Another part of a video series from Wordonfire.org. Bishop Barron will be commenting on subjects from modern day culture. For more visit www.wordonfire.org
The best best thing I got out of this is fr. Barron's explanation of the. sacred Heart. When you grow up with a lot of Catholic imagery you sometimes loose sight of their meaning. The Sacred Heart, in Mexican Catholicism has turned into kitschy meaningless imagery only old ladies appreciate. Well, here Fr. Barron breaks it down and connects it to something current and makes it vibrant and real. Thank you!
"Augustus Waters," "Hazel Grace" - Grace and Waters/Life meet over the Sacred Heart of Christ and form a relationship, a triumph over nihilism. The Love that they have is more powerful than death. Thank you, Father Barron. :-)
You're the man! I love Jesus and live in Chicago also. So happy you're channel exists. My wife and I get so much from your kind and passionate perspective. Thanks again
Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful commentary. I get really frustrated with some Christian movie reviewers that dismiss beautiful stories just because they have bad language or immodesty in them, when I think the overall story and message is much more important. I appreciate that you are willing to dig deep and not get hung up on the superficial aspects of movies. God bless you Father Barron!
Kelsey, there is an unfortunate tendency amongst some Christian reviewers to confuse Christian with wholesome. Now, I am not saying there is no place for wholesome stories, where good and evil are clearly defined. But the more compelling Christian stories deal with sin, often in graphic fashion. Now, I have not yet read or seen the Fault in Our Stars, so I don't know if it glorifies immodesty or merely documents it, but I think you will find that some of the greatest Christian novels often have violence, adultery, lying, etc in them.
I found this so fascinating! One of my favorite things about this book is all of the meanings John Green hid within a "cheesy teenage love story" I have read the book several times now and I have never noticed the connection and symbolism of Hazel and Gus meeting in the "Literal Heart of Jesus" Thank you so much for the insight!
God bless you Father Barron. I read long time ago this book. And I'm almost in tears right now. First I was amazed by the surface approach of the movie, now all these connections. Wow, felt like reading all again.
Hello father! I am such a fan of your videos you have always amazed me with your knowledge both spiritually and philosophically and with these reviews where you manage to find religious imagery and simbolism in movies that probably were made without those purposes it is just awesome, you are awesome. I have read a lot of the comments here where people insult you for no reason with hateful and vulgar language. I know that it is part of our job as christians, Jesus said so that we would suffer as he would suffer and more but I just want to let you know that I am praying for you to keep being so awesome representing our Lord and being such an inspiration for young people like myself who are in a generation full of Hazel Graces who don't believe or care for anything. Because of this we struggle so much being christians, let alone catholics since nobody cares for religion anymore. Saying this I ask you to also pray for myself and for the rest of my young companions who don't understand that Love:God is stronger than death. Hope you read this and smile knowing that you have not only God's support but mine and a lot of others also ^_^ Ps. I would love to meet you one day and talk about theology/philosophy/history etc :) I don't really have friends that like to talk about that haha God bless father and keep up the awesomeness, blessings from Puerto Rico :D
It should be noted that as recently as 2022 John Green has commented that he is still a Christian (although he doesn’t go into further detail). Love this interpretation.
Thanks for the commentary, father. I loved the book, I have yet to see them movie :D XD Just one note: the nerdy Christian minister was apparently based on John Green himself and his inability to reach young people with cancer as a youth minister. Part of the reason he wrote the book was in another attempt to reach out to them.
I would not say that she acknowledges that love is more powerful than death, but that she acknowledges that their love had meaning. That is still in opposition to her nihilism, and still is a glimmer of hope.
I really appreciate these movie commentaries from you, Sir. This time round is indeed an interesting one. Suffering, meaning of life, death... After all, it just says there's meanings to life no matter how difficult life seems to be..
HI Fr. Baron! Thanks for your review! It's neat to see the Catholic roots in a book that's widely loved among the secular crowd! I'll definitely be showing this to my friend! God Bless :)
what is your feeling about people with disabilities falling in love with other people with disabilities and the way they are able to communicate with one another. because I have been in a relationship for 22 going on 23 years with a girl that has a disability and I have a disability and we have been able to last this long and maybe even longer
Another triumph of a review! Fr. Barron should have his own movie/book review television show. Someone should team him up with Michael Medved or something.
