How I Live Now Part VI Lent Edition

**Spoilers Alert!*** In this post on the movie How I Live Now, a connection will be made between the last post about fasting and the post about Daisy's dialog.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9627836210/meta/

During the movie, Daisy went through a transformation in three main steps. Daisy said, "Before the war, I used my will power for stupid stuff like not eating chocolate." During the war, as was mentioned in the last post, she had to give up many things to help the war effort. In the post with her dialog, she gave things up for the sake of Eddie.

In Lent, many of us give up "stupid stuff" like chocolate, sweets, or ice cream. This is a good start, for to get to the last stage like Daisy did, it has to start with the small things. It may seem stupid in the beginning, but with reflection, it may turn out that it wasn't so stupid after all.

Since we are corporal beings ("embodied souls"), quite often it takes corporal actions for us to realize things. For Daisy, it could well be the case that the "stupid stuff" was actually a jumping off for her next challenge during the war that is shown in the image above, namely, taking care of her cousin.

In a similar way, even though our motives may not be the best for fasting from whatever we gave up, we may eventually realize in a more profound way what the fasting is for (like in the last post).

From there, as a final goal, fasting during Lent will hopefully lead us to reach out for Our Lord as Daisy reached out for Eddie. "Now I use my will power to wait for you Eddie."

May we use our will power to (1) love God and neighbor and (2) wait for the Lord at His second coming for, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Amen.

How I Live Now Part I
How I Live Now Part II
How I Live Now Part III
How I Live Now Part IV
How I Live Now Part V Ash Wednesday Edition

WZE Format Update

Hello all. I've noticed that it has been taking a long time for WZE to load, especially compared to other blogs. So, in an effort to improve the efficiency of WZE, many gadgets have been removed to decrease loading time.

For future posts, only pictures relating to movies, TV programs, and music will be used for visuals instead of embedded preview links to YouTube. Embedded YouTube videos take forever to load.

Thank you and God bless you and yours.

How I Live Now Part V Ash Wednesday Edition

Collect [for Ash Wednesday, First Day of Lent]

Grant, O Lord,
that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9624592747/meta/

In the How I Live Now movie, during the war, Daisy and her cousin had to eat only rations. Rations were only eaten because most resources had to be used for the war effort. People back home had to sacrifice for their long-term safety and prosperity. Their weapons were "self-restraint" to strengthen the chances of victory on the battlefield. All of this was done so that all could go home in peace, so Daisy and Eddie could meet again "at home".

In a similar way, "holy fasting" is a necessary course for the "battle against spiritual evils". We personally and corporately (Church) battle against forces who want to separate us from God. All of this is done so that we can go home to peace in heaven.

How I Live Now Part I
How I Live Now Part II
How I Live Now Part III
How I Live Now Part IV

How I Live Now Part IV

***Spoilers Alert!*** As was mentioned in the last post, Daisy and Eddie were de facto married in the marital relations scene.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9624599585/meta/

This will come into play for the comments below about Daisy's ending monologue.

Before the war, I used my will power for stupid stuff like not eating chocolate. I think I thought if I could control myself, then maybe the world around me would start to make sense. I guess I was pretty naive back then.

During the war we stopped looking for reasons why things happen. We don't know what happened to Eddie [in the war] -- what he saw, the things he had to do. ...

Now I use my will power to wait for you Eddie. To care for you. To love you. I have to believe that one day you're going to get better. It was like I said to you all that time ago. If the world doesn't end, I wanna be here ... at home ... with you. And that's how I live now.

She's wedded herself to Eddie. She now yearns for him.

It seems as though he is far off, but she is still caring for him like he is there. If it is correct that this movie can be seen as a Christian allegory, then there are two things that can be gleaned from this monologue's corresponding actions.

First, she is loving Eddie by taking care of him even though he does not seem to love her back as he used to. She is essentially taking care of someone else.

Quite often, Christians (like Mother Theresa) take care of people because they see the face of Christ in them. So, when they are taking care of sick and/or distressed people, they believe that they are taking care of Christ. Mother Theresa often said by using her five fingers, "You did it for me." This comes from Matthew 25:37-40.

Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:37-40

It was easier for Daisy since she could actually see Eddie's face, but in a way it was not the Eddie who she once knew. Nevertheless, whatever she did for the new Eddie, she did it for the Eddie she once knew and hoped would see again.

As she said, Daisy used to use her will power for herself. But at the end of the movie, the will power that Daisy used was for her Love, her husband, for Eddie's sake. That's how she lives now.

The second thing about Daisy's dialogue will be in the next post.

How I Live Now Part I
How I Live Now Part II
How I Live Now Part III

Update to Wacky Wednesday Arizona's Conscience Law

Update 3/4/2014: Upon rereading the second stanza from last week's Wacky Wednesday Arizona's Conscience Law post, it did not convey what was meant to be said. Therefore, the second and third lines have been changed including the inline post text and meme picture. I am sorry for the confusion.

How I Live Now Part III

So, in the last post, the swimming scene in the movie How I Live Now was explored. ***Spoilers Alert!*** In this post, the wedding scene between Daisy and Eddie will be looked at.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9627836862/meta/

If you saw the movie, you may be wondering when the wedding scene was. Well, it was the scene where the marital relations take place between Daisy and Eddie.

Before any religion or society, marriage was naturally taking place all the time. No vows were taken, just two people who consummated a marriage and usually raised their children (or adopted children) for life were living it out. In this movie with "no rules" (as the kids at the house said), the natural law rule of marriage still took place. From that intimate scene on, Daisy and Eddie were married, in what is called a de facto marriage, or natural marriage.

As was said in the first post on this movie, I saw this movie as an allegory of the Christian mysteries. This particular scene between Eddie and Daisy can be seen as the marriage between Jesus and the Church. After recognizing the beauty in Christ, whom Eddie represents, and then the life changing act of letting go in the swimming scene (baptism), Daisy who represents a Christian or the whole Church is nourished in the relationship with Eddie. She desires this nourishment wholeheartedly.

For Christians, when Jesus gave his entire self, his entire life up for the Church (those who where baptized in the "bath of water"), he was mysteriously marrying the same Church. When we receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist at mass, we remember and participate in this saving act. We desire to be intimately joined to Christ.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband. Ephesians 5:25-33

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival Post III

This is for the weekly Catholic Carnival!

Be sure to visit RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing and check out some posts from other bloggers participating in Sunday Snippets this week. Why not join us and share a blog post or two from last week?

Question of the week: What are your plans for Lent?
Keep writing everyday (except Sunday) on Christian focused posts as it pertains to movies, TV, and music. I just started on this topic in January, and Lent can help me on this activity to give glory to God through my blog (in some small way).

For the week of February twenty-third:

February 24
Commentary on The Host movie
The Host Part II
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-host-part-ii.html

February 25
Commentary on The Host movie
The Host Part III
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-host-part-iii.html

February 26
Commentary on Arizona's Conscience Law to further protect business owners from suits for their religious conscience
Wacky Wednesday Arizona's Conscience Law
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/wacky-wednesday-arizonas-conscience-law.html

February 27
Small commentary on the Hunger Games movie. Embedded Fr. Barron's commentary on the first The Hunger Games movie.
Fr. Barron on The Hunger Games
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/fr-barron-on-hunger-games.html

February 28
Commentary on the movie How I Live Now
How I Live Now Part I
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-i-live-now-part-i.html

March 1
Commentary on the movie How I Live Now
How I Live Now Part II
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-i-live-now-part-ii.html

How I Live Now Part II

In the last post, Daisy's encounter with beauty was discussed (comes out in the video below in one "somehow" moment 3:25). ***Spoilers Alert*** In this post, the scene where Eddie and the children push Daisy into the water will be examined.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9627821236/meta/

The pushing-into-the-water scene seemed to be the point when Daisy changed. She was so hesitant to let go of all the weight she put on herself. It was the act of being plunged that seemed to drown all that weight. She was free.

This is much like baptism through water where the Holy Spirit does the pushing and the changing in the sacrament. The Holy Spirit takes all of our sins and baggage away so we can be free.

How I Live Now Part I

I just watched How I Live Now with Saoirse Ronan. ***Spoilers Alert!*** This movie could be a Christian allegory. I seem to be seeing a lot of movies recently through the eyes of faith. I wonder if it's because I'm doing more of these movie/music/TV commentaries?

