this post I’m just gonna try to tackle one scene. Think back to when Allie is engaged to Lon, but after spending a few days with Noah is reminded of the love they once had. Allie must then choose between the wealthy Lon, who would provide her with a lifetime of financial security as well as the approval of her parents, and Noah, the poor farm boy that her parents despise. An argument erupts between Allie and Noah, at which point Noah offers us this powerful quote…

“So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.”

One of my favorite things about this movie, and this quote particularly, is that it breaks the stereotype that love is easy. When Allie realizes that she needs to choose between Lon and Noah, Noah sees that she needs to be reminded that the most loving path is not necessarily the easy path. You see, Allie fell into a very dangerous path of thought, a path that many people today fall into. Allie started to see love as an emotion, rather than a choice.

We cannot change our emotions; they come and go based on a variety of things. We also cannot choose our emotions; if we could why would we ever choose to feel anything but positive emotions? No, emotions are natural, coming and going like the passing weather. However, just like the weather can be a huge factor in how we plan our day, our emotions tend to be very strong motivators in our lives.

The thing is, can something as beautiful and profound as love be based on something as shifting as emotions? Could positive emotions really be enough to ground the love of a couple married for 50 years? Would emotions be enough to ensure that love survives through the tough, difficult times of life? I would say no, true love is not an emotion, but rather a choice, true love is in fact a decision. In this scene, Noah acknowledges that their relationship will not be easy, and that it’s going to take a lot of work. He even recognizes that “We’re gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do it because I want you.” The fact of the matter is I may not ‘feel’ like working at it every day, but I that doesn’t stop me from being able to ‘choose’ to love. Noah is not seeking a shifting relationship based on passing emotions, but rather true love, love that will last forever.

Look at Jesus Christ, whose life is the primary example of true love. In his suffering and death, Jesus chose to love us through some extremely difficult moments. Through all the humiliation, blood, and pain Jesus still chose to accept his death, showing an extraordinary love for each of us. “Love” based simply in emotions could not have lasted through the agony of the cross, but real true love practiced as a conscious choice, as an exercise of the will, can survive all of life’s difficulties with the help of God’s grace.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for being an example of true, unconditional love. Help me to come to see love not as an emotion capable of changing like the passing winds, but rather as a conscious choice to be made day in and day out. Guide and protect me, that I may choose love especially when my emotions make true love a very difficult thing. Never let me forget your loving and guiding presence in my life.”

Kindergarten Cop - Using God's Gifts

Ok so I know this movie is super old, actually as old as me it came out in 1990, but it’s still a favorite of mine. Also, who doesn’t love a little Arnold Schwarzenegger every once in a while? Anyway, Arnold plays Detective John Kimble who, along with Detective Phoebe O’Hara, is undercover looking for a wanted drug dealer. O’Hara is supposed to be undercover as a kindergarten teacher with Kimble doing the background investigative work. Unfortunately O’Hara gets sick the morning she is supposed to report to school and the two are forced to switch roles. While the kind and gentle O’Hara is stuck in bed, the tough guy Kimble, with absolutely no teaching experience, is forced to deal with a class full of kindergarteners. This is a recipe for disaster!

At first, it is quite a mess. The kids walk all over the confused and frustrated Detective Kimble, and everyone is sure that he will give up. Even Kimble acknowledges that he is no good at teaching and can’t handle these little kids, but is unfortunately stuck in this terrible situation because of the case they have been assigned to. What then does Kimble do, roll over and die? No, actually Detective Kimble takes a step back to think about what he is good at, what are his own gifts. As simple as it seems, Kimble decides that the two things he loves the most are being a cop and his pet ferret. When Kimble decides to stop feeling sorry for himself and begins using his detective skills and his pet ferret in class the kids begin to love him and listen to him. They are able to see his passion his love, and really begin to love their new teacher. All it took for Kimble to transform from a worthless teacher into an incredible one was recognizing his own gifts and talents, using them to make him a better, and happier, person.

