Posted: December 13

Applause is good

(Rome) Loyola seems so far away, although it is still raining as much here as it was in Spain. You might remember that I attended the meeting of major superiors from all over the world who were gathered at the shrine built around the birthplace of St. Ignatius. In the evening after supper I introduced the movie that we created to celebrate the Jubilee Year 2006: "A.M.D.G. – A World Is Not Enough." I was nervous at first, although not as much as I was back at Saint Louis University when I premiered movies I had made in the old Super 8 mm film format. Since I have visited so many of the provincials in the past five years, I felt very comfortable talking to them; and I was very sure of the quality of the movie that Loyola Productions had made.

The key point of the introduction was that this movie was extraordinary in that it shows the Society of Jesus all over the world, and it will be available in multiple languages. So we wanted to make a film that was more visual than verbal, and hence avoided the normal practice of interviewing experts who would talk about the Jesuits. Instead we wanted to show the Jesuits as they live out the themes that Father General suggested Ignatius Loyola, Peter Faber and Francis Xavier represent. Afterwards it became clear that this was an important distinction. In any case, they applauded enthusiastically at the end. Even more important to me, they reacted just right at each moment in the movie where I expected a reaction. I also heard comments in the dark as different provincials recognized men from their own provinces. Loyola did an excellent job of collecting material from Jesuit movie-makers all over the world and then editing it together into a coherent whole. Cecilia Guerero is the Loyola editor who performed this magic, and she deserves a lot of the credit for the movie's quality.

A key part of the movie's impact comes from the emotion that flows through it. There is a strong sense of pride, and a feeling of mission. It is very idealistic, in a good sense, and represents the ideals that these first Jesuits lived out. People wanted to be part of that 500 years ago, and it still has a power to attract. So much has changed over those centuries, yet the desire remains to serve God who enters our lives and invites us to actively search for the Kingdom.

Even though I only spent two days at Loyola, I was able to gather some photographic reference for painting. The mountains in that part of northern Spain are beautiful, especially with the rich fall colors. The overcast days just set everything in a low key, but the colors remain saturated. So now I am at work on a new painting of a hillside with fallen leaves. The amazing thing is how green the grasses are even though the leaves are gold and red-brown. Fun, fun, fun.