And welcome back for another edition of Spiritual Ponderings. As we continue our reflection on different spiritual insights from movies, I found myself realizing that I really do not go out to the movies too much and so I signed up for a one month free trial to an online streaming company. The first movie I watched was a movie that caught my attention because I had already seen The Avengers and that movie being Thor. While there many things I did not care for in the movie (mainly because the scenes were so dark, literally, that I could not see what was going on, I did find quite a few spiritual insights hidden in this movie about a former Norse god who now protects the earth.

The first thing that caught my attention was the use of sibling rivalry to create the plot. It turns out that despite their deep love for each other Thor and his brother Loki are constantly trying to prove themselves to their father Odin who we discover loves them both deeply despite the fact that Loki was adopted. I could not help but think about a lot of problems in the world come down to human beings believing that their Heavenly Father’s love is somehow limited and therefore we struggle to become God’s favorite. Most people seem to take this desire to be the “favorite” and use force and violence in order to become powerful as if being the most powerful human being, he or she would receive the most love from God (or the universe/fate/ or whatever their divine father figure is called). Others seem to take this desire to be the “favorite” and use it as a reason to sabotage others. I cannot help but think our world would be a much more peaceful place if we put aside this cosmic sibling rivalry and realize that we are all sons and daughters of one God who loves us each deeply. This of course is easier said than done because the Apostles were not able to set aside their rivalries despite walking and living with Jesus. Hope though comes from the stories of the early Church after the Resurrection and from saints who have learned and try to teach us that we are all one family.

The second theme that arises is that Thor believes that in order to be a good king he must be strong, braved and feared. He does not see how the virtue of compassion is needed to be a good leader and at the beginning cannot see the wisdom in avoiding war. He learns though that war is not some neatly contained board game and that going to war has unintended consequences where others who are innocent get hurt. Though his experience on earth he begins to discover that his father, Odin, had a greater wisdom about him and thus chose the route of peace.

I found my third spiritual insight tied in with Thor’s magical hammer. This magical war hammer was the source of Thor’s powers and he felt was his by right. His father Odin though takes it away from him and it teaches Thor that everything he has was a gift from his father. Everything we have is a gift from God. We should be thankful for everything we have especially before we lose it. Once Thor receives his hammer back he never takes his powers for granted again.

There is a lot of talk about “magic” and “science” and how in Thor’s realm they are one in the same. I could not help but think that “faith” and “reason” are not one in the same but they coexist together in a beautiful harmony in the Catholic Church. Nothing we believe in can contradict reason and we know that reason cannot contradict our faith. Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician and theologian, says: “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it.”

As I have been searching for spiritual insights into movies for quite a few years, there seems to be a pattern emerging in super hero movies and that is the super hero’s willingness to die in order to save the world. We see with Captain America crashing the plane in the arctic, Iron Man in The Avengers taking the nuclear missile into the wormhole, and in Thor as he stands to fight the fiery metal monster. Each of these invokes in us though the idea of ultimate love “there is no greater love than to lay down’s one life for a friend.” (John 15:13). Jesus though of course actually lays down his life while the others don’t actually die.

Finally the last theme, I saw in the movie was best illustrated by Odin’s wife Frigga who counsels everyone to trust in Odin’s plan even though Odin has entered into some spiritual type coma. We are called to trust that our Heavenly Father has a plan even though sometimes it seems that He is not listening. In the end of the movie Odin’s plan works and we know that at the end of time the Heavenly Father’s plan will work also.

As we come to the end of the month of July, we also come to the end of our reflections on spiritual insights from movies. For our last film this month, I thought I would kick it “old school” by reflecting on a good Christian movie from the past. I know that most of the younger people will not have seen this movie so I encourage you to read anyway but also to rent the movie sometime in the future. The movie for today is the 1953 film The Robe.