Great review! I recommend in the same direction the book (not the film) of Alessandro D’Avenia: “White As Snow, Red As Blood”. The author is a young catholic professor of latin and literature who portrays very well the world of teenagers and the emergence of the big questions.
Such an awesome lovely movie. I felt that it was very deep. For me the fact that it dealt with young people dying made it that more intense. The suffering of the parents was also very strong. It's interesting to me that when movies make light of God they end up confirming what Christianity teaches about love. The public wants love to win.
Fr. Robert Barron would you consider sending your video to John Green as a message or video response to one of his videos? He shares a channel called "vlogbrothers" with his brother and I find their conversations insightful, but they seem to dodge these deep, real theological questions.
John Green's entire adult life for the past fifteen years has been in the service of the transcendent-he has described himself as a theist, but is hesitant to call himself Anglican these days, as he would have in the days of his chaplaincy. But he presents to thousands of young people especially a transcendent humanism, at least, that is not inherently inimical to faith. Which, as you say, is a good start.
I do wish Fr. Barron had read the book before this video; things are much clearer there, what with Hazel's desire to find out about the Dutch Tulip Man (who is probably God), the ending (in which Hazel doesn't say, "Ok," she says, "I do," much more clearly and strongly saying that she has an ongoing relationship with this person after death), etc. Green is very particular with his names and his images, so I'm willing to bet Fr. Barron's Christian subtext was entirely intentional.
I'm with Steven on this. The theme was basically the triumph of love over death. I think Fr.'s noticing of the (sacred heart) symbolism is clever! But I just didn't see it myself. In fact, I think that was a coincidence. There was emphasis on the notion that the youth group gathered there was "literally in the heart of Jesus," but it was a playful verbiage. I don't think any serious meaning was intended by it. I admit when they mentioned "the heart" and I looked at the rug, I noticed that it was a "sacred heart" depiction with the thorns. But they never referred to it as the "sacred heart." They simply phrased it as "Jesus' heart." If anything, I think the film conveyed the notion that religion along with other cheesy social groups does not offer meaningful answers to the question of suffering.
Take off those glasses and you might see it for yourself. Fr. Barron already explained that to try and apply reason to suffering would be a waste of time. Mother Church offers good explanations, but ultimately acknowledges the mystery that surrounds suffering.
There is no death .. There is transformation to your true self once you pass on to the other side .. Good or bad . We are the fallen and as such suffer here on earth in our flesh bodies and also many other ways. We all pass on ( die ) to Early or later .. but realizes that ones self should not be truly concerned about its plite here on this earth .. We should ( be always prepared with the lessons of the word ) so that we may be judge exceptable to be reunited with our father in heaven . After which his spirit will engage with ours fully as we become one with him for eternity .. we shall never want. Self does not exist there so it should not exist here. Truly
If there is no death then there is no resurrection. If the self doesn't exist in Heaven, then that's just as nihilistic a reality as the one Hazel Grace begins with.
"Self does not exist there so it should not exist here. Truly " If you don't exist, then why are you typing things (with zero evidence, of course!) and expecting people not only to read it, but believe it?
Yesica1993 You seem to be missing the point of what e.v.u.elect is saying. You interpret the idea that there is no self as if it means that we don't exist. That is going in the wrong direction. In contemporary philosophy (i.e. not necessarily Christian) the idea that there is no self is widely attested. The idea of self assumes an autonomy that is not characteristic of the reality that we live in. Think of "you are the sum of every person you have ever met." There is no self. I think that modern study of neurology would attest to the same thing. Again, it is not about existence. Just autonomy. In e.v.u.elect's comment they are just adapting that idea to a portrait of heaven. I hope this helps.
@Catholic Gazette You might prefer the Westboro Baptist Church I think; your method of compelling "conversion" is quite similar. No one has the power to drag you into hell but your own will. He explicitly said that this movie does not provide an accurate lens of Christian spirituality and morality. Nobody is condoning fornication. Also, I suggest you throw away the Scriptures along with Fr. Barron's videos, there might be too much adultery, fornication, idol worship, and immodesty in there too.
