Saturday, 30 March 2013
Monday, 25 March 2013
(Video will be archived and accessible with registration fee.)
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Fr. Robert Sprott, OFM, holds an M.A. in anthropology and theology, and a Ph.D. in linguistics.
Fr. Robert Sprott, OFM, holds an M.A. in anthropology and theology, and a Ph.D. in linguistics.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
With signs including the slogan: "I need a Mom and a Dad," and pink and blue balloons, 1.8 million French marched on March 24 (second march this year) on the L'Arch de Triomphe to protect marriage between one man and one woman. Crowds (including elderly and children) were tear-gassed by police. Crowds are demanding a referendum.
Gay activists and celebrities are marching also (they are for gay lifestyle, but agree it's not marriage).
Socialist President Hollande is determined to push through the law without the approval of the people.
Even the "Mariannes" showed up at the March 24 march (young women who dress up in white and red like the mother/symbol of the French Revolution). You can get a brief glimpse of them at :58 and 1:58.
Here's more info: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/1.4-million-march-against-gay-marriage-in-france-police-tear-gas-crowd-chil
See this blogpost from the first march: "WHAT DO THE FRENCH KNOW THAT WE DON'T?"
http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-do-french-know-that-we-dont.html#.UU_hcBdwr0c
Oooops! Wrong march (below)...um...but it kinda fits...
A new DVD on the horizon is about an oft-forgotten topic and oft-forgotten souls: “Purgatory: The Forgotten Church.” We’re used to thinking of the Church on earth as “the Church Militant” or “the Pilgrim Church,” and the Church in heaven as “the Church Triumphant” or “the Church Glorious,” but there’s a “third” Church--that of the suffering souls in purgatory. It can be too easy to dissociate ourselves from “souls,” but these souls are actually people we know, our loved ones, relatives, friends, acquaintances who are being purified and readied to be with God forever in heaven’s unending, ever-increasing bliss. The Church has a custom of praying for those we don’t know, also, just generally praying for “the souls in purgatory,” “the poor souls,” and “the most forgotten souls in purgatory” who may have no one praying specifically for them. Why do we call them “suffering” souls? Because they are in intense spiritual agony, longing to be with God. At death they met Him, everything has been clarified for them (what is truly of value, where their desires should be directed), and the “suffering” is simply an overwhelming desire to be with Him.
Why do the souls in purgatory need our prayers? While we’re on earth we have free will, right up till the moment of death. After death, the souls in purgatory can no longer “help themselves,” so our prayers can avail them. In turn, their prayers and sufferings are precious to God and are able to help us. Such is the “communion of saints” and the interconnectedness of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.
Chicago-based filmmaker, Friar John Clote, an investigative journalist before he entered the Conventual Franciscans, has delved extensively into this subject to produce a comprehensive 75-minute film filled with authoritative information and inspiration. Cardinal George is interviewed along with great “friend of the holy souls,” Susan Tassone, and others.
I recently interviewed Friar John for Chicago’s Archdiocesan Catholic newspaper, “The Catholic New World.” (Twitter: @CathNewWorld)
CNW: What inspired you to make this film?
John: I’ve been interested in this subject for years. My Mom passed away in 2008, and that experience of being a grieving Catholic, and having Masses said for her, that made me think about how I would approach this in a film.
I began praying in a Eucharistic chapel in Arizona, praying for my Mom and Dad and all the people I knew who had passed away, friends of my family and my friends. I began thinking of people who weren’t like my Mom who had many people praying for her. She had lots of friends who were devoted, prayerful Catholics. I kept thinking of deceased people I knew who didn’t have these people in their lives.
CNW: What did you learn in the process of making this film?
John: There’s a spiritual connection that exists between the living and deceased: Earth, purgatory and heaven. The theological definition is “the communion of saints,” but there can also be a tangible component sometimes when the veil between this world and the next thins in varied ways, in beautiful ways that can lead one to believe or reconsider unbelief that there really is something beyond this world.