It is important to realize that since the movie is historical fiction not everything in the movie is true but at the same time I think it gives great insight into the world around Jesus’ Crucifixion and the life of the early Church. The story focuses on a young and influential Roman named Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton). Marcellus has the rank of tribune (pretty high office in the Roman Army) and is no friend of the grandnephew (and future emperor) Caligula. One day in the market place Marcellus embarrasses Caligula and as punishment he is sent to Judaea and assigned to help Pontius Pilate keep the peace. Before Marcellus can get his bags unpacked he is ordered to report to the Emperor back in Rome for it seems that his childhood sweetheart Diana has pulled some strings to have him return safely. Pilate asks Marcellus to do him one favor before he leaves at the end of the week and that is to crucify three criminals one of which being Jesus of Nazareth.

Marcellus succeeds in crucifying Jesus and even wins Jesus’ robe in a game of dice. He becomes convinced though that robe is possessed and that he has now been cursed for putting on the robe. Before he can do anything about it, his slave Demetrius takes the robe and escapes determined to join up with the followers of the dead carpenter.

In Rome Emperor Tiberius gives Marcellus and imperial commission to retrieve the robe and destroy it (hopefully ending the curse) but more importantly to the Emperor he is to get names of Jesus’ followers so that they can be arrested and executed. In the midst of his journeys he meets up with his former slave Demetrius and the big fisherman (St. Peter). He realizes that the robe was not curse but it was his guilty conscience. He then becomes a Christian and is eventually arrested and martyred. Diana seeing his devotion to this “new” God joins him in his martyrdom.

Now that those of you have not seen the movie have an idea of what the movie is about here are a few spiritual insights. The first spiritual insight comes in the movie when Peter explains to Marcellus how Marcellus has already been forgiven by Christ. Peter does so by sharing the fact that Peter had denied Christ and was forgiven. Sometimes the best way to evangelize is to let people know how Christ has forgiven our sinfulness.

The second insight, I saw was how paralyzing Marcellus’s guilt was and how frightening it must have been because he had nowhere to turn for forgiveness. The sad part was that he had already been forgiven by Christ on the Cross. Thank God for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The third insight was just into the historical context of the early Church. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live life knowing that any moment soldiers may bust in and arrest me because I was a Christian. There are times, I think that it might happen in the future but until it happens, I cannot imagine it. The miracle is that the Church continued to grow. People don’t risk their lives for an ideal so Christ’s Resurrection must be true.

The last insight that I saw was what we sometimes refer to in Church as “grace builds upon grace.” What do we mean by that? We mean that if we are good person God will make us better people if we allow him to. He will not help us to fly because flying is not a part of our human nature. Marcellus was able to convert to follow Christ because he was already a decent man and this is scene by how he treated his slave Demetrius.

Every July in my Spiritual Ponderings, I like to focus on different spiritual insights from movies. When I first started my spiritual ponderings close to ten years ago, I had no problem finding movies that I wanted to see. This year, I actually found it very difficult to find movies that I wanted to see much less write about. I went so far as to open up a Netflix account and I was amazed at the number of movies but many of them did not seem worth watching. Eventually I did discover four movies that I liked and that I thought offered some great spiritual insights.

The first movie I am going to write about is Despicable Me 2. As this movie begins, we see that the world?s greatest villain, Gru, has settled into his new role of being the world's greatest dad to Margo, Edith, and Agnes. Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to find a person who stole a research lab from the Antarctic using a ship in the shape of a giant magnet. Gru and his new partner Lucy discover that the bad guy was a bad guy who had faked his own death and thus no one will believe them. The villain?s name is "El Macho" and looks like an overweight Mexican wrestler. In the mean time El Macho has been capturing Gru's minions and using a chemical from the research lab that he stole turning them into indestructible little blue monsters. Luckily Gru saves the day by using an antidote created by Dr. Nefario changes the blue monsters back into yellow minions and saves Lucy from riding an exploding shark into a volcano. Gru confesses his love for Lucy and they are eventually married.

