The Greatest Showman Points to Heaven

I was hesitant to see “The Greatest Showman” as were a lot of people. I don’t really know why. I have always had this negative subjective experience with the Circus. I remember enjoying it as a kid, but I think somewhere along the line when the show “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” came out in the 90’s I inherited this disdain for the odd and disfigured. I don’t mean to say that a woman with facial hair made me view the human person as less, but I questioned whether it was right to put it on display. I guess that is the point of Ripley’s. Believe it or not! It felt more of a hoax rather than something real I wanted to connect with.  Somehow I had passed this emotion on to the Circus in general. Freaks, oddities, and the unimaginable. So when I saw the trailer for the “Greatest Showman” this urge of not wanting to be duped came up. However, I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the film despite my past experiences, bad critic reviews, and inaccurate portrayal of P.T. Barnum. 

This is a review on the film, not on Barnum’s life. There are many things that Barnum did that I do not agree with, and some statements he made that I see eye to eye with. The film is loosely based on his life, but portrays something of the spiritual that I want to point out. It is worth exploring as the entire film brings to life the biblical story of the Prodigal Son in an entertaining and beautiful way through musically intense joy.

Faith, Hope, and Love

The film displays faith, hope, and love through the eyes of Phineas Taylor Barnum, who was a poor son of a decorator. He grew up desperate to rise above his status, a fault that would lead him astray on the journey of the prodigal son, but also virtue that created in him an ethic of hard work and showmanship. 

The song “A Million Dreams” sets the scene for the faith he has in himself, the hope for a better future, and the deep love for his wife and children, his greatest success. This was not enough for him as he continued to find fulfillment elsewhere in the world. After being dismissed from his job he convinced a bank to loan him money to purchase a museum. He filled it with things that people had never seen before, fake things, but no one came. He ventured out into reality, looking for people who he could bring out of the dark and put on display for entertainment as visualized through the song “Come Alive”. 

This is when “The Greatest Show on Earth” was born. 

Barnum put so much of himself into his show; his passion for theatrics, love for the crowd, and his belief in the human person. The show became a sensation with attractions like the Irish Giant, the Bearded Lady, multi-racial acrobatics, exotic animals, and the small general Tom Thumb. From the perspective of the show, Barnum exaggerated the facts to keep the crowds coming in, but what he built was a home for people who were seen as outcasts. All of this he built on mere faith, hope, and love...and charisma. 

Prodigal Son 

The well-know prodigal son story is about a son who squander’s his entire inheritance after abandoning his family. Barnum does the same thing when he puts all of his money into a nationwide tour of European opera singer Jenny Lind. He leaves behind his “hoodwinked” circus to give the world something real, Lind’s melodious voice and charm. He abandons his wife, daughters, partner, and circus family after taking out an extensive loan to make Lind’s tour happen. This was the prodigal son separation; believing that there was more to life waiting for him out there in the world then what was actually in front him. Lind’s haunting pop ballad “Never Enough” is the perfect anthem for Barnum’s inner searching. 

Then it all comes crashing down. Lind leaves the tour due to Barnum’s refusal to sleep with her, orchestrating a public kiss that goes viral. His wife takes the kids and goes back to her father, someone who Barnum personally loathes because of his high social status. The entire circus is set on fire by protesters losing the museum and all of the animals. This is the lowest point Barnum. The prodigal son is sleeping in the pig stables realizing how much better he had it back home. The song “From Now On” replaces “Never Enough”, a new anthem in Barnum’s heart. It echos the prodigal son’s confession. 

The Prodigal Son’s Confession

How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.

Barnum’s Confession

A man learns who is there for him when the glitter fades and the walls won’t hold. Cause from that rubble what remains can only be what’s true. If all was lost there’s more I gained because it led me back to you. I drank champagne with king’s and queens and politicians praised my name, but those were someone else’s dreams, the pitfalls of the man I became. For years and years, I chased their cheers a crazy speed of always needing more, but when I stop and see you here I remember who all this was for. 

From now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the light. From now on, what’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight. Let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart...from now on. 

And we will come back home again! (Repeated until you want stand up yourself and join in)

Barnum doesn’t walk home, he runs now. Desperate to fix his mistakes he no longer hesitates in his failing self-confidence, but springs into the fountain of humility seeking forgiveness for his reckless behavior. He is welcomed back by his wife who reminds him that he doesn’t need to be loved by the world, but by a few good people. 