In the film, we talk about near-death experiences and the development of the Church’s doctrine on purgatory. The idea of purification after death is not unique to Catholicism. The ancient Greeks had an idea of it, too.
CNW: How has making this film changed you?
John: It has reinforced for me the specific notion that our relationships don’t end here. The love and appreciation—even though we are missing the sense of people’s physical presence—doesn’t end, but translates into a higher form of communication through prayer. I believe the deceased in purgatory can hear us more clearly, understand us more profoundly, and pray for us.
CNW: What are some misconceptions about purgatory?
John: First, that it doesn’t exist, and second, that it’s some kind of antechamber of hell, that it’s “down there” with some kind of trap door to get out. The four misunderstandings that we deal with in the film are: 1) time and space 2) indulgences 3) suicide 4) the motif of fire as the chief form of purgation. Much of the Church’s art, especially from the Middle Ages, depicts purgatory as fire. The focus really is on God’s love, God’s love as consuming fire coming from His Sacred Heart. That kind of fire. Nothing impure will enter heaven. We will be with an all-holy God, so His love needs to purify us so that we can become a reflection of who God the Father really is.
CNW: What do you want people to take away from the film?
John: Jesus Christ has unfathomable mercy and love for His Creation and all of us, and we need only ask to be enveloped in that Love. Purgatory is just another expression of God’s profound, unfathomable, incomprehensible mercy.
To pre-order your DVD and watch previews: www.PurgatoryForgottenChurch.com. (Due in early May.)
John B. Clote is a Conventual Franciscan friar, broadcast journalist and filmmaker. He is currently studying to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood. After several years as a producer and writer at NBC News in St. Louis he began working in catholic media producing more than a dozen films and documentaries for The Mercy Foundation. John was one of the last journalists in the world to conduct a televised interview with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Faustina Kowalska’s last surviving sibling. His films and work have appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, and EWTN.
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Here's my extensive print review: http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2013/02/movies-warm-bodies.html#.UbLUFOdwr0c
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Monday, 11 March 2013
Take prescription in the following order:
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| 1. The Hobbit Ever notice how our world is kind of screwed up? Majorly screwed up? We Christians believe that's because of the Fall. When we said "no" to God and chose death for ourselves, we screwed up all of Creation with us. "All of Creation is groaning...awaiting...the redemption of our bodies" Romans 8:22-23. "The culture of death" has actually been with us from the beginning, but has taken on new depths of late. All our relationships were ruptured: with God, within ourselves, with each other, with all Creation. "With each other"? There was only Adam and Eve, male and female: the primordial human relationship, which is the first love, from where children come, from where the future comes. The family is the most basic cell of society. Families form neighborhoods, neighborhoods form cities, cities form states, states form countries. Society is based on the male/female relationship. BUT even though there are NO chicks in the book "The Hobbit"--Galadriel, some hobbit womenfolk of the Shire and a quick shot of dwarf wives are in "The Hobbit" movie--the Theology of the Body connection is that "The Hobbit" envisions a world bigger than just humans. We can put ourselves in the bigger picture. There are other beings; all of Creation--the material world--is affected by evil (the animals are getting sick because of witchcraft) and we are all caught up in the spiritual warfare, the drama of good vs. evil. No one is exempt. We are all connected. "I want to help the world be always more in harmony with the will of the Creator." --Pope Francis, March 15, 2013 My full review: http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2012/12/movies-hobbit-unexpected-adventure-part.html#.UT6cndYjnPY |
2. The Tree of Life
Creation, that is, Sacred Nature, plays a large part in the contemplative 3-hour long "The Tree of Life." Director Terrence Malick wants to make sure we understand our connection to Nature, so he makes us watch 20 minutes of unbroken nature cinematography (this sequence cost $10 million to make).
We zero in on the family. A hurting family, for sure, but one that is trying. As in all Malick's movies, we hear characters whispering prayers to God, we hear their moral deliberations deep in their consciences. AND we see the glorious destiny of the human body-person: HEAVEN.