Let us look at the first spiritual insight, which I think is the realization that people who have a great potential for evil also have a great potential for good. If Gru was to have a patron saint, I would think it would be St. Paul. St. Paul who used his zeal to persecute the Church eventually through the grace of God learned to use that zeal to promote the Church. Gru, the ultimate villain (he did steal the moon in the last movie), was able to become the hero in this movie by learning what is really important in life.

The second spiritual insight is a twofold lesson. The first thing is that children can be mean. In both this movie and in the original Despicable Me we see that a lot of Gru's problems stem from how he was treated by other children growing up. Gru, I believe, learns a valuable lesson though is that childhood is childhood and that he has to try things over again now as an adult. So while his first attempt in childhood at dating does not turn out good he learns not to use that as an excuse for not trying now. If a scientist puts a grasshopper in a jar and puts a lid on it the grasshopper will try to jump out once or twice but he soon gives up hope. The scientist can then come in and remove the lid and the grasshopper will not even try to jump out of the jar because it has become convinced that he cannot do it. He does not realize that the situation has changed. In much the same way we can try something in childhood and fail and give up not realizing that as an adult the situations may have changed.

The next spiritual insight I would like to pull forth from Despicable Me 2 is that the best way to make friends is to simply be yourself. At one point in the movie Gru goes on a date with a woman and wears a wig because he does not think being himself is good enough to get this girl to like him. It turns out that the woman hates wig more than she does hate bald people. More importantly though Gru learns that Lucy loves him for him just being him. This is true friendship.

The fourth insight is that neglecting your friends can allow them to find themselves in trouble. In the midst of the movie Gru's little yellow helpers (called minions) begin disappearing one at a time and Gru is surprised to find them all but two captured in the end. A lesson in Church friendship, we are to help keep track of everyone so none of us end up going to the devil's side.

Final insight comes from the prison that the minions are held in. It is a paradise. Eventually though they discover the real reason for their captivity is not good. It reminded me of a quote from Pope Benedict XVI: "The world promises you comfort, but you were made for greatness."

As our month of movies goes on, I would like to focus on the Bourne Legacy. This movie is unique in many ways because it is at once the fourth movie in a series and at the same time it is the first in what I hope will be a new series of action movies.

In the original three Bourne movies, Jason Bourne recovers from amnesia to discover that he was part of a super soldier program designed by the United States Government. A program that he has learned that while developed with good intentions has been hijacked by powerful political men who desire to use the soldiers for their own financial and political advantage. In this movie the creators of the Treadstone and Blackbriar programs (the super soldier making programs) have created a more advanced program called Operation Outcome. Because of the actions of Jason Bourne making their illegal actions known they decide to destroy all evidence of this program. Part of the evidence is a super soldier named Aaron Cross. Aaron is able to use his abilities to avoid being killed by a drone attack. In an effort to figure out what is going on Aaron Cross saves and kidnaps Dr. Marta Shearing. Dr. Marta Shearing explains that as a part of the program the super-soldiers were purposely addicted to drugs that they scientists called "chems". Aaron and Dr. Marta go to Manila in an attempt to get a hold of some of these drugs and to help Aaron go through a withdrawal process. In the mean time the bad guys release their last super soldier after the duo. Aaron is able to defeat the super-soldier and escape with the doctor on a fishing boat where they begin to think about the possibilities of a new life together.

The first spiritual insight from the movie is an obvious one that I think our society needs to hear over and over again. Once human beings begin to experiment on other human beings for whatever reason we lower the perceived dignity of the human person and it becomes easier to come to believe that it is alright to discard human life. The evil people had no problem in ordering the death of the super soldiers because in their minds they see them as no longer humans but rather as objects. In the same way our culture treats in embryonic stem cell research we treat live human beings not as persons but as material for medical experiments. How many human lives do we currently have locked up in freezers around the world because of our need to be in control of our futures instead of trusting God?

