(This reflection appears in the November 2024 issue of Associate Update newsletter.)

By Sister Nancy Liddy

There is always a celebratory vibration in the room when the Sisters gather for “Movie Night” in the darkened assembly room in St. Ursula Hall.

For almost a decade, Sister Cecelia Joseph “CJ” has poured over Netflix cues, reviews, and our Brescia University Library media collection to find just the right film for this loyal group of moviegoers. Every Friday at 6 p.m., the Sisters arrive right on time with afghans and popcorn. “Movie Night” provides enjoyable entertainment after a long day of work, but many of the films and documentaries have also sparked insightful conversation in the days that follow. The very best of the movie picks inspire, encourage, and leave us filled with hope.

Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendoca, known as the resident poet at the Vatican, urges his biblical students to see many movies to discover the spiritual life in unexpected places. Pope Francis has said, “A priest must see films because a priest must be an expert in humanity.” Movies help us come face to face with a world outside our own concerns and interests – it is an invitation to a new experience.

The Sisters seem to prefer movies based on true stories that help them enter another person’s life or the life of another group. They have discovered that movies allow us to create relationships of empathy and to “understand the complexity of the human soul” because our experiences of humanity are limited. “True wisdom,” Pope Francis explains, “must have the ability to speak to everyone.”

Something to Consider

As we approach Thanksgiving and enter into the Season of Advent, we might consider watching or rewatching the beautiful film, “Babette’s Feast,” perhaps the only movie ever mentioned in a Papal Encyclical.

How did the characters in “Babette’s Feast” navigate their own spiritual journeys?

How did I gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the human condition from the film?