In the sixth class we watched clips from the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. The movie tackles a number of relevant themes: including forgiveness, holiness and sainthood. We see Mr. Rogers meet and help Lloyd Vogel, not because he gets anything out of it, but because he is authentically convinced that people are good and he wants to help them. He has hurts and struggles himself, but works to continue healing and having an open heart. What can we learn from him and from his friendship with Lloyd? Please watch the following clips, read through the additional materials posted, and then submit the discussion questions in the Google Form. The password is smaconfirmation (no capitals, no punctuation).
Scripture Passages
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. – Psalm 139: 11-14
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:31-32
I have loved you with an everlasting love. – Jeremiah 31:3
Catechism Quotes
The divine name, “I Am” or “He Is”, expresses God’s faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men’s sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps “steadfast love for thousands”. By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is “rich in mercy. #211
The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows. #2015
…”Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”… It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make “ours” the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave” us. #2842
Our hope is firm because, in his Son, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church. Now – and this is daunting – this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see. In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father’s merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to his grace. #2839 & 2840
Movie Quotes
Someone has hurt my friend Lloyd, and not just on his face. He is having a hard time forgiving the person who hurt him. Do you know what that means? To forgive. It’s a decision we make to release a person from the feelings of anger we have at that. It’s strange, but sometimes it’s hardest of all to forgive someone we love.
How does it feel to be married to a living saint? Im not fond of that term. If you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. He works at it all the time. It’s a practice. He’s not a perfect person. He has a temper. He chooses how he responds to that anger. It must take a lot of effort. He does things every day that ground him. He reads Scripture, he swims laps, he prays for people by name. He writes letters, hundreds of them.
There is no normal life that is free from pain. How do you deal with that? There are many ways you can deal with your feelings without hurting yourself or someone else. Like what? Pound a lump of clay or swim as fast as you can swim. Play the lowest keys on the piano as loud as you can…
Bill was right. You love people like me. What are people like you? I never met anyone like you in my entire life. Broken people. I don’t think you are broken. I know you are a man of conviction. A person who knows the difference between what is wrong and what is right. Try to remember that your relationship with your father also helped to shape those parts. He helped you become what you are. Will you do something with me Lloyd? It’s an exercise I like to do sometimes. We’ll just take a minute and think about all the people what loved us into being… they will come to you.
Death is something many of us are uncomfortable speaking about, but to die is to be human. And anything human is mentionable. And anything mentionable is manageable.
Quotes to Ponder
Let us ask for the grace not to close our eyes to God who sees us and to our neighbour who asks something of us. Let us open our eyes to God, purifying the eye of our hearts of deceitful and fearful images, from the god of power and retribution, the projection of human pride and fear. Let us look with trust to the God of mercy, with the certainty that “love never ends” (1 Cor 13:8). Let us renew our hope in the true life to which we are called, the life that will not pass away and that awaits us in communion with the Lord and with others, in a joy that will last forever, without end. – Pope Francis 11.13.2016
We should not grow discouraged before examples of holiness that appear unattainable. There are some testimonies that may prove helpful and inspiring, but that we are not meant to copy, for that could even lead us astray from the one specific path that the Lord has in mind for us. The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gifts that God has placed in their hearts.
– Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exaulte #11
To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious. We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this, and holiness, in the end, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (cf. Gal 5:22-23). When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”. In the Church, holy yet made up of sinners, you will find everything you need to grow towards holiness. The Lord has bestowed on the Church the gifts of scripture, the sacraments, holy places, living communities, the witness of the saints. – Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exaulte #14 & #15
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt April 23, 1910
SMA Confirmation 