Beauty and the Beast

[Belle, the Beauty, does not want to come dinner with the Prince, the Beast.]

You can imagine to a degree the Beast's outrage at Belle's "unavailability."  The point I want to pull out of this clip is tolerance, and this point is so crucial for us in the society we live in.  Tolerance seems to be held up as what is mot important today.  When tolerance is held up as the ideal though, to then what is the criteria for tolerance, and what do we mean by it.  And when it is held up as the ultimate then things begin to become muddled because their is no objective standard to go by.  It will then eventually lead to Totalitarianism, because we oriented only by those in power, rather than by reason.  So often people do this today, if you don't accept everything I do then you are not tolerant.   Did the Beast really tolerate what was going in Belle's heart and mind? He tried to be tolerant, doing something outside himself and he did not get the result he wanted, he became intolerant and mean.  He did the same thing as our society by creating a divide then rather than a ground to be able to discuss and reason.  

The case in society often is that we think in ideologies rather than about the people in front of us. We forget that people are not their ideas.  I can love you and yet disagree with your thoughts, and your actions.  The true point of "love is to will the good of the other as other." -St. Thomas Aquinas The Beast did not show love to Belle because he was looking out for his desires, not taking the time to consider hers.  He has not even begun to think about what her situation is like and the struggles she is facing.  He gets angry and storms away and refuses to be open to her in her current situation.  This is the trouble sometimes with the Church and with other organizations - we forget we need to meet people where they are, not where we would like them to be.  Sharing and spreading truth and beauty is not about feeding my ego, it is about something greater than myself.

 We must also recognize that the Beast is not the complete villain here.  He has the opportunity to become a hero, and he actually does. The Beast did something amazing, he reached outside his comfort zone by saying please and trying to be polite.  It was a very big step for him from where he had been before.  We need to celebrate these steps for ourselves and others.  This does not mean that the Beast was in the right, but we can forgive his anger, and approve of his stepping outside his comfort zone. 

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

[Robin Hood (Kevin Costner) is stirring the outlaws to fight against an unjust and unrightful ruler, the Sheriff.  They had been bickering about everything that the Sheriff had been doing to them.]

In light of the Resurrection that we celebrated in the Church, I thought it would be fitting to talk about Evangelization.  Robin Hood is the Christ-figure that has come to remind people that they are free.  We are made to live a life full of joy.  Yes it will be hard and at times it may very well cost our lives, but if we truly believe in our hearts that we are free than our cause does not end with us.  That is the beauty of the message that Robin gives is that it is not about looking out for myself, or being scared.  It is about boldly proclaiming that which I know: I am free, and I am free because of a man who is God.  We are meant to share the faith with others.  

They all keep bringing up objections, which is what we ourselves do so often.  I cannot share the faith, or I am not really made free.  I am still bound to my sin, or people will think I am fool or stupid.  Christ, our liberator, reminds us that His grace is sufficient.  He is the one that provides the means to overcome those awkward situations, or when we don't know what to say.  Christ is able to overcome all our objections.  He is true, and is asking you to follow him. 

A man who is free defending his home is worth more than ten hired soldiers.  Why do you think that is?  A man who believes, who knows he fights for a cause is greater because he is motivated by his heart, by conviction, not greed.  It is similar thinking when we try to accomplish a good deed, but go about it in a sinful way.  It is when we fully believe in the task that all that it stands for that we become heroic.