X-Men
1. Diversity
The first series of movies that I would like to focus on are the X-Men movies: X-men, X-2 X-Men United, and X-3 The Last Stand. These movies focus on the marvel comic heroes the X-men a group of mutants under the guidance of Professor Xavier come to grips with the fact that in the future there is more than creed, race, and ethnicity that separates human beings. Some of the mutants have the ability to use their minds in extraordinary ways, other mutants have developed the ability to turn their bodies into devastating weapons, and still others have developed paranormal activities such as teleportation, controlling the weather, and shape-shifting. While these mutants try to come to grips with who they have become they must also face prejudice and hate from those who view them as different and therefore a threat.

I discovered that these movies teach a great lesson in diversity and this mostly comes through the character of Professor Xavier who constantly reminds the X-Men and his former friend now enemy Magneto that despite the great diversity that now covers the planet earth everyone mutant and normal people alike are more similar because they are all human. Without necessarily saying it Professor Xavier is stressing the Christian teaching that everyone regardless of ability, status, or wealth has infinite value and needs to be treated with respect. The heroes in these movies head this teaching and refuse to allow fear of the unknown to control their actions but rather risk everything to treat each individual with respect.

2. Accepting One-self
A second theme that I find running through the X-Men movies is self-acceptance. The X-Men all understand that they are different and it is this difference that sometimes triggers hostility in others. One character’s, Rogue, only desire is to be normal even though she is probably the most powerful of the mutants. She wants what people call a normal life. Instead of focusing on the positive in her life, she constantly focuses on what she can’t do. Throughout the movies the audience is left wanting to tell Rogue to stop complaining and realize what she does have. While Rogue’s case because it is fiction is a little extreme (in the movie she cannot touch people) how often do we find ourselves wishing that we were somehow different than who God made us to be. I am not saying that self-improvement should not be a goal but rather there is a difference from wanting to improve what you have verses wanting to start from scratch with someone else as the blueprint. It seems to me it is that only by accepting themselves that the X-Men come to control their powers. Is it not the same for us; the more we accept ourselves the more we come to discover the talents (powers) that God has given us.

3. Just War Theory
The third and last theme that I wish to address is that of the Just War Theory. Throughout the three movies, the main villain Magneto remains a very human character despite the fact that he has the power to bend metal. We learn in the first scene of the first movie that Magneto as a child was separated by his family during the Holocaust. He has scene first hand the depth of depravity that human beings will go to when motivated by racism and prejudice. Magneto’s actions throughout the movie show that he is motivated not for world domination but rather for self-protection. He knows that he and the other mutants are different and therefore he decides that he must get normal human beings before they get him. Despite that throughout the movies Magneto seems to be right about normal human beings we can’t help but feel that there is something wrong with Magneto’s actions. It took me a while to discover what it was and then it hit me Magneto is always the aggressor. Magneto refuses to enter into the dialogue for a peaceful solution and thus he has stereotyped normal people as they have him. Part of the Just World Theory demonstrated in these movies is that one must enter into a war only to defend oneself. War is never just when one is the aggressor. Much more could be said here but I am out of space

Spiderman
1. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
It is my guess that just from the first line above that you would be able to tell me what set of movies I plan to reflect upon today for the quote above is the center of all the Spiderman movies. I have to admit though that I have not seen Spiderman 3 so I am hoping that none of these themes are destroyed in that movie.

Peter Parker, the normal guy turned superhero, is told by his Uncle Ben that “With great power comes great responsibility,” and this becomes Spiderman’s unofficial motto. For me this saying is closely related to the many parables of Jesus that focus on people being given certain talents while their master is away. The parables go something like: the first man was given five and made another five, the second was given two and made another two and the third man was given one but made nothing. It is a reminder to us that our strengths and talents are gifts from God and we are called to share them with others so that more people may come to know who Christ is.

We are really blessed in the United States to with financial gifts too and Catholic social teaching tells us that we have an obligation to help those who are less fortunate than us. “With great power comes great responsibility.”

2. Love is wanting what is best for the other
Throughout the first Spiderman movie the audience cannot help but realize that Peter Parker is in love with Mary Jane Watson. At the end of the movie, Peter has a chance to get the girl of his dreams but refuses to because he does not want to place her in danger. In the second movie, Mary Jane discovers that Peter is her one true love and chooses to love him despite the danger because she sees that he needs someone in his life. I found both examples to be profound examples of sacrificial love for both of them put aside their own selfish needs and desires to do what was best for the other. It was a powerful reminder for me that love is not possessing and controlling the other person but rather love is wanting what is best for the other person.

