Tag Archives: morality

Million Dollar Baby, Part II: Mo’ “Mo Cuishla”

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Since my first post regarding Million Dollar Baby ("MDB"), I’ve had some discussions with Funky Dung and have seen some feedback from other bloggers. I’d like to add a few more points. I’d like to discuss this movie in the context of Eastwood’s other two biggest movies, Unforgiven and Mystic River, and talk about how I’d like to see pro-life and disability-rights advocates use this movie.

First, Eastwood’s best movies tend to focus on the themes of decay, death, and sin. Clint’s two other most critically-acclaimed films have been the Western "Unforgiven" and the crime drama "Mystic River". In Unforgiven, Clint plays Ed Munnie,a notorious hired killer who cleans up after marrying and becomes a farmer. Munnie, however, is no spring chicken (like Clint himself), and decides to go after two men who have a price on their heads for cutting up a prostitute rather than eke out a precarious existence as a hog farmer with two young kids.

Munnie, however, is driven to drinking by the violence, apparently as some sort of self-medication. A young sidekick, despite his big mouth, turns out to be severely traumatized when he does kill a man. Morgan Freeman, playing another aging gun-for-hire, is killed. In Mystic River, an ex-con played by Sean Penn commits murder in the name of avenging his slain daughter, and as a result falls completely back into a life of crime. In the light of these movies, I think that we see a similar fall from grace, rather than an approval of what the characters did.

Diane Eastman wrote a piercing assessment of the movie as seen by a handicapped disabilities advocate. I have great respect for Attorney Eastman’s group, Not Dead Yet, and favorably reviewed a book to which she contributed,The Case Against Assisted Suicide. However, in the light of Eastwood’s common themes and my own take on the movies’ characters (see my last post), While I find her reservations quite understandable, I do not think that is what Eastwood intended. In fact, Funky Dung pointed me to an interview with Eastwood where he openly says that the priest in MDB spoke the truth when he said that if Eastwood helped kill her, he would loose something of himself forever.

I wish to now discuss how I would have wanted the pro-life movement to address this movie. First off: have you heard of or seen "Vera Drake" or "The Sea Within"? No? Well, "Vera Drake" canonizes an English abortionist, and "The Sea Within" is about a Spanish man’s crusade for the right to die. These movies are openly for abortion or euthanasia. Yet if we gave those openly anti-life movies half the flak we gave MDB, we’d give them plenty of notoriety and free PR. Ask Michael Moore or Mel Gibson about the virtues of notoriety, if they aren’t still busy counting their box office fortunes. Perhaps it is largely due to the McCarthy era, but Americans often romanticize artists who struggle against political opposition, and when we have diatribes against a movie made by powerful figures like the Archbishop of Denver (a man whom I quite admire), pro-lifers stand to shoot themselves in the foot by creating artistic martyrs, something that the press frequently adores. (Especially if said martyr advocates a liberal cause.)

We should address the movie in a constructive manner. As dlw noted in a comment on this blog’s previous post, the priest was not a model of pastoral care. He got angry, even swore, and didn’t do a hot job of helping Eastwood resist Swank’s plea to help her die. However, these imperfections are natural, especially since Eastwood’s character was a very difficult parishioner–I’m not sure how well I’d do in such a situation.

Therefore, what we should do is turn this movie into a teaching device. Get some people on EWTN or Priests for Life to go over the priests’ scenes and teach pastors or counselors how they can do better. Publish fact sheets on psychiatric help for newly-quadriplegic patients. We have a large array of resources and counseling for the disabled–let’s use this movie to get the word out!

Some of the most valuable lessons I received from my parents were when after I had seen things that upset me–like watching a cat kill a small animal–and they would explain how such things work in nature or how good people should handle such disturbing things. MDB, like good art, held a mirror up to our existence and reminded the public of some of the ugly things that can happen to people. Pro-lifers, church leaders and others who hold teaching ministries should take a page from mine (and others’) parents and use it to help us learn, and not to shoot the messenger.