A Celebration of Humanity 

Some call heaven a wedding feast, but it’s also the greatest show. A show that is not put on for someone to watch, but to gather people from all of humanity to join in because that’s what joy is called to do. 

The music in this film seeks to promote joy. It is fast, intense, upbeat... it keeps moving. Life keeps moving. Life is fun, energetic, and engaging. It awakens the soul even when we are in our darkest moments. God calls us out of the dark and wants to put us on display as a reminder of who we are as human beings. We are beautiful. Made in His image and likeness, meaning our very bodies speak of who God is, no matter what distinctive qualities differentiate us.

At the end of the film, a critic tells Barnum that he never liked his show, but the people always did. He said that the accomplishment of putting people of difference on stage as though they were equals is what he would call a celebration of humanity, something that points to heaven. In the end, we will realize that we were never mere viewers, but each have our own part in the greatest show. 

"A human soul, ‘that God has created and Christ died for,’ is not to be trifled with. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab, or a Hottentot – it is still an immortal spirit". P.T. Barnum

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Wonder Woman and the Church

Does the church leave out women in positions of authority?

In the early days of the Church, women could serve as deacons, taking great responsibility over liturgy and sacraments. While the Catholic Church has ruled out priestly ordination for women, it has not definitively spoken about the diaconate. I was reminded of this after watching Wonder Woman, which may seem odd at first, but allow me to preach a little.

Catholics refer to the Church as the bride and Jesus the bridegroom. The Church takes on a feminine identity even though it encompasses both genders. Jesus’ infamous line from Matthew’s Gospel speaks to the theme of Wonder Woman when he says, “From the time of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent are taking it by force” (MT 11:12). Jesus goes through his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension leaving behind his bride to wait for his return within this realm of violence. Therefore, there is an immensely unique strategy planned out by God in regards to the feminine role in subsiding the wars of men.

The StoryCap
There are these Wonder Women, known as the Amazons, who were created by Zeus to influence men’s hearts with love and restore peace to the earth. Zeus’ daughter is hidden among the Amazons after the fall of Ares, the God of War, to be trained by the best warriors in preparation for his inevitable return.

The Amazons live on a beautiful island called Themyscira, a paradise resembling the Garden of Eden, that is enchanted from being visible to the eyes of men inside of a physical bubble, just like Wakanda in Black Panther. The Amazon women train everyday equipping themselves with he skills they need to fight a God, but are too far from the modern world to know what has been going on in terms of modernity. The world is corrupted and war enters their domain by chance.

The Nazi’s chase an American pilot into this invisible Themyscira wreaking havoc on all the Amazons. When the great warrior Antiope (Robyn Wright) is slain it forces Diana Prince (Wonder Woman played by the stellar Gal Gadot) to step out of the garden and into the world of men. Led by Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pines) Diana enters the war to end all wars believing that Ares is behind it all.

The Protoevangelium

When the serpent brings death into the garden of Eden, it is a woman who is promised to deliver a savior. “I will bring enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers” (GEN 3:15). Catholics see that woman as the Virgin Mary, the Church. In Wonder Woman she is embodied by Diana Prince. Her name alone describes both the masculine and feminine role in salvation. She is a woman who is also a Prince. She is a bridge to a greater understanding for all mankind. Within her is the raw power, anger, and frustration of the world of men and also a breathtaking compassion for love.

Justice, Truth, and Love
The Church seeks out justice, truth, and love, the three things that define Wonder Woman. Justice is no longer seen as an eye for an eye, but as someone who gives their coat to one who asks for the shirt off your back. We see Diana display this kind of justice, a defying of the norms, when she goes to the front of the lines, providing hope to the fearful infantry stuck in the bunkers. The church fights, especially when called to nurse and shield the broken.

The church seeks truth! It doesn’t come as a surprise that one of Wonder Woman’s weapons is a lasso of truth. Women have a natural gift of bringing the truth out of men, which inspired the slogan “behind every great man is a great woman.” 

