Last night, I had the privilege of seeing the new movie For Greater Glory. First let me preface this post by noting that I am no movie critic by any means, nor have I really read many of the reviews that are out there. Ultimately, this is just my personal reflection about a movie that deeply touched me.
I have heard others speak about the parallels of this movie to the current religious freedom issues in our own country. This is definitely a haunting theme. But to me, the movie is much more than that. The human experience in this movie is capable of triggering a great explosion of love. Love is no great secret yet it's true meaning is often lost in the day to day shuffle of the meaningless. "Love" often sounds cliche to a deaf ear but it runs deep in this movie. I don't mean love in the romantic or shallow sense of the word but love in the deepest recesses of our soul...Only the love that God provides, only the love that God IS, only the love that sacrifices, only a love that is true.
It's the eyes of some of the characters that still bring me to tears...They spoke this love. Their eyes were powerful reminders that the eyes really are a window to the soul. When we look into the eyes of those around us, we are capable of expressing God's love in the truest sense, beyond words. On the other hand, we can also do damaging harm with our eyes. Do we shoot daggers or do we show Christ? Let's face it, we all need tangible human love to show us the love of God; We are no different from those who are hardest to love or even from those who seemingly have it all holy and figured out. Every human being needs love to live. After all, we are human and God knew we would need the tangible, we need one another. That being known, it's no accident that He left us Himself through the Holy Eucharist as the tangible source and summit of our faith.
In the movie, I saw the eyes become a domino effect of love, leading to God's ultimate glory; Each act of love built on another... In the beginning, the Monsignor's eyes of love spoke to the boy that he was worthy and chosen; The boy's eyes spoke love right back to the Monsignor and in turn, spoke to the General that God is truth and everything worth dying for; The boy's eyes also shot love through the heart of his Godfather who betrayed him. In the end, a Mother's eyes gave the ultimate gift of her son for love, followed by the General's eyes that spoke to the priest in brotherly love as they sought mutual forgiveness and the greater good for God's glory. Like a musical crescendo, Love begets more love.
The explosion of love and sacrifice at the end of the movie stirs the spirit, to say the least. As I wept with swollen eyes, I realized that I wept out of a desire to love more. The love of the characters in the movie should be a reflection of ourselves. It begs us to answer some questions. Am I a reflection of God's love? I find myself pondering this right now, especially this weekend with the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. There are many people who are starving for love all around us and how will our eyes look at them? How will I sacrifice myself so that others will know Christ, just as we know His sacrificial love in the Eucharist? We may just be called to sacrifice our lives in a literal way someday but in the meantime, we are also called to sacrifice ourselves in small ways, each day.
We may never know how the domino affect of love plays out in this life but we can be guaranteed of it's path to the heart of the Father, the climax of real love. Let us not be afraid to use our eyes and our actions to shine the light of God's true and everlasting love into the souls of our brothers and sisters, lest we forget to put ourselves aside for others.
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."~John 15:13~