It seems like love and hope/faith are confounded in your statement. Romantic loves comes in faithful trusting or having hope that the other is telling the truth. In heaven, hope and faith pass away since love is in its truly fullest form in the presence of the Triune God.
I'd suggest you think of "love" as a doing nature, ie, God Himself, God is always "doing" ie, the Creator, indeed the exception for God was to "rest on the 7th day". Romantic love, likely a strange combination of emotional, chemical, contextual factors, really largely exists to only help people i) participate in material reproduction and ii) enjoy a measure of emotional support in life. In Eternity, [assuming we find favor with God] we will not be reproducing, as no "new" humanity will be created and we will be in the very presence of God, indeed, we will have taken on the very nature of the Almighty, so we can, by very definition, only be at "one" or have reached complete "fulfillment" emotionally.
Oh, goodness, this book! I can't stand romance novels, so I never had any interest in reading it. But then once the movie came along, it was EVERYWHERE and I was a little bit curious. I hate being left out. Normally, I reserve comment on things until I've watched/read them for myself. But then I began reading this chapter by chapter (humorous) commentary. It's hilarious! And if it's even half accurate (and it would seem it is, since the author quotes directly from the book itself, then I cannot believe how this thing became so popular. If nothing else, it's one of the most poorly written books I've seen. (Even worse than 'Twilight', and that's saying something. I actually read the first 'Twilight' book and rather enjoyed it - you know, in that mocking sort of way. http : // das-sporking[dot]livejournal[dot]com/543657[dot]html I cannot believe this book is so poorly written. And I don't think I've ever hated a fictional character as much as I hate this Hazel. She is completely selfish and self centered. Gus seems not much better. And, of course, fornication is glorified. It's especially okay since both are dying. After all, 'Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die'. If nothing else, the scene in the Anne Frank House made it a guarantee that I will never read or watch this thing. I didn't find that charming in any way. Maybe in the movie it was portrayed differently. But in the book it was just two completely self-absorbed teenagers disrespecting such a place by making out in public. And then people around them were applauding? I found this insulting and appalling. What a disgrace that this author has some sort of Christian background.
Look, I'm sure if you're just friendly to people, join some community based groups, perhaps even the Roman Catholic Church, you'll meet some really nice people and get some genuine interests happening in life, so you won't need to go around trolling online comments forums etc. Good luck and God Bless!
mmmail1969 Anything to say on the content of what I've said? Or just idiocy, with a touch of pretend Catholic concern on top of it? No? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Yesica1993 1) "No? Yeah, that's what I thought." in the one sentence all of 7mins ago! Thanks for your so "genuine" non-Catholic opportunity to reply! For the record, do I have any additional comment to make on your original post - No!
If Jesus was simply a reformist and not divine, He wouldn't have fulfilled more than 200 prophesies spoken over 2000 years before He was born. If you cannot believe what is written in the Bible how can you believe what is written in your birth certificate? You and your foolish reasons.
No one commented on this despicable comment. I hope you repent. Never deny anyone’s dignity of death. I will pray for you as a Christian. May God open your eyes. I hope you changed your ways.
I never fail to be educated and edified by your commentary, Father Barron. I am so grateful for your work.
The best best thing I got out of this is fr. Barron's explanation of the. sacred Heart. When you grow up with a lot of Catholic imagery you sometimes loose sight of their meaning. The Sacred Heart, in Mexican Catholicism has turned into kitschy meaningless imagery only old ladies appreciate. Well, here Fr. Barron breaks it down and connects it to something current and makes it vibrant and real. Thank you!
Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation
"Augustus Waters," "Hazel Grace" - Grace and Waters/Life meet over the Sacred Heart of Christ and form a relationship, a triumph over nihilism. The Love that they have is more powerful than death. Thank you, Father Barron. :-)
You're the man! I love Jesus and live in Chicago also. So happy you're channel exists. My wife and I get so much from your kind and passionate perspective. Thanks again
Great commentary. So profound that I can't comment on in further. Good Bless.
amen to that
That analysis was beautiful. Made me cry again! Thank you Fr barron.
Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful commentary. I get really frustrated with some Christian movie reviewers that dismiss beautiful stories just because they have bad language or immodesty in them, when I think the overall story and message is much more important. I appreciate that you are willing to dig deep and not get hung up on the superficial aspects of movies. God bless you Father Barron!
Kelsey, there is an unfortunate tendency amongst some Christian reviewers to confuse Christian with wholesome. Now, I am not saying there is no place for wholesome stories, where good and evil are clearly defined. But the more compelling Christian stories deal with sin, often in graphic fashion. Now, I have not yet read or seen the Fault in Our Stars, so I don't know if it glorifies immodesty or merely documents it, but I think you will find that some of the greatest Christian novels often have violence, adultery, lying, etc in them.
At last! Been a while since the good Father has done a spoiler. Really enjoy them +
Happy Esther Day, 2023. ❤🔥
I found this so fascinating! One of my favorite things about this book is all of the meanings John Green hid within a "cheesy teenage love story" I have read the book several times now and I have never noticed the connection and symbolism of Hazel and Gus meeting in the "Literal Heart of Jesus" Thank you so much for the insight!
God bless you Father Barron. I read long time ago this book. And I'm almost in tears right now. First I was amazed by the surface approach of the movie, now all these connections. Wow, felt like reading all again.
Hello father! I am such a fan of your videos you have always amazed me with your knowledge both spiritually and philosophically and with these reviews where you manage to find religious imagery and simbolism in movies that probably were made without those purposes it is just awesome, you are awesome. I have read a lot of the comments here where people insult you for no reason with hateful and vulgar language. I know that it is part of our job as christians, Jesus said so that we would suffer as he would suffer and more but I just want to let you know that I am praying for you to keep being so awesome representing our Lord and being such an inspiration for young people like myself who are in a generation full of Hazel Graces who don't believe or care for anything. Because of this we struggle so much being christians, let alone catholics since nobody cares for religion anymore. Saying this I ask you to also pray for myself and for the rest of my young companions who don't understand that Love:God is stronger than death. Hope you read this and smile knowing that you have not only God's support but mine and a lot of others also ^_^ Ps. I would love to meet you one day and talk about theology/philosophy/history etc :) I don't really have friends that like to talk about that haha
God bless father and keep up the awesomeness, blessings from Puerto Rico :D
It should be noted that as recently as 2022 John Green has commented that he is still a Christian (although he doesn’t go into further detail). Love this interpretation.
Thank you Fr. Barron!
Thanks for the commentary, father. I loved the book, I have yet to see them movie :D XD
Just one note: the nerdy Christian minister was apparently based on John Green himself and his inability to reach young people with cancer as a youth minister. Part of the reason he wrote the book was in another attempt to reach out to them.
I would not say that she acknowledges that love is more powerful than death, but that she acknowledges that their love had meaning. That is still in opposition to her nihilism, and still is a glimmer of hope.
I really appreciate these movie commentaries from you, Sir. This time round is indeed an interesting one. Suffering, meaning of life, death... After all, it just says there's meanings to life no matter how difficult life seems to be..
A beautiful analysis! Thanks!
HI Fr. Baron!
Thanks for your review! It's neat to see the Catholic roots in a book that's widely loved among the secular crowd! I'll definitely be showing this to my friend! God Bless :)
what is your feeling about people with disabilities falling in love with other people with disabilities and the way they are able to communicate with one another. because I have been in a relationship for 22 going on 23 years with a girl that has a disability and I have a disability and we have been able to last this long and maybe even longer
Wonderful!
Thank you, Father Barron. Please do a review on The Giver.
You made a beautiful review of the movie, thank you Fr. Barron.
Thanks father!
If somebody don't know we can judge but can pray and wait and love them for their Souls get the bright from God! 😇😇😇
I definitely need to see this movie/read this book.
Another triumph of a review! Fr. Barron should have his own movie/book review television show. Someone should team him up with Michael Medved or something.
I like this idea!
I don't know where he'd find the time, though. Seems like he's always traveling and working on a zillion projects!
Brilliant take on the movie!
Great review! I recommend in the same direction the book (not the film) of Alessandro D’Avenia: “White As Snow, Red As Blood”. The author is a young catholic professor of latin and literature who portrays very well the world of teenagers and the emergence of the big questions.