The Church is love. When Jesus poured out his blood on the cross for the sake of love, he was not the only one suffering. There in front of him was his mother, the embodiment of the Church, having her “heart pierced with a sword” in emotional trauma for the love of her spiritual offspring, humanity. In the film, Wonder Woman is given a choice to bring back peace the way it was before mankind’s destructive nature, but her love for them inspires her to fight Ares in an epic battle.

Self-Sacrifice
The symbol of self-sacrifice in the film is when Steve takes down a carrier plane with weapons on it to end the spread of violence brought by the war. Before he gets on the plane he hands Diana his watch, the gift of time. He knows his sacrifice will not end the war, but be a definitive turning point. He relies on his bride to continue fighting until the end revealing that only when love is sacrificed does it fulfill it’s identity.

We see this in Christ on the cross as he hands his mother over to John, a symbol that the Church has been gifted to humanity and open to everyone if they’ll have her. Christ’s sacrifice didn’t end violence in the world, but it was a definitive turning point in the battle for reintegration with God.

Wonder Woman says something about the male and female role in salvation. The man sacrifices his life, the female fights the battles in preparation for their union. The sacrifice paved the way, opened the door to the impossible, while the church fights against injustice and for the human experience.

I don’t think this was the film’s intention, connecting Wonder Woman to Mother Church, but it reminds me of these roles and how complementary men and women have been made, how one sided we make Church authority, and how amazing women really are in this battle.

The Church needs women, especially in places of authority. While absolute power corrupts absolutely, there needs a feminine balance that pushes men back into love and peace.

mother! Film Review - Satan’s try at Creation

Screenshot of mother! (2017)

I love the idea of this movie. It is spiritually thought-provoking, maybe the best I’ve seen since Gravity. It is deliciously confusing most of the time making you question if the story unfolding could ever be plausible. You are taken beyond the surface narrative and challenged to see the religious symbolism in every detail. A Christian fundamentalist might go berserk over the film’s attempt at this story because it is violent, grotesque, risqué, and most importantly an interpretation. Kind of like the book of Genesis. The way that Aronofsky brings the biblical themes to life using only a house as Mother Nature is genius.

(Spoiler Alert)

Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem play an unnamed married couple. Bardem is an artists trying to write his next masterpiece and Lawrence is his muse. She single handedly rebuilt their home after it was burned down in a fire, a scene that opens the movie. We don’t know until the last 20 minutes, but Lawrence’s character is Mother Nature and Bardem’s character is supposed to be God. His sacred writing room is the Garden of Eden and an octagonal crystal displayed in the heart of the room is a symbol for the tree of life. Religious imagery builds from there with the first half of the movie focused on creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, and possibly Song of Songs. The second half consists of a biblical flood, the birth and death of Christ, and Eucharistic communion. There are many interpretations out there as to what this all means and it surely carries some weight when you compare Lawrence to an abused Mother Earth. I would like to offer one more rendition.

There is something unsettling about Bardem. While certain things portray him as God-like, such as, his love for creation, I didn’t think he was like God. He was more interested in himself than anything else. A god that is self-absorbed goes against the very nature of who the Christian God is, namely Love. “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son…”, yet Bardem didn’t show this self-sacrificial side. Rather he was concerned about his role in creation. The Christian God is an eternal exchange of love who expands himself because of that identity. As St. Paul says, “Love is not proud. It is not self-seeking…” Bardem’s God allowed others to step all over his wife; her needs, desires, emotions…

During the night a man shows up at their door seeking refuge and Bardem lets him in dismissing his wife’s fear. Several scenes later he allows the man’s wife inside and eventually their children who get into a domestic dispute where one son kills the other in front of Lawrence.

The film concludes with a disturbing sequence, Bardem and Lawrence’s new born baby is eaten by a fanatical cult and Lawrence is beaten to a bloody pulp for trying to stop them. Bardem holds his wife in his arms and sides with the cult saying, “We have to forgive them.” When I saw this, I knew that this was not God at all. So on the defensive, Lawrence sets the entire house on fire killing everyone, except Bardem. She offers one last gift which is her pure heart, an octagonal stone (the tree of life) and the movie starts from where it began, a raging fire that slowly dissipates returning to a pristine house once again. This time a new woman is there to take on her role as Mother Nature.

