Fourth Wednesday of Advent

12/23, Fourth Wednesday of Advent

A child shall be born for us,

and he will be called God, the Almighty;

every tribe of the earth shall be blest in him.

Two things that stand out here for me.  First, the reminder of the juxtaposition of the Almighty God coming as a lowly baby.  Second, every person shall be blest.  Sometimes we forget that all people are called to be Christian.  We try not to talk about it because we do not want to offend others.  There's another religion that has no such qualms and is growing much faster because of it.  If only we had their zeal, without the methods of forced conversion.  God, the Almighty, came in peace as a baby for all people.  We should likewise spread His message in peace and love to all peoples.

O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Savior of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.

Fourth Tuesday of Advent

12/22, Fourth Tuesday of Advent

O gates, lift high your heads; grow higher ancient doors.

Let him enter, the king of glory!

Our Eternal King is coming, are we open to him?  Have we chosen to accept or reject Him?  This is something I often wonder about atheists and others who reject the Gospel message.  Are they deliberately closed to hear the Good News?  What can we do to help them be open to it?  Ultimately we are reminded that it is a personal choice.  Whether we like it or not, God is there, waiting to enter into our hearts.  It is our choice to accept or reject Him.  What are we Christians doing during the Advent season to embrace God in our lives and in our hearts?

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart;

O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from dust.

Fourth Monday of Advent

12/21, Fourth Monday of Advent

The Lord and Ruler will be coming soon,

and his name will be called Emmanuel,

because he will be God-with-us.

Do we ever stop to think about the true meaning of Emmanuel, God-with-us?  That God came lowered Himself, taking the body of a man, to live with us?  That He was like us in all things save sin?  What an immense concept!  So difficult to truly comprehend all that that means.  But that is what we are anticipating this week.  God came to be with us, and He will again.

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:

come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

12/20, Fourth Sunday of Advent

Drop down dew from above, you heavens,

and let the clouds rain down the Just One;

let the earth be opened and bring forth a savior.

To start off the final week of Advent, we have some beautiful imagery in the entrance antiphon.  There are few things more beautifully peaceful than a dew covered field early in the morning.  For a long time it has been an important part of my prayer life to pray in nature as a created being.  Not treading too close to a different spirituality, I think it is good to recognize nature as part of God's beautiful creation.  But more stunning is the Savior who became human so that we might commune with God on a more deep level in Heaven.  May we all strive to meet Him there.

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of heaven:

come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;

and lead your captive people into freedom.

Third Saturday of Advent

12/19, Third Saturday of Advent

He who is to come will come and will not delay,

and now there will be no fear within our land,

for he is our Savior.

There is so much fear today.  I get it.  Terrorism is a real issue, and we need to be doing more to stop the violence before it starts.  We can come up with all kinds of grand human plans.  Create this law.  Join this coalition.  Destroy this city.  All of it is moot without God.  He is the answer to our fear.  Have we learned nothing from the persecuted Christians in the Middle East and Africa?  Those who have willingly become martyrs for the faith?  Only God can overcome the fear and oppression we see today.

O Flower of Jesse's stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;

kings stand silent in your presence;

the nations bow down in worship before you.

Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

Third Friday of Advent

12/18, Third Friday of Advent

Christ our King is coming,

he is the Lamb foretold by John.

This is quite the antiphon!  Here we have the two great ends of the spectrum.  Christ is the King of kings.  The greatest.  Christ is also the Sacrificial Lamb.  The lowest.  We anticipate the coming of this great mystery.  How and why would God, the All-Powerful, humble Himself first to come as a lowly baby human, and then offer Himself as the Eternal Sacrifice?  What Great Love is this?  Human minds cannot comprehend. 

O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain:

come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

Third Thursday of Advent

12/17, Third Thursday of Advent

Rejoice, O heavens, and exult, O earth,

for our Lord will come to show mercy to his poor.

This makes me think of a discussion I came upon the other day.  How can inanimate objects praise God?  Philosophically, a being is doing good simply by fulfilling its purpose.  So a tree, by growing and providing food or shelter for animals, is good.  In that way you could say it is praising God.  This follows, then for humans.  If we fulfill our purpose we are doing a good and praising God.  So what is our purpose?  To do good works and to praise God.