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9624589945/meta/

The first thing that stuck out was how Ronan's (main) character Daisy, the "I" in How I Live Now, turned from a punk to a lady when she was first introduced to her future love interest.

This reminds me of how people respond to beauty. When we are faced with beauty, we tend to be more open to reflect on the beauty itself and the amount of it in ourselves. When Daisy saw him, she knew that she needed to shape up.

When have you thought the most about Christianity? Was it from a piece of art or music? How did it change you or your outlook?

Fr. Barron on The Hunger Games

***Spoilers Alert!***

Fr. Barron says it best about the first The Hunger Games movie in the video below. All I have to add to Fr. Barron's commentary is the realization that all of the names of the people in the movie were non-Christian names. If The Hunger Games is indeed a movie that relates to this planet and this universe in the future with these name changes, perhaps the fumes of Christianity are really running out as Fr. Barron said may be happening.

Wacky Wednesday Arizona's Conscience Law

Update 3/4/2014: Upon rereading the second stanza, it did not convey what was meant to be said. Therefore, it has been changed in the second and third lines. I am sorry for the confusion.

A counter for lunch is for all.
Grand Canyon State's holding the ball.
Comparisons work
For even a jerk
Unless the analogies fall.

And owners have rights to deny
A service to one that is high ‡,
Or raises the finger,
Or clocks one a ringer,
Or other acts that go awry.

Analogies are hard to align,
But here's one that's going to chime.
If 'Zona's law passed
When *More held his fast,
His head would have stayed all the time.

© 2014 Wondering Zygote Emeritus
wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com

Image Source HT
https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/photos/a.737221629640626.1073741825.205344452828349/882719645090823/?type=1&theater

*St. Thomas More was held in the Tower of London instead of revealing his beliefs that the supposed marriage between King Henry VIII and his second Queen was valid and that the King was the head of the Church of England (CoE). He was beheaded for treason for these beliefs. See the movie and play Man for All Seasons for more dramatic details.

‡ For those who are foreign and are translating this stanza: high = high on drugs and/or alcohol; the finger = the middle finger which is highly offensive; clocks one a ringer = punches and/or beats someone up.

The analogy between serving food to all people regardless of any ** accidental trait of a person is not consistent with requiring a caterer or photographer providing services for an event that either directly or indirectly supports an act that is morally repugnant to said caterer or photographer (etc.).

** An "accident" is a philosophical term for some trait that doesn't necessarily define a substance. An accident may change while the substance stays the same.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival Post II

This is for the weekly Catholic Carnival!

Be sure to visit RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing and check out some posts from other bloggers participating in Sunday Snippets this week. Why not join us and share a blog post or two from last week?

Question of the week: What is your favorite Bible verse and why.
My favorite Bible verse is 1 Corr. 15:16-17 (yes, two verses, but one sentence), "For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins." Since Christ has been raised from the dead, these verses remind me that my ultimate beliefs are hopeful, historical, reasonable, and not in vain.

For the week of February sixteenth:

February 17
Commentary on the Big Bang Theory Theme Song
The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part V
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-big-bang-theory-theme-song-part-v.html

February 18
Commentary on the movie Ender's Game
Ender's Game Part I
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/enders-game-part-i.html

February 19
Commentary on Heidi Klum and Seal healing their marriage
Wacky Wednesday Klum and Seal
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/wacky-wednesday-klum-and-seal.html

February 20
Commentary on California breaking into 6 regions
CA Splitting Up
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/ca-splitting-up.html

February 21
Commentary on the movie Ender's Game
Ender's Game Part II
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/enders-game-part-ii.html

February 22
Commentary on the movie The Host
The Host Part I
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-host-part-i.html

The Host Part III

In the last post on The Host with Saoirse Ronan, the concept of the soul was introduced. In this post, I would like to look at another aspect of the soul, freewill.



***Spoilers Alert!*** There was a whole bunch of will assertion in this movie, especially in Saoirse Ronan's characters (two persons together for most of the movie).

But first, backing up further to see the larger view, the alien race that took over Earth was pushing their agenda to keep the native people from destroying themselves and their environment (as was mentioned in the first post). Unlike the Ender's Game movie, the reason for the takeover was not for land or resources, but to essentially save the planet by inserting an alien world government and populace (that sure sounds familiar).