The very reason why there is something rather than nothing is because love broke through, expanded from that which was invisible to become visible. We are participating in God’s bountiful love because God does not need us: people, nature, or the cosmos. Therefore, a God who is self-interested would not make sense to the existence of the world. God shares in his love, for the definition of love is to will the good of the other as other. Yet, this version of God presented in Aronofsky’s film seems deeply interested in getting the story right, his story in particular.

That’s when it hit me. This is not God, this is Satan, who is famed as the “fallen angel”. The one who fought Michael in a battle over the very idea of servitude. The belief is that in the beginning God wanted to share his love with the world, yet Satan did not want to be a servant. He wanted to be like God, a creator. So the battle ensued and Satan was cast down.

Cast down to where? This is where mother! takes place. Satan, fascinated with creation, is doomed to live out his days away from God. My theory is that God in his infinite mercy gives Satan the ability to act as creator in his own environment. There he tries to be like God. He follows the footprints creating Mother Nature, Adam & Eve, Noah and the Flood, leading up to his own version of Christ. Yet, Satan who will forever be tangled in his own pride cannot give up his vanity. By focusing on himself, he brings his “creation” to the point of a raging fire in a perpetual cycle, doomed to failure due to his inability to understand the eternal exchange of love that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I recommend watching this movie simply for the questions you get to ask yourself afterwards. It is a very good way to think about creation and our role in this universe. Just be prepared to be uncomfortable, disgusted, and angry.

 

The images of death and tragedy from 2016 alone are enough to haunt us for a lifetime. The two engraved in my memory the most are the body of the Syrian boy on the beach and the child rescued from the bombing in Aleppo.

Where was God in these moments of suffering? Why was He silent?

These are the same questions posed in Martin Scorsese's newest film "Silence". The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Japanese author Shusako Endo. Endo wrote his stories from the rare perspective of a Japanese Catholic. When you watch the film you understand the reason Catholicism is considered rare in Japan. 

Plot in a nutshell - SPOILER ALERT

The story follows two Jesuit priests who have to enter Japan after finding out their mentor, Fr. Ferreira, was captured, forced to apostocize, and had become a Buddhist philosopher. Upon entering into the country, the two Jesuits, Fr. Rodrigues and Fr. Garupe, discover a Christian community that had been living in secret from the Japanese government. Since Christianity was outlawed, anyone discovered practicing the religion had to apostocize meaning to abandon the faith and step on an icon of Jesus. We discover that this community was similar to the early Christian communities when it was outlawed by the Romans. The priests helped this Japanese community say mass in the catacombs, heard secret confessions, and even held Eucharistic adoration.

Once the government discovers this secret community of Christians they capture and martyr the ones who refuse to apostocize. Christianity, as the emperor points out, becomes a cut root in Japan. Fr. Rodrigues, in an unexpected turn of events, leaves the Catholic faith in order to save the other Christians from being tortured. 

Too Catholic

Coming off 2016's Best Picture winner, Spotlight, about the rape epidemic in Boston by Catholic priests, Silence seemed too Catholic to share the spotlight, no pun intended, with the other contenders. This is a film which portrays Catholics in a positive light, trying to spread Truth through humility, peace, and unity. It is a film which showcases the deepest human struggle with belief in God through immense suffering. It reveals the lowly converts who stand by their faith even unto death and the disciplined Jesuits who abandon their convictions under strategic persecution. While Spotlight uncovered the conspiracy of clergymen and lay persons who allowed the evil of sexual abuse to run rampant in Boston, "silence" explains why evil happens. It is the explanation of how evil can be rooted everywhere, especially within the Church. 

To believe in a Christian God is to believe in free will. A God who does not impede human freedom even if it's evil. Gods voice is no longer one of the Old Testament, but vocalized through humanity. Humanity has become smart enough to know the difference and preach the difference. We have passed as humans the age of reason. We now are Gods voice in the promotion of good and rejection of evil. That's why when humanitarian efforts are taking place we should find out how to support no matter where we are from. 

God suffers with us. That's His plan, to walk with us, not strike evil dead, as demonstrated by Jesus' "walk" to Calvary. God is silent, even when Jesus prayed to him in the garden of Gethsemane and while feeling the pain of Crucifixion, but we can only hear him within that silence. That's why prayer and reflection are so important. 

This movie shows real Catholicism with real human struggle. Torture, death, and sacraments. Humans must fight against evil and promote good or do we remain silent in the face of adversity?

