Shrek IV
I recently went through and updated the Faith and Film section on my website. (This is the section where I take past Spiritual Ponderings about movies and highlight them). I was surprised to find out that I have not done a Spiritual Ponderings on Shrek the Fourth because it by far and away was one of the best movies I have seen in regards to its spiritual content.

The main premise of the movie is that Shrek, who is now happily married to Fiona with three little baby ogres of their own, has begun to look back upon his past when he was the feared monster of the swamp with more than a little fondness. He strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin in which Shrek agrees to give Rumpelstiltskin one day from his past in order to enjoy one day of being the scary old ogre from his youth. In the midst of the movie though Shrek finds out that the day that Rumpelstiltskin chooses was the day that he was born and since he was never born, he never freed Fiona from the castle and Rumpelstiltskin is now ruler of the kingdom Far Far Away. So the first spiritual lesson to be found in the movie is that everyone’s life is important. I remember someone saying (It might have been Mother Teresa) that one of the children who have been aborted may have been the future scientist who would have cured cancer or some other disease. I know that my life has been touched by hundreds of people who I did not know when they were born but I know that because of them my life has been impacted for the better. I wonder how many good friends that I would have had if abortion was illegal.

The second lesson in the movie is that Shrek was missing the boat totally. He did not see the blessings that laid right before his eyes. He allowed his day-dreaming of the good old days to effect the way that he was parenting. Instead of seeing his wife and children as a blessing he saw them as a limit to his freedom. He saw them not as gifts from God but rather as a cocoon that he had to escape in order to reach his fulfillment. Luckily for him, he realized in time all the blessings that he had and was able to live happily ever after. Do you see your family as a blessing or as a curse? Do you thank God for the gift of your family? I think the line “be careful for what you wish for” may apply to this movie along with the Garth Brook’s song “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

The part of the movie that struck me the most though was its cleverly hidden message of chastity. Shrek discovers that in order to break the curse he must have true love’s first kiss with Fiona again and so he sets out to get that kiss. Fiona meanwhile has freed herself from the castle and leads a group of fellow ogres against the evil King Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek constantly badgers Fiona until she finally gives in and kisses him but nothing happens. It is at that moment that Shrek realizes that the act of kissing does not necessarily imply love and that Fiona does not love him because he had not given her a reason to love him. So Shrek out of love for her sacrifices himself by turning himself over to Rumpelstiltskin in order to save Fiona and the other ogres. Fiona impressed by his sacrifice falls in love and they eventually share true love’s first kiss for a second time. The movie makes a great point though in that I think much of society is interested about having sexual intercourse because that in some way means that they are loved but in the end most people just feel used. This is one of the reasons why the Church holds the idea that sexual intercourse should only be done between husband and wife as a way to protect us, protect the sanctity of life, and protect the gift of sexuality itself. Sexual intercourse is a magical experience like loves first kiss if done in the context of marriage with both spouses respecting each other’s personhoods. It is something though that used outside of the marital context that leaves both people wounded and hurt because the fairytale they were hoping for did not come true.

The good news though is that God is always there for us and forgiving us so that we may become better people.

Well this is the last Sunday of July and so my last reflection on movies for another year. I realize that I need to make more times to see more movies. For this last movie reflection I went into my DVD collection and pulled out The Bourne Identity. I personally love all the Bourne movies for their action and intrigue and I could watch them over and over again.

The first Spiritual Insight from The Bourne Identity is the feeling of not knowing who oneself is. The movie starts off with Jason Bourne being pulled from the ocean by a fishing boat near the south of France. Jason eventually regains consciousness but has no idea of who he is. While I am sure that most of us have never had a bout of amnesia as seriously as Jason Bourne did I am also certain that from time to time we wake up questioning who we are. Why did God create us? What is my purpose in life? As Jason Bourne begins his search for who he is he also has knowledge of having many great skills that he is not sure what to do with. As we continue our reflection on who we are we to realize that we also have many different skills and gifts and this self-revelation just intensifies our questioning of who are we.
As we search though we also come to realization that we have not always used our skills for good. Jason Bourne discovers that in his pre-amnesia life that he was an assassin. The important part of the movie though is that he decides that he does not have to go back to that way of life. He can be who he wants to be and who he wants to be is someone for good. When we discover that we have done bad things we can beat ourselves up and decide that we will never be any good or we can choose to be the person we want to be.

