6:00pm Potluck Community Dinner
6:30pm Cinema Divina (movie)
8:30pm Discussion
The Innocents (title is other countries: Agnus Dei)
Directed by : Anne Fontaine, 2016; Runtime: 1 h 50 min; PG-13 in USA (for a scene of sexual assault and some bloody images)
Synopsis: (based on real events) Poland, December 1945. A Polish nun asks Mathilde Beaulieu, a young Red Cross intern in charge of caring for French survivors before they are repatriated, to help her. At first reticent, Mathilde finally accepts to follow the nun to her convent, where thirty Benedictine nuns live cut off from the world. She discovers that several of them who had been raped by Soviet soldiers are due to give birth. Little by little, complex relationships form between Mathilde, an atheist and rationalist, and the nuns, commited to the rules of their vocation, which danger, the clandestinity of the treatment, and new dramas will complicate even further.
What is Cinema Divina?
“Video [cinema] divina requires a set disposition which says ‘This evening, I wish to get closer to God so I think I’m going to watch this film which might give me better insights into myself or why my neighbor acts as she or he does….’”
CINEMA DIVINA IS LECTIO DIVINA EXPERIENCE IN FILM.
Daughters of St. Paul developed this helpful outline for "deep viewing":
1. Be attentive. Pay attention to what’s happening outside of you, as well as inside of you as you interact with media (radio, music videos, etc.) What do I see? What do I hear? What do I feel—what attractions, repulsions, inspirations? What emotions are stirred in me? Why? What character(s) do I relate with most? Least? Tell Jesus about these things. Allow Him to look with you at all the positive and negative things you see, inside and out.
2. Be intelligent. What do I think about what I have just seen, heard, felt? Try to articulate the philosophies present or the underlying assumptions and values. What do I think about the characters, personalities, choices, behavior, etc.? About the plot? What bits of information or new insights have I received? Ask the Holy Spirit to give you Knowledge and Wisdom to see things clearly and understand them more deeply.
3. Be reflective. Ponder with God what you have seen, heard, read, felt. Allow questions to surface. Wonder about the things that still don’t make sense. Take time to marvel and appreciate the things that seemed good and true and beautiful. Has it faithfully reflected the reality it attempted to portray? What good did I find in it? And in what way was it good? (artistically, intellectually, emotively, morally, socially, scientifically, etc.) What was bad? What values and nonvalues did I find? How do they compare with the values taught in the Bible and in my Catholic Faith? Has this program, song, article, etc., changed my way of looking at things? Has it broadened my understanding and my imagination? Has it raised new questions in me? Has it made me more sensitive to others’ needs and sufferings? Has it made me less sensitive?
4. Be responsible. What will my response be? What change in my own life might God be calling me to through this song, movie, article, etc.? In what way might God be inviting me to live more fully human (rational, free, loving)? How might He be inviting me to love and serve Him and my fellow human beings more selflessly?