Easter and the Eucharist

As we enter the last phase of Lent and ready ourselves for Easter, a thought occurred to me last night.

Non-Catholics struggle mightily with the idea of the Eucharist, of Jesus being truly present in the bread and wine turned body and blood. Non-Catholics believe it to be a symbol, not a real sacrifice.

In Exodus, at the original Passover, the Jews had to sacrifice and eat the lamb in order to overcome death. If they sacrificed the lamb but ate only a symbolic lamb, for example lamb shaped cookies as Scott Hahn equates in his book The Lambs Supper, then their firstborns died. Consumption of the lamb was required to be freed from death.

So, Jesus, as the Lamb of God, understood this and is why, Catholics believe, told the apostles during the last supper that the bread was his body and the wine was his blood and to continue this tradition "in memory" of him. Like the original Passover lamb, consuming Jesus would allow us to be freed from death caused by sin.

But, all that aside, Catholics also turn to the Gospel of John for validation of the Eucharist. In this Gospel, prior to his passion, Jesus told thousands of followers that he was the "bread of life" and his "flesh was true food" and his "blood true drink." Non-Catholics believe that Jesus was speaking figuratively, not literally, even though he offers no further explanation to Peter and the Apostles.

The apostles apparently believed Jesus was speaking literally because within one generation of Jesus resurrection what is equivalent to the Catholic mass was already in place (see St. Justin's letter to Antonio Pius).

So, what was the thought that occurred to me last night?

Let's say Jesus WANTED to speak literally, then I would ask Non-Catholics, what SHOULD he have said to communicate his wish other than what he says in John...

I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert,
but they died;this is the bread that comes down from
heaven so that one may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is
my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me and I have life
because of the Father, so also the one who
feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."

If Jesus wanted his flesh and blood to be consumed as a paschal sacrifice, then how else could he have communicated it, what more could he have said? What words was he missing?

Anyway... that's what I was thinking about last night.

Sonlight's Forgiven

As my master plan to kick off Sonlight Pictures evolves I've been steadily tweaking my approach. I've recently been inspired to write a short, intense film called Forgiven about a young woman on her way to join a convent who ends up caught in an brutal hostage situation. During her struggles she must decide whether to follow Jesus' example and forgive her attackers, no matter how abusive they become.

I'm hoping to shoot the short film this year and use it as a "calling card" to raise the necessary capital to shoot the other feature scripts. There are some very interesting web influenced money raising methods that have been gaining traction in the independent film world and I may be able to utilize one of them to help us raise our money for Sonlight's features.

As for the short film, the writing of Forgiven has not been a pleasant one, but it has been inspired. After writing one particularly disturbing scene I threw the notepad onto my desk, looked up to heaven and said angrily, "there, I hope you're happy!" I was not a happy camper.

The story was partially inspired by a missing element in the feature script Severed. Severed, as an action film about martyrdom, requires gun play and the lethal defending of one's life, but the missing Christian element is that of loving your enemy. Try as I did, I could not fit that layer into that popcorn action flick, so I decided to focus that element into the short Forgiven.

As I said, it hasn't been a fun writing experience, but it is apparently a necessary one.

Gators Champs... Again

Congratulations to the Florida Gators for beating another Ohio State team for another National Championship. The Gators beat the Buckeyes 84-75 last night to win the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row.

Once again, it's "great to be a Florida Gator!"

The Illusionist (2006)

The Illusionist is an intriguing and satisfying film about star-crossed lovers, monarchical politics and whether a magician called Eisenheim the Illusionist is just a gifted magician or someone truly conjuring up the darker side of the spiritual realm.

The film stars a group of very talented actors, including Edward Norton as Eisenheim, Paul Giamatti as Inspector Uhl, Jessica Biel as Sophie and Rufus Sewell as Crown Prince Leopold. The story revolves around the troubled love story between Eisenheim and Sophie. Eisenheim is a peasant, Sophie, an aristocrat. Their childhood romance ends badly and Eisenheim disappears for 15 years, only to return possessing with what appears to be supernatural powers.

Sophie's and Eisenheim's paths once again cross and it begins a dangerous and interesting journey full of magic, misdirection, conspiracies and royal abuses of power. The Illusionist is an enjoyable movie filled with strong performances and an intricate, interweaving plot.