The second spiritual insights comes actually from the third movie The Bourne Ultimatum when we along with Jason Bourne discover that he chose to become the super soldier in order to help save American lives. His choice is based on good intentions unfortunately the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” comes true and the people running the program take advantage of him and turn him into an assassin for their benefit. Sometimes we try to do good things but they end up doing very bad things or making the situations worse. We must therefore be very careful, prayerful, and reflective on our choices. Our first instincts are not always the best.

The third spiritual insight it is his relationship with his girl friend Marie Kreutz that allows him to stop being a killer. She brings out the best in him. If we want to be the best person that we can be then we must enter into healthy relationships with others who are determined to bring out the best in us. If Bourne would have continued to hang out with his spy friends then he would most likely went on to be a killer again but because he is associating with a new person who has different morals he is able to become a better person.

An additional bonus spiritual insights, the movie was filmed with all hand held cameras (no tripods) so the film has a sense of realism because the camera is bumping around verses being steady. I cannot help but think that this is a good analogy for life. Our real life with all its bumps is much more exciting than life that is steady. We can sometimes dream and think life would be better without all the bumps and problems but our life would also be pretty boring and unlivable if we had no relationships and no one to love or love us.

We are once again in the month of July and that means that my Spiritual Ponderings column will focus for the next month on different spiritual insights from the different movies that I have seen. I heard once that there was an ancient Chinese saying that said “the straightest way between two points is a line and the straightest way between two truths is a story.” The reason for this is that stories use words in ways that bring about a deeper meaning than the words normally carry. Movies are a form of storytelling and thus we can pull forth meaning from them. The meaning sometimes depends on what we pull out of and other times the meanings are so expressed that you can only receive the meaning that the director (and crew) wants you to get. Sometimes the meanings in a film you agree with and other times you may not. The important thing is to be aware of them.

Since we are pretty close to the Fourth of July why don’t we start with last year’s summer film Captain America: The First Avenger. Steve Rogers (the future Captain America) is given a chance to join the military during World War II after being rejected many times before for various health reasons. He is recruited by Dr. Abraham Erskine into a secret research branch of the military. The doctor, who has developed a special serum for creating a super soldier, sees something special in Steve. When Steve later asks why he was chosen the doctor tells him that the serum will magnify the qualities inside whoever takes it. If the man is a virtuous man he will become more virtuous but if the man is a bully he will become an even bigger bully. Here is where I would like to point out the first spiritual insight. We as Catholics believe in what is called a virtue ethic by philosophers. The idea is that we are to take our good qualities and make them better through self-control and discipline. A compassionate person is called to become more compassionate. We are in a sense made to become better and never to be complacent. Unfortunately though there is no secret serum that will do this for us and unfortunately it is often much easier to allow our vices (bad habits) grow.

In the midst of the movie Dr. Erskine is killed by a member of Hydra (a super secret science group under the control of Adolph Hitler) and Steve will be the only one of his kind. Instead of sending him off to battle the Nazis, a crazy senator turns him into a costume wearing war bonds sales person. He begins to feel that this is the only way he can fight the war but deep down he knows that he is called for something more. This interior struggle made me think of a quote from the famous painter Michelangelo: “The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” Even though we have not been injected with any miracle serum, we are indeed special. We are sons and daughters of God and with Him all things are possible. We must therefore make sure that we never sell ourselves short. Steve Rogers (Captain America) eventually goes off on a rescue mission and saves his long time friend and others from the evil forces of Hydra.

Captain America’s nemesis the Johan Schmidt (the Red Skull) seeks the exact opposite of what Captain America does. The Red Skull selfishly pursues his dreams of world domination and willingly sacrifices others but is himself unwilling to make any sacrifices for the good of another. The Red Skull we discover in the movie had injected himself with one of Dr. Erskine’s serums and his selfishness is magnified and his face literally becomes that of a red skull making him hideous to the sight of others. We can use this as a metaphor and a warning for us because the more selfish we become the less others will want to be around us. We in a sense become a monster that no one wants to be around because we selfishly attack and use others and no one wants to be around a bully.