Such an awesome lovely movie. I felt that it was very deep. For me the fact that it dealt with young people dying made it that more intense. The suffering of the parents was also very strong. It's interesting to me that when movies make light of God they end up confirming what Christianity teaches about love. The public wants love to win.
Fr. Robert Barron would you consider sending your video to John Green as a message or video response to one of his videos? He shares a channel called "vlogbrothers" with his brother and I find their conversations insightful, but they seem to dodge these deep, real theological questions.
This makes me want to see this movie. It sounds like it has a powerful message.
John Green's entire adult life for the past fifteen years has been in the service of the transcendent-he has described himself as a theist, but is hesitant to call himself Anglican these days, as he would have in the days of his chaplaincy. But he presents to thousands of young people especially a transcendent humanism, at least, that is not inherently inimical to faith. Which, as you say, is a good start.
Wow, so great.
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I hope Fr. Barron does a commentary on the Irish film, 'Calvary.'
I do wish Fr. Barron had read the book before this video; things are much clearer there, what with Hazel's desire to find out about the Dutch Tulip Man (who is probably God), the ending (in which Hazel doesn't say, "Ok," she says, "I do," much more clearly and strongly saying that she has an ongoing relationship with this person after death), etc.
Green is very particular with his names and his images, so I'm willing to bet Fr. Barron's Christian subtext was entirely intentional.
I'm with Steven on this. The theme was basically the triumph of love over death. I think Fr.'s noticing of the (sacred heart) symbolism is clever! But I just didn't see it myself.
In fact, I think that was a coincidence. There was emphasis on the notion that the youth group gathered there was "literally in the heart of Jesus," but it was a playful verbiage. I don't think any serious meaning was intended by it.
I admit when they mentioned "the heart" and I looked at the rug, I noticed that it was a "sacred heart" depiction with the thorns. But they never referred to it as the "sacred heart." They simply phrased it as "Jesus' heart."
If anything, I think the film conveyed the notion that religion along with other cheesy social groups does not offer meaningful answers to the question of suffering.
Take off those glasses and you might see it for yourself. Fr. Barron already explained that to try and apply reason to suffering would be a waste of time. Mother Church offers good explanations, but ultimately acknowledges the mystery that surrounds suffering.
There is no death .. There is transformation to your true self once you pass on to the other side .. Good or bad . We are the fallen and as such suffer here on earth in our flesh bodies and also many other ways. We all pass on ( die ) to Early or later .. but realizes that ones self should not be truly concerned about its plite here on this earth .. We should ( be always prepared with the lessons of the word ) so that we may be judge exceptable to be reunited with our father in heaven . After which his spirit will engage with ours fully as we become one with him for eternity .. we shall never want. Self does not exist there so it should not exist here. Truly
If there is no death then there is no resurrection. If the self doesn't exist in Heaven, then that's just as nihilistic a reality as the one Hazel Grace begins with.
"Self does not exist there so it should not exist here. Truly "
If you don't exist, then why are you typing things (with zero evidence, of course!) and expecting people not only to read it, but believe it?
Jacob Neeson No it's not. =)
Yesica1993 You seem to be missing the point of what e.v.u.elect is saying. You interpret the idea that there is no self as if it means that we don't exist. That is going in the wrong direction. In contemporary philosophy (i.e. not necessarily Christian) the idea that there is no self is widely attested. The idea of self assumes an autonomy that is not characteristic of the reality that we live in. Think of "you are the sum of every person you have ever met." There is no self. I think that modern study of neurology would attest to the same thing. Again, it is not about existence. Just autonomy. In e.v.u.elect's comment they are just adapting that idea to a portrait of heaven. I hope this helps.
Yesica1993 He did not say "we don't exist", he said "there is no self". There is a difference.
It would be awesome if you did a review on 2001: A Space Odyssey
The movie or the book? I've adored the book for years, but the movie made me want to stab my eyeballs out with the nearest blunt object!
Yesica1993 Damn
aadu7ec What?
Was it that bad?
