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Mary of Nazareth, the Movie - thoughts after seeing it yesterday (it's great!)
So it's now 10 PM here at the castle (as we like to call it), and I just finished one of the many assignments which were forced onto my to-do list this week (it's probably been my busiest week yet this semester, which is saying a lot) but I really wanted to write a post because the ideas are fresh in my head (I just got back from optional Adoration a while ago - always a good source of such ideas) and I haven't written a post in too long, so here it goes...
Yesterday, as you all know, we celebrated the solemnity of the Annunciation, when Mary accepts God's will for her to become the Mother of God, and thus, the request that the angel brings to her is remembered forever as an announcement of great joy. I think it is so beautiful when, in the middle of Lent, the Church gives us these glimpses or reminders of the joy that should be building in our hearts in anticipation of our redemption at Easter (which, of course, begins with the Incarnation).
I was talking with a few guys yesterday about why we celebrate the Annunciation and not the Incarnation. It was the same event, and it sure seems like God becoming man is more important than Mary accepting Him as her Son (despite how important that was!), but, yesterday I had the chance to watch the movie, Mary of Nazareth in theaters (it is screening around the country) and it somewhat put things in perspective. The movie beautifully portrays the life of Mary from her childhood all the way through the resurrection. I don't want to spoil the movie, so I'll just make a few points.
Firstly, Mary is gently smiling through a lot of the movie - enough that I noticed it and was beginning to think it was a bit cheesy - but then one of the guys pointed out that she was constantly, consistently, completely abandoning herself to God's will. She joyfully accepted whatever God requested of her, every time. Did she always know what that would entail? - no (and the movie did a fantastic job portraying this) but she did always accept it.
Secondly, there was a tenderness and intensity in the relationship between Jesus and Mary that I guess I never realized. A movie makes things that you read or think about so real. I was praying the Rosary at that Holy Hour that I just got back from and usually my mind drifts off during the decades about the assumption and coronation of Mary. I don't have a good image to meditate on in my mind, or a good story from scripture, so my mind usually ends up blank (or worse) and I end the rosary on a low note... But today, with the images of the movie still fresh in my mind, I found it very easy to see the point of these mysteries. Of course Jesus brought Mary up to Heaven with Him - She was His beloved mother, not only the most perfect person (other than Himself) to ever walk the earth, but she was the person that Jesus was closest to on earth and she was the person who had cared for Him throughout His life. Of course He is going to reward her for that constant love with the most perfect of bliss with Him in heaven! Again, of course He would crown her Queen of Heaven and Earth, not only does she deserve it, but He just gave her to us for our mother. Going way back into the Old Testament shows us that the queen was the one the people went to, the one who took care of them, the one who was not only mother of the king but also mother of the people. The movie made all these things make more sense and really come alive in my mind (it was great!)
Thirdly, the movie made the story of our salvation seem so much more real to me. (Yeah, I just said that in the previous point, but I wanted to keep talking about it, and I wasn't just looking at Jesus' relationship with His mother anymore). Looking at everything as Mary saw it, as Mary responded to it, is such a beautiful vantage point. Yes, the movie is the production of human minds - with actors/actresses, scenes, budgets, and everything else. No, this movie isn't inspired or something - though, of course, it follows the Bible extremely closely. However, by putting real people into the stories that we read in the Bible it adds an emotional, visceral, and pictorial connection to the drama and reality of our salvation like noting else. You saw how the lines of the story interwove, how difficult it would have been for Joseph to take Mary into his home, how brutal Herod was, how boldly John the Baptist acted, how trusting Mary was (already mentioned that one...), how merciful Jesus was, how doubtful the Apostles were. You saw Mary acting as a mother, caring for Jesus, and later (after His death) caring for His apostles. You saw Mary saying "be it done to me according to Your will" at countless points throughout the story as she encounters something she doesn't understand or any moment of suffering. It all leapt off the page of scripture and into flesh and blood, into images that I will now be able to meditate on. I don't want to make this movie into something it isn't, but it was pretty inspiring, and the more I think about it the more depth it adds to my own understanding of the whole mystery of redemption.
In other words, it was a great movie, highly recommended, not perfect, but very thought-provoking (in the best sense of the phrase) and something that I am very glad I cleared time to do. It's so much more than I managed to mention in this post, there are so many more thing that it will show me in the weeks to come, but I certainly can't write them all, so I guess you'll have to see it for yourself...
Now, off to bed. I can't promise that I will get to posting more often just yet, I keep wanting to, and I keep (like everyday) having great ideas for posts, but apparently there are only 24 hours in the day and I'd like to be in bed for a few of them... Good night! Happy Lent!
Now, off to bed. I can't promise that I will get to posting more often just yet, I keep wanting to, and I keep (like everyday) having great ideas for posts, but apparently there are only 24 hours in the day and I'd like to be in bed for a few of them... Good night! Happy Lent!