Today, December 17, begins the O Antiphon octave before Christmas.  Today's is:

O Wisdom , O holy word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet gentle care.

Come and show your people the way to salvation.

Third Wednesday of Advent

12/16, Third Wednesday of Advent

The Lord will come and he will not delay.

He will illumine what is hidden in darkness

and reveal himself to all the nations.

I cannot help it, I must link this to today's first reading (Isaiah 45: 6-8, 18, 21-25).  "I am the Lord, there is no other..."  God reveals Himself to us if we but look and do not close our eyes.  This is why I cannot understand scientists and other "intellectuals" who reject God.  The intricacies and perfectness of nature cannot be explained by mere chance.  There must be a plan.  In philosophical terms, there must be a First Cause.  After all (in a poor attempt to summarize Aquinas), whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another, this cannot be something like itself for that would create an infinite regress, so there must be a First Mover (Cause), and that is God.  If we returned to the basics of education, there would be less doubt about the existence of God, the One who  illumines the darkness.

Third Tuesday of Advent

12/15, Third Tuesday of Advent

Behold, the Lord will come, and all his holy ones with him;

and on that day there will be a great light.

This made me think of one of the good messages from IPF (that was not talked about enough).  If you ask someone, priests included, how they want to be remembered or what they want to be, most will say "I just want to be a good person."  That's not enough!  Our goal should be to be saints.  "That does not sound humble."  Humility has nothing to do with it.  We should all be striving to be saints so that we can spend eternity with God.  That's all that really matters.

Third Monday of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross

12/14, Third Monday of Advent/St. John of the Cross

May I never boast,

except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

through which the world has been crucified to me,

and I to the world.

I am a prideful person.  If I do not watch it, I can think too highly of myself and begin to look down on others.  Sometimes I need to, and am, humbled.  Sometimes I need to be reminded that it all comes from God.  Anything good I do, or happens to me, is not from myself but from God.  What is more humbling than the Son of God willingly accepting the humiliating death on the cross?  And so it is that we should all humble ourselves before the Cross, and proclaim the glory of His Ultimate Sacrifice.

Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete!

12/13, Third Sunday of Advent

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.

Indeed, the Lord is near.

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico gaudete.

Rejoice, for the Lord has come, and He will come again!  Jesus is present to us every day if we just seek Him.  He is present in our actions.  He is present when we love one another.  He is present when we read the Bible or pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  Most importantly, He is present, Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity, every day in the Eucharist.  Do we take advantage of it?  Do we reverence it as the True Presence of God among us?  Rejoice!  The Lord has come, and He will come again!

Christmas Music

It's almost the third Sunday of Advent (or it is depending on where you are), so I thought it's about time I delve into Christmas stuff.  I love Christmas.  The music and movies are some of my favorite of the year, and I'd be lying if I said I never dusted this stuff off during the rest of the year.  I thought I would start with Christmas music, and maybe get into some of the movies later.

First, I have a couple of "Best of" playlists/CDs.  The first is a secular music type list while the second is full of more religious songs.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Vaughn Moore

Frosty the Snowman - The Beach Boys

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Bing Crosby

I'll Be Home For Christmas - The Beach Boys

Deck The Halls - Bing Crosby

(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays - Perry Como

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Johnny Mathis

Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms

Sleigh Ride - Boston Pops, Arthur Fiedler

Jingle Bells - Sammy Davis Jr.

All Alone On Christmas - Darlene Love

Here Comes Santa Claus - The Andrews Sisters

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry

Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry

'Round and 'Round the Christmas Tree - Bing Crosby

Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby

Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Mel Torme

Carol of the Bells - Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart

Silver Bells - Martina McBride

The Christmas Waltz - Nancy Wilson

O Tannenbaum - Nat King Cole

Christmas Lights - Coldplay

Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

White Christmas - Bing Crosby

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - The Carpenters

Religious Songs:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - BarlowGirl