God’s relationship with each of us is so personal, so unique, and so He blesses each of us in very different ways with very different gifts. Some of us are blessed with musical talent, others athletic abilities, others intellectual gifts, the list goes on and on. If we are to truly build the Kingdom of God “on Earth as it is in Heaven” we each need to recognize the gifts and talents God has blessed us with and allow them to shine. Just think about how many different saints there are…we have priests, religious brothers and sisters, married and single lay people, martyrs, children, musicians, fishermen, tax collectors, and much more. The communion of saints shows us that there is no stencil, no mold that you have be able to fit yourself into in order to be a good Christian. “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). Use the talents God has blessed you with to bring God’s love to all you meet and grow in sanctity along the way; isn’t that what life is all about?

“Heavenly Father, thank you for the personal relationship you have blessed me with. Thank you for the gifts and talents that you gave me. Help me to be more appreciative of these gifts, to recognize them as blessings coming directly from you. Guide me, that with your help I may be able to use these gifts to bring your love to everyone I meet.”

August Rush

Listen do you hear that… shut up, just listen…. …. Come on I’m not hearing things!... Listen very carefully…. Is that the sound of the subway, a field of tall green grass swaying with the wind, car horns in the city, an old farmer picking at his banjo, the roar of a garbage truck, or maybe the sound of children playing? Do you hear that?

Well for Freddie Highmore who plays “August” in the hit movie which is musically inspired, that sound that you have been listening for was his divine call. Well…the movie may not portray it as a divine call but nevertheless it is still a call. If you have not seen the movie then you need to, but first read this blog then go see it and you’ll know I am right. August Rush is about a boy who is deceptively removed from his parent’s right after birth and through his intense and keen ear for music, finds his way back to his parents.

But the way that his small keen ears hear this music reminds me of the way that our small ears hear God’s call from birth. God is calling us from birth whether we are willing to accept it or not. Unfortunately most of us will not accept it as our own. We see God as this far off tyrant figure that has many laws and never does anything for me. God has such a deep impact on our lives and sometimes our heads are so buried into that life we created… we don’t recognize God’s fingerprints all over it.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

But I believe we can learn a lesson from that 12 year old music prodigy August Rush, because he heard his call and he did not stop fighting for who he believed in until he had them. August fought to be with his Mother and Father. Well so should we. The magical call that August had was to reconnect with his parents. Well we all have that call too, and it is your responsibility to do whatever it takes to reconnect with our Mother Mary and our loving heavenly Father, who beyond all else just wants you to turn to him and embrace him in your life. If you believe in him enough, and work hard enough to find him, you will not be let down. There is nothing that our Father will not forgive or forget. He loves you unconditionally, he loves you when you sin, he loves you when you fall, he loves you even when YOU don’t love YOU.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Harry Potter – Offer up Penance

In my last post, we saw how Bill Gates is an example of the first pillar of Lent, almsgiving. Today, let’s learn about another pillar from one of my role models, Harry Potter. I’m going to dive about midway into the seventh book. Just after Dobby’s death, which we saw in the closing scene of the movie, Harry is absolutely distraught. He is overcome with tears and grief as he deals with the loss of a good friend. This grief leads Harry to make an interesting decision, as Harry decides to spend hours digging Dobby’s grave by hand, rather than instantaneously create a beautiful and perfect grave by magic. I absolutely love the way J.K. Rowling describes the scene, and I think it shows us the true spirit of the fasting and penance that we should be doing during Lent.

“He dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a gift to the elf who had saved their lives.” (HP 7 pg 478)

All the hard work and pain that Harry endures while digging this grave he decides to offer as a gift to Dobby. Since he sees the work as a gift for someone he loves so dearly, Harry “relishes” the work, the sweat, the blisters, seeing them as something beautiful and necessary. Seeing the work and pain as a precious gift also pushes Harry to work his absolute hardest, holding nothing back, as anything less would not be good enough for “the elf who saved their lives.”

Should not our Lenten penance be the same? Through our penance, our fasting, our mortification we choose to endure some pain in order to offer it as a gift to the Lord. Offering God our penances is one of the most powerful forms of prayer, as through it we can show God how much we truly love and appreciate Him. As Harry relished in the work, sweat, and blisters in order present a beautiful gift to the elf that saved their lives, we can also joyfully offer up penances to the God who has saved our souls.