Bishop Baron

This is a great conclusion to this post from Bishop Barron in regards to preaching the Gospel in face of obstacles, hence the entire mission of the Jesuits in Japan.

The resurrection is the clearest indication of the Lordship of Jesus. This is why the message of the resurrection is attacked, belittled, or explained away. The author of Acts speaks of “violent abuse” hurled at Paul. I have a small taste of this on my YouTube forums. We all should expect it, especially when our proclamation is bold.

 

This reveals a great mystery: we are called to announce the good news to everyone, but not everyone will listen. Once we’ve done our work, we should move on and not obsess about those who won’t listen. Why do some respond and some don’t? We don’t know, but that’s ultimately up to God

The Giver: The Good, The Bad, and The Holy 

What would the world look like without suffering? Can you even imagine it? Who wouldn't wish for a life without the debilitating effects of terminal cancer, disease, and war? Better yet, what about a place that can eliminate discrimination, prejudice of race, and poverty? It certainly sounds good. The only cost for this world would be a few innocuous elements of your life like beauty, nature, and free-will. Would you trade those for peace on earth?

In The Giver, a new utopia is presented where there is no unemployment, relationship problems and what was that other thing...oh yeah, emotions. The society is built on Sameness a genetic and economic initiative that eliminates all differences in order to create a safer world. 

It is essentially a society without God. Well, more like a society which builds itself as God. Sameness is run by a council of elders whose societal decisions include: blocking out the Sun as to manipulate the weather, mandating how many children a family can apply for, assigning its citizens their careers, and writing the moral code all people must abide by. Who would let this happen and what about the human conscious you may ask? It is chemically pushed aside through the daily doses of prescriptive drugs they lawfully oblige citizens to inject. What seems like a utopia at first slowly reveals itself as a dystopia. 

The Giver is an actual person in this society who was chosen to obtain all of the memories and real emotions of the past world (AKA our world today). His position is titled "Receiver of Memories" and at the beginning of the film a new "Receiver of Memories" is chosen to take his place. Jonas, a young eager graduate, is given this position because of his ability to "see beyond." His real ability is to see "truth". After receiving memories of joy and pain, Jonas discovers the utopian hoax that the society has been forcing on its people. He attempts to undo the many years of brainwashing that Sameness has established.

Lois Lowry's book "The Giver" discusses all of these themes for a very young audience. The film version tries to adapt the book's simplistic genius, but falls short many times. However, this is not a review to discuss why the book is better, but a review to highlight the film's Good, Bad, and Holy qualities. 

The Good 

The film delivers some very powerful visuals that make for deep conversations, especially for families and small groups. It tackles tough content such as, euthanasia, infanticide, capital punishment, and controlled sexual reproduction. The themes are not only relevant to today's society but are presented particularly for a younger audience.

The film inspires with it’s stunning visuals of the beauty of nature like snow, the ocean, and the sun. The fairly simple shots shown in context of a character who has never seen them before reminds us all of what beauty exists in our lives. As Jonas receives memories from the Giver, he feels them as if they were his own experiences. To witness his reactions to beauty for the first time is a nice touch that the film has over the book, the fact that we can see what he is seeing. It reminded me of the Youtube clip of the little girl experiencing rain for the first time. There is something about it that fills you with joy! Check it out here, but after you finish reading. Once you watch it you will forget about this blog!

The films promotes an awareness of societal numbness. The kids in the film are forced to inject themselves everyday with a dose of an emotion-decreasing drug. They become limited in their perception of the holistic society and the world. They stop asking questions about why things are the way they are. When you have lost the ability to question, you have lost your ability to think.

We are experiencing a current generation shrouded in numbness and overly enveloped in self involvement. The film does a great job at promoting the affects of this sort of society. It reminded me of "The Village", another film about controlling people through fear and attempting to eliminate all human suffering. What happens when you eliminate suffering though? You eliminate beauty as well. There is no beauty without suffering like there is no baby without the pains of childbirth, no coral without years of water erosion, or no mountain without a hole.

The Bad

This film is certainly not for everyone. The directing does not stand out and the cast doesn’t shine as much as it does on the movie poster. They were trying very hard to get today’s youth into the seats, which is why they added Taylor Swift in as a cameo. 