Good Christen Men, Rejoice - The Cambridge Singers

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day - The Carpenters

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bing Crosby

Angels We Have Heard on High - The Cambridge Singers

Good King Wenceslas - Bing Crosby

I Wonder As I Wander - Jewel

Coventry Carol - King's College Choir

Star of Bethlehem - John Williams

Do You Hear What I Hear? - Carrie Underwood

O Little Town of Bethlehem - Ella Fitzgerald

I Saw Three Ships - Nat King Cole

Away In A Manger - Martina McBride

O Holy Night - Nat King Cole

Ave Maria - The Priests

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - The Cambridge Singers

Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

Panis Angelicus - The Priests

Silent Night - Bing Crosby

What Child Is This? - Martina McBride

The First Noel - Ella Fitzgerald

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Frank Sinatra

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Frank Sinatra

Adeste Fideles - Luciano Pavarotti

Ding Dong! Merrily on High - The Cambridge Singers

Joy To The World! - Faith Hill

We Three Kings of Orient Are - The Beach Boys

Must Have Christmas Albums:

(Popular Singers)

Bing Crosby

The Carpenters Christmas Collection

Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

Martina McBride - White Christmas

Amy Grant - Home for Christmas

Christmas with The Beach Boys

Christmas with the Rat Pack

A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector

Jewel - Joy: A Holiday Collection

Faith Hill - Joy to the World

(Band/Orchestra)

Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler - A Christmas Festival

Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart - Holiday Pops

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

(Choirs)

The Cambridge Singers - multiple

The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos - Chant Noel

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

12/12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as a "Holy Day of Obligation" in Texas (it's guaranteed there will be more people at Mass today than on the Immaculate Conception, which is good and bad).  I knew little about Our Lady of Guadalupe before last year.  After seeing just how big a deal it was in Houston, I figure I should learn more.  It is a fascinating story, particularly the rapidity of the spread of the Church in Mexico after the apparitions.  Thousands of conversions each day.  No wonder she is the Patroness of the Americas.  The symbolism contained in the image is marvelous as well.  But perhaps we need to remember that, as she says, her importance is only to point us to her son.  It is right to love and honor Mary, but we should always remember to do so only in the context of our love and praise to Jesus.

Second Friday of Advent

12/11, Second Friday of Advent

Behold, the Lord will come

descending with splendor to visit his people with peace,

and he will bestow on them eternal life.

We all say that we want peace.  But do we really mean it?  And how do we achieve peace?  The answer is right in front of us.  The Lord is the only true path to peace.  He is the Prince of Peace.  Everything else will fall short, because everything else is human and therefore imperfect.  That is not so say we should not strive for peace.  Just that it is all for naught without the Lord.

Second Thursday of Advent

12/10, Second Thursday of Advent

You, O Lord, are close, and all your ways are truth.

From of old I have known of your decrees, for you are eternal.

As much as I am tired of philosophy, I do have to admit it has given me quite a bit of ammunition to fight the greatest scourge we face today.  No, not Islam.  Moral relativism.  This can lead to a much longer post, but I will keep it short.  "The truth is whatever you want it to be."  How easy to defeat by using just a little bit of logic to show its absurdity!  But then again, many people have thrown logic out too.  The good news is, God is all Truth.  If we stick close to Him, we stick close to the Truth.  That is always an admirable goal.

Second Wednesday of Advent

12/9, Second Wednesday of Advent

The Lord will come and he will not delay.

He will illumine what is hidden in darkness

and reveal himself to all the nations.

This is the hope we have to keep in the face of all the evil in the world.  When things look like they're tumbling down around us, say after the terrorist attack in Paris or 9/11, remember that God ultimately is the victor over all the nations.  It can be difficult to think of the long term, especially in such an instantaneous gratification society, but Christianity has always been a religion of the long view.  After all, we are not living for this life, but for eternal life.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

12/8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception

I rejoice heartily in the Lord,

in my God is the joy of my soul;

for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation,

and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,

like a bride adorned with her jewels.

After thinking about this antiphon for a bit, I was struck by the parallels of the couplets in the first four lines.  First, we rejoice because of God's joy.  Next, we have salvation thanks to God's justice.  I think this is particularly important as we begin the Year of Mercy to remember that mercy (salvation) is necessary within the context of God's justice.  If there were no possibility of judgment, no possibility of divine wrath, there would be no need for mercy.  Returning to Sunday, how are we rejoicing in the joy God has given us?  And, how are we remaining worthy of salvation in the face of divine justice?

