A post by u/OrangeManNotBad moved me to post a comment about the Catholic Church, which reminded me of a movie (Brother Sun, Sister Moon) from 1972. The film dramatizes the life of St. Francis of Assisi (Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, c. 1181–3 October 1226).
The film contains a long scene where Francis appears before the Pope, praising nature as God made it and contrasting the beauty and simplicity of the natural world with the wealth and fake majesty (stunningly displayed in the film) of the Pope and those he surrounds himself with.
This does not go over well with the court, who become angry and order guards to drag Francis away, probably to his death.
But the Pope is overcome with a . . . vision, or experience . . . and orders that the young Francis be brought back.
The Pope then stands from his throne, removes his ludicrous headgear and heavy outer robe, becoming a little more human, and slowly descends the many steps from his throne to the floor below, eventually standing before Francis.
The Pope tells him that HE, the Pope, began his ministry much as Francis did, but eventually that changed as he took on more responsibilities. He then says:
We are entrusted with riches and power. You, in your poverty, put us to shame.
Then he lets Francis go, to the astonishment and consternation of the court.
The Pope climbs the long staircase up to his throne, where he again wraps himself in his thick robe, with his humanity once more symbolically locked away behind finery, wealth, and power.
And yes: I feel that this clip has important parallels and relevance to the Great Awakening.
The scene itself is split into two clips here, well worth the time for those interested. It's perhaps the most emotionally powerful movie scene I can recall; it had quite an effect on me when I saw the film years ago.
Clip one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-msmuDZfRs
Clip two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYH2WS3CU6A
Each clip is about seven and a half minutes long.
I was raised in a St. Francis school, from 1st to 4th grade. I had no idea who he is until some 30 years later when I tried to trace my childhood.
This clip opened my eyes, like, wow, he really just went to the Pope and straight up said, "what's all this about hierarchy, when we can just live a simple life if our goal is the same?" Because I kinda did something similar with a high-hierarchy organization like that. I chose not to move up in my career ladder knowing the political hoops I have to go through will make me a very sad person.
I have also never committed to any church after I attended the school. I learned about regular American church, black church, MEGA church, LDS... and I often wondered why I need to go to a church if I can just look up into the sky to find God and Jesus? To this day I don't know what their differences are. But they're often very nice people!
I love/fear God, and I like to have Jesus with me as he's everywhere. I thought that's more than enough to keep me going through my human life.
Perhaps spiritually I'm a disciple of the Franciscan Order all these years and I just didn't know it. And if that's the case, then I'm really grateful for it, knowing there's someone who just wants to live a simple life and doesn't get caught up with money and power.
Symbolically it may be true. And I have read it as well. Usually the emphasis is that the Pope gave Francis license to create his own order, thereby endorsing his work. But that's a good point to focus on, as he was renowned for his simplicity.
Even today, the Franciscan Order is known for humility, simplicity and servitude. Reportedly they were doing a great job for the faith in the Americas until the Jesuits took over and instead did a great job of imposing hierarchy.
I have read that there are more biographies of St Francis than any other person in history. (Jesus certainly has more written about him, but the biographies are few.)
That doesn't seem out of line with the film at all, at least to me. The Pope clearly lets Francis live in this scene, and also shows empathy for his views. It doesn't seem surprising (in the world of the film) that the Pope would endorse Francis and let him create his own order.
During the Pope's exchange with Francis, he tells the young man:
He then sends Francis away after telling him to "go in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, preach the truth to all men. May your disciples increase a thousandfold."
That's in the mid section of the second clip.
I'd probably enjoy the movie. Thanks.
Those are emotional and moving clips. The most inspiring is that the Pope recognized the good, which brought the original good of the Pope out or back from time.
Rev.17:5 babylon the great
the mother of prostitutes
and of the abominations of the earth.
6 I saw that
the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.
They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
Revelation is almost too much for me to handle.
OK: some of it IS too much for me to handle.
Then again, the world itself is . . . sometimes too much for me to handle. At least comfortably.
Mark Twain once said, "It's not the scriptures I don't understand that brother me, it's the ones I do understand."
I watched Brother Sun, Sister Moon a long time ago, and found it to be a rather glamorized or idealized sort of '60's' (hippyish) movie, despite the subject matter.
But, if you are keen on the story and life of St. Francis, and you can track it down, I very strongly recommend "Francesco" (1989) featuring Mickey Rourke (yes).
Made by Italians (not Hollywood), I personally found this film to be extremely moving and powerful.
Francesco is one of my top ten recommended films (for impact, meaning and spiritual effect). Best portrayal of St. Francis that I have ever seen.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097383/
Thanks! I'll check it out.
Edit: And I'd probably agree with you on Brother Sun, Sister Moon. This long scene is literally the ONLY thing I remember from the movie. Of course, as I said -- it was years (decades) ago that I saw it.
This movie has been dear to my heart for many decades.