Mtr Mary Trainor

*Bobby: What is it you see out there, Phil? Are animals out there?
Jock: Has anyone else seen what you’ve seen, Phil?
Cricket: George?
Phil Burbank: No, not him.
Bobby: Come on, Phil, what is it? There is something out there, right?
Phil Burbank: Not if you can’t see it, there ain’t.

Dear friend,

“Not if you can’t see it there ain’t.” This is the punchline to a snippet of dialogue from the movie, The Power of the Dog. The conversation occurs when central character Phil Burbank fixes his eyes across open Montana land, into the hills beyond, apparently seeing something invisible, or at least difficult to see, for those with him.

The parish film group, “Meet God at the Movies,” explored The Power of the Dog for theological themes. The quote cited here drew a fair amount of attention: “Not if you can’t see it there ain’t.”

***

The movie discussion, for me, connects to today’s Daily Office Gospel and its talk about the narrow gate: “For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” But the quest is worth the effort, the searching worth the looking, for this narrow gate leads to life.

***

The wide gate is appealing, easy to spot and hard to resist. Requirements to enter are few, if any. Pretty much anything goes beyond that wide gate: cheating, stealing, doing harm of one sort or another. All that is required there is to keep oneself happy.

So, I ask myself, why can’t that be the kingdom life? Perpetual self-absorption. Perpetual self-indulgence. It’s easy to find. No GPS required.

But those who recognize the shepherd’s voice know inherently this gate is not for us. We go where he leads, because what he promises is more than life-giving, it is life itself.

Mtr Mary

*Quote from The Power of the Dog, cited on www.moviequotesandmore.com