A quick reminder: today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States.  This is perhaps the most confusing or confused feast.  This is not the conception of Jesus (it's only 17 days before His birth, c'mon people).  That in fact would be the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, or 9 months before December 25.  Today we celebrate the conception of Mary, the Mother of God, conceived without sin for she must be without sin in order to be the Mother of God.

Second Monday of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose

12/7, Second Monday of Advent/Memorial of St. Ambrose

In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth,

and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding

and clothed him in a robe of glory.

This is a bit off topic from Advent, maybe, but this antiphon makes me think of a common fear for those thinking of the priesthood.  "I cannot do this; how I could I do this?"  The common response is, "when the time comes, God will give you the inspiration you need."  To some that is a comfort, to others it just adds to the doubt.  It makes me reflect upon instances where I have been sure of the Holy Spirit influencing my words in a situation where I was not sure what to say.  The answer is prayer.  The more in-tune we are with God, the more He will be able to guide us in those most difficult times to wisdom and understanding.

St. Ambrose, patron of livestock, bishops, and students; Ora Pro Nobis

Second Sunday of Advent

12/6, Second Sunday of Advent

O people of Sion, behold,

the Lord will come to save the nations,

and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard

in the joy of your heart.

Do we have joy in our heart?  Is it heard when we sing the Gloria, Hosanna, or any other song to God?  This is, I believe, one of the great sins of bad liturgy.  It pains the ears when a congregation gives no effort to the songs of the Mass.  It should be reflecting the Heavenly Liturgy!  Sing out and mean it!  On a larger scale, joy should infuse everything we do.  I know I am not the best at showing it, but that, as my dad says, is no excuse.  Let us all share the joy the Lord has given us in all that we do, especially during this Advent season as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Bond...James Bond

Until recently I was not a huge fan of James Bond.  The first Bond movie I watched (in the theater) was Tomorrow Never Dies.  I saw most of those that came after it (except, thankfully, Die Another Day, in the theater).  Finally about four years ago I finally decided to watch all the movies in a month long marathon.  There was a bit of overload, particularly in the middle, but I definitely liked a good deal of the movies.  Now that I have finally seen Spectre, I wanted to finalize my list of Bond movies.  I think most of them fall into pretty strong categories, so that's how I'll rank them.  But first, the definitive rank of Bond himself.

1.  Sean Connery (the original and still the ultimate)

2.  Timothy Dalton (I feel most of the hate for him is because people weren't ready for his take.  In many ways he ways Daniel Craig before Craig.)

3.  Daniel Craig (I have problems with many of his movies, but still I like him as the character)

4.  Pierce Brosnan (much better than the scripts he had to work with)

5.  George Lazenby (not a great actor)

6.  Roger Moore (cannot stand him, way too comedic)

Aces

1.  From Russia with Love  (as close to perfect Bond as possible)

2.  Casino Royale

3.  Goldfinger

4.  On Her Majesty's Secret Service  (the surprise of the series for me)

Solid

5.  GoldenEye

6.  License to Kill

7.  Spectre  (lots of great action scenes, a decent story)

8.  The Living Daylights

9.  Tomorrow Never Dies  (probably higher on my list than most people because it was my first)

10.  Thunderball

Good

11.  You Only Live Twice

12.  Skyfall  (can't get past the overly contrived villain plan)

13.  The Spy Who Loved Me

Not Terrible

14.  Dr. No

15.  The World Is Not Enough

16.  Never Say Never Again

17.  Diamonds Are Forever

No Thanks

18.  Quantum of Solace

19.  Roger Moore

20.  Die Another Day  (so bad I could not finish it)

Bond Songs

1.  Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)

2.  You Know My Name (Chris Cornell, Casino Royale)

3.  You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra

4.  Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney & Wings)

5.  Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon, The Spy Who Loved Me)

6.  For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)

7.  Another Way To Die (Jack White & Alicia Keys, Quantum of Solace)

8.  Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Dionne Warwick, Thunderball)

9.  If You Asked Me To (Patti LaBelle, License to Kill)

10.  Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)