In Defense of Million Dollar Baby

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[I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby. The venom it generated from Christian critics has thus far been enough to keep me from forking over $8. A good friend of mine and occasional guest blogger, Jerry Nora, recently saw it and came away with a much different impression than the vast majority of those critics it seems. Jerry is a faithful, orthodox, and well-read Catholic. He's also a MD/PhD student who has a knack for bioethics. I don't take his opinions on such matters lightly. I give you his defense of Million Dollar Baby for your consideration. When preparing to comment, bear in mind that he gave up reading blogs for Lent and won't be able to respond in a timely fashion. If you'd like to respond directly to him, email him. – Funky]

Millon Dollar Baby did a solid job of sweeping up the Oscars last night, including Best Picture and Director, and all over the objections of many within pro-life life and conservative Christian circles for evidently being in favor of euthanasia or assisted suicide. Those objections nearly made me avoid the film, but I saw it last week, and was glad I made that decision. My conscience is clear because while suicide is in the movie, the movie does not glorify or abet suicide. The film is a modern-day tragedy, and it does not offer an easy out or proverbial "Hollywood Ending", which is why I think so many people misinterpreted it. Here is my brief take on the film.

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Mirror of Sin

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My grandfather used to say that the habits or faults of other people that annoy us the most may be ones we are also guilty of. I guess that was his atheistic Quaker version of Luke 6:41. I am very often reminded of that lesson and it has been an important part of my maturation process and growth in faith. It's a lesson I have to relearn over and over again. It's painful, the saying true – no pain, no gain.

There are times (too many to count) God puts me in a situation in which I find myself correcting someone for a fault I too am guilty of. Sometimes I get sort of a "spider sense" feeling as I reprove a friend, knowing all the while that I'll learn Pop-pop's lesson before I'm through. Other times, I'm too blinded by my own self-righteousness to see what's coming. It's a very humbling a experience either way.

I'm writing about this now because events of yesterday and today have re-taught me that lesson. This morning, I was looking for an explanation of the sin of detraction. I found one and proceeded to read it, ready to copy and paste the bits that would help me correct a friend of mine. As I read the definition, I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I realized that I'd been guilty of detraction on numerous occasions and didn't even think it might be sinful.

Detraction is related to calumny, which most Jews and Christians would recognize as breaking the commandment to not bear false witness against a neighbor. Usually we know when we're committing calumny. Detraction is a sin that doesn't get much mention in Christian circles, but it should. Here's part of the definition of detraction. Examine your heart.

Detraction
(From Latin detrahere, to take away).

Detraction is the unjust damaging of another's good name by the revelation of some fault or crime of which that other is really guilty or at any rate is seriously believed to be guilty by the defamer. An important difference between detraction and calumny is at once apparent. The calumniator says what he knows to be false, whilst the detractor narrates what he at least honestly thinks is true. Detraction in a general sense is a mortal sin, as being a violation of the virtue not only of charity but also of justice.

….

Those who abet another's defamation in a matter of moment by directly or indirectly inciting or encouraging the principal in the case are guilty of grievous injustice. When, however, one's attitude is simply a passive one, i.e. that of a mere listener, prescinding from any interior satisfaction at the blackening of another's good name, ordinarily the sin is not mortal unless one happens to be a superior. The reason is that private persons are seldom obliged to administer fraternal correction under pain of mortal sin (see CORRECTION, FRATERNAL). The detractor having violated an unimpeachable right of another is bound to restitution. He must do his best to put back the one whom he has thus outraged in possession of the fair fame which the latter hitherto enjoyed. He must likewise make good whatever other loss he in some measure foresaw his victim would sustain as a result of this unfair defamation, such as damage measurable in terms of money. The obligation in either instance is perfectly clear. The method of discharging this plain duty is not so obvious in the first case. In fact, since the thing alleged is assumed to be true, it cannot be formally taken back, and some of the suggestions of theologians as to the style of reparation are more ingenious than satisfactory. Generally the only thing that can be done is to bide one's time until an occasion presents itself for a favorable characterization of the person defamed. The obligation of the detractor to make compensation for pecuniary loss and the like is not only personal but becomes a burden on his heirs as well.

Read the rest of the definition here.

Update 09/21/06: I now know that my grandfather was paraphrasing a line from Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier's "The Chapel of the Hermits".

 "Search thine own heart. What paineth thee in others in thyself may be."

Morals in Politics

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Seemingly based on the Libertarian Party's political quiz, this Moral Politics quiz plots your position on a map whose axes are moral order (x) and moral rules (y). Like any such quiz, it oversimplifies matters, but it's entertaining none the less. I like that I score as the party-less centrist I am. (HT:I Am a Christian Too) Continue reading →

Purge Me With Hyssop

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"Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

On the first day of Lent, these are the words (adapted from Genesis 2:19) spoken as someone, usually a priest, dips his thumb in ash and makes the sign of the cross on your forehead. They serve as an outward sign of an inner penance. They are a symbol of mortality.You’ll wear those ashes for the remainder of the day, or at least until they rub off. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you’ll be a witness to the faith. Those who see you will know that you have been baptized into the death of Jesus Christ and hope to share in His resurrection.

