Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
July 10, 2016
Spiritual Ponderings
Faith & Film: Star Wars VII – The Force Awakens
 
Doctors Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham begin their book: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search of Meaning focused on the power contained within stories to speak more deeply than mere words alone.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from their book: “Listen! Listen to 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.” 

Having just finished watching Stars VII: The Force Awakens, I understand better what they were talking about.  There are so many spiritual themes hidden throughout The Force Awakens that it will be impossible for me to share all of them with you.  Here are is a small plot summary and a few spiritual insights.

This installment of the Star Wars saga begins thirty years after the death of Darth Vader and the Emperor.  In the meantime Luke Skywalker tried to create a new order of Jedi Knights but is stopped when one of his disciples turns to the dark side and kills all the students.  Luke escapes and goes off into a self-imposed exile.  A new enemy emerges from the remnants of the Empire calling itself the First Order.  They aim to impose a totalitarian regime upon the universe.  Both the rebels/resistance and the First Order claim it is important to find Luke Skywalker. 

During a Battle where the Storm Troopers massacre a village one of the Storm Troopers begins to have second thoughts about being a storm trooper despite having been brainwashed as a child to obey the First Order commands without question.  In his attempt to flee the First Order he runs into Rey who is trying to get a small robot BB-8 back to its owner Poe.  Poe is trying to get it back to the Resistance.  They then make an attempt to destroy the new massive weapon of the First Order called the Star-Killer base.  During all of this Rey discovers that she has been given the gift of the Force and we learn that Kylo Ren was the son of Princess Leia and Han Solo. 

The first spiritual insight for me was the realization that this movie was part of a larger story helped me understand the importance of praying and studying the whole Bible.  Knowing the larger context of a Scripture passage helps me appreciate the current story all the more.  For example knowing that the mask Kylo Ren was talking to was that of Darth Vader means more to me because I knew how evil Darth Vader was.  If we want to get even more out the Scripture Readings on Sunday take time to study the Scripture readings outside of Mass to understand them better.

The second spiritual insight that I thought was obvious was that the First Order had turned a planet into a weapon of mass-destruction.  We have an obligation to use the things of creation for good and not evil.  While none of us have the power to blow up a planet we can destroy another person’s world with our tongue.  We can tear people down, ruin others reputation, and make other people feel worthless in less time than it took the Star Killer Base weapon to charge. 

I found Finn to be an interesting character.  His character is a character that can be used as an example of what theologians mean when they use the word “metanoia.”    The Greek word “metanoia” most often translate “repent” in our English versions of the Bible literally means “to stop thinking one way and to think in a totally new way.”  Finn stops thinking in line with the First Order and starts thinking in a totally different way.  He is no longer worried about taking orders but now is worried about helping others.  In some ways this metanoia is small, at first he only cares about himself, then about Poe, then about Rey, and then finally about everyone.  We are called by Christ to have a metanoia in much the same way.  Instead of thinking about ourselves first we are called to start thinking about the needs of others first.  “Reject sin and believe in the Gospel” = Metanoia.

The climax of the movie in my opinion was the confrontation between Han Solo and Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren’s real name is Ben Solo and He is Han Solo’s son.  Han professes that he is willing to do anything to help his son escape the power of the dark side and in return for his love Kylo/Ben kills him.  This for me is a great example of the power of sin.  Each and every time we sin, we in a way reenact this part of the movie because it is our sins that nail our loving God to the cross.  The next time you think about stealing, lying, cheating, etc. realize that this is what we do to God.  Realizing this though helps understand the great love and mercy our God has for us because after we have killed Him, He comes back to life and offers us peace instead of revenge.

I know that there is much more that I could share with you about the different spiritual insights in the Force Awakens.  Some of them good insights and some of them faulty distorted ideas but I am out of space. I want to conclude with the following quote from St. Francis of Assisi: “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
May the Lord be with you.