At the end of the movie Captain America is flying an enemy ship filled with weapons that could wipe out the United States and so he chooses to fly the plane and crash it into the arctic to save everyone. In the process, he saves the day but is presumed dead and has sacrificed his own personal happiness. Often I think that we do not always see sacrifice as being heroic but as a sign of weakness. In putting aside our own desires to do the greater good we are being heroic. Many of us will not be called upon to crash a plain filled with experimental weapons into the arctic but we are but each day we have many opportunities to be heroic by performing small sacrifices. Mother Teresa put it as following ways: “Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies,” and “Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.” We can prove ourselves to be true heroes in our world today by making the constant sacrifices necessary to show love. Can you visit the sick, be more patient with your children, forgive someone, etc?

As we continue to look through different movies for spiritual insights, we turn today to the last of the Transformers live actions trilogy: Transformers 3 – Dark Side of the Moon. When I began to see previews for this movie, I was excited to see that the main villain was supposed to be Shockwave. I remembered Shockwave from the original cartoon series and for some reason he was one of my favorite Decipticons (evil robots). I also began to hear that there was a character by the name of Sentinel Prime in the movie. I assumed the Sentinel Prime would be in some way related to the leader of the Autobots (good robots) Optimus Prime. If he was not going to be Optimus’s father I knew he would at least be Optimus’s mentor and teacher. I was extremely taken off guard though watching the movie to discover that while Sentinel Prime was Optimus’s mentor he was also the main villain of the movie. Sentinel was a traitor. I think of how devastating this must had been for Optimus Prime to learn that his onetime mentor was now out to destroy the world that he called home.

There are times in our life when people who we would consider to be our moral leaders fall and when that happens it is always sad and devastating. All we have to do is look at the priest sexual abuse crisis to see that. What makes Optimus Prime an example for us though is that he continues to fight for what he believes is right? He does not allow the failure of his mentor to become an excuse to avoid doing the good. St. Augustine once said that “The Church is a hospital for sinners not a hotel for saints”. He reminded us that Church leaders are human sinners as well but the future of our Church does not depend on them but rather on the power of God because Jesus Christ is our foundation and He never failed. When we are betrayed by a mentor and/or leader who we have trusted it is alright to feel hurt but we should always cling to the truth and always do the good. A bad mentor is not an excuse to do evil.

Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock from the Star Trek franchise) is the voice of Sentinel Prime. In the midst of one of his battles against Optimus Prime in the movie he declares that the good of the many out way the good of the one. For those who have seen Star Trek II and Star Trek III there is a little inside joke going on. The Star Trek crew risks their lives to save Spock and when asked why Captain Kirk tells him that “the good of the one sometimes outweighs the good of many.” This leads us all to the question does the “Good of the many outweigh the good of the one/few”. I would say that good of the many can never be served by reducing the one or the minority to being objects and robbing them of their human dignity. In hurting or dehumanizing the minority we thus dehumanize ourselves. We must always see our true human dignity comes from God (and thus can never be lost) and not from being a part of the ruling or popular class. Optimus Prime reminds Sentinel that it was Sentinel who taught him that all thinking beings have a right to be free and to think for themselves.

During the final battle between Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime, Sentinel explains to Optimus Prime that he feels that the Transformers are so much better than humans that humans should be treated as slaves and the Transformers should be treated as gods. It made me realize how often we think that to be like God means to be all powerful, always in control, and always getting one’s way. While we believe that our God is all powerful and all knowing this is not His true essence. St. John tells us that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). St. Paul tells us to be like God but to truly be like God and not like what we think it means to be like God. He encourages us to use Jesus as our model of what it is to be God for He is the image of the invisible God. “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).

So, time for a bad pun, how is being a Christian going to transform your life and the world for the better?