The second spiritual insight is that our actions affect other people. All the current events in Aaron Cross's life is taking place because of Jason Bourne who Aaron Cross has never met. Jason's decision to no longer work for the corrupt villains in returns allows Aaron a chance to make a decision for himself. Sometimes we like to pretend that our actions do not have consequences on other people but the truth of the matter is that our actions have far greater consequences than we will ever know. This is why getting "high" to escape the pain is much more horrible than facing the challenges that we want to run away from. We need to be the person we are called to be.

In St. Ignatius's fourteen rules of discernment, rule number thirteen points out that the devil acts like a licentious lover who desires to keep things secret. The devil knows that if his plans were brought to the light that the chance of him convincing you to do the evil greatly diminishes. We see in this movie how all the evil secret programs keep getting worse, we move from Treadstone to Blackbriar, to Operation Outcome and finally LARX, until Jason Bourne and Pamela Landing blow the whistle on the program. This is one of the many reasons why it is important for people to go to Confession. If I admit my temptations before I give into them, then I can find the strength I need to overcome them.
For example a person with an internet pornography addiction would do good to move his computer into a public space because being in public and not in secret will help him avoid that sin.

For this week?s movie, I am going back into the archives for one of my favorite John Wayne Movies: ?El Dorado?. This movie is set in the Old West and John Wayne plays a gunslinger-for-hire, named Cole Thornton. At the beginning of the movie Cole Thornton has arrived in the old west town of El Dorado to meet a man named Bart Jason (Ed Asner). Bart wants Cole?s help in pressuring another family, the McDonalds, out of their water rights. Cole, despite being a gunslinger, has a conscience though and when informed by the local sheriff, who is also an old friend, J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) that Bart Jason is no good, he refuses the job.

Unfortunately after Thornton tells Bart Jason know he runs into the youngest McDonald boy who tries to shoot him. Thornton pulls his gun and shoots the kid dead before he realizes that it was just a kid shooting at him. In order to show the family he meant no harm he brings the boy back to his father?s ranch so they can bury him. As Cole is riding away, he is shot in the back by Josephine McDonald. While Cole is not dead he is severely wounded as the bullet has lodged itself up against his spine and from time to time it paralyzes him.

Several months later, Thornton runs into another famous gunslinger named Nelson McLeod. Nelson informs Cole that he is going to take Jason?s job and plans to move in while the sheriff is too drunk to do anything. It seems that Harrah had become a drunk after he had a falling out with a girl. Cole refuses to work with Nelson and decides to ride back to El Dorado in order to help his old friend out. Along with him for the ride is a young man who goes by the nickname ?Mississippi? (James Caan).
Thornton has to help sober his friend up, protect the McDonalds (whom he still feel guilty about shooting their boy) and prepare for Nelson McLeod who might be faster at the draw then him.
The first spiritual insight I see in this John Wayne story is what true friendship is. Cole Thornton upon hearing that his friend J. P. Harrah is a drunken mess makes every effort to go back and help his friend even if it means being out numbered.

The second spiritual insight is that it is important not to jump to conclusions. The little McDonald boy assumed Cole was an enemy and shot at him. Cole responds in self-defense and shoots the boy. The sad part was that Cole had turned down the job from Bart Jason. Josephine shoots Cole in the back because of her brother?s death and this endangers her and her family later when Cole suffers an attack of his paralysis because of the bullet she lodge in his spine.

The next spiritual insight is that turning to the bottle or drugs after someone has hurt you only hurts yourself. J. P. Harrah becomes the laughing stock of the town because of his problems with drinking not because he was duped by a young lady. The young lady was long gone and J.P. Harrah was still punishing himself.

I do not know if it was a spiritual insight but it was nice to watch a movie where the hero has morals. Even though he was a gunslinger, he only took fights that were what he thought was just causes. Secondly he seemed to have a respect for life. He tried to nurse the McDonald boy back to health after he shot him in self-defense and he refused to shoot Josephine after she shot him in the back. There was an even a sign of respect for life when he brought the dead body of the boy back to his parents so that they boy could have a proper burial.

