An Encounter with Love

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince, was a pioneer of commercial aviation. He flew in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. He loved flying. He also loved writing about friendship and love. Because of this, he was nicknamed the 'winged poet'. In his book Airman's Odyssey, de Saint-Exupéry wrote about how love transforms us. When we encounter love, it refashions our lives. Love invites us to contemplate a new horizon, the place where our hearts encounter the heart of the beloved. Love incites us to contemplate and to journey towards that horizon because intimacy is beyond fear. As de Saint-Exupéry states, “Love is more than gazing at each other. It consists in looking outward together in the same direction.”

Passionate Commitment: Being in Love with Jesus

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Credit: www.beliefnet.com

We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. (1 Jn 4:16) 

Love appears without notice. When we fall in love, there is no time to think about what's happening. Falling in love is a crazy thing. It both hurts and soothes the aches of our innermost being. When I had been in love in the past, it would take me longer to put my socks on and to get ready in the morning because I was constantly thinking about that person. When we fall in love, coffee tastes better and there is a scent of hopefulness in the air. To me, falling in love is not quite a graceful thing, but it is an experience full of grace.

Sir Paul McCartney and the Heart

By John D. O’Brien, S.J.

williamkstidham.com

What do Paul McCartney, St. Ignatius, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Joseph’s Oratory (Montreal) have in common? An excellent question, posed by a friend of certain multi-media expertise. Upon inquiring, I discovered a remarkable correlation: the former Beatle had composed an oratorio being performed at the great Canadian shrine, a work based upon an inscription he had read on a statue at St. Ignatius Church in New York.

To the Wonder: A Love Song

By John O’Brien, S.J.

http://www.magpictures.com

A mere two years after his metaphysically audacious and resplendent film The Tree of Life divided viewers but won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and new cohorts of admirers, Terrence Malick has made another – only his sixth in 40 years – called To the Wonder. This time the critics have been less effusive, as if one Malick picture per decade was quite enough, the investment of existential effort being too costly. Yet this follow-up is no less grand, and although it is without cosmic creation scenes, it manages to do what few other films can do: cause us to meditate on the questions that matter most. Where The Tree of Life asked about the origins of suffering, and the mysterious interplay of nature and grace, To the Wonder focuses on the human experience of love.

It begins in France, on the sandy tidal plains surrounding Mont St. Michel, where Neil (Ben Affleck) and a young Frenchwoman, Marina (Olga Kurylenko), have fallen in love and cavort in various poses of embrace and shy discovery. This is love in all its newborn glory, as Marina’s voice pays homage:

Citizen Kane: What Makes Life Worth Living?

By John D. O’Brien, S.J.

http://mikechasar.blogspot.ca

This winter I have the privilege of teaching a subject I quite enjoy: the history of cinema. There are several reasons why I find this enjoyable.

First, great films are like great books. They are carriers of great ideas, have technical and historical interest, and can expand spiritual horizons. In a sense, films are “proto-evangelical”, a good way of examining the human condition through an artistic form that can prepare the way for the message and person of Christ. Movies stimulate discussion of human themes: of right and wrong, of good and evil, of beauty and decay, and ultimately, of salvation or destruction. In short, a film is an incredibly complex multisensory medium, and makes for a fascinating immersion.

This week, my class looked at the films of Orson Welles, the young auteur, who first became famous for his shockingly realistic radio play, a dramatization of H.G. Well’s The War of the Worlds (online here in its entirety):

Welcoming God into Your Imagination

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

Your imagination, like every aspect of who you are, is a gift to you from a loving God. Imagination is an intimate part of the self. Sometimes we feel we must shield our imaginings from others – because others may not accept what we imagine and in so doing deny an aspect of our self. But, as many of us have learned over the years, that which we hide from others is what we most long to show, so that it may be seen and loved unconditionally.