In addition to offering God a beautiful gift, penance is also good for our own spiritual lives. Through denying ourselves some pleasure and giving it to God, we are reminded that nothing on Earth can truly satisfy us like the love of God. In a world where so many material comforts are so readily available to us, penance offers us a beautiful way to remind ourselves that “The world and its enticements are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:17).

As today is a Friday in Lent, we are all asked by the Church to abstain from eating meat, offering this up as a penance to God. In addition, we should all be practicing some sort of personal fasting throughout Lent. Don’t take this pillar of Lent lightly, as there is so much potential for spiritual growth through the prayer of offering up penance to God. If you have not been faithful to whatever sacrifice you chose to practice during Lent, maybe this is a good time to renew that commitment. It’s not going to be easy; in fact this pillar of Lent is going to hurt a lot. But just think…the more it hurts, the more precious the gift you offer to God.

When you do an act of penance offer a prayer like this... “Heavenly Father, accept the penance I offer to you. Accept my suffering as you accepted Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Through it, allow me to grow in holiness, that I may never forget that no Earthly thing could ever satisfy me as you can.”

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.”

Taken

One of my favorite movies of all time is “Taken.” It is a movie packed with action, drama, and suspense. It also features a plot that hits home for all parents, or older brothers like me, of teenage girls. Basically the parents of this 17 year old girl allow her to go with her friend to Europe to follow their favorite touring rock band. Her mother willingly lets her go, but her father Bryan (played by actor Liam Neeson) is extremely reluctant to give her permission. In the end, he was right as his daughter and her friend are “Taken” by slave traders.

When Bryan and his wife find out that their daughter has been taken, all happiness is sucked out of them. They have lost the most important thing in their lives, their beloved daughter Kim. However, the second Bryan finds out that Kim was taken his immediate thought is how to hunt down the people that captured her and get her back. He doesn’t waste any time weighing his options, the only option is to rescue her. The rest of the movie surrounds Bryan putting the skills he learned when he worked as an officer for the CIA to use in order to find his daughter. Although the situation seems almost impossible, Bryan is determined to go to extreme lengths to get her back. Nothing will stop him from seeing his daughter again.

The past few months I’ve been reading (and teaching my CCD class) about a section of the bible that I think many people are unfamiliar with, the books of Kings. This has really enhanced my faith life and stresses a theme which I think relates perfectly to what happens in the movie “Taken.” After King David, we see king after king after king “do evil in the sight of the Lord.” The Kings, as well as the Israelites themselves run away from their Heavenly Father, forgetting the covenant their fathers made with the Lord. As they continue to be more and more lost and “Taken” by their ways of sin and idolatry, the Israelites lose everything…their kingdom, their temple, everything.

Although the Israelites had run so far away from God, our Heavenly Father simply would not stop searching after his people. In the book of Ezekiel 34:11-12 God so lovingly tells us “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.” In this beautiful verse, God promises us that he will never give up on us, no matter how lost we get. Even if we find ourselves wandering into the thickest of darkness will always be there to look after and guide us as a shepherd watches his sheep. Just as in the movie Byron is determined to find his beloved daughter, God our Father is determined to never stop searching for us, his beloved sons and daughters.

In fact, God shows just how far he is willing to go to search us out and bring us back to his love in the very person of Jesus Christ. God wants to love us so badly that he himself came down to Earth to show us his love, and to save and redeem us. God himself shepherds us, just as prophesized in the book of Ezekiel, but not in some far off spiritual sense. He actually comes down to Earth to live among us. But wait…not only does he come down to Earth, he actually dies for us. Jesus Christ died the most horrific, most painful, most embarrassing death imaginable at the time. One of the most famous verses in the bible, John 3:16, reads “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” What more proof do we need of God’s incredible love?