Here are a couple of fun practical things I learned in the movie. First, never just follow someone out a back door. Second, always stand behind someone who is shooting a gun especially if he is a bad shot. Third, do not hide behind the piano; it is the first place they look. Fourth and most importantly never count the Duke out.

The big movie this past year has been Disney?s Frozen. The movie is about Elsa who was born with the gift of ice magic. She is able to make ice and snow at will. Her younger sister Anna absolutely adores her and they would often play together in the middle of the night when everyone was a sleep. One night while they were playing Elsa accidently hurts Anna with her magic. The king, queen and Elsa take Anna to the troll king who is able to save the girls life by removing Anna?s memories of Elsa?s magic. Elsa is warned by the troll king that she must overcome her fear and learn to control her magic otherwise more people will get hurt.

Elsa spends most of her time in her room deeply afraid of hurting others and Anna, who now has no memory of her sister?s magic, cannot understand why her sister does not want to hang out with her. Sadly the death of their parents, who die when their boat sinks during a storm at sea, does not even unite the girls together.

Elsa is crowned queen on her twenty-first birthday and there is a large party. Elsa tries hard to keep her powers under-control and hidden from everyone but an argument with Anna causes her to lose control and almost hurt a large group of people. Elsa flees into the mountains to escape and Anna goes after her.

While searching for Elsa, Anna convinces the mountain man Kristoff and his reindeer Sven to guide her up the mountain. They encounter Olaf a snowman that Elsa had accidently brought to life. Olaf leads them to Elsa but Elsa?s fear of hurting Anna again causes her to panic and she accidently strikes Anna again with her magic while driving them away.

Anna learns that the only thing that can save her is ?a selfless act of love? which everyone assumes ?true love?s first kiss,? but in the end she is saved when she steps in front of sword that was meant to harm her sister without a shield. This selfless act of love heals Anna and allows Elsa to understand how to control her powers.

At the end of the movie Anna has learned that the man she thought she loved at first sight Hans was actually a creep and that Kristoff loves her. Elsa learns to control her gifts and brings joy to the town and gives Olaf, the snowman, a special snow cloud that allows him to live in the summer.

This wildly popular movie has many different spiritual insights and I would like to share with you some of the ones I noticed right away.

10. Rituals can be a good place to start over.
After the death of their parents, Elsa and Anna do not seem to know how to move on. Elsa returns to her room and mourns. Anna runs around the empty castle trying to entice her sister to come out and hang out with her. The coronation ceremony created a time for the two girls to interact with one another again. I believe that this in a small way can show the power of ritual. When we as Catholics do not know who to reconcile with God for our sins, we know we can go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we don?t know how to express to God our fears and our dreams we can go to Eucharist (which literally means ?thanksgiving.?

09. Understanding the Other Side
A lot of the conflict between Elsa and Anna takes place because neither tries to understand where the other is coming from. Anna does understand the difficulties Elsa feels because of her frozen touch and Elsa does not understand Anna?s need to be around people and to know why Elsa keeps the door close when it comes to Anna.

08. Assume the Best in People we know
I found it amusing how easy it was for Anna to assume the best in Hans and Kristoff but not in her own sister. Sometimes it is easier to give a stranger the benefit of the doubt than it is to give to a family member because family members have hurt us before. More times than not though it is our family who really has our best interest at heart.

07. Love at First Sight is Stupid
In the movie Anna meets Hans and thinks that he is her true love. Later we discover that Hans is an evil man who is only looking to take over the kingdom. It made me think of something I read about their being three stages to every vocations. The first stage being the ?vocation stage? where you simple ask the questions ?what am I going to do with my life?? or ?what does God want me to do with my life?? The second stage is the ?probation stage,? where a person explores whether or not the vocation may or may not be for them. Guys thinking about the priesthood attend the seminary and learn about the demands of the priesthood for example. Those who are thinking about marriage begin to date and ask themselves the question ?am I willing to change some of my bad habits for this person?? and/or ?am I willing to accept his or her bad habits if they never change?. Eventually all vocations move to the ?oblation stage? where everyone involves jumps right in with no turning back. It is important therefore to let love mature if you will and never to act to quickly.