Even with Meryl Streep, Jeff bridges and Swift the movie still felt incomplete. It’s because the pacing in Lowry’s book allows for much time spent between Jonas and The Giver. You see a relationship blossom and it becomes evident that a sincere friendship is built between them. The film spends more time developing a relationship between Jonas and his girlfriend rather than with the Giver. The film was trying to attach a romantic story where the book did not offer. 

Also the film uses real footage from Youtube clips, current media, and some documentaries to portray the prior state of the human race as Jonas is receiving memories. The footage is meticulously placed with inspirational music layered over to force out an emotion from the audience. (Did you pay attention to the music used in the clip of the little girl and rain?) They do this because it masks the lack of performance from the actors. We generally don’t care about these characters like we do in the book, but put solid images to inspiring music and you have got yourself a tearjerker! I think this is because of a lack of directing rather than acting because the cast is strong, just outside this movie. 

The film also becomes very predictable due to the pacing and the obvious placement of narrative. You already know the ending before you ever get to the middle of the film. They did not know how to properly imbed the exposition of the story throughout the screenplay.

The Holy

Now with that being said, the film offers a layer of spiritual content that is not seen in many movies nowadays. The Giver is society's version of Jesus. They need someone to take upon the weight and memories of the entire world. The truth is that no mortal man can bear this weight. Which is why only a God/Man could be the one to remove sin. Sameness eliminated religion thus eliminating the possibility of a savior, yet they were still able to recognize that Sameness needed a type of savior, one who could carry all of the beauty, but also all of the pain from its past. This was the only way Sameness could work. 

Even within this dystopian society God is still present. No matter how many gifts the Elders rejected from their Creator, God still placed gifts into a few individuals like Jonas and baby Gabriel, those who can see beyond or as I call it Truth. God uses Jonas to end the restriction of memories. Jonas freely chooses to sacrifice his life to bring back all of the memories in the dystopian society, a true Christ figure.

We discover that suffering and beauty are necessary in life because the appreciation for beauty is intensified when one chooses to suffer for it. Sameness preaches freedom, but it is choice that is the ultimate freedom. Choosing to suffer is choosing beauty. Yes, there is unnecessary suffering in the world, but we cannot simply uproot the grass with the weeds. Rather we must simply feed the grass so that the weeds can no longer grow. Choosing to do good is holier than being forced to behave and it is more effective. 

Conclusion

While the world of The Giver is pushing Sameness in this world it is ignoring the after life where there will be a kind of sameness, which is a oneness with God. The big difference is that we will still hold to our individual selves while experiencing an intense unification with God and the celestial society. In this world there is truly one Giver, God three in one, who truly did take on the suffering of the entire world so that the entire world could freely choose this beatific life. While all suffering will be eliminated it has now been weeded out from beauty. Beauty exists in abundance as intended, but suffering will finally cease. 

 
THE LIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION


We are still celebrating Easter and the wonderful light of the Resurrection yet death has been on my mind.

My wife and I are having our first child this coming July. A baby girl named Imma Bernadette and we’re very excited. I always wanted a little girl. I’m a fan of the little bows you can put in their hair, their cute outfits and smiles, up until they get interested in boys. Then they’re not so cute...Imma please love me!

Yet death has been on my mind. I begin thinking about Imma's birth, then her graduation, then wedding, then my grandchildren and all of a sudden I see myself old and slipping off to death. It’s scary when you look at your life from its entire timeline. It’s very short! When life begins to blossom within a family, death becomes more apparent, for there is greater loss attached to it. But if there is one thing that Jesus taught us, it’s that life does not end at death.

Remember the Gospel reading for Easter Sunday?

John 20: 1-9

                   On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”


                   So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Fear of Death

Let’s look at the first half of this scripture. Mary begins walking in the middle of the night to the tomb of Christ surrounded in utter darkness. Not only darkness of night, but a darkness in her heart, one stricken with grief and despair for the loss of her best friend and Master. Death is darkness. When she arrives at the tomb she notices the stone has been rolled away and immediately believes that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. “They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we don’t know where they put him.” Mary was fearful of death. Death was final. It was the final period on the long run on sentence of life. Of course she was afraid. If Jesus could be put to death than what hope did anyone else have?

