The Hobbit

My review of the new film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!

Where sickness abounds, there is a deeper problem...

My heart broke hearing about the 20 innocent children and 6 adults massacred in Connecticut today. There is never enough to say when lives are so unjustly taken, especially so many and so young. Unfortunately, these events are not so uncommon. And why is that? Maybe, in light of these events, we should examine the modern human condition. How was such a shooter created? Why are we mortified at these events, but so few are shocked at the millions of babies massacred everyday through abortion?

We are desensitized. Most have blocked out reality and created their own world of superficiality and technological ‘joy’. We have lost our human connection. Communication is faceless and our time for others is but a moment—in a tweet or a text message. God is dead or does not exist, and therefore there is no right or wrong. Family is no longer a priority, but a burden in the crazy flux and flow of our lives.  It is no wonder then that such a monster was born from our society. Such nihilistic values have shaped us into unfeeling and lifeless creatures.

But we know in the core of our being that this is not Man’s purpose. Our purpose is to love. We must pray, certainly, for the poor souls lost today… especially for the shooter who, clearly, was in tremendous spiritual and mental turmoil. But let today also be a reminder that we are still killing hundreds, if not thousands, of children everyday to serve own selfish whims.

Twenty children were shot today, but many more were torn from their mother’s womb without having a chance to make their mark on the world. Violence is never good, whether it is in the privacy of a medical clinic or in a school—two places where humans, especially children, should feel safe. Ever since the Fall of Man, violence against the innocent has long been a horror. The Slaughtering of the Innocents in the Old Testament came quickly to mind after hearing of the terror in Connecticut. It seems that children, even those who are unborn, suffer the most from Man’s shortcomings. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We are all responsible for the sufferings of these little ones, just as we are all responsible for the death of Christ.

How sad that a man should feel compelled to kill dozens of people to make a statement. This is an extreme, but a very real example of what our disillusionment can spawn. Lack of love produces a lack of life. That is truly the root of the problem—our lackluster disposition toward faith and love, and lacking the passion about what matters in life. We have gotten so caught up in our own Dante-ish whirlwind, that we find ourselves absentmindedly tiptoeing over the dead bodies piling higher. We no longer understand Joy as something attainable—in this world we must simply accept the ugliness and try to patch it over with superficial distractions. We are a hopeless race.

This same attitude of death and hopelessness is what brought Christ to the Cross. The fallen human condition causes us to crucify and kill those things which are most beautiful and most innocent. Our pride blinds us to what we know is greater and more pure than ourselves, and out of envy, we must destroy it. But Christ has conquered sin! Now, with Him, we can accept what is beautiful and remove the real evil within ourselves. The world cannot and will not change unless we first concentrate on what is truly corrupt—our own hearts.

Sin makes us hopeless, but the Resurrection has restored our life. Let us strive then to promote a culture of life in the midst of a world so entrapped in its own culture of death. Satan, sin, and death are very real, as the events of today prove. But Christ is greater than these. The Church is greater than these. We are God’s hands and feet. Reach out to those who are hurting, spread the good news, wipe away tears, shine with the love of Christ, and root out the sin within yourself.

On the loss of brilliance

The world really has lost its sense of brilliance. All anybody does is throw insults at the other or scream about how stupid/liberal/conservative everybody is, or how God doesn't exist, or my life sucks, or fairy tales are full of it, blah blah blah blah blah blah, whine whine whine...

Why aren't there intelligent conversations about the essence of beauty? The real meaning of love? Why don't we discuss great pieces of literature... not the horrors that are known as 'literature' today (aka Twilight, Fifty Shades of Gray, etc)? Why don't we talk about the lives of great historical figures instead of the latest Jersey Shore drama? (Could someone please explain that obsession...because I really don't understand how someone with half a brain stem could watch that for five minutes without slitting their wrists.) Has the world really been degraded to this? 

I'd like to recall people back to their humanity. Put down your smartphones, iPads, laptops, pagers...whatever you kids use these days... and pick up a book! Read Tolstoy or Dickens or Lewis or Tolkien! Strike up a conversation with your coworker on the meaning of life. Start using your intelligence! Go out and watch the stars at night instead of plugging into Netflix. Write in your journal. Talk to a friend you've been meaning to catch up with. Whoa... here's a good one... pray. 

Life is short, but it is beautiful. Don't waste it. Sometimes it means taking some risks or being rejected or hated or lost... but it also means having adventures, laughing, crying, loving, eating, talking, tripping, skipping, flipping, living. I'd like to close my little rant with a quote, ""Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all."-Ten points to Gryffindor if anyone can guess where it's from! 

Megan, you can't answer... 

Broken

Love is unattainable
Unreachable and unbearable
But there is One who can reach

The One who is Love incarnate

Reaches down into the Pit
And pulls us to Himself

Through Him do we attain

Through Him are we given it
And through Him our Cross is Borne