11.  Surrender (k.d. lang, Tomorrow Never Dies)

12.  Skyfall (Adele)

13.  GoldenEye (Tina Turner)

14.  The World Is Not Enough (Garbage)

15.  Thunderball (Tom Jones)

16.  All Time High (Rita Coolidge, Octopussy)

17.  License to Kill (Gladys Knight)

18.  Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)

19.  If There Was A Man (The Pretenders, The Living Daylights)

20.  Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)

21.  The Man With The Golden Gun (Lulu)

22.  We Have All The Time In The World (Louis Armstrong, On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

23.  Die Another Day (Madonna)

24.  The Living Daylights (a-ha)

25.  From Russia With Love (Matt Monro)

26.  A View To A Kill (Duran Duran)

27.  Where Has Everybody Gone? (The Pretenders, The Living Daylights)

28.  The Experience of Love (Eric Serra, GoldenEye)

29.  Writing's On The Wall (Sam Smith, Spectre)

Bond Composers

1.  John Barry

2.  David Arnold

3.  Thomas Newman

4.  Michael Kamen

5.  Bill Conti

6.  Monty Norman

7.  Eric Serra

8.  Marvin Hamlisch

9.  George Martin

First Saturday of Advent

12/5, First Saturday of Advent

Come and show us your face, O Lord,

who are seated upon the Cherubim, and we will be saved.

Why do we eagerly await the coming of the Lord?  Because only through Him can we be saved.  There is no other path.  That is not to say that good people of other faiths cannot make their way to heaven, only that the only way to reach heaven is through the Lord.  That might sound contradictory, but only if we only think of things on the human, present level.  There is always that hope for recognition at the very end.  That does not excuse us, now, from doing everything we can to reach out to God so that He might be revealed to us now for our eternal salvation.  And so we wait.

First Friday of Advent

12/4, First Friday of Advent

Behold, the Lord will come

descending with splendor to visit his people with peace,

and he will bestow on them eternal life.

Right here in three sentences we have the true importance of Advent and Christmas.  We are waiting for Christ's coming.  Both His first coming on Christmas, and His second coming.  But why is Christmas really important?  Being born is not something in itself especially important.  By that I mean all humans (who do not die before birth) are born.  What is truly important is His death.  He died to grant us eternal life.  So while we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus, we should have at least a small remembrance that we are celebrating the Birth of He Who Saves Us So That We May Have Eternal Life.

Memorial of Francis Xavier

12/3, First Thursday of Advent/Memorial of St. Francis Xavier

I will praise you Lord, among the nations;

I will tell of your name to my kin.

One of the most important things we can do as Christians is evangelize.  That's a word that usually makes me think suspicious things because often it is done incorrectly.  This antiphon sums up where evangelization should start: at home.  Are we sharing the Gospel with our families?  Are we passing down the Good News to our children?  I am happy to say that my oldest nephew just had his first Confession and will soon have his first Holy Communion.  He has been enthusiastic about it, which makes me especially happy.  The other nieces and nephew are not too far behind.  It is our duty to spread Christianity, but it has to start with our families, and what better time than Advent as we all anticipate the coming of our Lord?

First Wednesday of Advent

12/2, First Wednesday of Advent

The Lord will come and he will not delay.

He will illumine what is hidden in darkness

and reveal himself to all the nations.

I cannot help but think of sin and Confession.  We all try to hide our sins.  We try to bury them in darkness.  Confession helps us to shed a light on them so we can deal with them.  And even if we do not want to, when it is our time to be judged, Christ will illumine those that have been hidden in darkness.  The answer is, first, to avoid sin as much as possible.  But since we are human and thus imperfect, the second answer is frequent Confession.  Then, with God's grace, the light will not burn as hot when we are called before the Lord.

First Tuesday of Advent

12/1, First Tuesday of Advent

Behold, the Lord will come, and all his holy ones with him;

and on that day there will be a great light.

As I was reflecting on this I kept coming back to the word "light."  It is an important concept throughout Christian life and liturgy.  In particular I was thinking of the "ideal" of a church, at least from the Gothic perspective.  The church entrance (narthex) was intentionally dark and enclosed.  You would then walk into the body of the church (nave) which was wide open and bright as possible.  This was one of the reasons for the abundance of stained glass windows.  The point was the overwhelming symbolism of walking from the darkness of everyday life into the light of the Lord.  Let us remember that the Mass is always there to provide light to what can often be a difficult life.

