The View Up Here

“Son of God,” produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett and directed by Christopher Spencer, was an enormous disappointment. Despite some strong performances, including Darwin Shaw (Peter) and Sebastian Knapp (John the Evangelist), it wasn’t even close to being the greatest Jesus movie of all time, and in fact, it wasn’t even a good movie. Not only was it shallow, disconnected, and self-important, it neglected to show a crucial aspect of Jesus’ saving ministry: relationship. Jesus had and has relationships with us, and with the Father, and he invites us into his intimate relationship with the Father. Nowhere did this crucial element of his life and teaching appear in this film.   The-who-what-where-in-the-what-now? (Trying to make sense of this movie) The episodes of Jesus’ ministry were never connected with who Jesus was as a person,  and characters were drawn with neither depth nor passion. They came and went with no explanation and with no real ...

I realize, of course, that I am lamentably behind in blogging. However, it is a new year, and there are new situations and dispositions in my life that will hopefully help me to be more prolific here. I usually wrap up the old year before delving into my hopes for the new year, so here we go: 2013 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Last year was very much about letting go of the illusion of control and surrendering completely to God.  It was also about recognizing that my charism is Carmelite , marked by simplicity. Sometimes God closes doors to open a new portal for us to walk through; other times, He asks us to close the door ourselves so that we are free to walk through the next door He has already opened for us. In April, I was not hired back for the permanent position at Ithaca College Los Angeles, but the very next month, I was offered a job as an administrative assistant for a Catholic high school. In July, my father-in-law passed away, and that very same week, my divorce was...