The famous painter Pablo Picasso once said “Computers are useless; they can only give you answers.”* This quote came to mind as I watched The Way. The Way is a movie that was written by Emilio Estevez and stared his father Martin Sheen. The movie focus on Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) whose son Daniel died while walking an old famous pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago which is a Catholic pilgrimage route from the Pyrenees Mountains to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain where the body of St. James the Apostle are entomb. Tom decides that he will finish the pilgrimage that his son had started. It is kind of a funny movie because Tom and his three traveling buddies see the pilgrimage as the answer to their problems. They are having a harder time admitting what their problems are. So they have the answer to their problems but they cannot find healing until they discover what their problems are.

Tom: As I said earlier, Tom’s son Daniel died on the pilgrimage and through a series of flashback we discover that Tom and Daniel did not have the best relationship. Tom was upset with his son for dropping out of school to travel the world and Daniel sees his dad as not supporting him and judging him as a failure. Through some clever dialogue we discover that Tom sees his son’s refusal to go to school as a judgment on his own way of life. The sad part is that both are afraid to some extent to admit their feelings to each other and so remain estrange. On the pilgrimage Tom discovers healing as he begins to see what his son saw in traveling. He no longer feels that his son’s choice of not going to school as a condemnation of his life but rather as another viable option. We see the healing take place as he goes from just wanting to complete the pilgrimage and walking as fast as he can and begins to take the time to enjoy the experience. At the end of the movie we see that he goes off to do another trip that Daniel always wanted to go to.

Joost: Probably my favorite character is a young man from the Netherlands. He is described by one person in the movie as “a person who kindness just comes naturally too”. Joost tells Tom that he is doing the pilgrimage in order to lose weight so that he can fit into his old suit for his brother’s wedding (his brother is getting married for the third time). Joost loves life so much and looses very little weight on his journey but that is okay because we discover that Joost’s real problem is that his wife considers him ugly and no good because he is fat. Joost instead of losing weight to solve his problems finds healing in his travels as he is accepted by the other three for himself. He discovers just what an awesome guy he is and that changes his outlook on life for the better. He is able to admit what his problem is to one of the Cathedral workers and at the end of the movie declares that he needs a new suit. He now knows that he is special and lovable despite what his wife thinks.

Sarah: Sarah tells everyone she meets that she is doing the pilgrimage in an effort to quit smoking but later on we learn that she is on the pilgrimage because her ex-husband was abusive and that she had an abortion. She declares to Tom in a bonding moment that she can still hear her little girl’s voice. In the end of the movie she continues smoking but has found healing from her abortion by finding acceptance and being able to tell someone her stories. Tom and the others do not condemn her for her choice nor do they just dismiss what she is feeling. (Project Rachel and Project Joseph can help with post-abortion healing in the same way).

Jack: Jack from Ireland is a writer with writers block. He has been making the pilgrimage for the longest time lost in is search for meaning. We later discover that Jack does not believe in God and sees the Church as “houses of tears”. Jack though comes to peace with the Church when he enters the Cathedral of Santiago and has a good cry. We never know what Jack’s particular beef with the Church is but it is touching that the healing comes about through such an honest and raw emotion and that the others do not condemn him for his type of praying.

The Way is a great example of what it means to come and be Church. We all know the answer “Jesus”. What we often have a hard time admitting is that we do not know the question.

*Kurtz, Ernest & Katherine Ketcham: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning (New York: Bantam Books Doubleday, 2002)

My mother’s favorite cartoon character growing up was Yogi Bear. She loved the bear with the green hat and necktie so much and she past that love onto her children and now to her grandchildren. I was therefore pretty excited to hear that there was going to be a live action version of the cartoon.

The first thing that caught my attention was that Yogi and his sidekick Boo Boo are considered normal despite the fact that they can talk and they are constantly inventing different contraptions to steal picnic basket. I know that the movie would not be able to go on unless the writers did this but it may me think about how people do this in ordinary life. For example when a new baby is born into a family we all get excited but over the years we come to expect that person in our life and take that person for granted. How many family problems would be solved if everyone reminded themselves that their fellow family members are a gift from God? How many marriages would be saved in couples continued to treasure and see their spouse as a gift from God? I would like to suggest that you find yourself being impatient and unkind to your family to take the time to think of two to three positive things about each member of your family. This habit can change your life for the better.

