Trailer Time: MARY (Netflix)

I am very curious about this movie.  

I have heard conflicting things about it.  Some say it is very Catholic.  Others say that it is anti-Catholic.  I don't know, but I found the trailer to be very interesting.  

Interestingly, it seems to tone down the religious aspects of the story.  The angel says "All things are possible..."  But leaves out the end of the quote where he says, "...for God."  Even the reference at the end to how "Love will save the world," seems a little bit of a secularization of the story.

However, I am open to this being story being an avenue to meet the Netflix audience where they are.  Perhaps this is targeted at those who would normally not consume something so directly religious.  When I would work this one retreat program, the first witness would specifically never mention God.  The purpose as to ease people into the religious elements of the retreat.  Perhaps that is what is going on here.

Regardless, I thought the trailer was well made, with good production value.  I look forward to how it intends to explore Joseph's love for Mary and her holy virtue.

Thoughts?

New Evangelizers Post: Martin Luther Misunderstands Grace

      

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

Several hundred years ago, Martin Luther led a revolt that today we call the Protestant Reformation.

There are several areas of contention to be found between Luther and the Catholic Church. Sadly, Luther made some very astute points about corruption in the Church regarding things like the selling of indulgences. However, he did not focus only on reforming Church corruption. His theology would often be at odds with the established Catholic Faith.

One of the areas where Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church was in his view of grace. Grace is the encounter with God and the effect that it has on us. It is something transcendent that helps us grow from where we are to where God wants us to be. His grace always comes before our response so that anything we do is a reaction to that grace.

St. Augustine understood the effect of grace in two major ways. The first was that it was a healing we receive which responds to sin and makes us whole. The second is that grace puts our loves in proper order within us. This second point is clearly seen in Augustine’s life. He loved intellectual and sensual pursuits more than God. But when he encountered His grace, Augustine was able to place the love of God first and his other loves in their proper order beneath the Divine.

St. Thomas Aquinas picks up this idea from Augustine. Thomas also emphasizes that grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it. Sometimes, we focus on human sin and frailty as the markers of our humanity. We say, “To err is human…” And in many ways, this is true. But when we err, particularly when we sin, we become less human, not more human. When Thomas says that grace “perfects” nature, he does not mean that we humans must be without flaw before we have grace. We see this reflected in the way we describe horribly violent crimes as “inhuman.” When we receive the grace of God, we do not become less human. We become more like Christ and more whom God has intended us to be. When God brings us His grace, we respond to it by accepting it and letting it transform us.

Luther looked at the tradition that was given from St. Thomas and he thought the Catholic Church was teaching that it was our human response to grace that saves us. Because of Original Sin, Luther thought we were so corrupted that there was nothing in us that was good. Catholics theology says that because of our fallen nature, we all have an attraction to sin which we call concupiscence. It is that thing in us that desires the things that we know are sinful. (Think about how people are enticed to something once they are told that it is “forbidden.”) For Luther, this concupiscence wasn’t just a predisposition or attraction to sin. For him, concupiscence was sin. Because of this, the human being is totally corrupt: we relish sin and have a nausea for the good. This is because Original Sin has completely obliterated human nature.

So for Luther, the only thing that can save us is Christ’s saving power of the cross which we receive through faith alone. None of my works have any merit, because they come from my corrupt human nature. But faith is a gift of God’s grace and it is the only thing that can lead to salvation.

But this makes grace something alien to us. To be sure, Grace comes from God alone, but in Luther’s view, grace is not something we are made for. It is the cure for our disease, which is human nature. For Luther, accepting Christ’s grace through faith makes it so that Jesus covers my sinful human nature. But at my core, I am still sinful and corrupted.

This is at odds with how Catholics view grace. Yes, we are wounded by Original Sin, but we are not beyond repair. We are not saved by faith alone. The one time accepting of Jesus as savior is only part of the process of salvation. The view of Luther is too exterior for the Catholic faith. Salvation is too much of something that happens outside of you. We are not simply covered by Christ’s grace:

We are transformed by Christ’s grace.

You can read the whole article here.

Trailer Time: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Teaser

I thought that Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning was the best movie of last year.  It was an exciting thrill-ride that highlighted all that was best of the franchise.