3. Integration vs. Compartmentalization
The major conflict in Spiderman I & II is not Spiderman verses the bad guys but rather Spiderman verses Peter Parker. Peter Parker must come to grips with the changes in his life. He has to learn to integrate his new powers into his life. In many ways this is a very human story for there are times in our lives when we have to integrate a major change into our life in order to be a healthy individual. Boyfriend and girlfriend must integrate the commitments of marriage into their lives as husband and wife for they cannot continue to date other people and have a happy marriage. Husbands and wives must integrate children in order to become parents because now they have to make certain sacrifices for the good of their children. Not sacrifices that leave them unhappy but rather make them all the more happy because of the children in their life. I had to integrate priesthood into my life at my ordination for I cannot go around now as a bachelor.

Integration is so important for we cannot live double lives. Peter Parker is Spiderman and Spiderman is Peter Parker for better or for worse. In a similar way” Thomas M. Pastorius is Fr. Tom and Fr. Tom is Thomas M. Pastorius. Husband and wife are often mom and dad.

Bruce Almighty
1. Anger toward God
I recently saw Evan Almighty on the big screen and I cannot wait for it to come to DVD. I will probably spend an entire month of Spiritual Ponderings on that movie. Evan Almighty did make me think of the first movie in the series Bruce Almighty. I found Bruce almighty to be a wonderful movie with the exception of two to three scenes that could have been left out. I will just focus on the positive for the movie. The first is the concept of being angry at God.

The movies starts off with Bruce being mad at God for all the bad things that are happening in his life. He blames God for his bad job, his beat up car, and more. He is so busy complaining to God that he is missing all the good things that he has in life. He doesn’t see how bless he is to have a job at all (this is scene by contrasting Bruce throughout the movie with a homeless man), Grace (his girlfriend), and many other blessings.

I think the movie demonstrates that it is alright to get mad at God and I think that this is important because often when we do not let people know that we are mad at them we stop talking to them and this does more damage to the relationship than talking about our anger with a friend. I think though that the movie shows that it is important to see the blessings in our lives and not to focus so much on the negative.

2. True Prayer
My favorite scene in the movie is at the end where Bruce (who has just been hit by a truck and died) is standing before God (played by Morgan Freeman – I think Morgan Freeman makes a great “God” and I would like to see him do a remake of some of George Burns films). Bruce totally defeated asks God: “What do you want from me?” and God responds “I want you to pray.” So Bruce prays a half-hearted prayer for world peace and then asks God how he did. God responds by telling him good if “he wanted to be Miss America.” God then challenges him to pray about the things that matter to him and Bruce prays for his girl friend whom he cares deeply about. God finishes the scene by telling him that Bruce’s prayer was a good prayer.

Sometimes we can get caught up with being to formal with God that we fail to express our true hopes and desires to God as would to a close friend. Prayer is something we do to develop a relationship with God not something that we do to appease his anger. The more that we open up to God and share with God the good and the bad the better our relationship with God will be.

3. Being the Miracle
All through out the movie, Bruce is trying to come up with a catch phrase. At the end of the movie he finally finds it: “Be the miracle.” One of the central themes of the movie is that God gives us the power to handle the situations in our life and that true miracles in life are people like a single mother of two who is working two jobs to make ends meet. The true miracle is that we have the power to make the world a better place

Over the Hedge
1. Severe Problems
In the movie Over the Hedge, RJ (the raccoon) finds himself in a serious problem. He has to replace a cave full of food before a bear eats him. RJ’s bigger problem is more that he tries to solve this problem alone. RJ is to prideful to ask for help and so he spends the movie manipulating others to help him. RJ almost misses the opportunity for friendship because he is so intent on solving the problem himself. While RJ suffers from many of vices like greed and gluttony, his biggest sin is that of pride because he is unwilling to ask for help.

Who of us though cannot sympathize with RJ? We find ourselves getting ourselves deeper and deeper into trouble because we refuse to ask for help. I think one of the keen insights of Alcoholics Anonymous is that no one can do it alone and that is why they gather together in support groups and every member receives a sponsor.

2. Family
Another key point of Over the Hedge is that family can be more than genetics. The Over the Hedge family consisted of a turtle, squirrel, skunk, porcupines and possums. What made them a family was that they worked together, played together and cared for one another. This for me was a great example of what the Church is calling us to be: “God’s Family”. We are all very different in some manners but we are all family through Baptism. The more that we work together (service), play together (social) and care for one another (minister) the closer we will become.