The film starts with a stark quote from the book of Job, situating the film clearly within the Judaeo-Christian ethos. Catholic religious imagery and practices abound.
My full review: http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2011/05/movies-tree-of-life.html
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| 3. Warm Bodies The healing of the male/female relationship CAN cure the whole world! Marriage is the most private and personal relationship but also the most social and public at the same time. Two imperfect people can do something so perfect. "To live the Theology of the Body is nothing less than to heal the universe. The redemption of the (human) body is nothing less than redemption of the whole physical world." --Christopher West My full review: http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2013/02/movies-warm-bodies.html#.UT6midYjnPY GO YE FORTH AND WATCH YE THESE FILMS AND BE HEALED! |
Friday, 8 March 2013
The trailer for the new crime-thriller, “Side Effects,” could lead one to believe that this film is an exposé of Big Pharma wrapped up as entertainment. Nothing could be further from the theme of this film. Big Pharma wrongdoing isn’t even the backdrop. “Side Effects” is about something entirely different. While on experimental new anti-depressants, Emily (Rooney Mara) commits murder as she sleepwalks. Or does she? But getting to the bottom of the whodunit still isn’t what the film is about.
Emily’s husband, Martin (Channing Tatum), has just been released from prison for insider trading. Emily should be thrilled that they’re together again, but depression is eating her up. Her depressive behavior is ruining both their lives, and Emily is always teetering on the brink of suicide. She is in the care of psychiatrist, Dr. Banks (Jude Law), who is responsible for administering the experimental drug to her. Everyone is kind and patient with Emily until the killing changes everything. Will Emily be charged with the crime? Or will she be declared insane and be locked up? Will Dr. Banks be incriminated? There is so much at stake for both of them, and Emily’s former psychiatrist, Dr. Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), complicates the proceedings as a third party with her own interests in the case.
The film begins quietly and understatedly. After the death, things heat up and there is a believable, revelatory plot twist approximately every five minutes (a mark of excellent filmmaking--very hard to do without excessive explanation, and “Side Effects” succeeds so well at it). We have to pay keen attention, but when we do, we are rewarded every five minutes! The plot twists double back on themselves, rather than introducing bigger and wilder outside characters, information or action: also a mark of excellence in visual storytelling.
“Side Effects” is a well-made and entertaining film with top-notch filmmakers and actors. Steven Soderbergh directs, and the score is by the highly-acclaimed Thomas Newman. Screenwriter, Scott Z. Burns, crafts amazingly succinct and subtle dialogue that is both deceptively mundane (for credibility) and fresh (for our enticement) at the same time. The element of surprise is strong, and it becomes impossible to guess how things will turn out.
It’s difficult to say more about this film without giving away too much. It just has to be watched—not experienced—we are definitely observers here. The ending is exceedingly neat and tidy, but the great question raised is: “Can we always act rightly, even when dealt a dirty hand? Or is the only way to prevail to become like those who harm us?”
"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury." --Marcus Aurelius
OTHER STUFF:
--One unnecessarily graphic, explicit, intimate sex scene.
--Inchoate theme about “Madeline.” Shoulda left it out or developed it. Unless it was just a red herring for us, but even then, it was a little too much….
--Dr. Banks’ wife is a bit of a shrew.
--Why did they show us Dr. Banks with the Haitian guy in the beginning? To show you what kind of guy Dr. Banks is.
--We could have picked up the same clues Dr. Banks did. But we didn’t, did we? J
--Seems to me Dr. Banks was a “victim of circumstance,” too.
--The legal stuff was easy to understand and never tedious. Thank you.
--It still pays to be the good guy whether you finish first, last, or not at all. Job had his fortunes restored to him, but it won’t always be that way for us on this earth. However, ULTIMATELY, we will have/inherit/be given/be rewarded with EVERYTHING. Mark 30:28-31.
--GOD is EVERYTHING. In GOD we have EVERYTHING.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
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