SILENCE SHOULD EMULATE JUST THAT

I’m going to do something I have never done. I’m going to review a movie I HAVE NEVER EVEN SEEN AND HAVE NO PLANS TO EVER SEE!!!
I was really looking forward to seeing Silence, about the missionaries who went to Japan and courageously stood up against the persecutions of the anti-Christian government in the 17th century. I sought out the review of Silence by Bishop Barron first as I often get far more out of movies after listening to his take on them and given the topic thought it best if I watched him BEFORE seeing the movie instead of afterwards. I am grateful I did.
SPOILERS….you’ve been warned.
Silence is about two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who go looking for their mentor (Liam Neeson) in Japan due to rumors he gave up the Catholic faith. They can’t believe it and want to clear his name, even at the risk of their own deaths.
1.

The mentor DID renounce the Catholic faith to save his skin/because he genuinely lost his faith – whatever. Not exactly an inspirational or virtuous character and I’m disappointed in Neeson, who is supposed to be a practicing Catholic, that he would parade this flawed example onto the big screen.
2. 

The main young Jesuit, played by Garfield, GIVES UP HIS FAITH. He renounces the Holy Mother Church, takes a Japanese wife and spends the rest of his life, with Neeson’s character, as a government drone. Only at the end is he shown in his coffin HIDING a crucifix. WORSE than too little too late, it is apostacy.
I was appalled upon learning this. It’s JUST the way the atheists and new agers and liberals WANT us to treat our faith – as something shameful or to be kept, if at all, very very quiet and to ourselves, privately so it doesn’t BOTHER anyone.
3.

THE LAITY  AND FATHER GARUPE ARE THE TRUE HEROES. The small fishing village which shelters the visiting Jesuits keep the faith going for YEARS, even before the two young Jesuits show up, in the face of horrific governmental persecution. When it is discovered that Jesuits are among them they torture and kill the villagers but the VILLAGERS DO NOT RENOUNCE THEIR FAITH!! Neither does Father Garupe, who dies with the villagers, but precious little film time or attention is given to him. They are the true heroes.
DO NOT BOTHER TO SEE THIS MOVIE. ITS ANTI-CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA DISGUISED AS CATHOLIC FAITH HISTORY IS DISGUSTING.

Even if this movie is based upon a real person who turns his back on the Catholic Church, WHY would millions be spent lionizing this person and ignoring the hundreds and thousands of people who died under torture protecting and upholding the Faith? Because the makers of this movie represent the idolators of the god Political Correctness and wish to trivialize the Truth.
I am SICK of being told, as a Christian and more specifically as a Catholic that I should KEEP MY PLACE, in the back of the political and societal bus. To keep my faith privately hidden away and not have it influence or instruct any of my day to day interactions. All in the name of the lefts’ god – Political Correctness. ENOUGH!!!


I will not be SILENCED when Little Sisters of the Poor are forced out of their vocation because the liberals and liberals’ precious Obamacrap wish the nuns to push contraceptives and baby murdering abortificants on patients. I will not be SILENCED when mom and pop bakers are forced out of business by socially abusive people who require their sexual fetishes be advertised on cakes.

AUSTIN, TX – JUNE 27: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott attends a press conference celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows a Ten Commandments monument to stand outside the Texas State Capitol June 27, 2005 in Austin, Texas. A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments on government land, but drew the line on displays inside courthouses, saying they violated the doctrine of separation of church and state. (Photo by Jana Birchum/Getty Images)

I will not be SILENCED when judges try to force out the 10 Commandments from public displays. I will not be SILENCED when liberals lie about the definition of the separation of church and state when all the while THEY are the ones mandating their state run “religion” of environmental wackoism and cult of abortionism. I will not be SILENCED when extremist Muslims TODAY are committing genocide on entire Christian populations.
MAY THIS MOVIE’S THEATERS RUN TO AN EMPTY THEATER OF ………….. SILENCE.
BE COURAGEOUS AND DO NOT BE SILENCED BY THOSE WHO WISH TO CONDEMN THE TEACHINGS OF OUR JUDEO-CHRISTIAN GOD TO …………….. SILENCE.

 

 

PATRIOTS DAY – INSPIRING SURVIVORS

There are some movies that are very hard to watch….but really should be seen.

Lone Survivor, Saving Private Ryan, The Passion of the Christ, all come to mind. These movies document the suffering and courage of people who  fight against terrible evil: Al Queda, Nazis, the Devil himself. Patriots Day is such a movie.
Patriots Day revolves around the men and women involved as victims, first responders, investigators, or keys in the relay race of evidence and capture of the Muslim terrorists who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon 2013.
The title of this article is intended to be two fold. This movie is about survivors who are inspiring, who, in turn inspire other survivors. Every American, faithful to the tenets on which our country was founded, should watch this movie.
Mark Wahlberg plays Tommy Saunders, the main protagonist but also the only major character not based on a single individual, but who is a composite of a number of first responders and police. Every other featured character is based on an individual real person.
In a bit of humor and irony Saunders is a detective under threat of suspension for an undetailed error who is on his last day in the dog house – Saunders must, Providentially for everyone involved,  spend one more day in uniform at the finish line of the Marathon. So a highly trained official is there at ground zero to help begin the coordination of the rescue and evidence gathering and ultimately the capture of the two bombers.
It starts slowly and plays out like a well edited documentary – which is meant to be a compliment. The film shows essential moments in time, at first seemingly unrelated,  parsed from post-event interviews, surveillance camera footage, security reports and other such transcripts. So it also starts a bit jumpily – moving quickly from introduction of characters to first responder moments to investigators’ efforts and ultimately to the moments and people at the edges of the net which finally captures the Muslim terrorists.
While not as graphic as Saving Private Ryan, do be aware that there are moments and images which adults, much less young teens, may find visceral, so use caution in deciding who should attend. Also, the language is understandably rough. Sometimes it seems like the only adjective anyone in Boston knows begins with the letter “F”. However, under most of the circumstances it is certainly not gratuitous.

