So I finally watched Into Great Silence, the acclaimed documentary about French monks who take vows of silence. I fell asleep during it. But not because it wasn't beautiful, it was just, well, silent. The images were amazing, and they were that: just images, no music, narration, or accompaniment, just images and the sounds of shoes on the ancient stone of the monastery.

Their prayer was silent.

Their reading was silent.

Only their common worship, their chanting, was spoken.

Until Sunday came, when they spoke together and rejoiced in one another's company as a "family."

At one point toward the end of the movie, I woke up from one of my intermittent cat naps (the movie is 160 mins and I slept through about 30 mins. of it, just a guess) to a sound---the wonderous sound!---of monks young and old sledding on a mountainside.

I was most touched by what the father of the abbey said to a novice just entering the monastery. He asked him, (I paraphrase) "are you ready to serve God in this way, through vows of silence and joyful penance?" He did not say, "this is the best way to serve God," or "this is the most spiritual way to know God," but instead "in this way." Though we idolize them as spiritual demi-gods, monks do not see themselves as superior to those outside the abbey walls. They desire that we serve God as best we can as they serve God as best they can.

May we all find ways to serve God with all our being! ... more

I watched Lars and The Real Girl last night.  I don't want to give any of the movie away, but I think it should be sought out.  Don't be scared off by the life-size doll.  It's not what you think.

In the past two movies I have seen, Driving Lessons and Lars and the Real Girl, religious communities are central to the protagonist's life.  In Driving Lessons the hypocrisy of the community almost destroys the protagonist.  The opposite happens in Lars and the Real Girl.  The community of faith saves Lars from destroying himself.

The answers to Lars' problems are not textbook.  Lars is an individual who needs specialized care.  The movie forces us to consider that mental illness is reedemable, and that the cause of mental illness, whether chemical, biological, genetic, or environmental, is not important.  As the doctor/psychologist ("they need to be both up this far north") says to Lars' brother: it is Lars' problem to deal with, you just need to be there to help him out. ... more