Just like Byron never stopped looking for his seemingly lost daughter Kim in the movie “Taken”, God never stopped searching for the seemingly lost Israelite people. He is also looking for you and for me. He will never stop seeking us out until we open our hearts to receive him. I don’t know what God sees in me that he would offer me this amazing love that I am so unworthy of, but I am eternally grateful for that love that reaches out to me every moment of every day.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me, for never giving up on me. You are my Father, my King, my Comfort, my Guide, my Lord and God. Help me to accept the love you are constantly offering to me. Help me to not be afraid to let you into the depths of my heart. Give me the strength and courage I need to allow you to live and through me, bringing your love to everyone I meet.”

The Rite

Newest exorcism movie, “The Rite”, is about a young seminarian, Michael Kovak, whose lack of faith leads him to the Vatican, where he takes a two month course about exorcisms. While in the Vatican, he is instructed to become the new apprentice of Fr. Lucas, (Anthony Hopkins), who is an experienced veteran exorcist and has successfully completed thousands of exorcisms. Through demonic experiences while with Fr. Lucas, Michael finally finds true faith.
While this movie is based on the true story of Fr. Gary Thomas, real life Catholic priest from the Diocese of San Jose, California, it has been twisted to fit the big screen.
Many Catholic Christians in this modern day Church are afraid of the topic of demons and exorcisms. It is somewhat of a taboo topic, driving most Christians to stay away from movies like “The Rite”. Some Christians do not even believe in demons, Satan, or the power of evil.
“He who does not believe in the devil, does not believe in the Gospel.” Pope John Paul II
Whether we like it or not, Satan is real, and his demons, and evil forces are very active in this culture of death that our whole world seems to have accepted as the “norm”. As our recently passed Holy Father points out in the quote above, the devil is very much alive, and we must know this, accept it, and use our belief in the Gospel to fight it. The salvation message in the Gospel alone should be enough for us to combat the evil forces active in our society. But as if that weren’t enough God gave us the Holy Spirit, and as Catholic Christians, we are baptized, we are temples of Christ. As shown in the movie, possessions are real, but “Be not afraid”, for your temple is full, it is full of the power of Jesus Christ, and the Holy spirit. And as if that was not enough, God gave us the Eucharist, and when we consume the Body of Christ, there is no possible way, that our body could share a Christ and a demon. For Christ is more powerful than Satan can ever be; it says in James 2:19:
“You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.”
So while we have good reason to fear the devil, we have even more reason to not be afraid, to embrace Jesus Christ and the message he brings in the Gospel. Open your hearts to Christ and nothing can stop you.

When in Rome - Free to Love

Every so often I love a good chick flick, hence today’s post of When in Rome. It’s probably not winning any Oscars, but I thought it was pretty good. Basically what happens is this woman named Beth (played by Kristen Bell) takes some coins out of a magical fountain of love in Rome, causing the men who threw those coins in the fountain to fall in love with her. Of course these guys are all awkwardly creepy and begin to obsess over this beautiful woman because they are under this extremely strong magical spell. The big twist comes when Beth herself falls in love with this guy Nick (played by Josh Duhamel), and he obviously loves her too, but Beth thinks the only reason he loves her is because one of those coins, more specifically a poker chip, that came out of the fountain belonged to him. Here arises a moral dilemma: do you take advantage of the “spell”, are acknowledge that the love is not real because he did not freely will it. The question is; can true love be forced on someone. Luckily for us, Beth makes the right decision, providing us with this beautiful quote…

“If I take his love against his will, it is not love at all”

This perfectly reflects one beautiful aspect of God’s love for us. God has blessed each and every one of us with free will, we are all free to choose to accept God as our Lord and Savior or to reject him and follow the ways of selfishness and sin. Sometimes, especially in our world today where sin seems to be everywhere, it’s easy to imagine a world without free will, a world where everyone had no choice but to worship God and follow his commands. Such a world would be a world without war, murder, rape, pornography, a world where kids obeyed their parents, everyone went to mass, spent their lives worshiping God, etc. What a peaceful place the world would be!

