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April 14, 2024When I entered the seminary, I discovered that there were several books many people said were “must reads for seminarians.” I love to read so I am always open to book suggestions. But I also do not like to read fiction so some of the books remain on my shelf; (sadly I never got past book three of Chronicles of Narnia). One of the prominent books that kept being mentioned was The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. As I write this article, I just finished The Two Towers, but I am confident that many of us have seen the films if not read the books. One of the reasons why this book was recommended was because J.R.R. Tolkien was a devote Catholic, and many Catholic themes show up in his book. In fact, Tolkien is one of the great writers who came out and said (to paraphrase) “yes, my faith is present in my writing.” Yet, when a movie came out about his life in 2019, the film drew backlash by many reviewers, because his faith was almost completely absent from the film (apart from one priest character).
Why do I bring this up? If someone were to direct a film about our lives, would our story be completely different if they omitted our faith. If our faith consists of only coming to Mass on Sunday, it may not change radically. But when we live out our faith, everything is different. We as disciples of Christ ought to act differently than those who have no faith. I am not saying that one has to be Catholic to be good. But think about it this way, if you believe with your heart that the God of the universe loves you and calls you into a relationship so that you can be an extension of His love in the world, shouldn’t you act differently than those who do not yet know God?
In Christ,
Fr. Chris