First Monday of Advent, Feast of St. Andrew

11/30, Feast of St. Andrew

Beside the Sea of Galilee,

the Lord saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew,

and he said to them:

Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.

This type of reading or antiphon has a special meaning to me now in the seminary.  It is all about listening to God's call.  That is something important to remember, our vocation is a call from God that we must follow.  There is choice involved, there must be or no free will, but it must first be a call from God.  The other part of it is that we are all called to be fishers of men.  The majority of the "work" is done by lay people in their everyday lives.  The best way we can effectively "haul in a big catch" is by living out good Christian lives.  A good witness is much more effective than a forceful hand.

First Sunday of Advent 2015

I decided for Advent I wanted to try a daily reflection based on the entrance antiphon for the day.  Hopefully I will keep up with this.

11/29, First Sunday of Advent:

To you, I lift up my soul, O my God.
In you, I have trust; let me not be put to shame.
Nor let my enemies exult over me;
and let none who hope in you be put to shame.

There is a lot to take in here, but what stood out to me was the third line, and in particular the word "enemies."  Who are our enemies?  Today it might be easy to retort with someone we know personally, or the Islamic State, but I think we have to look broader.  Our enemies are those who oppose the Truth, or those who preach a truth other than the Truth.  This takes in a lot of people, but perhaps that is the point.  We must believe and trust that if we hold fast to the Truth, and continue to lift up our souls to God, our enemies will not exult over us.  That is why Christ came before, and why we remember that He will come again.

Remembering Remembrance Day

Hopefully no one reading this has to be told why today is important.  97 years ago, Germany agreed to an Armistice to end the Great War.  Around the world, we remember those who fought with Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day, or Veteran's Day. 

In light of this, I wanted to shed some light on movies depicting the Great War.  For some reason, this war has been largely overlooked, particularly when compared to the Second World War.  Nevertheless, there are some good ones out there.  I am looking at these as World War I movies, not just as movies themselves.  Hence, the ranking here might not reflect how good they are in a general category of movies.

1.  Paths of Glory (1957)

            One of only two Stanley Kubrick movies (Spartacus) that I recommend.  It is a haunting look at some of the issues that go on behind the scenes in war.  As a strictly anti-war film, it is almost more like a Vietnam movie, though it was made well before Vietnam was a full-blown conflict for Americans.

2.  All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

            Based on the quintessential World War I book, it also has a strong anti-war bent.  It is particularly adept at showing the influence of propaganda.

3.  Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

            The best movie on the list, it's a few notches down since it is only tangentially connected to the greater war.  Still, it is a good look at an area of the war that is sometimes forgotten though perhaps most relevant for us today, given the importance of Arabia and the former Ottoman Empire.

4.  Sergeant York (1941)

            Yes, there is a bit of camp, but I still like this depiction of the war.  It's the only truly pro-war movie on this list (if you can't tell from the poster), so for that it is more like a World War II movie (which makes sense given its release date).  Surprisingly little of the movie actually takes place during the war, which maybe is appropriate given how little America played a role in it.

5.  War Horse (2011)

            What some people call overly sentimental, I call an interesting look at the war from multiple angles.  The horse charge is a dramatic example of the changing modernity of war during this time.

6.  Legends of the Fall (1994)

            Perhaps the movie on this list where the war is least important, but still it shows the effect war can have on a family.  A good movie, despite Brad Pitt (I say that quite a bit).  I might add that, as much as I love John Williams' score for War Horse, this has by far the best score on the list.

7.  Passchendaele (2010)

            The only truly bad movie on this list.  Poorly made, poorly acted, and few war scenes.  At least Canada tried.

Of note:  I grew up loving The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, particularly the episodes during the war, both in Europe and in Africa.  For a TV show, it's still pretty good.

Movies I need to see:

Joyeaux Noel (heard many good things about it)

Wings (the first Best Picture Oscar winner)

Gallipoli (with Mad Max a movie that put Mel Gibson on the map)