06. Snowman and Summer
When Kristoff and Anna meet Olaf, the snowman, for the first time Olaf tells them he cannot wait to experience summer and Kristoff wants to tell him that snowmen melt during the summer but at the end of the movie though thanks to Elsa?s magic Olaf is able to survive all year round because of his own personal little cold front. This little side story reminded me to simply believe that miracles can happen.

05. Every decision I make effects everyone else.
When Elsa runs away, she feels that she is doing the best for everyone else. She also experiences a joy of not having to be so careful anymore. She did not know that her leaving caused a perpetual winter in her kingdom. Whenever I am not the person God has called me to be there is that much less love in the world and the world is a little colder.

04. Nobody want to be alone
There are times when I do literally want to be alone with myself in order to think and pray. Loneliness though is more than that. No one wants to be constantly lonely especially if it is caused by a fear of being unwanted. ?The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.? ? Mother Teresa.

03. Fear and Silence are powerful allies to Evil and Chaos.
I also wondered how much of this could have been avoided if the parents instead of insisting Elsa hid her gifts and out of fear forced her to live a certain way had instead walked with their daughters and talked to them about Elsa?s gift. The first thing I noticed after Anna was healed by the troll king was how the silence was not good because it divided the girls and it divided the royal family from the people. Sin always divides. God?s love always unifies.

02. Our Gifts can be our weaknesses and our weaknesses can be our gifts.
If the story of Elsa and Anna was true then the question would have to be asked why did God give Elsa the gift of snow magic knowing that so many people could be hurt by it. The answer comes at the end of the movie though when we Elsa using her gift to make so many other people happy. It was not the gift that was bad but the way Elsa tried to control it. We all have gifts and talents but sometimes we can use them to hurt other people. A passionate person can easily become a bully if he begins to try to force other people to see things his way. It does not mean his cause is wrong but that he has taken the gift that God has given him and used it in the wrong way.

01. Love is
One of the things that I loved about the movie was how the characters learn that true love is not some mushy feeling between a guy and a girl but love is wanting what is best for another person even if it requires a sacrifice on my part. Olaf, the snowman, showed his love for Anna by being willing to melt in order to help Anna escape the evil prince and Anna showed her love for her sister by stepping in front of the sword that was meant to kill Elsa. This of course is the story of Jesus who sacrificed for us in order to show us God?s love.

As I reflect back on my childhood, I cannot help remember loving watching the G.I. Joe cartoon each weekday after school. A few years ago, it was great excitement that I heard that Hollywood was going to make a live-action version of the cartoon. I would never consider the first live-action G.I. Joe a cinematic masterpiece but I enjoyed seeing the characters from my childhood up on the big screen. As the movie ended with Cobra Commander being locked away in a weird prison, I wondered if Hollywood would do a sequel.

At the same time I began to hear talk about a sequel to the first live-action G.I. Joe movie, I also heard rumors that part of the plan was for all the original Joes including Duke were going to be killed off in the first few moments and we would be introduced to a new set of Joes. At first, this made me not want to see the movie but then I realized that one of the lessons that I learned from the cartoons was that wars were fought by individuals and not by nameless armies. Before, I played with G.I. Joes, I used to play war with the little green plastic army men. These little plastic army men had no names and I could buy a large group of them rather cheaply. G.I. Joes were more expensive and each Joe was an individual with a unique specialty. Each figure came with a little personnel card that gave each character a bio once again teaching me that it was individuals that fought wars. I think this was an important lesson that I did not learn elsewhere because I never knew a soldier growing up. It was not until I was in high school did I meet men and women in the military or hear older people talk about their time in the military. This sequel once again reinforced in me the idea that individuals (with families) fight wars and real way is not a game. (Thank you to the men and women who serve our country).