3. Environment
I found the humor about the environment to be absolutely funny, because of the high level of sarcasm. The head of the home owners association wanting the animals not to be harmed so that they could be killed humanly was just hilarious. There was a strong message about the environment in the movie but I did not felt beat over the head with it. It reminded me that we I need to take care of my environment because wildlife habitats are being consumed more and more. It is not just enough for me to say that I like the outdoors I must make an effort to change some of my thought patters so that I show it through my actions so I do not look at hypocritical as the head of the homeowners association in the movie.

Star Wars
1. Dualism
In Star Wars there is a strong theme of dualism (dark side and the Jedi side of the force). It appears through out all six movies that these sides of the forces are equal and constantly at war with each other. I bring this up because I think that we have to be careful as Christians for we do not believe in dualism. We believe that God is all powerful and there is nothing that can equal him. Evil is not a physical being in itself but rather the absence of goodness. The Church speaks out strongly against dualism in many forms but probably most loudly in the dualism that some people want to make between matter and spirit (body and soul). The Catholic Church believes that one cannot separate these two things. God created the physical universe and the spiritual universe and declared them “good.” John Paul II stated often that the body is not bad because it alone is capable of expressing the soul. Catholic has just as much an obligation to take care of the body as we do to take care of the soul. We have to be careful when ever we start dividing things or people into groups.

2. Fear
Probably the greatest word of wisdom in the Star War movies is the following quote from Jedi Master Yoda: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” I have stated many times before that I believe that all the problems in the world come down to the simple fact that we all want to be love but we all FEAR that we are unlovable. We there for try to manipulate, earn, or trick other people into loving us. This process leads us towards anger and resentment because we cannot earn love it must be freely given. We begin to hate those who appear to be successful in securing love and then we begin to activate our hate through gossip at the least and through more violent means at the other extreme.

The message of the Gospel is that we do not have to earn love for God freely bestows his love upon us and has created others and us in such a way that if we are simply who we are then people will love us. So the way away from the dark for me is to trust in God’s love for me and his ability to incarnate that love through the people God puts in my life.

3. Apprenticeship
The last spiritual insight I wish to draw from Star Wars is the theory of apprenticeship. To become a Jedi (or even a Syth Lord) one must be willing to spend time with a “master”. We see this in the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-G Syth Gon Jinn; Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi; Darth Maul and Darth Sidious (the Emperor); and Darth Vader and Darth Sidious (The Emperor). There was something about being a Jedi Knight or a Syth Lord that could not be taught in school. It had to be observed from one who lived the life. It could not be taught it had to be experienced.

In a similar way there is a part of Christianity that cannot be taught in schools it must be experienced. This is why Catholics have always turned to saints to see how they live out the Christian life. It is also why we as Catholics feel it is so important to have a living faith in which we make Christ real for us and learn from his example through Scripture. Our faith is more than just dogma and doctrine it is above all a way of life. This is most evident that the early Church (found in Scripture too) that Christianity was first referred to as “the way” because it was a way of living a life that imitates Christ.

Shrek The Third
While I did not find the third movie about the lovable green ogre as funny as the first two, I did see some really great positive messages and spiritual insights that I thought were worth sharing. The first insight is that the movie whether known to its writer or the audience watching carries with it a great pro-life message. In this movie Shrek and Fiona have to deal with their own fears about how a baby will change their lives. It is nice to see though that there is no talk of an abortion, it simply is not an option. I cannot imagine how they could even work that into a children’s movie. Maybe this is another aspect of what Jesus meant when He said that “we should become like children.”

Shrek deals with his fear that he will not be a good father to the child. His dad had tried to eat him when he was younger and he feels that he will might instinctually follow in his dad’s poor fathering footsteps. We learn though at the end of the movie that Shrek is a wonderful father. I think sometimes parents try to complicate the idea of having children too much by forgetting that all it takes to be a good parent is time. Shrek does not have to give his children the best but rather he just has to spend time with them. It is through spending time and not through getting things for them that parents can show their love best for their children. Unfortunately, I have come across many young couples who choose not to have children because they do not think that they would make good parents. These are unfortunately some of the people, I think that would make the best parents.
Fiona on the other hand is afraid of how having a baby will change her relationship with Shrek. While it is true that nothing changes a marriage more than having children this does not mean that the change cannot be for the better. We need to be reminded that all children are a blessing from God even if they seem like little ogres from time to time.