The thing is that in order to obtain this “perfect earthly world”, individual free will would have to be sacrificed. However, just as Beth tells us in this movie love that is not freely willed is not true love. If God did not bless us with a free will, allow us the opportunity to freely accept him ourselves, rather than him force his love upon us, God would not be a loving father, but rather an oppressive dictator. God IS love, all love comes from God; therefore God is also the example of perfect love itself. Just think how much richer, deeper, truer our relationship with God is because it is freely offered and not forced. We are not God’s robots programmed just the way he wants us to be, no…we are God’s beloved sons and daughters. Though we will run away from our Father in Heaven at times, we know his love is always there for us, always being freely given to us.

“Lord God, thank you again for the blessing of our relationship. It humbles me so much to think about how you, the eternal amazing God of the universe, would desire a real, personal relationship with me. You never stop offering me your unending love. Help me to freely respond to your gift of love, to show my gratitude through acts of worship to you alone, and charity to my brothers and sisters.

Harry Potter - The Power of Love

Being the big Harry Potter fan that I am, I love reading about all the incredibly powerful forms of magic used throughout the series. There’s so many amazing spells that go on throughout the books including transfiguration, flying, potion making, Harry’s favorite “Expecto Patronum”, and even the three “Unforgivable Curses.” However, there is one type of magic in the Harry Potter series that is unquestionably the strongest and most powerful. It is the magic that protects Harry from the evil Lord Voldemort throughout his life.

This mysterious, powerful magic that Lord Voldemort will never understand is love, but not just any love…this incredibly powerful magic is sacrificial love. Going all the way back to the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry; we find that before Voldemort could get to Harry he had to kill both James and Lily Potter, Harry’s parents. However, if we look at Lily’s death specifically, we find that Lily didn’t just accept the inevitable death coming her way, but really honestly truly desired to die so that her son Harry could live. Her love was sacrificial; it was so profound and true that she wished to die so that her son may have life. What happens next? Voldemort is unable to kill the tiny infant Harry with the most powerful killing curse known to the wizarding world. Then, when Harry and Voldemort are reunited eleven years later, through Voldemort’s parasitic relationship with Professor Quirrell, Quirrell/Voldemort can’t even bear to touch Harry’s skin. The sacrificial love that Lily Potter had for her son was infinitely stronger than any dark magic that Lord Voldemort could conjure.

This is a principle that needs no analogy or metaphor to enlighten our faith life. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us very clearly “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus Christ is the living example of this verse. He loved us enough to sacrifice his own life so that we may no longer endure spiritual death, but live eternally with God. Like Lily Potter’s love for her son, Jesus’ incredible love for us is a love that will always triumph over the powers of sin and death. If we stay close to Christ and really allow his love to work in our lives, we need not worry about the powers of Satan; we simply need to trust in the eternal love and mercy of God.

Harry is clearly a recipient of his mother’s love, as we are recipients of God’s love, but Harry doesn’t just accept his mother’s love and stop there. Harry takes the example that his mother gave him and continually sacrifices himself for the good of those around him. In just about every book/movie Harry seems to be risking his life for the sake of his friends, as well as the wizarding world as a whole. In the same way, we are called to not only receive God’s gift of perfect love through the cross and resurrection, but to share that love with everyone we meet. We are called to be signs and bearers of Christ’s love. We are called to sacrifice ourselves, just as Christ did, for our friends, families, and neighbors.

“Lord Jesus through your cross and resurrection you have shown us that true love is sacrificial love. Thank you for being such a perfect example of love in our world. Help me to love those around me with that same inclination towards self sacrifice that you had. I know that this will be an incredibly difficult task, but I also believe that with your grace anything is possible. Allow the love I spread to those around me help them, as well as myself, to grow closer to you.”

Couple's Retreat - Joey and Lucy

I know I already wrote about the movie “Couple’s Retreat” last week, but I love that movie so much I think it’s time to revisit it. This time let’s look at another couple, Joey and Lucy, played by Jon Favreau and Kristen Davis. They represent the high school sweethearts who married early, and regret not having their chance to “party it up.” They regularly cheat on each other and seem to be just waiting for their daughter to get to college before filing the divorce. It’s a marriage that is clearly going through some serious issues.

