The Innocents (2016) joins the ranks of challenging religious films that can push you further from God, or draw you closer to him. Much like suffering itself. Some years back, I became enamored with the work of a respected Jewish-atheist-philosopher-feminist turned Carmelite Catholic nun: Edith Stein, later known as St. Benedicta of the Cross. She remained a…More
Author Archives: Jeffrey Jackson
The Boy and the Cynic: The Old Man that Kills the Inner Child
Children have something we should never lose, they understand what many of us have forgotten: not bogged down by resentment, anxiety, or suspicion, they maintain their innocence. They can still see beauty and order all around them…More
Serenity in Uncertainty: Christian Hope in an Addicted World
A priest once told me, “God requires of us a level of responsibility that we do not want.” This was in response to my grappling with the weight of free will…More
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Masterpiece: Mirror (1975)
Tarkovsky’s deeply autobiographical film chronicles boyhood and the role of art, nature, and country in the absence of fatherhood. The film is overflowing with images that breathe: images of brother, sister, and mother amidst nature, displaying the grace that flows from life. It even stars his actual mother, who floats in and out of frame…More
Despair: The Antithesis of Faith
To despair is to turn your back on God. Despair (the demon of addiction, suicide, and self-destructive behavior) often comes to us in three shapes. I have given these shapes three symbols: the midnight ghoul, the werewolf, and the plague. These three shapes actually have no power over us unless we grant them entry (by…More
Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon
Present within these brilliant, somber frames is a story about the fragility of harmony, civility, and innocence, which wither like a dying flower when decay seeps into a single family or a village. It is a story as old as time; the kind of horror that fills history and fairytales alike.More
The New Babel: A Poem
A fallen city, filled with lost souls The ancient ways stomped out How men became as fiery coals: Used up and full of doubt. “Shut off! Ignore!” (the prayer within)A sense with which God calls All men to repentance from sin“Just feel, feel, feel, then fall!” A thousand years of men, awake Unto their hidden…More
The Art of Hope 