The second insight was the importance of conservation. The plot of the movie is that the mayor of the town in which Jelly Stone Park is located in wants to become governor and solve the financial problem of his city by selling Jelly Stone to a logging company. They eventually find a rare animal living in Jelly Stone and thus save the park but I think that it is important to remind ourselves the importance of taking care of the environment. We learn in the book of Genesis that one of the primary tasks of human beings is care of the earth. Are we doing the small things to protect our environment like recycling?

In fact, the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace came out with a list of 10 Commandments for the environment. Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi the secretary of the congregation puts for the 10 guiding principles/commandments as follows:
1) The Bible lays out the fundamental moral principles of how to affront the ecological question. The human person, made in God's image, is superior to all other earthly creatures, which should in turn be used responsibly. Christ's incarnation and his teachings testify to the value of nature: Nothing that exists in this world is outside the divine plan of creation and redemption.
2) The social teaching of the Church recalls two fundamental points. We should not reduce nature to a mere instrument to be manipulated and exploited. Nor should we make nature an absolute value, or put it above the dignity of the human person.
3) The question of the environment entails the whole planet, as it is a collective good. Our responsibility toward ecology extends to future generations.
4) It is necessary to confirm both the primacy of ethics and the rights of man over technology, thus preserving human dignity. The central point of reference for all scientific and technical applications must be respect for the human person, who in turn should treat the other created beings with respect.
5) Nature must not be regarded as a reality that is divine in itself; therefore, it is not removed from human action. It is, rather, a gift offered by our Creator to the human community, confided to human intelligence and moral responsibility. It follows, then, that it is not illicit to modify the ecosystem, so long as this is done within the context of a respect for its order and beauty, and taking into consideration the utility of every creature.
6) Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a greater harmony both between measures designed to foment economic development and those directed to preserving the ecology, and between national and international policies. Economic development, moreover, needs to take into consideration the integrity and rhythm of nature, because natural resources are limited. And all economic activity that uses natural resources should also include the costs of safeguarding the environment into the calculations of the overall costs of its activity.
7) Concern for the environment means that we should actively work for the integral development of the poorest regions. The goods of this world have been created by God to be wisely used by all. These goods should be shared, in a just and charitable manner. The principle of the universal destiny of goods offers a fundamental orientation to deal with the complex relationship between ecology and poverty.
8) Collaboration, by means of worldwide agreements, backed up by international law, is necessary to protect the environment. Responsibility toward the environment needs to be implemented in an adequate way at the juridical level. These laws and agreements should be guided by the demands of the common good.
9) Lifestyles should be oriented according to the principles of sobriety, temperance and self-discipline, both at the personal and social levels. People need to escape from the consumer mentality and promote methods of production that respect the created order, as well as satisfying the basic needs of all. This change of lifestyle would be helped by a greater awareness of the interdependence between all the inhabitants of the earth.
10) A spiritual response must be given to environmental questions, inspired by the conviction that creation is a gift that God has placed in the hands of mankind, to be used responsibly and with loving care. People's fundamental orientation toward the created world should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. The world, in fact, leads people back to the mystery of God who has created it and continues to sustain it. If God is forgotten, nature is emptied of its deepest meaning and left impoverished.

The biggest movie of the year so far has been the Avengers (as of writing this the latest Batman has not been released yet.) I found the movie to be very entertaining despite the fact that I could never figure out why Loki, the main villain, wanted the Incredible Hulk to come to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. The premise of the movie is that Loki (a Norse god and adoptive brother of Thor) comes to earth the steal the Tesseract (a glowing cube of power that first appeared in the Captain America movie). In order to save the earth and recover the Tesseract Nick Fury assembles “the world’s greatest heroes” to combat Loki and his evil forces.

The Avenger’s team consists of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. One of the things that I love about the movie is that it is a team up movie. All these different super heroes realize that they must come together and work as a team in order to overcome an enemy that alone they cannot defeat. As Catholics this should invoke in us thoughts of St. Paul’s teaching on the Mystical Body of Christ. We Catholics are always stronger together than separated from each other.

