Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.” Matthew 10:26-33
This was the gospel reading from last Sunday. Last Saturday I had came upon A Hidden Place in the Redbox. By the way this blog post is not a movie review, it is mostly a compilation of thoughts I have had over the week after watching it. Also, do I need to give a "spoiler alert" as it is based on true events? I don't really think so, but consider that your alert if you need one. So anyhow, I didn’t know a whole lot about this movie before seeing it. I had seen the trailer some time ago so knew that it was set in WWII, and I was intrigued as I vaguely gathered the couple must have endured some kind of suffering and their apparent love had to have played a big role in their survival. The movie was entirely beautiful and powerful. The next morning at mass as I listened to each of the readings I realized Bl. Franz Jägerstätter's life, very much reflected the direct and challenging message God has for us in boldly following Him. I ended up keeping it an extra day to watch it again, with subtitles, so that I would not miss any of what was said and reflected further. I highly recommend you to see this movie as well, especially now when we have more time and we definitely need inspiration and encouragement to continue living for Christ through and in all things. This movie is not meant to entertain rather it is contemplative, it will make you think, & it will move you and inspire you.
This movie is inspired by the true events of the life of Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, who was a conscientious objector, and his wife Fanny, (Franziska) in St. Radegund, Austria during the Anschluss. Franz and Fanny were two ordinary hardworking farmers who lived a simple life in their rural community. From what I’ve looked into it sounds like the director, Terrence Malick, did a good job of staying true to the characters and the story. The scenes of their homeland are breathtaking. Those who live in a rural place as Franz and Fanny did, know the blessing it is, the quiet, the space, the natural beauty and the somewhat immunity from what is going on outside. I think of for example with the covid lock down, I gained a whole new appreciation for rural life. I spent part of it with the Jesuits on the edge of the tiny rural community of Grand Coteau and that rural haven continued on when I got home. In both places I had the luxury of the space for long walks, bike rides, and to just enjoy the outdoors. I know this is not the case for everyone at present so I really am grateful. Of course Franz and Fanny were very much aware of what was going on outside their home too with the war and the rise of Hitler, and slowly it did come to touch and affect their community. There is a scene when Fanny looks up, concerned, hearing a plane flying over reminding her of what is going on outside in the world. It cannot be ignored there is no place to hide and eventually they would have to face it. They couldn’t go back or pretend things weren’t happening.
In our own rural county eventually covid spread, and now we know personally one or more people who have had it. The regulations for safety are being enforced more stringently. Our lives have been turned over as we try and figure out how to live in this “new normal” causing much frustration and worry understandably. I hear often “I can’t wait to go back to normal” or “until we can go back to the way things were this is how it will be.” I’m afraid many are actually waiting and hoping for this, that we will go back. Do we really have the freedom to do that? Do we have the time to do that? Do we really want to go back to exactly the way things were before? The future is unknown, we do not know how long this will all last, we do not know what is to come, it could be better or it could be worse. In this time of uncertainty and frustration who are we leaning on, what and who are we allowing to guide us through all of the unknown? Is it the news channels? Is it the politics, opinions, and covid updates in a Facebook or Twitter news feed?
It is God who holds us yet we have continued to try and control and provide for ourselves to make things as we think they should be. As the gospel above states, “do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.” Our Father in Heaven sees you, all of us. His goodness dwells in each and every one of us and He has a good purpose for our lives and He is working that every moment whether we are ever aware of that or not. He created us to live and make present His love here. We do have more freedom than we realize, we have the freedom to keep living in the present as best we can as God asks us too in all our thoughts, words and actions. We have the freedom to be aware of Him and allow Him to work in and through us. We must choose to lean on and rely on Our Good Father for guidance in these uncertain times. If we're unsure what this means we must start with truly committing ourselves to prayer, listen to God's word in the scriptures, and let go and be lead by that. Don't wait for what we once knew as normal to return, to start living. The world is constantly changing and life moves by and our time here on earth slips away every moment. "Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?" Luke 12:25.