Another key insight in the movie is seen when one studies the tension between Arthur and Prince Charming. Both want to be more than who they are at the beginning of the movie. Artie in the movie discovers that he is the one that has been holding himself back because he has listening and believing all the bad things that others have been saying about him instead of looking deep inside to discover his true identity. I can identify with Arthur a lot because there are many times that I have listen to the voices of others telling me that I am no good to the point where I can hear my own inner voice echoing this song of negativity. God has blessed me though with friends who have been able to lift me out of this sad existence of negativity and helped me to find the true voice of God within telling me that I am created in His image. Prince Charming on the other hand looks for approval and happiness from things outside of himself. He want to be rich, famous and powerful and will use whatever means possible to get it. It sad that he has not learn the lesson that Arthur has and that can be summarized by this quote: “If there’s something you want to do, or someone you really want to be, then the only one standing in your way… is you.” If we want to follow Christ then the only one standing in our way is ourselves for we are confident that God has made us in His image and that God will provide us the grace we need to accomplish this noble goal.

One last quick spiritual insight is the value of sharing what you have learned with another. Shrek, who has struggled in the first two movies with accepting himself now has the challenge to help Arthur to learn to accept himself. It is Shrek’s personal story that gives Arthur the courage and hope to change.

The plot of the movie Enchanted surrounds a young cartoon/fairy tale maiden who is set to marry the Prince of Andalasia. The prince’s evil stepmother though banishes her to “real world” of New York City. I must admit that the whole story was very weak but the young children I was watching it with really loved it and I found myself appreciating the great musical numbers which were unfortunately just two few. I did discover a couple of spiritual insights though that I would like to point out.

In the story Giselle is ready to marry Prince Edward even though she has only met him the day before. She thinks that this relationship with Prince Edward will bring her the happiness that she desires because it is what is expected of her as a young maiden in the fairy tale world of Andalasia at the end of the movie though Giselle discovers that Robert is her true love and not Prince Edward.

Sometimes when I am talking to engage couples I get the strange feeling that the couple really does not love each other but rather they are simply getting married because it is the logical next step in their relationship. I think what gives me this feeling is the couple’s lack of appreciation for the mystery of marriage. They do not understand that marriage is a sublime vocation (a calling from God) that will forever change their lives.
I think there is some wisdom in the Church’s requirement for couples to have at least six months of official marriage preparation. This is done not to suck the romance out of a relationship but rather to help the couple discover their real reasons for taking this momentous life changing decision. As you watch the movie you cannot help but see that Robert was falling in love with Giselle’s free loving fairytale spirit and that Giselle was beginning to fall in love with Robert’s more stern personality. I could not help but think that Giselle and Robert would need some help down the road when conflicts arise because the very things that they were now finding cute in the other could possible become petty annoyances later unless Giselle and Robert were given tools to keep their love for one another alive. A good marriage preparation can help put a good marriage on solid foundation. I also suggest reading some good books on marriage and its relationship to faith.

As I stated above, I really liked some of the musical numbers. I particularly like the one in Central Park where Giselle was giving Robert advice on how to strengthen his relationship with Nancy (the woman that Robert thought he loved). Her basic advice is one that I give couples often do small things to let your spouse know that you love him or her.

The evil queen’s henchman is another interesting character. Nathaniel does the evil witches bidding because he is trapped in his lust for her. One can feel sorry for him because he does everything she wants but never gets any true attention from her. Luckily for everyone involves he overcomes his lust and sets out to right his wrongs. I have to give Nathaniel credit because he does not run away after his sinfulness is revealed to himself but rather he sets forth to do the right thing.

One last thought about this movie is I love the scene in which Giselle begins to sing as she works and all the cockroaches, rats, and pigeons come to help her. It showed a real lack of prejudice on Giselle’s part to accept help from these animals because they were not nearly as cute as the bunny rabbits, chipmunks, and deer that she was use to getting help from.

Transformers
The first scene of Transformers – the attack on the military base in the desert – immediately told me that this movie would not be the kid friendly cartoon that I knew from my childhood. I found the movie to be a great fast pace action movie and really enjoyed it. Reflecting on the movie in the view of my Christian faith I saw some of the following spiritual insights.

The first insight I saw is that war is hell. Sometimes, I think movies and other forms of entertainment can make us think that war is more of a game in which the good guys always survive but this is sadly not true. I remember the original Transformer cartoon movie from childhood and how shocked I was when some of my favorite characters like Optimus Prime and Iron Hide died in the movie. This version of Transformers does not shy away from the fact that people die in war. One of the soldiers is killed on screen by Scorponox’s scorpion stinger and Megatron kills Jazz right before our eyes also. So what do we do with this knowledge? I think the first thing we do is pray for peace and pray for the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us. Secondly though I think we are called to live the best life we can by ridding ourselves of any prejudices and fears that we have of others. The more that we can empty ourselves of our fear of others the more we can learn to understand and the more we can understand the more we can learn to live together without resorting to violence. This is not easy and sometimes I think we think what will my little contribution do to the cause of peace but recently I have been thinking that individual resolve is the only that will change the world and inspire others to change also. I pray that God will help me do my part for peace.

