I am writing this, ink bottle and quill in hand, before the 2024 presidential election, knowing that it will not see the light of day until that election has become history. But this is not a column about the campaigns, and it certainly cannot be about the election results because they have yet to be calculated and I am not a seer.
But I can make one solid prediction, which does not make me a psychic but just someone with eyes to see and ears to hear: Whatever the final tally is, I guarantee almost half of the nation will not be happy about it.
Maybe that is why the Founding Fathers chose to have elections in November, since that is the month of purgatory. Maybe not. But it is the month where souls who have gone before us are remembered, from the first day of the month and continuing with various levels of indulgences granted for cemetery visits and a general recommendation through liturgy and Church teaching that praying for souls in this month is an especially good thing. It is a good thing for the other 11 months of the year as well.
So in keeping with the spiritual virtues of this special month, and realizing there are a lot of people out there who believe their world has just ended, I am going to recommend three films about saintly people to help sustain us in these times of societal fracture and political unrest.
The Church has always honored saints by archiving their stories for generations to behold and be lifted up by them. As part of God’s tendency to insert the miraculous into the ordinary, we have some beautiful examples of how something as secular as the motion picture industry, God is at work and saintly inspiration can be found. If you are feeling depressed right now, if you have spent too much time watching the news, take a break and digest what I believe are some of the best movies ever made about saints.
First up is what many, me included, consider the best saint movie of all: “A Man for All Seasons.” The life of Thomas More was holy, charged with 50,000 watts of political intrigue and history, and a lesson to all in the virtues of humility, courage, and forgiveness. And it happens to be one of the best acted, directed, and produced movies of any generation of any particular subject matter.
Feeling like a loser? Feeling like your political party somehow failed you? Watch the story of St. Thomas More and you will come away with a much more sober understanding of where we should place any and all political allegiances.
Next up is a gentle, and maybe even overly sentimental film called “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fátima.” Made in 1952, this film, with no real “stars” in it, is the kind that can rightfully become a family staple. It does give the Hollywood treatment, in a way, to the story of Our Lady’s appearance in Fátima, but the young actors who portray the three peasant children carry the film, and the miracle of the sun is both a little frightening and stupendously inspirational. And the real children and people who gathered on that hillside to witness the miracle of the sun were not the elite of their society. In short, they had no political capital to spend, but this story has moved the world.
Finally, there is the film “Of Gods and Men.” It is the toughest of the three to watch because the historic event it depicts is a lot closer to us than Tudor England or early 20th-century Portugal. It tells the story of martyrdom of monks living during political upheaval in Algeria in the 1990s.
The monks live detached from the political storm that swirls around them until the vortex passes directly over their heads. They are concerned with the danger the tumult represents and there are some heart wrenching moments when their faith is profoundly tested. What they are not concerned about is the political points of view of either side of the conflict. Their mission is to give aid to the people they serve and show the world Christ through their hands and hearts.
That is the pitch-perfect message for our out-of-tune world. Since we are called to be saints, these films should help us along the way, and in their own imperfect ways, they might recalibrate our post-election for the greater glory of God.