There is another person who was fearful of death. A fictitious character. Very different from Mary.
Yup, you guessed it. It's Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series!

His very name means “Flight from Death”. This was someone who was so obsessed with eternal life and power that he ripped his soul into seven pieces, hiding them in earthly objects, and sought to take control of the Deathly Hallows, the three tools that would make one a Master of Death. What were the deathly hallows again? A cloak of invisibility to hide from Death, the most powerful wand ever created carved from an Elder tree, and the Resurrection Stone, a stone to bring loved ones back from the dead.

We can learn a lot from Voldemort…I mean He Who Shall Not Be Named. His fear of death stemmed from his misunderstanding of love, or rather his complete non-understanding of it. He was an orphan who was obsessed with finding out his own family heritage. Without a family, Tom Riddle (Voldemort’s actual name) could not grasp the concept of love mainly because he was conceived while his father was under a love spell.

At Hogwarts, Tom was obsessed with his heritage. Although he knew since his first year that he was the Heir of Slytherin, he didn't learn the complete story until he tracked down and visited his uncle, Morfin Gaunt. Morfin told him that his father was a Muggle and his mother was a descendant of Slytherin. Tom then murdered his father and grandparents and be-spelled Morfin into confessing to the crime. Morfin was convicted for the murders and sentenced to Azkaban. Tom then stole the Slytherin ring and turned it into a Horcrux (HBP17).

A Horcrux is an object where one hides a ripped piece of their soul after they commit a murder. Horcrux is a word that has similarities to other words that suggest pain and horror. 

Death and pain were all this boy knew. He never trusted people, he never had a family, he only sought after power because his sole motivation was to defy death! "You will hear many of his Death Eaters claiming that they are in his confidence, that they alone are close to him, even understand him. They are deluded. Lord Voldemort has never had a friend, nor do I believe that he has ever wanted one" -Dumbledore (HBP13). Imagine that you were immortal, but never felt love in your life, never had a friend to talk to, never had a mother comfort you, or a father tell you bed time stories or never even confided in someone you trusted.

That is the epitome of darkness and death. That is what Mary is walking in as she discovers the empty tomb. For her, death is a permanent state, just as her grief. She remains fearful of death just as Voldemort remained fearful of it. In Matthew 28 we hear that “Mary ran away from the tomb quickly, fearful yet overjoyed.” The difference is that Mary’s motivation to walk through the darkness was the feeling of love for Christ, while Voldemort’s motivation was his fear of dying.

Resurrection in Culture

Now our story does not end at death. Thank God! Literally!
If Death is darkness then Resurrection is… Light.

Let’s take a look at the other half of that scripture. “For they did not yet understand the Scripture he had to rise from the dead.”

Now John wrote this Gospel and he refers to himself as the “Other” disciple. Both he and Peter listen to Mary’s claim that the body of Jesus was stolen and they bolt like a beam of lightning down to the tomb while it was still dark. John gets there first, but doesn’t go in the tomb. Peter arrives and walks right in probably ready to fight for Jesus as he did in the Garden of Gethsemane where he chopped off Malchus’ ear. They find no body, just two burial cloths. One that covered the body and the other that covered his face. Peter doesn’t understand it, but the moment that John enters the tomb and sees those two cloths he has spark of revelation. For it says “he saw and believed.” What the scripture doesn’t say is how I like to read this passage. That the moment that John stepped into the tomb and saw the burial cloths, a new sun began to rise outside illuminating the tomb. Resurrection is light.

Have you heard of the shroud of Turin? It’s said that it is possible for this shroud to be that same burial cloth

that Peter and John saw. On the shroud is a faint image of what looks like a man, but inverted you see that the shroud is really a picture negative! Nobody has been able to explain how it was formed and how it is a negative! One theory that could explain  is that at the moment of Christ’s Resurrection, a burst of light shot through his body and he vanished from the cloths. The cloths would have been bounded together as was Jewish custom and when John saw the facial cloth separated from the other cloths he knew something had happened.

It’s not surprising to see the resurrection as light, for throughout scripture we continuously hear God’s relationship to Light.

In the beginning God said Let there be Light.

Jesus said "I am the Light of the World."

