Every July in my Spiritual Ponderings, I like to focus on different spiritual insights from movies. When I first started my spiritual ponderings close to ten years ago, I had no problem finding movies that I wanted to see. This year, I actually found it very difficult to find movies that I wanted to see much less write about. I went so far as to open up a Netflix account and I was amazed at the number of movies but many of them did not seem worth watching. Eventually I did discover four movies that I liked and that I thought offered some great spiritual insights.

The first movie I am going to write about is Despicable Me 2. As this movie begins, we see that the world?s greatest villain, Gru, has settled into his new role of being the world?s greatest dad to Margo, Edith, and Agnes. Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to find a person who stole a research lab from the Antarctic using a ship in the shape of a giant magnet. Gru and his new partner Lucy discover that the bad guy was a bad guy who had faked his own death and thus no one will believe them. The villain?s name is ?El Macho? and looks like an overweight Mexican wrestler. In the mean time El Macho has been capturing Gru?s minions and using a chemical from the research lab that he stole turning them into indestructible little blue monsters. Luckily Gru saves the day by using an antidote created by Dr. Nefario changes the blue monsters back into yellow minions and saves Lucy from riding an exploding shark into a volcano. Gru confesses his love for Lucy and they are eventually married.

Let us look at the first spiritual insight, which I think is the realization that people who have a great potential for evil also have a great potential for good. If Gru was to have a patron saint, I would think it would be St. Paul. St. Paul who used his zeal to persecute the Church eventually through the grace of God learned to use that zeal to promote the Church. Gru, the ultimate villain (he did steal the moon in the last movie), was able to become the hero in this movie by learning what is really important in life.

The second spiritual insight is a twofold lesson. The first thing is that children can be mean. In both this movie and in the original Despicable Me we see that a lot of Gru?s problems stem from how he was treated by other children growing up. Gru, I believe, learns a valuable lesson though is that childhood is childhood and that he has to try things over again now as an adult. So while his first attempt in childhood at dating does not turn out good he learns not to use that as an excuse for not trying now. If a scientist puts a grasshopper in a jar and puts a lid on it the grasshopper will try to jump out once or twice but he soon gives up hope. The scientist can then come in and remove the lid and the grasshopper will not even try to jump out of the jar because it has become convinced that he cannot do it. He does not realize that the situation has changed. In much the same way we can try something in childhood and fail and give up not realizing that as an adult the situations may have changed.

The next spiritual insight I would like to pull forth from Despicable Me 2 is that the best way to make friends is to simply be yourself. At one point in the movie Gru goes on a date with a woman and wears a wig because he does not think being himself is good enough to get this girl to like him. It turns out that the woman hates wig more than she does hate bald people. More importantly though Gru learns that Lucy loves him for him just being him. This is true friendship.

The fourth insight is that neglecting your friends can allow them to find themselves in trouble. In the midst of the movie Gru?s little yellow helpers (called minions) begin disappearing one at a time and Gru is surprised to find them all but two captured in the end. A lesson in Church friendship, we are to help keep track of everyone so none of us end up going to the devil?s side.

Final insight comes from the prison that the minions are held in. It is a paradise. Eventually though they discover the real reason for their captivity is not good. It reminded me of a quote from Pope Benedict XVI: ?The world promises you comfort, but you were made for greatness.