I once witnessed a car accident and watched as several men – bystanders – launched themselves towards the smoking car to aid the passengers. Such bravery is on display here.

We owe it to the real people involved in the 2013 attack on our fellow citizens to see this movie. We owe it to history to be witnesses even second hand. We owe it to the surviving victims maimed in body but undaunted in spirit. We owe it to the first responders – whether official or civilian – who ran TOWARDS the source of ultimate danger to do what they could for the injured and vulnerable. We owe it to the investigators who worked tirelessly to literally piece together what happened. We owe it to the men and women who stood their ground against monsters shooting guns and throwing bombs in normally quiet residential areas. We owe it to the police and soldiers who open doors and step into rooms, knowing it might be their last act on Earth, in order to stop terrorists. We, survivors ourselves of the great evils in the war against Western civilization in general and the Judeo-Christian faith in particular, owe it to ourselves to be inspired by the survivors’ tremendous courage, faith and valor, who lived to witness the 2013 Patriots Day terrorist attack. And we owe it to those who did not survive to witness for them.

PASSENGERS – AN ALLEGORY FOR MARRIAGE

 
When my husband and I had been married for 15 years we volunteered to go through an Engaged Encounter Counseling training session. During that period of time we learned things about each other that we did not know! For example, his favorite color is blue. I thought it was tan. He always WEARS tan. Who knew?!
The process also reminded me about the dating/mating process. The early years when you become irresistably attracted. Then you wonder if you should take the risk of being a couple. After a time, as you consider you may be spending the rest of your life with this person – have I done the right thing? The infatuation. The sexual attraction. The sharing and adventure. The fun. And then you find out things maybe you hadn’t realized about the other. You fight. Maybe the fight seems to herald in the end of the relationship. But at some point you realize you would much prefer to journey through life WITH this person than without them – warts and all.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in Columbia Pictures’ PASSENGERS.
Perhaps it takes a personal crisis. Perhaps there is a moment when you see the resilient admirable core at the center of their being – the stuff that, even unknowingly, attracted you to them to begin with. Their morality. Their love of life. Their sense of fun….their courage in the face of life’s adversity. Something to which you can cling during the dangers and storms of life.
SPOILERS
In short, I have just synopsized Passengers. This movie is a brilliant allegory about just such a meeting, discernment, set of crises, resolution, determination and resolve that describe the stages of coming together in a marriage – not just the wedding, but truly the union of two people through thick and thin who commit selflessly to each other to face the life and death trials the world – or space – can bring.

Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) are strangers. Passengers on a deep space colony ship whose 5,000 colonists and 100+ crew are put into hibernation for the length of a 120 year trip. 32 years into the journey the ship has an unexpected, unplanned run in with a comet storm which causes damage which triggers the opening of Jim’s pod. It also causes other damage which will not be fully noticed for another 2 years.  Jim finds himself alone on a 1,000 foot luxury cruise ship with every amenity except companionship. There is the quirky addition of an android bartender


(Michael Sheen) but that’s it. He spends much of his time for the first few months: trying to contact Earth (round trip answer to even his cry for help would take 55 years), accessing the bridge (NOTHING short of a proper access code will get him entry despite the fact he is a mechanical engineer), reading manuals, trying to reactivate his hibernation pod. Finally he resigns himself to at least enjoying the amenities on the ship but after another few months he begins the slow descent into madness. He ceases to care even about shaving or dressing and finally is inches away from suicide when he randomly, if not Providentially comes across Aurora’s pod. He checks out her video profile and the books she has written and falls in love with her humor, her writing and ultimately…her. He struggles for months with the idea of manually opening her pod – even consulting Arthur, but his desperation is too great and he does what he realizes is the unthinkable – he awakens Aurora 87 years too early.

And so the courtship begins. The details of how the potential tragedy plays out, what her reaction is when she finds out what Jim has done, the reason why Jim's pod opened to begin with, and the resolution to their relationship I will leave to your watching of this amazing film.
Suffice it to say that I was captivated by the special effects, delighted by the story and impressed with the acting of two Robinson Crusoes and their bartender “Friday”. Pratt and Lawrence were terrific and Sheen endearing.
But it was my husband who recognized the analogy to marriage – how two people, against odds, found each other. That despite the hundreds of people around them it was up to ONLY the two of them to make a life for themselves, to overcome seemingly overwhelming obstacles and to triumph by self sacrificing to and for each other, recognizing their union may require foregoing other possible choices, binding themselves only to each other, and spending the rest of their lives making a life with each other. The perfect analogy of a courtship and marriage.
My only regret is that religion was sanitized out of the equation. There were Biblical elements: Jim willing to lay down his life for Aurora. Aurora willing to forgive Jim completely and his life becoming her life. They ultimately chose to cleave to each other, despite the fact Aurora was provided, by Jim, with another option. But there were no visits to a chapel, no praying to God in what was emotional extremity for Jim. No acknowledgement of the Hand of God and His Providence in their miraculously timed awakenings, finding each other or escape from mortal peril. And that’s a shame. Because with inclusion of the recogniztion of God this marital analogy would have been raised to the level of a sacramental union. There was even a clergy of sorts in the form of a Senior crewman (Lawrence Fishburne), who stood in the way of Captain for a time and who – before his demise – gave his “blessing” to them.
Despite this lack Passengers is a lovely, inspirational movie about the adventure of two people who bond for life…and who bond FOR life.