After reading something a close friend wrote yesterday on my FaceBook, it triggered me into thinking of myself. She said how when she sees a movie or reads a book that has some religious aspect to it - even ones that bring The Church and Faith into controversy such as The Da Vinci Code.
After giving it a think, I thought that I too am like that. After watching countless religious based movies, I always feel better about myself, that the half-empty glass of "faith" is no longer half-empty - nor is it half-full - but it has been refilled... then in order to quench my thirst I simply need do nothing else but attend mass, read my Bible and undertake my own personal study. Lucky I enjoy study and personal development because faith is always something we are working on! Never can we know, even at the point of death, it is a lifelong journey!
One of the meditative CDs I own (Meditations for Difficult Times), Dr. Bernie S, Siegel M.D. says something in there along these lines: "...the pastor told me that if we really learnt all that religion has to teach us, we wouldn't need the religion anymore. That doesn't mean we would stop practicing it as such, but we would have what we need to get through in life." Quite true really. We would have what we need, a majority would then simply believe in God but forget to give praise and appreciation, only talking to Him when there are issues of WANT... which I guess isn't much different to these days, though with the different initiatives of the different Churches and groups of like-minded Churches working together, things slowly change.
Back to my point...
I will get bored and select one of my many DVDs to watch, and one day it may be "Luther" - a film I picked up from a non-denomination, primarily Protestant, book-store... you may know it as it has stores throughout the nation - WORD.
Luther is a movie on Martin Luther's life from becoming an Augustinian Monk through to his hate at Church teaching on indulgences and the corruption, to his writing of the 95 Theses, nailed to the door of the Church in Wittenburg, through to the meetings with the Church Cardinals where he must recant - talk back what he has said and preached of and about the Church as false - up to the point where it would simply cause too much blood-shed that they simply let Luther free to start his own Church... sure it were the Middle Ages and killings were thrivent, but who really wants to kill entire ex-Catholic congregations of civilians, former professors and priests of the Church, and most of all, every German Prince, as they all agreed with Luther, bar the Emperor. So as hellish as the movie can be, as much as we as Catholic's see how the times were corrupt, I still reel back and feel proud to be Catholic... that my ancestors lived through this world, not questioning the authority of Rome and knowing it would be better. I mean, if Martin Luther had of done it in a more civil way, such as working his way through the Church Hierachy, he could have reformed the Catholic Church without violence and split-off groups! He was offered a Cardinal's hat afterall at one time...
However, unlike books, movies are short lives, three-hours of entertainment, letting you do plenty of other things in the same day. It is put in the player, play button pressed, watched, finished. Books you pick up and read over a number of sittings, allowing it to sink in more, provoking more thought etc;. How many times do you pick up a book about ANYTHING be it fiction, historical, non-fiction, theological etc; and have been able to put it down and not think about it again until you pick it up again? Maybe some have the power to do this, but I see that as quite a lot of wasted potential on opinions and pondering, and that if you can do that, you really should cease reading the book and pick a new one as that one obviously isn't giving your brain enough stimulation!
Now I need to pick a new book to read... I have nearly finished reading "High Society" by Ben Elton, a book about different people from all walks of lives and how drugs has impacted them all in one way or another.
I am unsure of which book to select next... should I choose a novel with strong Christian roots like The Chronicles of Narnia? Should I pick a book of homilies such as "Be Not Afraid" by His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell (Archbishop of Sydney)? Another book on different church leaders such as Pope John-Paul II or books on saints? Or should I go to the fully topical and theological books on things such as the Fatima apparitions, the Rosary's importance in these current pressing days or another just as heavy book? Who knows... time will tell... friends will guide me hopefully as to what they recommend then I can make my own decision!
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