Useful information. Preachers evangelize in that sense only . Not at all. With us today is a literary scholar and teacher who will discuss with us how makers of art and literature, fiction, film, poultry, or bringing us good news and revealing to us truths that can help us live wisely and well if that is we know how to read their books and watch their films. How do we watch and read even the products of our secular culture so as to grow and wisdom and grace. Stay with us as we talk with doctor margaret about fiction, film, and faith around us and the depths of rich human insight that can be found in the best of the art. Welcome to, mosaic me our guest dr. Martin. Margaret. You are a teacher, a professor at the st. Patricks seminary. You have taught also at university dallas. You have an ma in systematic theology, and a doctoral degree from University Freiburg in theology. You are a learned scholar and an experienced teacher and writer. What do you want to talk about today in evangelization and film and art. We know what evangelization is its a catholic outreach to people about the faith. Where do film and literary arts come in . John, id like to suggest that the serious screenplay writer and movie director, novelist, fiction writer, if they are all the sinessof revelation, and by that i mean these serious screenplay writer and movie director they apply imagination and talents to the task of bringing others to see to see more than action pack sequence like car chases and see more than beautiful costumes and breathtaking scenery. The serious screenplay writer movie director, writer of fiction has as his or her primary aim to bring others to see. To see a vision of life, a vision of love. Im a mindful about would Joseph Conrad said. He is a novelist as you know. Perhaps his bestknown work is the novel heart of darkness that inspired the movie apocalypse now. Joseph conrad, summed up his task in this way. He said my task is to bring you to feel. Above all to make you see, to see the meaning of life. He goes on. He says my stories are concerned with nothing less than the whole point of living. The whole point of living. That is serious art. The serious screenplay writer , the serious novelist, their intent upon intensifying our capacity to feel. To feel what it is we truly hunger for, thirst for. What it is we long for, hope for. Their intent upon deepening our capacity to see, to see what makes life worth living. To see what makes life fully human. It leads to authentic happiness. Thats interesting in that ive mentioned the word evange and angelization and we think of that is giving a religious measures to someone you can accept or reject. What youre talking about whether conrad is capricorn or any artist is the serious deep human artist is trying to get us to see. Is trying to get us to feel. In other words not to adopt a position about something, maybe not even to a metaphysics he is selling but to see truly and to feel. To intensify their experience of being human. We being human is intensive already we tend to defend ourselves against it i think. You develop a crust. You develop a shell. What is the artist breaking as that of the shell and taking the scales off our eyes . Absolutely. My task is to make you feel. Its to make you see at an intensity and to a depth as never before. Flannery oconnor as well i catholic fiction writer. Active in the mid20th century. I know you know of these works quite well. Shell admit her method for literary method involves shock tactics. She has to shock her readers to come to a spiritual awakening to see the human condition especially in its contemporary setting as never before. We think we see, we think we feel. We are riddled with so any blind spots. So much spiritual blindness. Lets talk about our contemporary situation which i think its back to Flannery Oconnor. There is endless media available. Movies, videos, books, every kind of mode we are discussing here. There is so much of it. We may have to guard ours what the in this age of ours whats missing . It seems to me the structure of christianity as the narrative of our world has sunk in importance, yeah . Yes. Im sorry john, you want me to address the challenge faced by in the first place youre saying the christian artist the christian writer of action also his or her readership as an audience. If i might have recourse to the wisdom of Flannery Oconnor and reliant hoechst variance she says today, the world is going through Something Like a dark night of the soul. The world in its increasingly secular condition is losing its capacity to see to see the presence of god and the stirrings of grace. As well as conversion experience. All that. We will take a brief break will be back shortly with our guest and talk about faith, fiction, and film. As a mother, i know how hard it is to see our childrens lives impacted by covid19, or coronavirus. So, i want you to know that our state is allocating unprecedented resources and services to meet this challenge. I want you to know, that we are here for you. But i also have an ask for you. Please stay home to keep others and yourself healthy. Your actions can help save lives. And together, we will get through this. Welcome back we are talking with dr. Margaret. We are talking about evangelizing, and that is not only preaching the christian met did message but seeing christian truth and finding unexpected ways in which to see it. You mentioned Flannery Oconnor and her encapsulation as a writer was . She had said at one point the primary gift she needed as a catholic writer was the gift of vision. Notice vision a capacity to see and to see not the capacity to read the future but the capacity to see what is hidden. For her its primarily the hidden presence of god. Hes less mmanuel he is with and less visible. Hes more easily forgettable. He is becoming increasingly hidden. Which she needs to do is find a way in this secular culture to impregnate her stories with the presence of god often the presence of god is best seen or recognized by the negative pointers that she embeds in her tax. She forces you to face the absence of god the seeming void this desert experience of our contemporary secular culture. Meaning theres not really nourishment for the soul available. We are talking about film and fiction. Theres lots of escapist nurture and literature and films. You said car crashes in various other things. The serious art is perhaps having a struggle. You told me you do teach or hold seminars of watching film and sharpening your vision to see whats in that room. You do this for all ages. Ive done it for High School Students as well as their teachers. Ive been at the College Level and graduate level at the st. Patricks seminary. Ive also gone out to parishes throughout the bay area. Ive given evening presentations full days of retreat. The weekend where i train the i to see god and find god and recognize his patterns of relating to us ill be at in the dark and to recognize also the stirrings of grace in the promptings of grace. Thats always trying to lure us back to themselves to see him with us under any condition and sense the current condition is most persuasively in the dark weve got to develop a night vision. The capacity this vision to see god in the dark to recognize stirrings of grace and opportunities for conversion in the shadows. In the twilight. In a faith illumined vision. I think its difficult to develop a humane sensibility these days. More or less the one the piece these days. Theyre sort of accidents or a virus on the planet. Where is the affirmation of my human nature and my soul work cannot be found . We talk about films from here on out seems to be vivid specialty of yours. You mentioned groundhog day. Is that an examination of despairing world . Yes. As i see and interpret groundhog day. A film from the 80s with bill murray lives the same day over and over again. 