Posted on 04/14/2003 7:07:04 PM PDT by churchillbuff
AT the age of 47, Oscar winning actor-director Mel Gibson is directing what could be the greatest film of his life. He is working on a film on the passion of Christ. Though the film will not be ready for local viewing on time for Holy Week this year, knowing some details about this movie project can inspire many of us to deepen our spirit of penance and atonement, following the example of the God-Man who died for our sins.
I have read two accounts about the making of this movie that depicts in graphic details the execution of Christ. One appeared in the March 14-16, 2003 of the The Asian Wall Street Journal and authored by Raymond Arroyo, news director of EWTN, the world's largest religious TV network. The other was an interview with Mel Gibson himself as reported by the Zenit News Agency (March 6, 2003). Insights from these two sources can help us spend the remaining days of Lent in a more spiritually fruitful manner.
Mel Gibson wants to capture the Passion as it really happened without downplaying the cruelty and violence inflicted by the Roman soldiers on Christ. As Gibson himself pointed out in the Zenit interview: "I think we have gotten too used to seeing pretty crucifixes on the wall and we forget what really happened. I mean, we know that Jesus was scourged, that He carried His cross, that He had nails put through His hands and feet, but we rarely think about what this means.
"Growing up I didn't realize what was involved in this. I didn't realize how hard it was. The full horror of what Jesus suffered for our redemption didn't really strike me. Understanding what He went through, even on a human level, makes me feel not only compassion, but also a debt: I want to repay Him for the enormity of His sacrifice."
By helping us to realize the "full horror of what Jesus suffered for our redemption," we may be better motivated "to repay Him for the enormity of His sacrifice." That will be the spiritual benefit on many souls of this forthcoming film.
And how do we repay Jesus for the enormity of His sacrifice? One way is to practice small mortifications throughout the whole day, as suggested by St. Josemaria Escriva in his spiritual best-seller The Way. In the chapter entitled Mortification, the first three points suggest the role of sacrifice or self-denial in an authentic Christian life:
Unless you mortify yourself you'll never be a prayerful soul.
The appropriate word you left unsaid; the joke you didn't tell; the cheerful smile for those who bother you; that silence when you're unjustly accused; your kind conversation with people you find boring and tactless; the daily effort to overlook one irritating detail or another in those who live with you . . . this, with perseverance, is indeed solid interior mortification.
Don't say, "That person bothers me." Think: "That person sanctifies me."
Mr. Arroyo of EWTN was shown a half-hour of the 90-minute film. He described what he saw: "At moments, Mr. Caviezel (actor Jim Caviezel who plays Christ) looks like a bloodied skeleton. Wearied and stumbling, with one eye swollen shut, he keeps a knowing dignity and strength. The violence, though intense, is never gratuitous, at least in the rough cut I saw. It rescues Christ from myth and grounds Him in a reality that makes His actions more heroic.
"Mercifully, Mr. Gibson has chosen to interrupt the brutality with artistic breathers: flashbacks to the Last Supper and to Christ's early life. At one point we see Christ fall under the weight of the cross through the eyes of His mother. For a moment we flash back to the Child Jesus falling near His home as a concerned Mary rushes to console Him. Now on the harsh streets of Jerusalem, she can do nothing but watch Her boy suffer."
In this Year of the Holy Rosary, we should be even closer to the Blessed Virgin Mary to keep her company on the harsh streets of Jerusalem. Once again, St. Josemaria Escriva gives the following advice in The Way about obtaining help from our Mother Mary in embracing our own cross. The following points from The Way outline the co-redeeming role of Our Lady:
Our Lady of Sorrows. When you contemplate her, look into her heart: she is a Mother with two sons, face to face: Him... and you.
What humility, that of my holy Mother Mary! She's not to be seen amidst the palms of Jerusalem, nor - except that first one at Cana - at the hour of the great miracles.
But she doesn't flee from the degradation of Golgotha: there she stands, "juxta crucem Iesu" - by the cross of Jesus - His Mother.
Marvel at the courage of Mary - at the foot of the cross, in the greatest of human sorrow (there is no sorrow like hers) filled with fortitude.
Although they never met, I'm sure Mel Gibson and St. Josemaria Escriva would have agreed completely on how to depict the Passion in order to help all Christians to fall more deeply in love with Jesus Christ and His Mother. For comments, my e-mail is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph.
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"I think we have gotten too used to seeing pretty crucifixes on the wall and we forget what really happened. I mean, we know that Jesus was scourged, that He carried His cross, that He had nails put through His hands and feet, but we rarely think about what this means.FYI
"Growing up I didn't realize what was involved in this. I didn't realize how hard it was. The full horror of what Jesus suffered for our redemption didn't really strike me. Understanding what He went through, even on a human level, makes me feel not only compassion, but also a debt: I want to repay Him for the enormity of His sacrifice."
Icon Productions
c/o Warner Brothers Studios
4000 Warner Blvd
Burbank, CA 91522
(818)954-2960
I'm hoping the movie will be released by next Easter. Nonetheless, by reading the snipits and interviews regarding how The Passion of Christ really happened, we can surely all give a deeper thanks to Christ and what He did for us, this Lenten and Easter Season.
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