Fumbling towards Beatitude

By John O'Brien, S.J. (with apologies: it's a somewhat longer homily-essay) This evening we celebrate the vigil of Christmas. It is a Mass that is different from the Midnight Mass to be observed later tonight or the Christmas morning Mass tomorrow. All three Masses are different and have different readings. If you are a spiritual diehard, you can attend all three and derive different intellectual and spiritual benefits; but if this present Mass, the Vigil, is the only Christmas Mass you are attending this year, you are fortunate to have heard one of the significant Gospels in the Church calendar year: Matthew’s genealogy, which ends with the dream of Joseph. You know the story: the Angel of Lord tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, for against all odds of probability, she has conceived her child by the Holy Spirit, and that they are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew, whose Gospel was written primarily for...

On this second Sunday of Advent we hear the opening lines of Mark’s Gospel. Mark is believed to have been the secretary of Peter and Paul and wrote his Gospel in the year 70 from Rome. A writer. some say, will put his most important idea in the first line of his text. Here the first line is “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God.” Mark is telling us what his whole Gospel is about: that there is something new to know, and it is profoundly good. So what is the evangelion, the good news of Jesus Christ, anyway? The Jews experienced exile for much of their history. And now, although they were in their homeland, they were under the occupation of the Romans. Israel is waiting for a messiah to restore her to her true mission and identity of being "a light to the nations". "A people who walked in darkness have seen a great light". Mark’s news is that Jesus Christ is the messianic figure they have been waiting for. But the enemy, says Mark, is not...

For a period of six years, 1957-1963, Canadian artist William Kurelek gave himself the task of painting the story of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nobody, to our knowledge, had ever painting a Gospel sentence by sentence, and the finished series consisted of 160 paintings, called The Passion According to Matthew . A  book  was published in 1975 (now out of print), whose images I contemplated when I was growing up. Kurelek went to the Holy Land to research the project, and painted steadily, on average completing one painting per week. The paintings would be purchased by the Niagara Falls Art Gallery , a small exhibition space not far from the falls, where they have remained ever since. The gallery is easy to find, but only open for certain restricted hours. I had always wanted to see the paintings, and finally made my pilgrimage last week. The artist honoured the gallery by making a sketch of its exterior that appears the book: Most of the maj...

Today I popped into the Andy Warhol exhibit (no pun intended) on Bloor Street. There was a very large stack of Campbell's vegetable soup cans (which were very real). Then I caught Vladimir Lenin scowling at me, both in black and red. Although separate pieces, the Gotti and Lenin I put side by side for comparison. They represent criminal minds who get popular appeal: Despite his many complex struggles , Warhol was practicing Catholic, of the Ruthenian rite, who would slip into church in Manhattan. This was the only religious work at the exhibit, labelled as St. Apollonia, a 3rd century martyr.   In the documentary film, I overhear Warhol being asked if he is original or not. He says "no." Confounded, the interviewer asks: "Don't you want to do something original?" He replies: "No. This is easier." The well-known dollar sign print: Warhol, famously shy and ...

Review by John D. O'Brien S.J. Director: Frank Capra. 130 min., U.S.A, 1946. Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers Plot The townspeople of Bedford Falls are sending up prayers for George Bailey (Stewart), who is in great distress. Their prayers are heard and the angel Clarence (Travers) is assigned to come down and convince George to not commit suicide. George is a good man, who sacrificed the dreams of his youth to serve the needs of his neighbours. He gave up traveling the world and going to university, and inherited the savings and loan business from his father. Over the years he resisted the proposals of avaricious banker Mr. Potter (Barrymore) to buy out the family business. He married the lovely Mary Hatch (Reed) and had four children with her. When his Uncle Billy (Mitchell) loses $8,000 of their clients’ money, George believes he is facing ruin and that he is worth more dead than alive. Once Clarence sees he is not ...

Review by John D. O'Brien, S.J. Director: Xavier Beauvois, 122 min., France, 2010. Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin Plot Based on the true story of the eight Trappist monks of the Monastery of Notre-Dame de l’Atlas, who in 1996 found themselves caught in the midst of the Algerian Civil War. The monks live a quiet life of work and prayer and friendship with the Muslim villagers of Tibhirine. Threatened by terrorist factions, they are urged to flee the country. This triggers an excruciating discernment: to leave or to stay with the people they have come to know and love. Film History Nominated for many awards, and winning three at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Prize of the Jury. Spiritual Reflection It is rare to see a religious film of such power as Xavier Beauvois’s Of Gods and Men . It is not a film about the monks’ deaths, which were hailed as martyrdoms, but rather about how they lived and why they were willing t...

Review by John D. O'Brien, S.J. (The Gospel According to Saint Matthew) Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 137 min., Italy, 1964. Starring: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini Music: Bach, Mozart, Prokofiev, Bacalov, Odetta. Plot In the Judean countryside, Jesus begins to preach, attracting disciples and sometimes multitudes. His is stern and demanding: “I have not come to bring peace but the sword”. He is also in a hurry, constantly moving from place to place. His teachings often criticize the powers that be, which attracts the attention of the Pharisees, elders and chief priests. He is arrested, beated, tried and crucified. Afterwards he appears to his disciples and gives them instructions. Film History Filmed in the style of Italian neo-realism, which is stark, gritty, and believed that ordinary people, rather than actors, were best suited to play characters (not any character, but the one they were born to play ), the film was the creation of...

By John D. O'Brien, S.J. Director: Terrence Malick, 112 min., U.SA., 2013. Starring: Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams Plot Neil (Affleck) and Marina (Kurylenko) fall in love in Paris and at Mont St. Michel (called by the French “la merveille” –  the wonder). Marina tells Neil that she will go with him wherever he goes, hinting that she would marry him. Although Neil is noncommittal, they return, with Marina’s young daughter Tatiana, to live in Neil’s home in suburban Oklahoma, where tensions arise in their relationship. There we learn that a Spanish-born priest, Father Quintana (Bardem), is struggling with his faith, while continuing his regular rounds of pastoral ministry. Later, Neil encounters a woman from his past (McAdams). All characters, it becomes clear, are looking for love. Some succeed at penetrating love’s veil, while for others it will remain elusive. Film History To the Wonder was reviewed by Roger Ebert, the well-known Americ...