Geeky Catholic Dad

Gospel Reading: John 20:1-9 Highlight (from the Sequence):  "Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning." Reflection:  I'm not exaggerating when I say that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important thing that has ever happened in human history. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17 that "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." But how many of us take the resurrection for granted? If you've known since childhood that Jesus rose from the dead, it might not seem as amazing anymore. Easter Sunday following after Good Friday becomes just as natural as day following night. Perhaps we can better understand Easter's significance if we try to look at it from the perspective of someone who didn't know it was coming. To the apostles, the death of Jesus on Good Friday must have been unimaginably tragic. It wasn't just the death of th...

As a lifelong Catholic and an almost-lifelong Star Wars fan, it's no surprise (to me at least) that I see a lot of Christian themes in Star Wars. By no means is Star Wars an overtly Christian work; on the contrary, it draws its spirituality from many religions, both Eastern and Western. But George Lucas did intend his story to have themes of good and evil. "I wanted it to be a traditional moral study, to have some sort of palpable precepts in it that children could understand." So while I wouldn't recommend taking Star Wars as your sole source of morality and spirituality, there is some truth to be found in that galaxy far, far away.

Stories with happy endings aren't realistic. The real world doesn't work that way. So what value can a fairy tale like The Princess Bride possibly offer? A lot, actually. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

Source: Wikimedia Commons A few weeks ago, during an RCIA preparation class, we were discussing the Biblical account of the fall of Adam and Eve. A catechumen - we'll call him Steve - asked me, "Isn't God responsible for everything that happened? He put the tree there." This is an excellent question, not because it represents a flaw in the Christian worldview (spoiler alert: it doesn't), but because it invites us to take a closer look at the nature of free will, and at God's Divine Providence.

Back at the end of February, I published a post about the TV show Firefly - a space western that was tragically canceled before its time. As I mentioned in the post, the strength and loyalty of the show's fandom was such that Universal Studios green-lit a movie to continue the story, and that movie was called Serenity . In today's post, I'll take a look at that movie.

You might recall from my Lord of the Rings post last month that I really like a literary device Tolkien uses, which he calls "eucatastrophe." I'd like to use this post to explore that concept a bit more, and tie it together with the meaning of Christmas.