This teaser has all the earmarks of a finale to the series.  It emphasizes how Ethan goes out of his way to do anything he can not to lose anyone else he cares about, like he did in the first movie.  And over the years we've also become attached to his crew so that we also dread the thought of losing them.  The one shot of Ethan and Benji embracing made me feel very sad.

The scope of this movie looks epic and the stunts once again look amazing.  Right now there isn't a show-stopper like the motorcycle jump in the last film, but the bi-plane chase looks great.

This series has delivered more excitement and entertainment than most movie franchises and I can't wait to see it.

Thoughts?

Film Flash: Here

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Tries to be a modern Our Town, but bad acting and unlikable characters derail it.

Film Review: Transformers One

 

Sexuality/Nudity No Objection

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity No Objection

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

This is the best Transformers movie since the 1986 animated film.

The story takes place before the great Autobot/Decepticon War.  Cybertron is being ruled by Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) who is leading them through the crisis of energon (the source of energy for Transformers) after a brutal war with the Quintisons that destroyed all the other Primes.  As a result, the non-transforming Cybertronians have to mine the planet for energon.  This includes the daredevil Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and his cautious best friend D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry).  Orion is convinced that the Matrix of Leadership is the key to saving Cybertron but that it exists on the forbidden surface of the planet.  After circumstances thrust these two friends along with the no-nonsense Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and the lonely and desperate B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) into an adventure on the surface where they will go on a journey of discovery that will change them forever.

This movie does something that I very much enjoy, which is that it uses the comedy of the first half to emphasize the tragedy of the second half.  This is also a place where I think marketing for this movie did it a great disservice.  There is a LOT of silly, PIXAR-style humor in the first half of the film.  Most of the ads focused on this tone.  As a result, I think people felt like all of the drama from these characters was being ignored.  

Instead, the fun and friendship of the first half serves to underscore the dramatic turns.  At one point Orion and D-16 talk about how they will be friends forever.  In the theater, my wife looked at me and smiled at the sweet moment, but she told me later that she was confused because I looked so sad.  Those who know Transformers lore will understand why.

I was struck by the story parallels between this movie and Plato's Allegory of the Cave.  In this film, the people of Cybertron are literally in a cave, forbidden from going to the surface.  But when our heroes do, they see the truth about how their entire lives below have been built on lies.  For one of the characters, this enables them to take on the responsibility of saving the people.  But to the other, the information reveals an utter betrayal that shatters him.  You can see the resentment over the one who brought them out of the cave because he was happy in his illusions.  

All of this comes about successfully because the character interactions are so good.  This wouldn't work if you didn't completely invest in Orion's and D-16's friendship.  The chemistry between the other characters works well.  Elita covers her insecurity with a stern bossiness, but Orion's improvisational style helps her loosen up and helps him mature.  As annoying as B-127 is, his utter sincerity brings the characters together.  These are real, three-dimensional characters that feel like the adventure and the interactions with each other change them.  Orion and D-16 are utterly transformed (pun intended) in an incredibly cathartic and satisfying way.

Director Josh Cooley gives the whole movie a feeling of technological wonder.  The action scenes are exciting.  There is a race in the first act that is both funny and fun to watch.  Brian Tyler's score is reminiscent of Tron in the best possible way: it has a synthetic feel that feels like something mythic.  

The movie wrestles with lots of oddly complex issues like truth and lies, friendship and betrayal, good and evil.  What are the limits of retaliation against those who have done evil?  And what does that cost you in terms of your relationships and your very soul.

This was surprisingly deep for what was billed as a silly kids cartoon.  But I was invested from beginning to end.  The movie set everything up for a sequel, but I fear that the box office disappointment that resulted here will prevent that from happening.

But if you would like to experience a good, character-driven Transformers movie, then this is the One.

New Evangelizers Post: The “Messed Up” Stories of the Bible

     

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

I was teaching the story of Sodom and Gammorah in class last week. For those unfamiliar, two angels who look like men go to the house of Lot in the city of Sodom to see if there are at least 10 good men. If these 10 men can be found, God will not destroy the cities. However, the men of Sodom come to Lot and want to sexually assault the angels (again, who look like men). The angels knock out the men of Sodom and tell Lot to leave with his wife and two daughters, but they are not to look back. When Lot and his family get away and God destroys the cities. But Lot’s wife looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his two adult daughters hide in nearby caves. Lot’s daughters think that the world has ended and lament that they will not have children. So they get Lot drunk and have him impregnate them.