Another quick spiritual insight comes when in the midst of his escape Cobra Commander simply shoots Destro instead of helping him escape. It was a reminder that trust among bad people is non-existent. On the other hand the G.I. Joes that survive the sneak attack (Roadblock, Flint, and Lady Jaye) work hard together to survive.

Another interesting character in the G.I. Joe movies is Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow desires to bring Zartan to justice for killing his uncle but because Storm Shadow uses every means possible to accomplish his task he becomes a villain in the process. This is a reminder of the spiritual truth that the ends do not justify the means.

The climax of the movie comes when Zartan (pretending to be the President) invites all world leaders to a summit on nuclear weapons. In the midst of the summit he launches a nuclear missile and each of the world leaders quickly do the same. For six minutes the world is in danger as nuclear missiles fill the air. Finally Zartan deactivates his bomb and the other leaders do the same. The scene reminds us that there is a constant need for people to pray for world peace since unfortunately in our sinfulness humanity has created weapons that can destroy our planet many times over.

Cobra Commander and Zartan then reveal that they have created an even more powerful weapon a “kinetic bomb” that can be launched from a satellite in space. A reminder that violence only breeds more violence.

Luckily the G.I. Joe force saves the day rescuing the president and destroying the kinetic bomb. Cobra Commander escapes though to fight another day. I think it is a simple analogy to compare Cobra Commander to sin for when we think we have defeated sin, it pops back up again and the devil always looks for our weak spot and attacks there.

Last July, I decided to devote the last week of July to a religious movie and I plan on carrying on that tradition this year by focusing on one of my favorite movies The Scarlet and the Black.

The movie takes place in Nazi occupied Rome in the year 1943. Colonel Herbert Kappler was just made head of the SS Police in Rome. His main political goals are to capture escaped allied prisoners of war and to help the Gestapo round up as many Jews as possible. His main personal goal is to enjoy all the delights of Rome with his family. Colonel Kappler discovered in the movie that his goals would be harder to accomplish than he thought because of an Irish monsignor working in the Vatican. His name is Msgr. O’Flaherty. In addition to his day job in the Vatican serving Pius XII, Msgr. O Flaherty ran an impressive underground operation that hid both allied soldiers and Jewish people throughout Rome and its countryside.

Eventually Colonel Kappler discovered that Msgr. O’Flaherty was in charge of a large underground group whose mission was to hide escaped Allied soldiers and Jews. Colonel Kappler ordered his men to shoot Msgr. O’Flaherty the moment he leaves the Vatican. He also personally kills two close friends of Msgr. O’Flaherty in order to try to get the Irish Monsignor to leave the Vatican.

Eventually the Germans, including Kappler realize that the Allied advanced is too much and they are going to have to surrender Rome to the Allies. Kappler becomes very afraid that the people of the city will kill his family and he has no one else to turn to for help except O’Flaherty. He informs O’Flaherty that he does not want O’Flaherty’s forgiveness but he does want him to save his family. At first O’Flaherty refuses but eventually he helps smuggle his family to safety.

Kappler is eventually captured by the Allies and convicted of war crimes. He is sentenced to life in prison. He only has one visitor (every month without fail); O Flaherty visits him and eventually brings him into the Church.

The first spiritual insight I have from the movie is what a blessing it is to be a Catholic in the United States at this time. From time to time we Catholic complain about our government or culture for persecuting us for practicing our faith and there is some truth in that, however we do not have it nearly as bad as Catholics who have and live under totalitarian systems like Nazis Germany and Communist Russia. The courage that O’Flaherty and others had should inspire us to use the freedom that we have to stand up even louder for our Catholic Faith and the things that we believe in for example the dignity of human life.

The second spiritual insight from the movie comes in the end when Kappler and O’Flaherty are speaking in the Roman Coliseum. Kappler begins to spew out a lot of Third Reich propaganda and O’Flaherty points out to him that there have been many human institutions before declaring that they would last forever but only the Catholic Church has survived. In fact the Roman Emperors have come and gone and the Catholics who they use to torture are growing strong today.