My favorite scene though is during the final battle when the Hulk attacks Loki. Loki tells the Hulk that he cannot hurt him because he is a god. The Hulk than grabs Loki and trashes him about like a rag doll. The Hulk then comments “Puny god.” I laughed pretty hard. It is important though to remember that our God is not a “puny god” but rather He is the God. He is the God who spoke the universe into being, who endured the cross in order save us, and who defeated death and rose again to bring us eternal life.

My second favorite scene of the movie has Captain America being introduced to Thor (another Norse god). Someone tells Captain America that some people believe Thor to be a god and Captain America responds “There is only one God and he does not dress like that.” If we think back in the history of the world we are confronted with many poly–theistic religions (religions with many gods). All these religions portray these gods as being self-centered and constantly in conflict with each other. How different is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our God is not in conflict with anything (He created the world out of nothing and if He would stop thinking of anyone they would cease to exist.) Our God is also unselfishly in love with us and does not seek to control us but rather seeks our own flourishment out of love for us.

In the final battle scene of the movie, Iron Man saves the day by taking a nuclear missile into a magical portal so that he can aim it at the enemy mother-ship. Iron Man does this despite the fact that he knows that he might not survive this maneuver. At that moment of the movie Iron Man becomes a “Christ-like” figure because he willingly sacrifices his life for others. Fortunately for Iron Man, he survives to make another movie and to fight another day.

It is strongly hinted at that Loki, the main villain, in the movie is actually being manipulated by another race of creatures who promise him anything he wants as long as he does their will. This sounds kind of like how Satan works to me. Satan always offering us everything as long as we do things his way and in the end he cannot deliver on his promises.

Welcome to a new month of Spiritual Ponderings and if you have been following my writings for a few years, you know that I devote the month of July to spiritual insights from movies. I do this for two reasons the first is that in their book The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning, Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham says this about the power of stories: “For spirituality itself is conveyed by stories, which uses words in ways that go beyond words to speak the language of the heart. Especially in a spirituality of imperfection, a spirituality of not having all the answers, stories convey the mystery and the miracle—the adventure—of being alive,” and secondly I like to watch movies.

The first movie I would like to look at is a movie called Zero Dark Thirty. The movie is billed as “the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man,” and it depicts the efforts of the United States to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. I have to admit it, that I have never watched a movie like this one. One of the reasons I found it was so strange was that I could remember many of the terrorists attacks that happen in the movie. This helped me realize so much goes on in our world at any time.

The first spiritual insight I would like to focus on is the idea of a “man hunt”. The main character Maya relentlessly searches for Osama Bin Laden as if it was the sole purpose for why she was created. One is easily impressed by her dedication and relentlessness. As Catholics we believe that each of us is being hunted like Maya hunted Osama Bin Laden by God. The differences being we are not terrorists and God is not hunting us down to punish us but rather He is hunting us down out of love. As we see Maya and her team go into different god forsaken places it made me think of something Fr. Robert Barron said about God in his book And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation wrote this: What most besets us, what stand most awfully between ourselves and God, what practically compels the curving in on the self that is the essence of sin, is the fear of death. And hence it is into that fear that the Word of God journeys. All of Christ’s sallying forth into sickness, alienation, self-righteousness, and poverty are but preliminaries to the final assault on the stronghold of death itself. It is as though he moves first through the outer defenses, that is the myriad effects of sin, before coming to the citadel: the origin of all sin which is the terror of dying. And how does he fight? He fights by bringing to these dark corners the light of the divine compassion. He walks calmly into those places that are—so it seems—at the furthest remove from God and simply brings the divine presence; he approaches those who are—so they think—most alienated from the sacred, and he throws around them the everlasting arms of the divine mercy.” In other words Christ went into god-forsake-ness to find sinners and that should invoke the image of the Good Shepherd. He does so out of love.

The second spiritual insight comes from some of the most disturbing scenes in the movie which are the torture scenes. The only thing I liked about these scenes was that it seemed that each of the torturers realized that they were doing were making them, the torturers, less human. Dan eventually gives up torturing and returns to Washington D.C. because he does not like who he is becoming. While most of us will never have the opportunity to torture the people like they do in the movie, I think it is important for us to realize that every time we call someone a name, hold a grudge, push, etc. that we become less human.

