I attended a prayer group recently,
and the group began with an icebreaker question: what is your favorite
inspirational movie? A fun, yet poignant question! The first person his
favorite inspirational movie is Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,”
though he had to admit that some of the graphic violence is hard to watch. The
second person mentioned a movie I had never heard of, called “Glory” about the
U.S. Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, the 54th Massachusetts
Infantry Regiment, detailing the prejudices they faced from both their own
Union Army and the Confederates, and the sacrifice they made for the cause of
freedom and national unity. The third member of our group mentioned the movie “Unplanned”,
the story of Abby Johnson, a former director for planned parenthood, who is
confronted with the grizzly evil of abortion, joins the ranks of the pro-life
movement and the ensuing backlash she experienced.
I have a hard time with the topic of
“favorite movies” because I really do enjoy a good film, but I immediately
thought of the movie “A Man for All Seasons” the story of St. Thomas More who
stood up to King Henry VII when the King rejected the authority of the Catholic
Church’s teaching on divorce. Sir Thomas More, as you might know, was
Chancellor of England and a good friend of the Kings. The movie wonderfully
depicts St. Thomas More’s jovial personality, his cunning mind, strong family
life and devout faith. But when the King demanded that Catholics, clergy and
laity alike, bow to his claim that he was the head of the Church in England
and therefore able to refashion Church doctrine, Thomas More refused to
acknowledge the king’s claim. For this he was stripped of his office, arrested,
separated from his family, imprisoned in the tower of London, and eventually
beheaded. Here’s a man who refused to compromise his faith when faced with the
pressures of family, friends, and political authorities. He is certainly an
inspiration to Christians of every age.
And reflecting on the four movies
shared by members of our prayer group, I don’t think it is a coincidence that all
four movies share a common theme: “self-sacrifice”. The self-sacrifice of
Christ of course in the passion movie, the self-sacrifice of the black
infantrymen willing to fight against prejudice and even to die for those who
hated them in “Glory”. The self-sacrifice of Abby Johnson, having her name
dragged through the mud, receiving death-threats for exposing the evils of
planned parenthood and the abortion industry. Movie Theater owners in fact have
received death threats for showing her movie. And the self-sacrifice of Thomas
More, a martyr for the truth of the Christian Gospel. Stories of self-sacrifice
are most inspirational.
Our first reading from Second
Maccabees certainly recounts an inspiring tale of self-sacrifice. Around
two-hundred years before the birth of Christ, Greek culture had spread to
Israel. Many of Israel’s leaders had allowed Greek cultural values and the
promise of political power to replace their faith. The Greek King ruling over
the Jews had tried to eradicate Judaism. If you were caught practicing the
tenets of Judaism, you would be put to death. And in our reading today, seven
brothers with their dear mother were arrested and tortured with whips and
scourges because they refused an order of the Greek King inducing the Jews to
eat pork in violation of Jewish law.
This family courageously refused to
betray their faith even to the point of physical maiming and death. Why? Why
didn’t they just give in?
Well, listen again to what one of the
sons says to his executioner: “you accursed fiend,” he says, “you are depriving
us of this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up to live
again forever.” Yes, you are killing us, but the Lord will raise us up!
They understood that the choices we make
in this life affect our eternity. Our faith matters. The practice of our faith
matters. Faith leads to eternal life, disobedience to death.
The next son, holds out his hands to
his executioner who is going to cut them off.
He says, “it was from heaven that I received these…from God I hope to
receive them again.” This cruel
executioner is going to cut off his hands, and the son says, fine, God gave
them to me, and one day, God will give them back to me. He believes that that even this present body
is less important than eternal life.
The last brother, as he dies, says,
“it is my choice to die at the hands of men, that God who gives life will raise
me up.”
This family of faithful Jews
foreshadow the self-sacrifice of Christ; they are certainly proto-martyrs,
embodying what the Lord taught a few Sundays ago, “Those who lose their life
for my sake, will gain it.” To be faithful to Christ is to do what these young
men did, to keep our minds and hearts fixed on God and on his promises
especially in the face of trial.
There are moments when our
relationship with God will cost us. Depriving ourselves of some bodily pleasure
because pursuing it would be sinful costs us something. Depriving ourselves of
material gain because pursuing it would be to cheat or to steal costs us
something. Deprive ourselves of some position of power because pursuing it
would involve lying or exaggerating the faults of others costs us something.
Refraining from sinful gossip when it would bolster our social status costs us
something. Going to mass every week,
even when my family or my hobbies make demands on my time costs us something.
Contributing to your financial needs of the parish, the needs of our neighborhood
poor, committing time to prayer, all costs us something. And don’t we gain so
much more, when we are generous with God and trust his plan?
When we speak of inspiring movies or
inspiring scripture passages or inspiring stories from the lives of the saints,
what are they inspiring us for? The inspire us for those moments when we have
to make the choice. Will we do what is right, even when it brings us suffering,
or not? Will we witness to our belief that God’s promises are real, that there
is something beyond this earthly life, or not? The veterans our nation honors
on Monday, veterans day, are so inspiring to us because they were willing to
put their lives on the line for us, they we might enjoy freedom and peace.
There are many people who dismiss God
as a distant cosmic force that has little bearing on every day life. But
Christians, by living out our faith when it is costly to us, shows that God is
more real than anything else.
Our own parish patron Saint, Ignatius
of Antioch, realized this truth. When Bishop Ignatius had to choose between
faith and escaping suffering and death, he chose faith. Ignatius wrote: “All
the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me
nothing. It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign
over all the ends of the earth. ‘For what shall a man be profited, if he gain
the whole world, but lose his own soul?’ Him I seek, who died for us: Him I
desire, who rose again for our sake.”
Ignatius understood, as has every
martyr, that if we are only concerned with this prospering in this world
something in us is already dead. Rather, the Christian is to witness that the
life to come is to be obtained by those who love God more than this present
life.
May we witness to that faith in
everything we say and do today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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