3 its a story its a portrait about the whole point of living. Its a wonderful illustration of conrads point in film. The stories about the whole point of living what makes life worth living and as the movie opens bill connors the protagonist believes he knows what makes his life worth living. As i view the movie and theres a variety of ways in which you can do it ive seen phil, initially illustrating freudian psychology the theory of alternate motivating factor for human behavior. Wide do we do what we do . Freight is now of course known for his leisure principle. What ultimately motivates us is the pleasure we seek pleasure. And today more than ever pleasure. Sexual leisure. Phil connors initially goes about his life seeking sexual pleasure. He does so quite winningly we could say. Its not enough. You watch his character because according to the story he has to live this day again and again. He is forced to live out and intensified consecration form. This theory of life. He comes to realize soon enough experientially not by reading a book, that the pleasure principle is not enough. He will choose to kill himself. He will choose to stop living rather than being forced within this one theory. Its not enough. Its not the pleasure principle is not worthy of his humanity. Thats what he shows us. Hes better than that. Lets pause that thought and take a break and come back soon for our final segment of this program and talk about the movie gravity. Welcome back to a keen insight into films and a sense for where the serious artist is revealing god to you. Whether the artist intends to or not. We talked about this film from a few years ago i think an oscar winner but gravity is based movie. Tell us about what you see there. The movie at the surface level is a survival story about a woman who survives a life threatening accident in outer space. The story is really about much more. About the whole point of living. The title gravity in my mind this is my interpretation its gravitas and way in depth in fullness and meaningfulness of life. We need gravitas and meaningfulness sufficient to prompt us, motivate us to say yes to our next breath. To say yes to a life that often is shrouded in darkness confro tragic heartbreaking event. In this movie it begins with a dark screen. The screen is black and these letters in white emerge. This is basically life in space is impossible. It is impossible. Space is a metaphor for interspace. What this woman doctor ryan stone is living on earth and the condition of her life on earth isnt possible to affirm it to indoor it in any meaningful way. What the filmmakers do is show you what life in space is about. Its cold, dark, it is silent. No communication. No air to carry sound. Its a state of isolation, silence, noncommunication, darkness this and so forth. Thats the state of dr. Ryan stones life on earth. In space she is now living this out in a way thats magnified for us dramatically. What the story brings us what her story as she endeavors to survive and out of space the things that become prominent or the importance of being tethered. The importance of being in communion with others. We learn on earth she lost her daughter. Her 4yearold daughter died a very tragic accidental death and from that moment on doctor ryan stone, lived a life disconnected, disengaged, disoriented. Everyday she said she would wake up and go to work and just drive. It was purposeless and aimless and dark and cold. In outer space she finds herself following this accident adrift. An accident they life at risk. Shes time and again trying to communicate with houston saying houston, im in the blind , and the blind, im running out of air, and i am adrift. That describes her life on earth. Thats a wonderful moment to stop there because i think shes now in the midst of life i found myself in the dark would i lost my way. I dont think we can talk more about gravity but you recommend everybody watch it. Absolutely look for the cues. This filmmaker is deliberate in bringing you to see shes going to a journey in the dark towards conversion toward spiritual blindness and insight and everything depends on her discovery of the importance of being tethered not only to her comrade matt, but she discovers she remains tethered to her daughter in the afterlife and all of this is because shes ultimately and always tethered to god. She will speak about the importance of prayer and how no one ever taught her to pray for no one trained her in this original fundamental way of being tethered to our god. Who provides tether with each other. This communion of love and life that makes this life worth living and endures into the afterlife. Thats we have 60 seconds left i know you told me that when you have developed your vision in various ways and have the eye to see you should return over and over again to the scriptures. Read those better and better. The best authors of novels and poetry and screenplays are those who have learned something from sacred scripture. Salvation history human drama portray there has never been before. It will invest their works of art with hints and ue that lead you to see and experience these moments because you recognize the allusions these biblical meanings. Developing your vision for art on scriptures you go back to them with renewed interest and possibilities that i want to thank you for coming up and spending time with us and we urge you to see the movie gravity and read and see everything you encounter in the arts with a. An ipo revelation that will serve you well. Thank you for being with us. Iruson the front linesthe pe of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. This is kpix5 news. Bay area barber dismisses warnings from police and keeps his business open. Everyone is essential in this country and everyone deserves a platform to live and to pursue happiness. It is in our constitution. A sal decided te bein to shut its doors. Protestors gather at surgical cal beaches after the governor takes action to try to keep people off the sand at at home. Just about 6 00
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.