Anecdotal evidence and casual observation seem to indicate that more people attend Ash Wednesday mass than Christmas or even Easter, the holiest day of the year. That alone is impressive, but more impressive is the fact that it’s not even a Holy Day of Obligation. We are obliged to attend Sunday mass and a handful of special occasions, but that rarely guarantees univeral or even majority attendance. Yet a great many who otherwise neglect to attend on Sundays (or even Saturday evenings), when odds are they are not required to work, will take time out of their work day to attend a morning or midday Ash Wednesday mass to receive ashes.

Why do people make such special efforts? Maybe they seek to fulfill an innate desire to confess sins and make amends with God and man. Then again, they may wish to publicly display their piety, real or pretended, in a Pharisaic fashion, seeking the admiration of men. Perhaps for some it is a mark of Catholicity. Nothing declares "Roman Catholic" in such an obvious way in this country, like ashes on one’s forehead. In a Protestant-dominant country, such a display may serve as a means of identifying fellow members of the Church in a crowd or as a sort of harmless counter "protest".

It seems there is potential for a great deal of misunderstanding and/or skewed priorities within the Church regarding Ash Wednesday. If Catholics are confused about Lent, what then of Protestants? Certainly, there is much misunderstanding and distrust of Catholic practices on the part of many Protestants, particularly so-called fundamentalists. What are they thinking when they see us with dirty foreheads once a year? Are other Lenten practices misunderstood, perhaps even underappreciated?

I have no hard evidence of confusion within or without the Church regarding Lent. I can, however, say that I am a former Protestant and that now and before becoming a Catholic, there is much I do not know or fully understand about Lent. That was enough to inspire me to write. An important lesson I have learned from academia is that if you’re struggling with a concept, chances are someone else is, too. Rather than be afraid of asking dumb questions, we should fear ignorant silence. It is my sincere hope that my efforts to make myself more knowledgable on this subject will be edifying to all who read this article. Let us now explore Ash Wednesday a bit, as it is the key to understanding and appreciating Lent.

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened" – Genesis 3:6,7a

Sin entered the world when mankind desired the ability to determine good and evil for themselves rather than trust the Lord, our creator. Two consequences followed the Fall – suffering and death. Man abused God’s trust and separated himself from the Lord. Scripture tells us that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Man could have lived in perfect harmony with God but chose to rebel. Man was no longer fit to be in God’s presense. From that point on, man would bear the wound of that rebellion.

Of course, we know that Jesus Christ repaired this broken relationship with His death and resurrection. Mankind has been offered the grace necessary to be acceptable in God’s sight. Through baptism "the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, though we are no longer accountable for the sin of our remote progentitors, we are still fallen creatures and our relationship with God is damaged. Like a spouse who has been hurt by adultery, forgiveness comes long before trust. Lives must change. Promises must be kept. It is not enough to recognize and confess sin. We must turn from it, be sorrowful because of it, willing to repair the damge done to relationships by it, and resolute to avoid it in the future.

How does Ash Wednesday fit into this? The ashes remind us of our mortality. We gather together and acknowledge that none is perfect and we all deserve death and eternal separation from God for our sins. The solemnity also serves to usher in the liturgical season of Lent. During Lent, the Church helps the faithful prepare for the remembrance of the great sacrfice and victory of Easter, just as we fast a short time before the remembrance at every mass, the Eucharist.

Lent is a season of penance and anticipation, much like Advent. In the earliest days of the Church, neither Lent nor Easter was celebrated. Many assumed that Christ would be returning within their lifetimes, so anniversaries were of little import. Over time, the Church began to develop a liturgical year and celebrate holy days. Much of the liturgical year is dedicated to remembering, that is making present again, important events in salvation history. Easter, which was instituted before Lent, is the celebration of the Paschal Mystery, of which the Eucharist is a reminder.

The Eucharist is the sacrament of our redemption. Jesus gave His flesh to save and sustain us. In order to receive this sacrament worthily, we fast and, if necessary, confess our mortal sins. Each time we receive the Eucharist, we recall our Lord’s passion. If we prepare ourselves for the Eucharist with repentance and fasting, surely we should do likewise for Easter. While this explanation is an oversimplification of the development of Lent, it does serve to justify its current observance.

Starting with Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season lasting forty days and ends on Easter Sunday. The six Sundays of Lent are not counted in the forty days because every Sabbath recalls Easter and is a time for joy and worship, rather than mortification (i.e self-denial and self-deprivation).