This scenario of the movie seems forced. Why would a peaceful alien species who values non-violence forcefully take over people against their own will? Do they see themselves as the doing the right thing (good means and ends) or simply the necessary thing (good ends matter only, not means)? Do they really believe in free will?

This last question seemed to be a shock to the aliens. There was never reported to be a human that still asserted his or her (free) will after becoming a host. This is why Saoirse Ronan's alien character was alarmed and kept secret (for most of the movie) the fact that her host was asserting herself.

Perhaps the aliens did not believe in free will. I've argued before that if there is no free will (no God), there is no morality. If they did not believe, the alien actions would not have to be justified, since it's just those whom blind processes (nature) determine are stronger who get to decide (determinism). However, the hosts did assert their freewill, therefore, there are good and bad means (means matter).

The aliens who became friends with the humans realized that there was a right-and-wrong that the humans had at least a grasp of. This realization was attractive to them.

This attractiveness seemed to be ultimately an attractiveness towards God.

The Host Part II

***Spoilers Alert*** Other than the demonic-like parallels in The Host, it's magnificently surprising that the movie writers got the concept of the human host soul right (notice that I didn't write "human host's soul").



It's been said very often that people have a right to their body, specifying a type of ownership of one's body by the self. This is a modern concept called Cartisian dualism. Someone's body and concept of self are said to be two separate entities. (This is very evident in the abortion and same-sex "marriage" debates.)

The Christian concept of self is the integration of body and soul. Pope John Paul the Great summarized this concept best by referring to a person as an embodied soul.

In The Host, the alien "soul" who was really an embodied soul, not just spirit, seemed to be in competition with the hosting embodied soul. This was evident by the way that the main character host was able to physically overrun the alien symbiont by force of will.

Fr. Barron further explains the relationship of the soul to the body ("Faith Seeks Understanding Pt. 12: What is the relationship of the soul to the body?"):



Here's The Host Part I.

The Host Part I

The Host is a relatively new movie with Saoirse Ronan that was written by the same person as the Twilight series (I found this out just now). I never watched any of Twilight, but this Host movie was creepy.

It was creepy because it reminded me of a reverse demon possession.



Usually, in the Bible and in movies, when people are possessed by a demon, they try to destroy their host. For example, "Lord [Jesus], have pity on my son, for he is a [possessed] lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water." (Here's another example (Legion).)



There was a reversal of this tendency in The Host. The alien "souls" who were possessing the humans were stopping them from being violent to other humans and the Earth.

Why is this a bad thing? (Why don't you tell me in the comments below?) Perhaps it is because taking away someone's freewill is against God's prime directive (God's will).

(Speaking of prime directive, the Trill on Star Trek (Dax et al.; Dr. Beverly's Trill) had hosts who freely submitted to being used as hosts. So, the same objection can't really be raised in that case.)

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival Post I

This is for the weekly Catholic Carnival! This is my first one!

Be sure to visit RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing and check out some posts from other bloggers participating in Sunday Snippets this week. Why not join us and share a blog post or two from last week?

Question of the week: Name a favorite book and tell us what you like about it.
My favorite book for now is Fill These Hearts by Christopher West.
I like this book since it presents the Theology of the Body of Pope John Paul the Great in a casual style. This style is further accentuated by his connections between the topic and popular music (a niche of my blog). It was so understandable, in my opinion, that I suggested it to a non-Catholic acquaintance for further understanding of the Theology of the Body (she's from Turkey).

For the week of February ninth:

February tenth:
Commentary on the movie The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp.
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-lone-ranger-part-i.html
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-lone-ranger-part-ii.html

February twelfth:
Commentary on the movie The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp.
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-lone-ranger-part-iii.html
Commentary on the creationism/scientism debate between Bill Nye and Bill Ham.
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/nye-ham-debate-wacky-wednesday.html
Commentary on the TV show The Big Bang Theory theme song.
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-big-bang-theory-theme-song-part-iv.html

February fourteenth:
A video of my Valentine from my wife.
http://wonderingzygoteemeritus.blogspot.com/2014/02/happy-saint-valentines-day.html