09/20/2021 – What a movie! – Check out : “Life is Beautiful” – 1997 – Roberto Benigni – Italian with English subtitles on Amazon Prime.
This connects directly with yesterday’s post – The Lord directing me to post The “Here and Now” Excerpt from Henri Nouwen’s book , the section within Chapter two titled : “Surprised by Joy”. God’s love trumps the Devil’s tragic sorrow every time. In a time that His remnant church is approaching global persecution, we have a wonderful opportunity to give the glory to the Lord through our suffering as the family portrayed in this movie. Through all the suffering, this film puts a joy on your face from all the love.
Within his acceptance speeches for the academy awards best foreign film and best actor, Benigni quoted the last line of “Dante Comedy”:
“The last line of the Divine Comedy, in which Dante is faced with the vision of God himself, is a sentiment that is still easily understandable by anyone familiar with so-called modern Italian. Dante writes that God is not merely a blinding vision of glorious light, but that He is , most of all, l’amour che move il sole e l’altre stelle…” , or “The love that moves the sun and the other stars.”.
We are resolved to maximize our use of these tools, and to turn off the media’s “sorry sadness shock routine ” that seeks to paralyze us in fear. The devil and his minions are going down. We know we have already won, but this closing window of opportunity must be seized. “Carpe Diem!” Do not fear the devil and his minions; the Holy Spirit dwells within us as Christians! Engage evil. (See: Matthew 10:28 / Ephesians 6:13 / Luke 6:26 )
Soli Deo Gloria!
Love,
Jimmy