"Why he said, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." - Eps 5:14

"In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - Jn 1:4-5

Now if Darkness is Death and Resurrection is Light where does that leave us with our Harry Potter analogy? Voldemort represents death and who represents light? Harry.
Both Voldemort and Harry grew up Orphans, both were outcasts in many ways, both suffered terrible darkness in their lives, but Harry found his strength from the friend’s he chose and he was protected by something that Voldemort could not kill, his mother’s love. So Harry became the boy who lived, and grew up never knowing his own heritage as Tom Riddle did. He watched as Voldemort regained power, sought out the deathly hallows and finally sought to kill Harry once and for all. If Harry is light then when do we see his resurrection?

Harry realizes that a part of Voldemort’s soul lives inside of himself and so in a Jesus like fashion he must make the decision to sacrifice himself in order to destroy Voldemort completely. We hear Corinthians 5:21 echo in this decision “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Harry was going to sacrifice himself for his friends and ultimately the entire world. 

Just before he meets Voldemort in the Forrest what does he do? He turns the resurrection stone 3 times in his hand and all of a sudden he is surrounded by his family. They give him strength to perform the task he must bear similar to the angels that descend down on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Harry equips himself with family and love. As he walks to his death, once again Voldemort uses the killing curse on him and strikes him dead. Harry wakes up in King’s Cross station only to find a piece of Voldemort, a decrepit infant like being sent there to die. Harry sacrificed himself and was resurrected to life in order to save the rest of humanity. Well you know how the story ends….death is destroyed.

That is what John realizes in the empty tomb. The resurrected Jesus has destroyed the binds of death. There need not be any more fear of dying if we believe in Love that is God our creator, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Every day we are called to resurrect our lives from the sins that weigh us down and it is our family and friends that help us draw the strength and fortitude to continuously choose love over fear, life over death. Every day we are witnesses to the flowers that die and blossom again, the earth’s continuous destruction and creation of sea floor which is what causes earthquakes, our faithful animal companions who pass away and the new puppies we go goo goo gaga for in the pet store. Resurrection is all around us.

It’s not just in Harry Potter. We saw it in Thor when he sacrifices himself to protect that small deserted town. After he is blasted to death we see a flashback of his father whispering into the hammer “Whosoever holds

this hammer, if he be worthy worthy shall possess the power of Thor.” Then boom he gets his iron clothes back.

We see it in the Avengers when Iron Man flies the bomb into space sacrificing himself for humanity. He gets resurrected.

We see it in The Dark Knight Rises when Batman carries the detonator out to sea and we watch the Bat-Copter explode. But a little later we see him resurrected in France living out his true identity as Bruce Wayne.

We see it in the Chronicles of Narnia after Aslan gives himself up to the White Witch on the Stone Table. He is resurrected after he explains to the astonished girls that there is a Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time: because he was an innocent, willing victim and was sacrificed in place of a traitor, the Stone Table broke and Death worked backwards.

We see it in Star Trek: Into Darkness when Kirk sacrifices himself to save his crew and Spock brings him back to life.

"The resurrection is God’s gratuitous gift – we receive it even before we ask of it. It heals our broken humanity at the same time elevates us to the dignity as his adopted sons and  daughters! A Family! Therefore we can cooperate in this grace in order to share in the Divine Life! St. Augustine said, 'We gave Christ the power to die so that he may give us the power to live!' The resurrection is not just Jesus’ story, it is also ours. A great hero once said that we are worth dying for. A greater Hero, however, the greatest of them all in fact, proved that we are more than worth dying for. The silence of His empty tomb echoes His message with an increasing intensity, even up to this very day: WE ARE WORTH RISING FOR!" - Carlo Enrico Tinio; Pope Saint John Paul II

Death is Darkness and Resurrection is Light. Does that mean that we will never suffer or have to walk in the darkness again? Of course not, but it brings us great hope that we too will live again as Christ does.

We close with Pope Francis who says: “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light. In Christ, God himself wishes to share this path with us and to offer us his gaze so that we might see the light within it, Christ is the one who, having endured suffering, is ‘the pioneer and perfector of our faith”(Heb 12:2).(Light of Faith).

God cannot guarantee that your life will be free of suffering and darkness, but he can provide you with a Church and family who always remind you of the light. And if your family are the ones that are shrouded in darkness, then today make the decision to start becoming the light that guides them to the resurrected Christ.