Fr Geoff Glaser

Dear Friends,

Last year, my spouse and I headed off to England for a leisurely trip to the birthplace of Anglicanism. For longer trips, airlines usually offer movies and other entertainment for their customers. There are a lot of hours to burn up, so I scrolled through the countless choices and decided to watch a movie. I chose, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

I neither recommend the movie nor will I spoil it for you. The movie itself is no gem at the surface. It didn’t get any attention from The Academy, and it was somewhat predictable. It was a feel-good movie. My spouse would not like this movie because of these facts and many of you would feel the same. I loved it.

You see, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris showcases simple humility and simple joy—things our society has a hard time grasping or even apprehending. So, I am not surprised it received little to zero attention from film critics or The Academy. The Academy Awards are anything but humble. They cater by nature to the vanity in both ourselves and to the actors and actresses for which they are centered around.

Certainly, there are actors and actresses who exhibit humility and play parts which encourage us to be better human beings, including being humble. However, the Awards are by nature congratulatory, even self-congratulatory, and reward ambition and skill, not humility at its finest. Humility does not congratulate itself nor does it seek congratulations. 

Mrs. Harris’ character, at the same time, has exquisite and dreamy tastes in what she wanted to reflect. Later in the movie, she puts on an outfit which reflects who she is. The movie at some level argues how we appear on the outside is reflective of what we value on the inside.

Indeed, outward beauty can be only skin-deep. When I put on my chasuble for the Eucharistic liturgy it is supposed to reflect an inner beauty, a spiritual beauty (of charity)—sometimes I do this well. Sometimes I do not. When we fail to reflect inner beauty and joy we are called to be in the world, we miss out and others do, too. Humility is a lived experience and a daily practice.

St Ignatius of Loyola tells us in The Spiritual Exercises there is great authority in powerlessness. Humility is unconcerned for power for its own sake. This is why most take no notice of humility in a world dominated by the exercise of power. However, I find there is authority in the lived experience of humility, as Christ exemplified himself on the way to the cross.

This Easter, I pray I may practice humility better and for you to consider it in your daily life—like Mrs. Harris.

—Geoff