Bl. Franz and Fanny in the midst of WWII Austria, chose to lean entirely on their faith and devotion to Christ to guide them forward during their own trying times. In the movie we see what an ordinary simple life, lived centered on and guided by Christ looks like. Something that struck me was the grand beauty and simplicity of the life of Franz and Fanny Jägerstätter. As I said they were hard working farmers so naturally they already relied heavily on God's providence in their daily lives. They also loved each other “out loud.” In a video interview I watched about the movie it was said that Franz and Fanny in real life were very outwardly affectionate with each other and their daughters which wasn’t something typical for couples at the time. I thought it was incredible and the movie spent a lot of time showing this pure love they had. It almost seemed unreal, unbelievable at first. I wonder if that’s because perhaps in our society that has been somewhat lost in the rush and business of life as we've way over-complicated things. I’m so glad the movie spent so much time showing this especially in a time when divorce rates are higher than lasting marriages. I of course do not know what it is like to be married, but the glimpse I got of what Franz and Fanny had, that is what I would want. It is what all of us hopefully would seek in that sacred sacrament, to be with someone who loves Christ more than you and lives out of the reality of that love. The love of Christ should freely be allowed to permeate every aspect of the relationship. Franz and Fanny had that kind communion with Christ and in turn with each other. Their pure affection spoke “I love you” all the time, but not always with words, through service, touch, smiles, sharing life in work, in rest, in recreation and all.
Another thing that struck me was their great faith and devotion to the Catholic Church. I read elsewhere that Bl. Franz had been much different before he met and fell in love with and married Fanny. He had been wild and unruly and even had fathered a child out of wedlock. His conversion came with his marriage to Fanny. They went on a pilgrimage to Rome soon after they were married and he fell into deep love and devotion for Christ and His Church. This is what your vocation does (or should do when we cooperate with God’s grace in it), it draws you out and you are lead to become more the person God created you to be. It gives you new life. Bl. Franz was so changed that his wife Fanny was even "blamed" for his ultimate decision to object supporting Hitler and this unjust war. Throughout the movie symbols of faith and sacramentals were seen everywhere. I loved seeing the images of Jesus and Mary throughout their farmhouse. They were simple reminders to them of God’s presence consistently with them. Most importantly their faith was shown in how they lived, in their words, in prayers, in how they treated one another and raised their family. I was impressed with Bl. Franz how he sought counsel from his pastor and even the local bishop. Unfortunately, ensnared by fear of the present political powers, their counsel fell very short. But there were other religious at the time who had more fortitude and suffered for it whose stories gave hope to Bl. Franz and their witness guided him in his decision. Bl. Franz and Fanny continued to pray and trust God and with great fortitude stayed true to what their faith clearly told them was right. They loved and supported each other and encouraged each other despite being ridiculed and persecuted by everyone else around them even those in their own church.
The movie has been on my mind all week and this Sunday's gospel just took my reflection further.
“whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Mt. 10:38&39
I saw this plainly with Bl. Franz. This cross was forced upon him by people falling into sin and was beyond his control. He was able to avoid it for some time as he was needed as a farmer at home. His own community though added to the burden, insulting and ridiculing and shunning him and his family for not going along and making an oath to Hitler and the Nazi party. Rather than trying to save face he remained steady and continued to object to what he knew was evil. Eventually he got called up again and this cross was no longer avoidable. He still had a choice. “If God gives us free will we are responsible for what we do….and what we fail to do.” – Franz. He went and with great fortitude quietly refused to make the oath to Hitler with the rest of those enlisted that day and so was sent immediately to prison.
While I was on retreat in March and was reflecting on Jesus taking up and carrying His own cross. I got hung up on Simon who carried the cross with Jesus. As I reflected and used my imagination getting into the scene and the reality of what was going on, I realized okay he likely did not readily embrace the cross, naturally he wouldn’t want to be associated with “a criminal” he likely feared the soldiers knowing what they were capable of. Or, or perhaps he did know what they were doing to Jesus was unjust and wanted no part in "helping" get Jesus to His cruel and ignominious death. He would have understandably been repulsed by what he was being forced to do either way. I thought of crosses in my life and how I have struggled to accept and carry them, how I’ve tended to try to avoid them and go about not living any differently refusing at first to see what God would have me do with them. Eventually I have come around to His grace. When I discussed this with my director, Fr. Ostini, he taught me something very important. He said Christ Himself was repulsed naturally by the Cross. He asked that this cup be taken from him, but ultimately freely desired His Father’s will be done and not His own. Fr. Ostini said many times crosses are put on us by others, by their mistakes or sins against us. So we should be repulsed by these crosses and not run to them, but rather try and avoid them if possible. When we find that they are upon us and cannot be avoided then we get to decide what we do with it. We can be burdened by it, letting it keep us from Christ, or we can freely choose to unite it with Christ and seek His will for how to carry it and follow Him. The cross was forced on Simon, but he still had free will in how he carried it. He could have fought it, or begrudgingly gone along and even in some way made it harder on Jesus, but he is remembered positively in the Gospels. I imagine he chose to allow the grace of Jesus' passion to change his heart to one of true compassion as he was that close to Jesus carrying The Cross.