These issues are especially exposed towards the end of the movie when the couples end up on Eden East, the party crazy singles section of the island. Joey starts dancing with some young beautiful girls in bikinis, and Lucy is having a great time with a good looking guy with a six pack that could compete with The Situation! When Dave (Vince Vaughn) tries to convince Joey to stop messing around and find his wife Joey finally spills his guts out with a very open and honest quote…saying “You had your fun, I got married early, I never got to experience any of this.”

Joey and Lucy’s struggle is one that I can honestly say I’ve struggled with. Having joined the seminary right after high school, at times I find myself saying the same exact thing that Joey did in this movie. Sometimes I can’t help but think that I’ll never have my college years to just chill out and have fun. I can’t just head to dinner and a movie with a bunch of friends and get back home at 2 in the morning. I can’t ask a girl out on a date. Heck, I can’t even watch TV without wondering if I’m avoiding more important responsibilities. I can definitely relate to the frustrations that Joey and Lucy are going through in this movie.

Why then did Joey and Lucy marry so early in life? Why did I join the seminary so early in life? The answer can be found in this very movie. During the party scene towards the end of the movie when Lucy sees Dave and Ronnie so happy together, she gives them a look of jealousy and says “They’re so lucky.” Even though Lucy is struggling with having settled down so early, in that moment she shows that her heart won’t ever be fully satisfied by reliving those years of partying, but rather her heart really truly longs for love, true and heartfelt love which she sees in the marriage of Dave and Ronnie. In the same way, although at times I do wish I could have lived the life of a “regular college guy”, I know that the difficult and challenging life that I have chosen will bring me greater inner peace and joy than any number of late nights out with friends ever could. I am human so I will always struggle with this, but through the grace of God I know, and Joey and Lucy realize at the end of the movie, that skipping out on the best party years of life in pursuit of greater love will bring about great sacrifices/challenges, but will also bring about great love, true joy, and inner peace.

“Lord Jesus, you have blessed each and every one of us with a very personal relationship with you. You relate to each of us in a very personal, and therefore a very different, way. Help guide each of us to true love, to you, through the means that will be most beneficial for each of us. Help us to fight through the challenges that life presents to us in order to find your love.”

The Kids are All Right

I am a firm believer that God has inscribed his law within the flesh of our hearts as it says in Paul’s letter to the Romans. I believe that though people may not choose to believe in God (or follow Him) they are still guided by the law He placed in their hearts at creation. That is if they choose to be open to it. Though people do not live their lives in accordance with Church Teaching or God’s law, I still feel that God is present, actively working to reconcile us with Him. He did His part by sending Jesus to die on the Cross for us. Now it’s our turn. Yes it’s a rough journey but that is why we have each other.

The Kids are All Right follows the daily life of a fictional lesbian couple who have created this life described in the movie as a marriage. Now I am not getting into the politics of this matter. That’s your own business. What took my breath away was the monologue by Jules (played by Julianne Moore) which goes a little like this:

Your mom and I are in hell right now and the bottom line is marriage is hard. It’s really f****n’ hard. It’s just two people slogging through the s**t, year after year, getting older, changing — [it’s a] f*****g marathon, okay? So sometimes, you know, you’re together so long you stop seeing the other person, you just see weird projections of your own junk. Instead of talking to each other, you go off the rails, and act grubby, and make stupid choices, which is what I did. And I feel sick about it because I love you guys, and your mom, and that’s the truth. And sometimes you hurt the ones you love the most, and I don’t know why… Anyway… I just wanted to say how sorry I am for what I did. I hope you’ll forgive me eventually. Thank you.

I ask that you look past the language and look past the fact that all this is in reference to the relationship of two women. What does this tell you about the love they share?

First off, marriage is a journey. Any married couple or consecrated religious will tell you that each day is a commitment. Some days (or weeks or months or years) are going to be “hell” but that’s ok because it’s hard, it’s a “marathon”. You work all the way ‘til the end. (Hence in most wedding vows you have “’Til death do us part.”

Now the hard part really comes when “you’re together so long you stop seeing the other person, you just see weird projections of your own junk.” When you stop looking at your spouse  as a person it really becomes hard to fully love them and appreciate them. That’s why Jules pulled away and “instead of talking to each other” she went “off the rails and [acted] grubby, and [made] stupid choices.” How is this different than our relationship with God?

