Horror movies are always about reckoning with something we have suppressed or believed gone for good–a demon, vampire, werewolf, etc. But when you think about it, the scariest thing that we ever have to reckon with is ourselves. Jordan Peele explores this concept in the movie Us by having literal doubles of the main characters appear with a choice: either deal with your dark side or be destroyed by it.
I hear it a lot from Catholic speakers: “God wants you to be pure.” Especially in youth contexts, this idea of purity tends to run supreme, the highest goal of one’s life.
I’m not so sure.
For one, a focus on purity tends to be about one thing, sexuality. No one ever talks about purity in relation to charity or justice; there is no insistence on purity as it relates to the corporal works of mercy. If someone is talking about purity, especially to youth, it has everything to do with sex,promiscuity, and immoral thoughts. It is a rather small world of morality.
Of course, the greater point in this is how these positions are articulated, as a focus on purity forces us to emphasize a goal that is just a negation, a life defined by what we don’t do. It’s about not having sex, not dressing promiscuously, not giving in to tempting thoughts or actions. Because, truly, isn’t that what purity is? The absence of the stain of sin.
Taken to it’s logical end, as I do in this video, we can see that this is not a life we want to focus on. Rather, of focus should be on “holiness,” an entirely different concept.
Heaven is a place in the clouds where everything is perfect. You get everything you can imagine and do anything you want. There’s no responsibility, no punishment, and no limits.
At least, that’s what Hollywood tells us.
In this week’s episode of Upon Friar Review, Fr. Patrick and I look at a few popular images of heaven to discuss what we think heaven is really like. Spoiler alert: Hollywood doesn’t get much right!
For years, Crash was my favorite movie of all time. While it isn’t anymore, I still find it to be a remarkable movie with challenging questions for our lives. While some will say that it is simply a movie about race relations, it is so much more than that. It’s about prejudice in the more broad sense, about challenging expectations of good and evil, of recognizing the beautiful individuality of every person, that each and every one of us has the possibility of heroic feats… and embarrassing evil.
It is at the same time a cynical movie and and endearingly hopeful. It shows what we can be at our worst (and how prevalent that is in our world) but that even the worst sinners have opportunities for redemption.
For me, it’s a reminder that every moment is an opportunity for holiness, that it doesn’t matter what I did before, I can still return to God. But opportunities are not guarantees.
Crash is rated R and is not something suited for children, but for the mature teen or adult, it is the sort of the movie that can be discussed for ages.
Categorize this under, “duh, that’s super obvious,” but I feel a need to say this: people are more important than things. I know! I know! What a ridiculous things to have to say! Surely, who doesn’t believe this? Who would possibly argue, seriously, that a physical objects have more inherent value than human beings? Publicly, consciously, no one.
But that doesn’t mean that people don’t believe it.
A quick look to our world betrays any notion that this is an obvious, unnecessary statement. Look at what people spend their money on. Look at what gets people upset. When push comes to shove, I think we see something we don’t want to admit within us, a deference towards worldwide human suffering, and an attachment to things.
I see it in the way that we’ve handled the sex abuse crisis, the burning down of Notre Dame, the outcry against vandalism in our churches. In each of these horrible situations what we see is far greater distress at the loss of things than we do with people’s lives.
This has got to change. Might I recommend reading Jesus’ thoughts on the matter, found in Matthew 25:31-46?
Breaking In The Habit 
The Scariest Thing is ‘Us’
Horror movies are always about reckoning with something we have suppressed or believed gone for good–a demon, vampire, werewolf, etc. But when you think about it, the scariest thing that we ever have to reckon with is ourselves. Jordan Peele explores this concept in the movie Us by having literal doubles of the main characters appear with a choice: either deal with your dark side or be destroyed by it.
1 Comment
Posted on October 27, 2020 by CaseyOFM
podcast
Br. Tito, Casey Cole, Everyday Liminality, Franciscan, Horror, Jordan Peele, OFM, podcast, social commentary, Tito Serrano, Us movie
Stop Trying to Be PURE
I hear it a lot from Catholic speakers: “God wants you to be pure.” Especially in youth contexts, this idea of purity tends to run supreme, the highest goal of one’s life.
I’m not so sure.
For one, a focus on purity tends to be about one thing, sexuality. No one ever talks about purity in relation to charity or justice; there is no insistence on purity as it relates to the corporal works of mercy. If someone is talking about purity, especially to youth, it has everything to do with sex, promiscuity, and immoral thoughts. It is a rather small world of morality.
Of course, the greater point in this is how these positions are articulated, as a focus on purity forces us to emphasize a goal that is just a negation, a life defined by what we don’t do. It’s about not having sex, not dressing promiscuously, not giving in to tempting thoughts or actions. Because, truly, isn’t that what purity is? The absence of the stain of sin.
Taken to it’s logical end, as I do in this video, we can see that this is not a life we want to focus on. Rather, of focus should be on “holiness,” an entirely different concept.
2 Comments
Posted on October 26, 2020 by CaseyOFM
Uncategorized
Hollywood Heaven
Heaven is a place in the clouds where everything is perfect. You get everything you can imagine and do anything you want. There’s no responsibility, no punishment, and no limits.
At least, that’s what Hollywood tells us.
In this week’s episode of Upon Friar Review, Fr. Patrick and I look at a few popular images of heaven to discuss what we think heaven is really like. Spoiler alert: Hollywood doesn’t get much right!
1 Comment
Posted on October 23, 2020 by CaseyOFM
Upon Friar Review
Casey Cole OFM, Family Guy, Franciscans, Heaven, Patrick Tuttle OFM, priests, react, Simpsons, This is the End, Upon Friar Review
Crash
For years, Crash was my favorite movie of all time. While it isn’t anymore, I still find it to be a remarkable movie with challenging questions for our lives. While some will say that it is simply a movie about race relations, it is so much more than that. It’s about prejudice in the more broad sense, about challenging expectations of good and evil, of recognizing the beautiful individuality of every person, that each and every one of us has the possibility of heroic feats… and embarrassing evil.
It is at the same time a cynical movie and and endearingly hopeful. It shows what we can be at our worst (and how prevalent that is in our world) but that even the worst sinners have opportunities for redemption.
For me, it’s a reminder that every moment is an opportunity for holiness, that it doesn’t matter what I did before, I can still return to God. But opportunities are not guarantees.
Crash is rated R and is not something suited for children, but for the mature teen or adult, it is the sort of the movie that can be discussed for ages.
1 Comment
Posted on October 22, 2020 by CaseyOFM
podcast
People>Things
Categorize this under, “duh, that’s super obvious,” but I feel a need to say this: people are more important than things. I know! I know! What a ridiculous things to have to say! Surely, who doesn’t believe this? Who would possibly argue, seriously, that a physical objects have more inherent value than human beings? Publicly, consciously, no one.
But that doesn’t mean that people don’t believe it.
A quick look to our world betrays any notion that this is an obvious, unnecessary statement. Look at what people spend their money on. Look at what gets people upset. When push comes to shove, I think we see something we don’t want to admit within us, a deference towards worldwide human suffering, and an attachment to things.
I see it in the way that we’ve handled the sex abuse crisis, the burning down of Notre Dame, the outcry against vandalism in our churches. In each of these horrible situations what we see is far greater distress at the loss of things than we do with people’s lives.
This has got to change. Might I recommend reading Jesus’ thoughts on the matter, found in Matthew 25:31-46?
3 Comments
Posted on October 19, 2020 by CaseyOFM
Uncategorized