The second insight I saw in the Transformer movie is more from an article I read after seeing the movie. I wish I could find the article now but at last I cannot. In the article the director talks about how he wished the Decepticons (the evil robots) to have as few speaking lines as possible. The director stated that he believed that the more bad guys talked the less scary they became. I remember this insight struck me as very profound. The more I listen to a stranger the less of a stranger he becomes and even friendships have developed from people who I once saw as a possible threat. I have also witness family members who have not spoken in years begin to repair their relationships simply by beginning to and making a commitment to just talk and the more that they talked the more the other person moved from being an enemy to once again become a family member. Is there someone out there that you wish to know better? Is there someone out there that you find scary because you do not know him or her? Is there someone out there who you have a broken relationship with? Then begin to work on the relationships by taking the simple step of talking with them. Will it work right away? No, but it will over time.

The third insight from the Transformer movie is “that people are much more than meet the eyes.” I recently finished the first part of a two year program for priests to teach us management skills. We spent four days going over personality theories so that we can begin to understand people better. The idea is the better that we can understand people (what motivates them and what they fear) the better we will become at showing them gratitude, helping them resolve conflicts, and challenging them to growth. If the priests with me learned only one thing from this part of the class it is simply that every individual in a complex person. I think this is important because I know that sometimes, I can be pretty judgmental and assign very simple motifs to other people when they hurt me. In the reality their actions are a part of a complex decision that the individual may not even be aware of going on in their mind. In the same way I realize that just because I interpret something as good or as bad does not mean that the other person does. I find myself being encouraged by the Holy Spirit to be more tolerant and forgiving of others because I am realizing that “people are much more than meet the eyes.”

Star Trek
It is hard for me to believe that it is already July. Where has 2009 gone? Within my Spiritual Ponderings, I have developed the tradition of devoting the month of July to spiritual insights from movies and so coming to a Spiritual Pondering near you this month will be spiritual reflections from Star Trek, X-Men Wolverine, Wall-E, and a few other films.

I have been a fan of Star Trek for years. One of the things I really appreciate about the Star Trek franchise is that they the time to hire philosophers, theologians, and historians as consultants in order to make sure that each film is not only entertaining but also thought provoking. I also really enjoy their vision of the future. I don’t think most of my generation realizes just how ground breaking the original Star Trek was because they had African Americans, Asians, Russians, and women working along with white males as a team. I heard once in a documentary about Star Trek that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of Star Trek for this very same reason. In each of the Star Trek series I believe that there has been some character to represent former enemies that are now friends – Pavel Chekov the Russian in the original series, Worf the Klingon during the Next Generation, Garek the Cardassian in Deep Space Nine, and the Maquis crew members in Voyager.
Moving onto the movie that was just released this past spring, the first thing that struck me was that it was a way for Star Trek to start over or in the terms of some critics to “renew” the franchise. Unlike some other franchises that had done this like Superman where they pretend that certain movies never happened Star Trek takes a different approach. I would go so far to say that their approach is more of a Christian approach for when we talk about starting over, we do so with the idea that we do not forget about our past but rather learn from it and treasure it for it has brought us to the present. I do not think that is truly possible to forget the past and I think that we would be a fool to do so but I do believe that we can start over and move forward with the lessons that we have learned from the past.

A second spiritual lesson to be learned from this movie is that our desire for revenge can literally wreak havoc on the world around us. The Romulan Nero own anger and desire for revenge prevents him from caring about other people. It has often been my experience that people who hold onto rage do so out of a sick need to define themselves by it. Nero tosses aside any morals or values he has in order to hold onto the anger and pain that he is feeling. If only he would let go and release the pain that he is feeling maybe he would not be so blind to the evil that he is doing. Letting go of resentment is not always easy for it means facing the fact that we are not all powerful and are not in control and coming to the realization and acceptance of the fact that the one who is all powerful and all in control has allowed this particular horrible event to take place. I find personally that the best way to do this is to have an honest conversation with God and let him know how I am feeling. It worked for Job and it works for me thanks to God’s grace.

A third spiritual insight from the movie is the idea that friendship needs time to develop. Part of the Star Trek legacy is the great friendship between Kirk and Spock and it is easy to see in this movie the importance for friendship to take time to develop. In the beginning of the relationship together they are more antagonists then friends but through working together they grow close together. A time traveling Spock tells a younger Spock that it was so important for this friendship to develop that he refused to interfere at some key parts of the stories because of it. So I think the lesson is that one should not write off anyone and come to see others as possible friends.