Bl. Franz knew he had freedom and made a choice in how he would carry the cross forced upon him. He turned and handed his life completely over to the loving hands of Jesus. This line he says in the movie describes that, “When you give up the idea of surviving at any price, a new light floods in. Once you were in a rush always short of time, now you have all you need. Once you never forgave anyone, judged people without mercy. Now you see your own weakness so you can understand the weakness of others.” To me this is spiritual freedom and describes what happens when one “loses their life” for Christ and ends up finding true life in Him. The movie showed how this reality played out in Bl. Franz's life in prison. He prayed constantly, he had compassion for his fellow inmates, he saw them, he let go and didn't hold judgement towards those who chose to go along with the Nazis. You can refuse to condone something without judging or condemning a person and he showed how that is possible. Seeing this play out in the movie I was reminded of Christ and His infinite mercy on all, how He died for all asking for forgiveness on even those who were directly persecuting Him. This changed my perspective on present times. I had been complaining, and frustrated with the challenges we all are facing and have been back and forth about everything. I have been frustrated because the things I desire seem further from my grasp in covid world. I have so much I want to give and be present for. I wanted to celebrate the recent ordinations. I want to be able to celebrate church picnics, weddings and new babies with friends. I want to visit people and places. I want a job that gives me independence. I want to be living out a particular vocation. After this movie I wondered what am I doing? Am I living or am I just sitting here complaining? Who am I living for? Am I leaning on Christ or trying to make my own way through all of this? Yes there are a ton of restrictions, but will I let that keep me from fully living the life Christ is asking me to in the present? When we give up trying to cling to our own life. and place it all in Christ's hands, just living to the full as He would have us do in every ordinary moment, we become free of the rush, worry and time. We may naturally be disappointed or concerned with what we can or cannot do or with the unknown of what is to come, but there is no need to be burdened by it. We must seek to be spiritually free as we share this all with Christ. We can rest in knowing we are giving our best to Jesus in every present moment as we let Him guide our thoughts, words and actions.
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many. Romans 5:15
To read more about Bl. Franz Jägerstätter I recommend this blog post.
https://johnpwalshblog.com/2017/10/26/blessed-franz-jagerstatter-1907-1943-farmer-husband-and-father-conscientious-objector-and-martyr/
Here is the trailer for the movie.
Bl. Franz and Fanny in the midst of WWII Austria, chose to lean entirely on their faith and devotion to Christ to guide them forward during their own trying times. In the movie we see what an ordinary simple life, lived centered on and guided by Christ looks like. Something that struck me was the grand beauty and simplicity of the life of Franz and Fanny Jägerstätter. As I said they were hard working farmers so naturally they already relied heavily on God's providence in their daily lives. They also loved each other “out loud.” In a video interview I watched about the movie it was said that Franz and Fanny in real life were very outwardly affectionate with each other and their daughters which wasn’t something typical for couples at the time. I thought it was incredible and the movie spent a lot of time showing this pure love they had. It almost seemed unreal, unbelievable at first. I wonder if that’s because perhaps in our society that has been somewhat lost in the rush and business of life as we've way over-complicated things. I’m so glad the movie spent so much time showing this especially in a time when divorce rates are higher than lasting marriages. I of course do not know what it is like to be married, but the glimpse I got of what Franz and Fanny had, that is what I would want. It is what all of us hopefully would seek in that sacred sacrament, to be with someone who loves Christ more than you and lives out of the reality of that love. The love of Christ should freely be allowed to permeate every aspect of the relationship. Franz and Fanny had that kind communion with Christ and in turn with each other. Their pure affection spoke “I love you” all the time, but not always with words, through service, touch, smiles, sharing life in work, in rest, in recreation and all.