The third spiritual insight I have from the movie is no soul is ever too far gone and no sin is too great. Eventually Kappler is converted.

The fourth spiritual insight is that times of conflicts are times for heroes. When things got tough Msgr. O’Flaherty stepped up and his small organization saved thousands of lives. They did what they knew was right.

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
July 5, 2015
Spiritual Ponderings
Faith & Film: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Since the beginning of my Spiritual Pondering columns, I have dedicated the month of July to looking at spiritual insights into movies. The first movie I would like to spiritual analyze is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This is the second Captain America movie and takes place within the larger Marvel cinematic universe with other movies like Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Avengers. In this movie Captain America has been working for S.H.I.E.L.D. since the events of the last Avengers movie took place. He is working hard trying to make the world a better place not knowing that hidden in S.H.I.E.L.D. are members a neo-Nazis group called HYDRA. HYDRA believes that they have developed a computer program and weapon system that will allow them to target any threat (present or future)and destroy it before the threat becomes a real threat. It is up to Captain America, “Black Widow” Natasha Romanoff, and Nick Fury to stop HYDRA from activating their ultimate weapon.

The first spiritual insight about the movie comes from the questions that the movie raises about what freedom is. HYDRA is justifying its actions with the belief that freedom comes from limiting people’s choices. If people cannot choose what is bad then they cannot do the bad. In their plans for the world people would not be able to do what is wrong because their tendency to commit a crime would be detected by their ultimate weapon computer and the person would then be eliminated before they could do the wrong. Captain America and the other good guys realize that the flaw in this logic is the questions that is raised “Who gets decide what is right or wrong?” and “how far do you go, do you kill people only if they have the potential to commit murder or do you go so far as to kill people for littering?” HYDRA does not ask these questions because they assume that they are going to be the ones making those decisions. Scripturally speaking the people of HYDRA have a lot in common with King Herod who willingly had John the Baptist killed despite knowing it was morally wrong because it threatened his power as king since he had made an oath to his niece. Captain America and others are more Christlike because they are determine to do what is right no matter what repercussions their actions may have on them (like martyrdom).

The second insight that I thought was woven into the movie was true good leadership requires willingness for self-sacrifice. HYDRA has no problem with sacrificing others if it gets them what they want. Captain America, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Hawk on the other hand are willing to sacrifice themselves for what they believe in. In our culture today there are many who declare that we need to sacrifice others euthanasia (because we don’t want to serve those who are suffering), abortion (because children will change our lifestyle), and capital punishment (because we are afraid to love, forgive; reform those who commit violent acts). True love requires a sacrifice of self and not a sacrifice of the other.

A third spiritual insight that is closely related to the second one is the evils of human experimentations even if done for self-proclaimed noble reasons. While Captain America turned out to be a good result of human experimentation, we discover that Bucky Barnes (the Winter Soldier) was taken advantage of for human experimentation. Human life needs to be seen as sacred and no one should experiment on a human person period. Some exceptions can be made for attempts for medical cures but no healthy person should be experimented on. This is why the Church is against embryonic stem-cell research. Human being can too easily turn other human beings into objects and when that happens eugenic mentality (a person is only as good as they are valuable to me) are not far behind.

The fourth insight from the movie that I would like to share with you is how the seven deadly sins are like HYDRA. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Avarice, Sloth, Glutton, and Lust can hide inside us mixed with our virtues if we are not careful in the same way HYDRA hid within S.H.I.E.L.D. It takes a daily examination of conscience, frequent confession and a lot of grace to rid our lives of sin. It is a job that is never complete on this side of the grave.

The final insight in the movie shows that power of turning the other cheek. After all the bad guys are defeated Captain America refuses to kill his old friend Buck Barnes (the Winter Soldier) and basically says “Do your worse but I will always be your friend!” At first Bucky does his worst but when he realizes that Captain America is serious he ends up saving his life. No matter how much force or pressure Captain America could have placed on Bucky, he would not have converted Bucky as he did with gift of friendship.