26 August 2020
Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Throughout his whole cinematic career, Terrance Malick had overwhelming interest on the theme of paradise. What is it? Where is it? How did we lose it? How can we find it again? In one of his latest films, Song to Song, Malick returns to those same queries, this time in the Austin rock music scene. One of the main characters, BV, is a young singer-songwriter, who has an ambition to make it to the top. BV is soon disillusioned by the music industry after his boss, Cook, gives him a tricky contract. Moreover, Cook has sexual entanglements with BV’s girlfriend, Faye. Frustrated, BV ditches the crowded Austin rock scene for a simple country life where he tends to his sick father and works as a hired hand on an oil rig. In the end, BV reconciles with his girlfriend, Faye. After their reconciliation, every day in the life of Faye and BV is new, like a new creation and everything is transfigured. There is a new paradise and it explains why BV, a handsome and affluent musician would just drop everything he’s doing in his life to start working on an oil rig instead of pursuing his musical career.
In the first reading today, St. Paul said that “if any man will not work, neither let him eat.” St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on St. Paul’s letter to Thessalonians, argued that this passage related to our salvation. According to St. Thomas, whatever is necessary for our salvation is laid down as a simple percept, which includes a percept to work. After the creation, God gave an order to Adam, “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden” (Gen 2:16). Therefore, a man is bound by a percept to nourish his body. After the fall, Adam had to work hard to get food from the earth. Basically, he has to do manual labor to nourish his body. Does that mean that by doing manual labor, we can regain paradise? St. Thomas explains that there are two things that advance our way to salvation: to do good things and to endure bad things. Our works are not good unless they are directed toward love. So, while we are doing our manual labor or any work to nourish our body, we must always remember to do work with the goal of loving God and our neighbor.
We may do simple work in our lives. We may not hold an important position in our workplace. However, at the end of day, we can always ask God to direct our hearts toward the main goal of works, that is, the love of Christ.