What about "the Man?"

When I used to have freetime, or when I really need a break, I like to take a moment to check out the movie previews that are coming out. You may be aware that at the Apple Website you can watch movie trailers all day long. It is sometimes really fun to check out what is upcoming in the movie world. Unfortunately, I don't usually find many that I am that excited about - from the trailer anyway. The last movie I saw was Transformers, but that took a very good friend to really encourage me and he knew I had loved the toys when I was growing up.

However, there are some good movies out there. For example, one of the best movies I have seen in recent years, and in fact my wife and I rented it recently, is the movie "Lady in the Water." It is film by M. Night Shamalyan - of "Signs," "The Village," and "Sixth Sense" fame. What one must respect is the fact that M. Night Shamalyan has a healthy respect for our Catholic Faith. In fact, we were discussing the Holy Trinity this past Saturday for one of the catechist training sessions here at the parish. I had brought up "Lady in the Water" as one of the recent movies that gives a great analogy for the Catholic Faith. What Mr. Shamalyan provides for us, whether intentionally or not I don't know, is a great example of an analogy of the unity and practice of our faith.

"Lady in the Water" is not an easy story to follow at first. As one catechist said, "It is hard to understand." But for us Catholics it can be a very easy thing to understand, if we utilize our sacramental understanding of the world. We know that God gives the world grace through the Sacraments - those seven symbolic realities that really communicate His Love and Grace to each of us. In the climax of the movie, we find seven sisters who are the means by which the priest-like figure offers himself for the sake of another to be healed. But, even earlier the priestly figure, Mr. Heep, must decide whether he will have faith that he can discern what the answer to the movie's riddle is or whether he will rely on the media's interpretation of how things should happen. It is said in the course of the dialogue, "It is all about faith." Mr. Heep is left to figure things out, and if he can overcome his own pride then the riddle will be solved.

One of the themes running throughout "Lady in the Water" is the very Catholic notion that "every creature has a purpose." Especially each character in the movie. Of course, this is reminescent of the Church's teaching on human life - namely, that no innocent human life is worth destroying, whether unborn or elderly. Of course, like Mr. Heep, each of us must accept this reality. Every human person has the freedom to reject or accept it. But as Catholics, we should come to understand that God, to understate the matter, prefers us to accept it.

What the point of my blog today is and was for the catechist training is that analogy is a good way for us to understand our Catholic faith. Analogies can help us to begin to grasp mysteries in a way that we can understand more readily. The danger, of course, is that we must remember analogies are only tools to understand something deeper, and we can never take the analogy as the truth that we are seeking to understand.

Part of the point of this, especially for us Catholics, is that we are always seeking the Mystery - and more specifically the Mystery of the Living Triune God. In the Catholic Faith, when we speak of mystery, we don't speak of a mystery that must be solved - like the ole Agatha Christie novel or CSI or a Law & Order mystery. Rather for the Catholic Church, and subsequently our Catholic Faith, a mystery is something we can never understand fully, but at the same time something we can understand partially. Now, we have been inserted into the mystery of the Holy Trinity by our baptism, and yet God is not happy that we should merely be a member of the mystery, but that we should learn to desire and be satisifed in "never-being-satisified" in the glory of this mystery. That is, we should alway seek to understand the mystery more fully.

In this regard, "Lady in the Water" provides a great story for understanding the profound reality which each of the characters find themselves involved with in analogous way. That is, in this movie there is a great analogy with how our Catholic Faith must be lived. We too must seek to understand the "plan," not from Crossword puzzles or cereal boxes, but from the very Heart and Mind of Almighty God [See the movie and this will make more sense]. Each of us is important to His real-life plan and each of us will find our greatest joy in taking up our part to battle our enemy of sin and death. But if you see a "Scrunt," perhaps a quick poke in its eyes might stop it... but I would never try that myself...

By the way, perhaps another great analogous movie will be upcoming in "Horton hears a who." As many see this as a great analogy of seeing even the smallest human life as worth not choosing to murder.