Why forty days? Forty is an important number in Scripture. The first mention is the great flood (Genesis 6 and 7). There are numerous other occurances of this number, including, but not limited to, the time Moses spent on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:27-28), the desert wandering, in which the sinful members of Israel were pruned away until the children of Abraham were worthy and ready to enter the promised land (Numbers 32:10-13), and the time Israel was consquered by the Philistines (Judges 13:1). It represents purity or purification. It also signifies fullness of time or number. Thus, Lent lasts forty days (not counting Sundays), as a fittingly long period of penance, purification, and mortification.

The Scripture that may be the most relevant use of the number forty in the Old Testament, as it relates to Lent, is the story of Jonah and the repentance of Ninevah. Jonah informed the people of Ninivah that the Lord would destroy them in forty days if they did not repent. Jonah did not expect them to heed the warning, but they did and "they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them". When the king heard, he ordered the whole nation, even the animals, to be covered with sackcloth, to cry mightily to God, and to turn from their evil ways (Jonah 3:4-10).

Like the citizens of Nineveh, we repent of our sins and pray for God’s mercy. We know, of course, that we have already received the mercy of sanctifying grace, through which we are saved by Jesus Christ. However, we still seek to humble ourselves before God and ask for actual grace, i.e. the grace to perfom acts pleasing to the Lord.

While the Scriptures of the old covenants (Noah, Abraham, and Moses) are rich with symbolic use of the number forty and inspirations for Lent, the second person of the Trinity Himself gives us the best example to follow. "Full of the Holy Spirit", he spent forty days in the wilderness without food. The devil tempted him with with worldly goods and power, but Jesus told him that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.", "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.", and "You shall not tempt the Lord your God.". We should pay close attention to what Jesus said and apply it to our lives.

During Lent the Church helps her members to seek to die to self and open themselves up to grace. "Repentance" is derived from the Latin verb for "to repair/restore"; we seek to restore a right relationship with God. This is acheived through fasting, sacrifices, and acts of charity. God wishes for us to "return to [Him] with all [our] heart[s], with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend [our] hearts and not [our] garments.", "for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" He asks us to sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, ‘Spare thy people, O LORD, and make not thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?”". Then He will become jealous for His people and take pity on them. (Joel 2:12-19)

Lenten practices have changed and developed over time. Current teaching is to observe a fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, which means only one full meal and two small meals that are not together as large as the full meal. Also, on those days and all Fridays of Lent, we are to abstain from eating the meat of warm-blooded animals. It is also customary to give up something cherished as a sacrifice. Some people give up favorite foods. Others avoid idols in their lives, such as television. A few Catholics donate time or money to charities. It’s a shame so few do since, as St. Peter said, charity "covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8).

However, Jesus gives us a stern warning regarding how to properly perform acts of penance.

"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." – Matthew 6:1-8,16-21

When perfoming acts of penance there is a great danger of falling into self-righteousness. The world sees our actions and judges not only us but the whole Church. How are we to act so as to avoid this sin? Fasting helps us to focus on the Lord. Sacrifice helps us to gain control of our desires. Charity shows us that giving is its own reward. While all of these are noble actions and good works, without which faith is barren, they are not an end unto themselves. Not being sacraments, they only conditionally convey grace. That is, they are effective when they are part of an inner conversion. To convert means to turn away. For our Lenten penances to righteous, we must be turning away from our sin, our idols, and our selfish selves. All of the private works in the world will do us no good if we do not "loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…to break every yoke…to share [our] bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into [our] house; when [we] see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide [ourselves] from [our] own flesh" (Isaiah 58:6-7)

We are all mere creatures. All we haves comes from our generous Creator. Even if were ours to keep, what good would it do us? We are all mortals. We will all die and we can’t take any of our accumlations with us. If we could, would we really want to? Would we really choose toys and trinkets over the fullness of the beatific vision?

Throughout our lives, we sin in thought, word, and deed; through what we have done and what we have failed to do. In the end, all we can offer in defense are our faith (or lack thereof) and the works we did (or neglected to do) in the name of our Savior. That very Savior stands before the judgement seat in our stead and covers our sins in the sight of the Father so that we might be found worthy. How can we begin to be thankful for such an undeserved gift? Let us follow the Church’s example and on bended knee pray as King David prayed.

"Have mercy on me, O God,
according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done that which is evil in thy sight,
so that thou art justified in thy sentence
and blameless in thy judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness;
let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners will return to thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou hast no delight in sacrifice;
were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on thy altar."

Psalm 51