I am a sinner. I lose sight of God and try to do my own thing. Instead of talking with God and trying to live out His will I go an make my own decisions. Typically that involves a lot of failure, impatience with myself and others, not to mention things I later regret. But we all do it. We all sin. We stop seeing our loved one for who they are. We stopped seeing God as our omnipotent Creator somewhere in our history so we veered off track.

Lucky for Jules, she feels sick about her decision because her decision jeopardized her relationship with the ones she loves. How come more of us don’t feel that way with God when we sin? Instead we continue to shrug it off and take our own initiative. But God is at work in Jules’ life because she is open to it. She’s open to doing what is right. She is open to humbling herself so she can fully love her spouse and her family. We need more of that in society. We need more relationships like this one where they are willing to persevere through the hard times, through “hell”. We need to realize that we can’t just live for ourselves and our own desires.

As for her statement, “And sometimes you hurt the ones you love the most and I don’t know why.” That’s something to ponder and chew on. Who do you hurt? Why do you hurt them? Think of the love they have for you by enduring that hurt. Maybe you should ask for forgiveness. It’s never to late, especially if you are asking God.

Love is a crazy topic to consider, but it’s a strong human characteristic. God knows that, hence He inscribed the law on our hearts and gave us the two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind… You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Harry Potter - Life

If you read the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, one of the subplots that don’t quite appear in the movie is the Death Eater’s plot to rid the world of “Mudbloods”, those witches and wizards who are born of Muggle parents. Their blood is not “pure,” which makes them less than human in the eyes of the Death Eaters. Harry’s quest to defeat Lord Voldemort is much more than trying to defeat a very powerful wizard who seeks his own life, actually the defeat of Lord Voldemort would mean the end of a very oppressive genocide.

In the midst of these very dangerous times, someone poses a very interesting, and honest, question to Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley is known in the wizarding world as an extremely powerful auror, and is one of Harry Potter’s closest allies. He is asked what he would say to people who believe it should be “wizards first” in such dangerous times. People who stood up for the rights of Muggle-Borns were in just as much danger as those people who actually were Muggle Born. Why then should Pure-Blooded wizards stand up for Muggle Borns if it could possibly result in a lifetime in Azkaban Prison?

Kingsley’s response to this honest question is shockingly powerful. He is faced with a question posed entirely out of fear and responds with anything but. Kingsley’s response is “I’d say that it’s one step from ‘Wizards first’ to ‘Purebloods first,” and then to ‘Death Eaters.’ We’re all human aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same and worth saving.”

Every time I read this book I am awestruck at the awesomeness of this quote. Standing up for all forms of human life: the unborn, the elderly, the poor, the rich, the disabled, the mentally ill, men and women of all races is something that is essential to the Christian faith. Human life is sacred in all its forms because God created us in his image and likeness, which we see in the very first chapter of the book of Genesis.

These days we are remembering the 38^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision Roe vs. Wade, the case which made abortion legal throughout all 50 states. Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people will be attending the March for Life in Washington D.C., trying to tell our governmental leaders the same exact thing that Kingsley Shacklebolt tells us in the seventh Harry Potter book “We’re all human aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same and worth saving.”

“Lord Jesus thank you for my life, for creating me in your image and likeness. Bless and protect those whose lives are seen by society to be useless, worthless, secondary. You gave your life on the cross out of love for all human lives; help me to see human life as you do, as a beautiful manifestation of your love.”

Twilight - The Cullens

I’m not gonna lie I am a huge Twilight fan and I definitely don’t hide this fact. Who doesn’t love a good teenage love story with a human girl stuck between a vampire and a werewolf? Not only does the Twilight saga give us an awesome teenage love story, but it is full of unbelievably rich Catholic imagery! Let’s start with how the very first Twilight movie shows a very powerful, yet oftentimes forgotten, principle in the Catholic Church, the idea of mortification.

