!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L52Lciaui4o
I rarely go to see a movie in a movie theater. I believe that the last time I went to see a movie in a movie theater was to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
Last night, yielding to the pressure of several friends I went to see the movie October Baby. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie. It was entertaining, it was inspirational, it was surprisingly well done for a movie produced with a budget of only $1,000,000 dollars.
The acting was excellent, the photography was excellent and the script was excellent.
Best of all, without resorting to the proverbial soapbox the movie has something important to say about abortion.
I strongly reccomend that you see this movie.
– Abyssum
ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP 
Anonymous wrote:
So glad you saw this film. A friend & I saw it Fri. I have been encouraging people to see it.
I was struck that the Protestants who put the film together had a Catholic priest be the instrument for healing. I suspect it was most likely due to the strong witness by faithful priests & bishops like yourself that they have encountered in their pro life work. Thank you so much for that.
I must say enduring the coming attraction of other films was a Lenten mortification & a reminder of why I rarely go see a movie also.
I heard about it and want to see it. So many movies foster the culture of death that it is great when the culture of life is revealed on the silver screen.
A college course was once offered entitled “Imagination 101.” The professor held the view that imagination can to some extent to be taught and is not just a mystical gift. He said that imagination is born of questions. He asked the class to take an ordinary object, for example, a pencil. He then said: “Look at the object and ask: what needs are not being met by this object as it is right now.” The class came up with several interesting things: the pencil could be more comfortable to hold, a pencil top eraser could be made that wouldn’t dry out and become useless. And the professor said: “now you are using imagination!”
Sometimes I think we in the anti-abortion movement need imagination too. Sometimes we need to step back and take a look at what we’re doing. I see an abortion clinic with Catholics and Evangelicals carrying signs with photos and various messages. Some are saying the rosary. And yet women and girls continue to drive in for abortions. It is very easy to say: ‘free will.’ Or ignorance. Fear. Selfishness. But are those of us who stand outside abortion clinics doing the same old things our predecessors have done? . . . is that enough? Are we not, perhaps, lacking in imagination? This is just a question not an accusation.
I am not suggesting that any amount of imagination can overcome hardening of the heart or a will set in concrete. But what of borderline cases? Is it blasphemous to even look at the anti-abortion movement and ask: what is working and what isn’t? The women entering those clinics are going in to have their needs met no matter how blind or selfish or fearful those disordered needs are. And they are confronted with certain alternatives as they drive in: Abortion is murder. Abortion is the ultimate child abuse. Let your child live. Your child is a blessing not a curse. All of these slogans are eternal truths, no doubt about it. Why don’t they work very often. What can reach a girl who is morally blind or one who feels her whole life is threatened by a little baby or one who doesn’t give damn? I don’t have the answer to this? But I think we have to keep asking the question so we are not just shifting the burden of abortion to others alone.
I think a little imagination could be used at the political front too. Are we not getting our message across because we are doing the same old things that haven’t worked? It is easy to place the whole balme on the liberals. But what about conservatives?
Sometimes a culture is so far from where one is that just using slogans won’t cut it. I can say that our culture is a culture of death or that it is beset by destructive relativism. But sometimes just saying these words makes people’s mouth hang open and their eyes get glassy. We are blessed with a Holy Father who knows what’s what at the deepest academic level. But there is a need for theologians to bring this message to people in a language they can understand. We don’t need any more theologians teaching heresy. We need theologians who can bridge the gap between the eternal truths and divine historical truths — and the minds of people today.
People have wrong ideas and they see everything through the lenses of wrong ideas. People who see law as an affront to human liberty in every case are going to be antinomian. It follows as night follows day. Many people think the message of Jesus is divided between the good news and the bad news. They think the moral imperatives of Jesus are part of the bad news. So they have a schizophrenic view of Jesus: good Jesus/bad Jesus. In the medical field, a physician who says: “you need to stop abusing drugs” is just as loving as one who says” “you are going to live.” It isn’t that one message is good news and other bad news. Everything the doctor says is for our own good.” Everything Jesus says is for our own good. Sin is bad for us. It is like cancer. A doctor who tells us to agressively fight cancer is just as good a doctor as one who tells us our cholesterol numbers are looking good. There is no dichotomy between Jesus the judge and Jesus the merciful. The judgement is part of the mercy.
A Benedictine monk recently told me that not only does God wish us godly health and happiness but that this is God’s sole desire. He said: “When we pray: Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done: we are asking God to allow godly health and happiness to replace our misery. His will is that our ungodly misery end and be replaced by godly happiness and peace. So these two statements in the Lord’s Prayer are just as compassionate as “Give us this day our daily bread.”
As Pope Benedict says: The door of Hell is not locked from the outside. It is locked from the inside. Do we, with imagination, get this message across? I wonder.
I could not get on the link to YOU TUBE, but will try another way..