Another thing that struck me was their great faith and devotion to the Catholic Church. I read elsewhere that Bl. Franz had been much different before he met and fell in love with and married Fanny. He had been wild and unruly and even had fathered a child out of wedlock. His conversion came with his marriage to Fanny. They went on a pilgrimage to Rome soon after they were married and he fell into deep love and devotion for Christ and His Church. This is what your vocation does (or should do when we cooperate with God’s grace in it), it draws you out and you are lead to become more the person God created you to be. It gives you new life. Bl. Franz was so changed that his wife Fanny was even "blamed" for his ultimate decision to object supporting Hitler and this unjust war. Throughout the movie symbols of faith and sacramentals were seen everywhere. I loved seeing the images of Jesus and Mary throughout their farmhouse. They were simple reminders to them of God’s presence consistently with them. Most importantly their faith was shown in how they lived, in their words, in prayers, in how they treated one another and raised their family. I was impressed with Bl. Franz how he sought counsel from his pastor and even the local bishop. Unfortunately, ensnared by fear of the present political powers, their counsel fell very short. But there were other religious at the time who had more fortitude and suffered for it whose stories gave hope to Bl. Franz and their witness guided him in his decision. Bl. Franz and Fanny continued to pray and trust God and with great fortitude stayed true to what their faith clearly told them was right. They loved and supported each other and encouraged each other despite being ridiculed and persecuted by everyone else around them even those in their own church.
The movie has been on my mind all week and this Sunday's gospel just took my reflection further.
“whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Mt. 10:38&39
I saw this plainly with Bl. Franz. This cross was forced upon him by people falling into sin and was beyond his control. He was able to avoid it for some time as he was needed as a farmer at home. His own community though added to the burden, insulting and ridiculing and shunning him and his family for not going along and making an oath to Hitler and the Nazi party. Rather than trying to save face he remained steady and continued to object to what he knew was evil. Eventually he got called up again and this cross was no longer avoidable. He still had a choice. “If God gives us free will we are responsible for what we do….and what we fail to do.” – Franz. He went and with great fortitude quietly refused to make the oath to Hitler with the rest of those enlisted that day and so was sent immediately to prison.
While I was on retreat in March and was reflecting on Jesus taking up and carrying His own cross. I got hung up on Simon who carried the cross with Jesus. As I reflected and used my imagination getting into the scene and the reality of what was going on, I realized okay he likely did not readily embrace the cross, naturally he wouldn’t want to be associated with “a criminal” he likely feared the soldiers knowing what they were capable of. Or, or perhaps he did know what they were doing to Jesus was unjust and wanted no part in "helping" get Jesus to His cruel and ignominious death. He would have understandably been repulsed by what he was being forced to do either way. I thought of crosses in my life and how I have struggled to accept and carry them, how I’ve tended to try to avoid them and go about not living any differently refusing at first to see what God would have me do with them. Eventually I have come around to His grace. When I discussed this with my director, Fr. Ostini, he taught me something very important. He said Christ Himself was repulsed naturally by the Cross. He asked that this cup be taken from him, but ultimately freely desired His Father’s will be done and not His own. Fr. Ostini said many times crosses are put on us by others, by their mistakes or sins against us. So we should be repulsed by these crosses and not run to them, but rather try and avoid them if possible. When we find that they are upon us and cannot be avoided then we get to decide what we do with it. We can be burdened by it, letting it keep us from Christ, or we can freely choose to unite it with Christ and seek His will for how to carry it and follow Him. The cross was forced on Simon, but he still had free will in how he carried it. He could have fought it, or begrudgingly gone along and even in some way made it harder on Jesus, but he is remembered positively in the Gospels. I imagine he chose to allow the grace of Jesus' passion to change his heart to one of true compassion as he was that close to Jesus carrying The Cross.
Bl. Franz knew he had freedom and made a choice in how he would carry the cross forced upon him. He turned and handed his life completely over to the loving hands of Jesus. This line he says in the movie describes that, “When you give up the idea of surviving at any price, a new light floods in. Once you were in a rush always short of time, now you have all you need. Once you never forgave anyone, judged people without mercy. Now you see your own weakness so you can understand the weakness of others.” To me this is spiritual freedom and describes what happens when one “loses their life” for Christ and ends up finding true life in Him. The movie showed how this reality played out in Bl. Franz's life in prison. He prayed constantly, he had compassion for his fellow inmates, he saw them, he let go and didn't hold judgement towards those who chose to go along with the Nazis. You can refuse to condone something without judging or condemning a person and he showed how that is possible. Seeing this play out in the movie I was reminded of Christ and His infinite mercy on all, how He died for all asking for forgiveness on even those who were directly persecuting Him. This changed my perspective on present times. I had been complaining, and frustrated with the challenges we all are facing and have been back and forth about everything. I have been frustrated because the things I desire seem further from my grasp in covid world. I have so much I want to give and be present for. I wanted to celebrate the recent ordinations. I want to be able to celebrate church picnics, weddings and new babies with friends. I want to visit people and places. I want a job that gives me independence. I want to be living out a particular vocation. After this movie I wondered what am I doing? Am I living or am I just sitting here complaining? Who am I living for? Am I leaning on Christ or trying to make my own way through all of this? Yes there are a ton of restrictions, but will I let that keep me from fully living the life Christ is asking me to in the present? When we give up trying to cling to our own life. and place it all in Christ's hands, just living to the full as He would have us do in every ordinary moment, we become free of the rush, worry and time. We may naturally be disappointed or concerned with what we can or cannot do or with the unknown of what is to come, but there is no need to be burdened by it. We must seek to be spiritually free as we share this all with Christ. We can rest in knowing we are giving our best to Jesus in every present moment as we let Him guide our thoughts, words and actions.
