To Choose, or Not, ‘The Chosen’

There used to be a custom in Hollywood to hide the face of Christ on film – see the scenes Spartacus and Ben-Hur. This was, likely, due to a sense of ‘modesty’, the virtue that refuses to unveil what should remain hidden, as the Catechism puts it. I suppose people did not want their prayer life imprinted with the face of an actor, who may play far less pious roles in other films, and in their imaginations. Christ left us His face on the Shroud of Turin – or so I believe – a face that has been the model of all iconography of the Son of God.

I have pondered this for some time, and it was brought more fully to mind in this recent article by Leila Miller on Crisis, on the ‘False Christ of the Chosen’, which not only shows His face, but takes a fictional take on Christ to another whole level. At least in the Passion – Mel Gibson’s mega-epic – Jim Caviezel limits his dialogue and actions to what Christ actually said and did in the Gospel, with some imaginative additions (to think that Christ ‘invented’ the modern table is a bit of a stretch – why not ‘invent’ recombinant DNA technology, or quantum physics?).

With the Chosen – and, full, disclosure, I have not seen a single episode – almost all of what transpires is imaginary, fictional and, as Mrs. Miller argues not consistent with, if not contrary to, what has been ‘revealed for our salvation’. She will likely be vilified for this, but the reader may peruse the details, or be aware of his own if a viewer of the series, which sounds more like a soap opera than what are offered as the inspired Word in the terse Gospel accounts.

The Evangelists are laconic for a reason: Their task was only to reveal what we needed to know to approach Christ, follow Him, and get to heaven. As the Catechism says – warns – “many things about Jesus of interest to human curiosity do not figure in the Gospels” (#514). We should keep in mind that ‘curiosity’, strictly speaking, is a vice, wherein we seek to know what do not need to know, or should not know. This is opposed to the virtue of studiosity, striving to learn and know what we should (cf., ST, II-II., qq. 166 and 167).

This is not to say, as Mrs. Miller says, that we should not flesh out and colour our prayer life with images and montages of Christ, as per many situational methods of meditation (Ignatian, Carmelite), but here it is God speaking to us, forming the images with our cooperation, and not a group of non-Catholic (mainly, it seems, Mormon) media producers foisting upon our brains stories made up in theirs, with their limited and faulty Christology, and the need to bump up ratings, and keep people emotionally engaged in the plot.

Best to stick to the Gospels, and, to supplement, the writings of saints and mystics, such Saint Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena, Alphonsus Ligouri, or even Anne Catherine Emmerich, whose words and descriptions of Christ are all the fruit of a deep contemplative life, and union with the divine.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

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Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

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The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→

Saint Gemma Galgani

On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→

An Ideological and Improper Translation

I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→

Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers

Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→