Wilderness / Character (Cast Away) (2020-12-13, Advent-03)

2020-12-13_  Advent (3^rd)

●  Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11  ●   Psalm  (Luke 1) ●  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 ● + John 1:6-8, 19-28 ●

Title:  Wilderness / Character.

[_01_]  In the year 2000, Tom Hanks was the star of a movie called “Cast Away”

          What is “Cast Away”? Perhaps you saw the movie.

          In the movie, Tom Hanks works for the delivery service – Federal Express (FedEx)  -  and he is on a FedEx plane that crashes in the ocean. He is the only survivor of the plane crash. He is stranded on a deserted tropical island.

The movie is 2 hours long. Tom Hanks is on the island for 4 years.

Tom Hanks said this -- “I didn’t want to show a man conquering his environment, but rather the effect the environment has on him. I wanted to deal with subject matter that was largely verboten in mainstream movies, taking the concept of a guy trapped against the elements, with no external forces, no pirates, no bad guys, and tell it in a way that challenged the normal cinematic narrative structure.”

[_02_]  The writer of the movie – in preparation for writing the script – he collaborated with Tom Hanks – decided that in preparation for the movie he would do the following ..

          He himself spent several days alone in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez trying to fend for himself. He speared and ate stingrays, learned how to open a coconut, befriended a washed-up Wilson-brand volleyball, and tried to make fire, which ended up in the movie. His experiences led to an epiphany regarding the Tom Hanks’ character: “That's when I realized it wasn’t just a physical challenge,” the writer (William Broyles, Jr.) told The Austin Chronicle. “It was going to be an emotional, spiritual one as well.”

 

[_03_]    In his letter on Christian hope, Pope Benedict XVI writes that the Word of God is both informative and performative.  The Word of God not only INFORMS  us with information..but also PERFORMS  and helps us to PERFORM, to repent to go out of ourselves.

          The Word of God is meant to inform us – spiritually emotionally inside…

          And also to help us to perform, to carry out actions.

          Reading this Sunday’s Gospel or any of the John-the-Baptist accounts, we may focus on JTB as a PERFORMER, an unusual performer – or perhaps like he’s a “survivalist” competitor on the reality show Survivor – he eats locusts, wild honey, strange clothing, lives in the desert.

          But, John the Baptist’s message is not only about what we do VISIBLY on the outside (as performers) but also what we are called to do in our interior life – on the inside – reflecting on our lives and relationships.

          Several years ago, I saw this sign posted on the side of the road outside of a church. It read as follows:

          LOST ?  Are you lost?

          Come inside.

          In other words, come inside the church, to pray, to meet the Lord.

          But it also means, when we are lost …look inside of ourselves first for where we need God’s help.

[_04_]    The write of the movie Cast Away said that the ..

The film ends on an ambiguous note, with Tom Hanks at an intersection or crossroads in Texas, attempting to make a decision to either follow someone he has just met or go down a different path toward a new city.

          John the Baptist reminds us that you and I are at a crossroads each day ..not just a crossroads at Eagle Rock Avenue, Main Street and Harrison near Our Lady of Lourdes or the crossroads of 280 and the Garden State Parkway, but the crossroads

of how we are to use our gifts, especially when we may feel cast away, lost, or trying to survive.

          The writer of Cast Away said that the film is summarized in its last 2 words, the words spoken at the crossroads – Thank you ..

 “The idea of acceptance [of his fate], that there is no rationale for some of the things that happen to us. But finally there is gratitude.”

In our Christian view, there may be – at times – also no immediate explanation for the troubles we endure, but we also realize we are not lost, knowing that God has a plan for us.

[_05_]    St. John the Baptist is in some ways a “Lost” “Survivor” and “Cast Away” character, but he is also a saint who is encouraging us to endure in times of difficulty, times of loss and to recognize that the Lord does not leave us alone but always comes to us as we prepare the way to meet Him.   [_fin_]