The Shoes of the Fisherman

Sometimes we make things way too complicated, and we need someone to help us simplify. The very words we say when trying to make sense of it all, distract us away from the solutions. I have been thinking of how we pass this off with the phrase, "It's complicated", as if that alone will make others understand, and back away.

Loved ones invited us, last night, to view one of the greater films. We made kettle corn, grabbed up our lap blankets, turned down the lights, and set in. This was a long film, but oh-so-worth every single line of every single scene. The film is called The Shoes of the Fisherman. 

We were taken to far away Siberia, where for 20 years a Catholic Archbishop had been condemned to work in the desolate Gulag. The story describes the priest's surprising release and eventual arrival at the Vatican, as a Cardinal. I do not wish to issue an 'alert', and then spoil the movie for you here. So the plot will remain vague for now. 

                     https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmacorig/240716807/

But what I am most thinking of is a conversation I would like to share with you. It is between this priest and a woman doctor in Rome, whose husband may be seeing someone else. This woman doctor runs into the Priest, asks him for help with a dying patient, and sees that he is no ordinary man; no ordinary priest. In a moment of candor, she says,

"Why is my marriage like this? is it wrong for a woman to have a job? is it because we haven’t got any children? Is it because we both live away from our own countries?  And the answer to why my marriage is like this is just, my marriage is like this. We seem to be given our roles. I’m this sort of wife... And what does the man in the long robe say to all of that?"

"Oh, the man in the long robes would have to put it to a pontifical counsel and study the ramifications. But the man inside those robes would have noticed that in all you’ve said, you never mentioned the word ‘love’."

"Do you mean I don’t love him? or I do?"

"Oh I can’t say that, nobody can. There is only one area to search, and, if love is mislaid, where did you see it last? And if you can’t remember, maybe there was no love in the first place."

"Oh - there was."

"Then it is mislaid. and you must find it."

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oter/5093781709/

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmacorig/240716807/">Giampaolo Macorig</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/oter/5093781709/">jcoterhals</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>