The third spiritual insight that I wish to point out is shown in the last part of the movie as we accompany the seal team in their attack on Osama Bin Laden’s compound and that is war is not a game. I think sometimes with all the television shows and video games we can forget that war is real. There is a very real sense that everyone on the mission might not make it back to base. We also know that if someone is killed that they cannot simply insert a couple of more coins in the arcade slot to get more lives. This should evoke in us an appreciation for the men and women who serve in the military and keep us safe and it should also encourage us to think of war as a last resort.

The last spiritual insight is that nothing on earth will ever satisfy us. After everything is said and done and Osama has been killed the closing scene of the movie sees Maya sitting on a huge airplane by herself crying. She could be crying that she had not succeed earlier, she could be crying because she is thinking of all those including personal friends who have died, but you get the sense that she is crying (or at least I did) it is because she does not know what she is going to do with the rest of her life.

The next movie, I would like to ponder for spiritual insights is the Hunger Games. This movie was based on widely popular book series. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic nation called “Panem.” This country seems to consist of one capitol city and twelve more rural suburbs called districts. There is quite a difference between the capitol and the districts. The capitol is rich and technologically advanced while the districts or poor and often with little technology. After a failed rebellion against the capital city as part of the peace treaty each district would send one young man and one young woman between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in a special gladiator fight to the death game. The contestants are chosen by lottery and the sole survivor also wins fame and wealth.

The first spiritual insight a person sees is the love that Katniss (the heroine) has for her sister Primrose. As Katniss volunteers to take her sister place as tribute/gladiator we cannot help but hear echo in the back of our Christian minds John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Katniss shows true love by sacrificing her life so that her sister may live.

The second spiritual insight one gains from watching the movie is that human beings do not always use their resources for good. For example we see all the technology in the capital city and in the arena: they have fast trains, various forms of advanced media, and the ability to change day into night in the arena but there are people starving in the districts. You are left wondering why someone has not used this technology to help the districts prosper. It is much different today? We have companies spending millions of dollars on entertaining us and on weapons but we still cannot come up with a cure for cancer or stop world hunger?

Another spiritual insight from the movie comes the fact that human sacrifice (gladiator games to the death) is taken place in a supposedly well-to-do society. Like the Romans who had conquered the known world had gladiator games and infanticide and similar to how the Aztecs and Mayans at the top of the civilizations right before the Spaniards came were all involved in human sacrifice. It was said that the Aztecs could sacrifice over a thousand people in a day. In some cases the human sacrifices were people who volunteered. In our advanced society we are killing children through abortion, we are experimenting on people in far crueler ways than the Nazis when we do embryonic stem cells, and we are encouraging euthanasia now more than ever. There seems to be a connection between how much wealth someone or some country has to how it treats people. It seems like the more wealth the more people are not respected.

I think another important insight into this is the relationship triangle between Katniss and her two suitors. The first suitor is Peeta who was also a tribute along with Katniss. The other suitor being a longtime friend of Katniss named Gale who we are introduced to at the beginning of the movie and we can see he anxiously awaits Katniss’s return. We see throughout the movie that Katniss does not know whether Peeta’s feelings are real or not. Katniss really needs some time to think about what she wants in life and who the best person for her is. I don’t think she gets that time though. Sadly though many people do get a chance to sit down and talk to God about the future but don’t take God up on it. Each of them needs to remember that love is wanting what is best for the other even if it requires a sacrifice on their part. If Peeta and Gale truly love Katniss then they should only desire her happiness and not their own. God desires our happiness and allows us to choose not to follow Him because of that love. He respects our free will.

The last insight I would like to share with you is one that Peeta and Katniss both come to realize is important and that is not letting the circumstances of life change you. Too often we live life as victims. My life situation caused me to be this way which is false. We always have a choice to be the person we want to be. We may have to suffer for it but in the end we do have a choice. The following quote from Mother Teresa comes to my mind: “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”