When watching the first Twilight movie, there is absolutely no question as to who the good vampires are and who the bad ones are. Without a doubt the Cullens are the good guys, while James and Victoria are the evil ones. Now we need to ask ourselves: what’s the difference between the two groups of vampires? As vampires, both are soulless monsters perfectly designed to kill. However, there is one major difference between the two groups that makes all the difference in the Twilight movies. Coincidentally the very same thing could make all the difference in our relationship with God. What is this magical element you may ask?

The major difference is that the bad vampires indulge in human blood whereas the Cullens only eat animal blood. While the Cullens acknowledge that they can never be fully satisfied by animal blood alone, they make this sacrifice because they don’t want to be monsters like the other vampires.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). The Cullens deny themselves the human blood which they crave so much in order to be better and stronger people, in the same way if we Christians would practice the virtue of mortification, denying ourselves some of life’s pleasures that we are constantly craving, we would also become better people, as we would grow closer to Christ. Of course depriving ourselves from some of the pleasurable activities we enjoy so much will leave a hole in ourselves, we will feel unsatisfied in a way, but Christ himself will come down and fill that hole. In this way through fasting we can make room in our heart for Christ to enter and fill us with his love. This of course is much easier said than done, we see how Edward Cullen longs for Bella’s blood throughout the Twilight movie, but Edward is a better person for practicing the virtue of mortification. With God’s help, we too can practice this very powerful virtue.

Some simple ways to put this into practice in our daily lives: don’t reach for that second helping of food or dessert after dinner, give up some time normally spent in front of the computer or television, don’t complain after someone mistreats you in some way, offer to help your parents with some more of the chores around the house. These are clearly not easy things to do, as they all involve denying ourselves, but through this fasting we can each do our part to bringing the love of God to all we meet.

Before you try to deny yourself and practice the virtue of mortification, offer up a prayer like this: “Lord Jesus you know I really desire _____, help me to deny myself and offer up this sacrifice to you. Help me to persevere so that I may offer it up joyfully to you. Allow it to help me to grow closer to you. Amen”

Couple's Retreat - Dave and Ronnie

I recently saw the movie “Couples Retreat”, a hilarious film about 4 couples who attend a retreat at a tropical island resort.  If you haven’t seen it you can get a decent plot summary here

I want to focus on one of the couples in particular, Dave and Ronnie (played by Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman).  They are supposed to portray the average, old fashioned, married couple: Dave is a working class man, a videogame salesman, while Ronnie is a stay at home mom caring for their two kids.  When their friends Jason and Cynthia ask them to go to the couples retreat with them, Dave and Ronnie both agree that they can’t go for various reasons, most importantly that both Dave and Ronnie agree they have no need for therapy, their marriage is fine, and they truly love each other. 

Obviously they end up going on the trip, otherwise there would be no movie, but upon arriving at the island they are shocked, and quite pissed, to see that therapy sessions are not optional, which was the reason why they decided to go on the retreat.  They begrudgingly attend these sessions, still convinced that no major issues exist in their marriage.  However, to their surprise the therapist uncovers some real issues that prevent Dave and Ronnie from truly loving each other, issues that they are forced to talk about and deal with throughout the movie.  In the end, Dave admits to his wife that they have a million problems, but that is life! He tells her that no marriage is perfect, that they will have their problems and that they won’t solve all of them, and that’s ok.  What is important is that they never forget the commitment that they made to themselves and to their families.  This is an incredibly beautiful moment where love is portrayed not as sex, pleasure, or fun, but as commitment!

           

This retreat was a sort of examination of conscience for Dave and Ronnie.  They took a period of time, though unexpected, to examine what is good and bad in their relationship and to renew their commitment to each other.  Should we not do the same in our own relationship with God?  Through a simple examination of conscience each day we may discover things that, like Dave and Ronnie, may be stopping our relationship with God from truly growing.  This examination of conscience is very simple: just take a few minutes before bed and think about some positives and negatives that happened throughout the day.  At the end of the reflection make the same promise to God that Dave made to Ronnie: acknowledge that there will always be problems in the relationship, but promise to work hard and renew the commitment that you made to God in your baptism.

PS…if you liked this movie, keep checking in…analysis of the other 3 couples in the movie will be coming soon!