A great sense of gratitude overcame me with this. No I can’t see people I would like, but am thankful for time for phone conversations and texts. I’m thankful we can send and share pictures and video of things we can’t all attend. I'm thankful for friends who reached out and gave me a job at Splashway. I'm thankful for the people I get to help and work with every day. I’m thankful to be at home with my parents with the land to walk around and enjoy nature. I'm thankful that I didn't have a regular job over this last year and I had so much time with my niece Aubrey. I'm thankful I had the freedom to make the 30 day spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius this spring. I am thankful Fr. Ostini kept me there in Grand Coteau with him to finish instead of sending me home when things got worse. I’m thankful for more time now to think and pray. I'm thankful for the scriptures and so much more. There are a lot of regulations for attending mass, but I’m so entirely grateful I can still go and receive Jesus daily even if I must wear a mask. The Eucharist is life! At mass yesterday when we had to wear our masks, Romans 8 came to mind (in song form), but here are the scripture verses;
"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
Towards the end of the movie, after Bl. Franz was given his death sentence, his wife Fanny came to visit him in Berlin. Everyone was trying to convince Franz yet again to just change his mind, to just make the oath, to save his life for the sake of his family. Fanny told him, “no matter what I am with you, do what is right, I love you.” This love and encouragement from her gave Bl. Franz an even greater freedom and courage to do what is right. Having the one you love, who loves you supporting you as hard as the situation is goes a long way. She made me think of the Blessed Mother and her constant love and support for her Son Jesus. She supported and loved Him even to the foot of the cross desiring Him to do the greatest good, to do God's will. Can we even fathom what that had to have meant to Christ having His mother there with Him all the way to Calvary? Fanny then kept Franz in her prayers which we hear as he endures his final days in prison before the end. She tells God, “you love him more than I do, give him courage, wisdom and strength.” This is true love wishing the greatest good for another, wishing God’s good for another no matter how difficult it is.
The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. -George Eliot (end quote of the movie)
All throughout the movie the message was reiterated to Bl. Franz that his choice, this one small act of objection to injustice would not make a difference, that no one would know of him beyond his death. There was a message written in German (sprechen verboten) on the prison walls that translated to, “talking forbidden,” which was further desolation in a sense telling Bl. Franz that he was not free that he could do nothing, change nothing, and make no difference. However he knew he was master of his own will and that meant something. He freely chose to bind his heart and soul, his own will to Christ’s will. Now today we see what great grace and blessings has come of his life and his choice to not offend God at all costs. His story is known, it is not hidden and cannot be hidden. He is a martyr and has been beatified by the church. He has inspired countless souls leading them to choose to die to themselves for Christ. We're all called and able by God's grace to live heroic holiness in our own every day ordinary lives. I encourage you to seek this especially now. Foster a greater sense of gratitude by finding the good God has worked and is working for you in all things. Seek to see Christ in all things, all situations and in all people. Freely choose to live as He asks you to in every thought, word and deed. The crosses in your life, pain, suffering and death do not have the final word! This is the victory we're all capable of, made possible by Christ's own overcoming of death on the cross with His Resurrection!
For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
how much more did the grace of Godand the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many. Romans 5:15
To read more about Bl. Franz Jägerstätter I recommend this blog post.
https://johnpwalshblog.com/2017/10/26/blessed-franz-jagerstatter-1907-1943-farmer-husband-and-father-conscientious-objector-and-martyr/
Here is the trailer for the movie.