When discussing this story with my students, one of them said, “Man, the Bible is messed up.”

I replied, “Excuse me? Did you just say that the Word of God was ‘messed up?'”

He responded, “I mean, there are so many messed up stories in the Bible.”

And on that point, my student is 100% correct.

There are many “messed up” stories in the Bible.

Besides the story of Sodom and Gammorah, here just some of the examples:

-Cain murders his brother Abel out of jealousy
-Noah gets drunk and Ham looks upon his father’s nakedness
-Abraham gives away his wife to Pharaoh
-Sarah beats and abuses the birth mother of her adopted son and eventually banishes them.
-Jacob steals from his blind father
-Onan is killed for “wasting his seed on the ground.”
-Reuben sleeps with his stepmother
-Simeon and Levi kill all the townsmen of Hamor to avenge their sister.
-Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law who he thinks is a prostitute
-Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery.

Those are just some of the “messed up” stories you will find. And those are all exclusive from the book of Genesis. You can find similar stories throughout the rest of the Bible.

So why does the Bible have so many “messed up” stories?

My short answer to my student is this: the Bible needs to have these “messed up” stories because the world is messed up.

The Bible is not some simplistic children’s fable. It is not Barney or Dora the Explorer. To be sure, there are some valuable lessons children can learn from these programs, they do not reflect the darkness of our world. If your house has been burglarized, I’m not sure how much help Dora will be other than to say “Swiper, no swiping!”

We live in a world that is often cruel, dark, and indifferent to suffering. Human beings inflict all kinds of senseless hurts on each other. Just turn on the news on any given day and you will see a constant stream of stories about man’s inhumanity to man.

But we don’t have to look far outside our own homes to see this darkness. In side our families there can be rivalry, jealousy, bullying, selfishness, ingratitude, resentment, and every other kind of vice. We’ve seen families torn apart by divorce, abuse, addiction, and sin.

In that way, the “messed up” stories of the Bible reflect the world we live in. If the Bible was all lollipops and lilacs, then we would dismiss it as soon as we hit adolescents (like many ignorantly do in the modern world) as another children’s tale that we outgrow. But as we grow up, we see the world the people we encounter become darker and more complicated. When we read these darker stories of Scripture, we find a resonance with the darkness found in the people there as well.

But the darkness is not the only point.

You can read the whole article here.

All Saints Day 2024

  The saints have been great friends to me throughout my life.  Today, we are reminded that our destiny is not of this world but of the next.  Failure, humiliation, loss, and suffering in this life are nothing compared to the glories that await the blessed.

It is so much easier to say it than to believe.

That is why we need the saints.  We need the concrete examples of holiness in this fallen world to help us remember that this world is not our home.

So today, I would like to share with you the litany of saints that my wife and I pray every day.  I am leaving out those who are not canonized or in the process.  There are many whose intercession I seek, like my mom and my grandparents, trusting that the love we still share will be strengthened through prayer.  But here are the saints that we turn to each day.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

St. Gerard Majella, pray for us.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us.

Servant of God Lucia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos, pray for us.

Sts. Jacinta and Francesco Marto, pray for us.

Sts. Anne and Joachim, pray for us.

Sts. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John the Baptist, pray for us.

Abraham, Sarah, Hannah and Rachel of the Old Testament, pray for us.

St. Gianna, pray for us.

Pope St. John Paul the Great, pray for us.

St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.

St. Teresa of the Little Flower, pray for us.

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

St. Catherine of Sienna, pray for us.

Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us.

Bl. Carlo Acuits

Bl. Pierre Giorgio Frassati

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

St. Augustine, pray for us.

St. Maria Goretti, pray for us.

St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

St. Dominic, pray for us.

St. Benedict, pray for us.

St. Philip Neri, pray for us.

St. Peter, pray for us.

St. Patrick, pray for us.

St. Peregrine, pray for us.

St. Paul, pray for us.

St. Jude, pray for us.

St. Stephen, pray for us.

Sts. Cosmos and Damian, pray for us.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us.

St. William of Rochester, pray for us.

Bl. Michael McGivney, pray for us.

St. Faustina Kowalska, pray for us.

St. Raphael, pray for us.

St. Gabriel, pray for us.

St. Michael, pray for us.

All holy saints and angels, pray for us.