That would be interesting
@Catholic Gazette You might prefer the Westboro Baptist Church I think; your method of compelling "conversion" is quite similar. No one has the power to drag you into hell but your own will. He explicitly said that this movie does not provide an accurate lens of Christian spirituality and morality. Nobody is condoning fornication. Also, I suggest you throw away the Scriptures along with Fr. Barron's videos, there might be too much adultery, fornication, idol worship, and immodesty in there too.
And now John green runs crash course.
that's what being sick with cancer is like: unrelenting.
Jesus a moralist? Then He is truly God, because him asserting so and being moral cannot do otherwise but say the truth.
"Love is more powerful than death". That's kinda problematic with romantic love, because Jesus there won't be any marriage in heaven.
It seems like love and hope/faith are confounded in your statement. Romantic loves comes in faithful trusting or having hope that the other is telling the truth. In heaven, hope and faith pass away since love is in its truly fullest form in the presence of the Triune God.
The fact that you have to place the qualifier "romantic" on love should tell you something. Not saying that you're inaccurate.
I'd suggest you think of "love" as a doing nature, ie, God Himself, God is always "doing" ie, the Creator, indeed the exception for God was to "rest on the 7th day". Romantic love, likely a strange combination of emotional, chemical, contextual factors, really largely exists to only help people i) participate in material reproduction and ii) enjoy a measure of emotional support in life. In Eternity, [assuming we find favor with God] we will not be reproducing, as no "new" humanity will be created and we will be in the very presence of God, indeed, we will have taken on the very nature of the Almighty, so we can, by very definition, only be at "one" or have reached complete "fulfillment" emotionally.
But Nihilism...
Oh, goodness, this book! I can't stand romance novels, so I never had any interest in reading it. But then once the movie came along, it was EVERYWHERE and I was a little bit curious. I hate being left out.
Normally, I reserve comment on things until I've watched/read them for myself. But then I began reading this chapter by chapter (humorous) commentary. It's hilarious! And if it's even half accurate (and it would seem it is, since the author quotes directly from the book itself, then I cannot believe how this thing became so popular. If nothing else, it's one of the most poorly written books I've seen. (Even worse than 'Twilight', and that's saying something. I actually read the first 'Twilight' book and rather enjoyed it - you know, in that mocking sort of way.
http : // das-sporking[dot]livejournal[dot]com/543657[dot]html
I cannot believe this book is so poorly written. And I don't think I've ever hated a fictional character as much as I hate this Hazel. She is completely selfish and self centered. Gus seems not much better. And, of course, fornication is glorified. It's especially okay since both are dying. After all, 'Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die'.
If nothing else, the scene in the Anne Frank House made it a guarantee that I will never read or watch this thing. I didn't find that charming in any way. Maybe in the movie it was portrayed differently. But in the book it was just two completely self-absorbed teenagers disrespecting such a place by making out in public. And then people around them were applauding? I found this insulting and appalling.
What a disgrace that this author has some sort of Christian background.
Look, I'm sure if you're just friendly to people, join some community based groups, perhaps even the Roman Catholic Church, you'll meet some really nice people and get some genuine interests happening in life, so you won't need to go around trolling online comments forums etc. Good luck and God Bless!
mmmail1969 Anything to say on the content of what I've said? Or just idiocy, with a touch of pretend Catholic concern on top of it?
No? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Yesica1993 1) "No? Yeah, that's what I thought." in the one sentence all of 7mins ago! Thanks for your so "genuine" non-Catholic opportunity to reply! For the record, do I have any additional comment to make on your original post - No!
mmmail1969 Thanks for proving my point that you cannot address the actual content of my comment, therefore you only have silly insults.
Yesica1993 "What a disgrace that this author has some sort of Christian background." So...uhhmm you were saying about making silly insults? God Bless!
If Jesus was simply a reformist and not divine, He wouldn't have fulfilled more than 200 prophesies spoken over 2000 years before He was born. If you cannot believe what is written in the Bible how can you believe what is written in your birth certificate? You and your foolish reasons.
You are right. His Presence is everywhere which is why humanity can’t stop talking about Him. I am glad I came to Him.
Still spreading the legend of "Anne Frank" and everybody still buying into it? Such a shame. Otherwise interesting comments.
No one commented on this despicable comment. I hope you repent. Never deny anyone’s dignity of death. I will pray for you as a Christian. May God open your eyes. I hope you changed your ways.