The Road to Perdition and the Kingdom of Heaven
By
Bishop Edward K. Braxton
Tom Hanks' new movie, "Road to Perdition" was not a summer blockbuster like Will Smith’s "Men in Black II" or Austin Power’s "Goldmember." "Road to Perdition" is long and serious. It has no car chases, no crass humor, no startling special effects and no sex. There are several violent scenes, but the violence in them is muted and, like the violence in a Flannery O’Connor story, it is essential to the narrative. Though it may not make a lot of money, the film is quite remarkable and thought provoking, a majestic visual tone poem that makes one think of films from another era like "High Noon" and "Shane." The theme of the film is directly related to the parables of the "Kingdom of Heaven" about which Jesus speaks so powerfully in the Gospel of Matthew. We heard these parables often on Sundays during the summer.
All of the main characters in "Road to Perdition" are Catholics. They go to Mass and Communion on Sundays. They pray, "Bless us O Lord" before their meals. They have crucifixes and images of the Blessed Mother in their homes. But they are also members of a mob of cold-blooded murderers. In a key scene set in a church basement after Mass and Communion, Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) tells mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman), "I’m going to kill your son, Connor, because he murdered my wife and son." Rooney replies nonchalantly, "But we’re all murderers here! The only thing that is certain is that none of us is going to heaven." They are not going to heaven because they are all on the "road to perdition"(another word for hell). They are literally "lost" in their sinfulness and headed in the opposite direction of the Kingdom of Heaven. The director, Sam Mendes, underscores this with scenes of torrential rain, a potent symbol of the baptismal commitments the protagonists have abandoned and the reality of their "paradise lost."
During the lazy days of summer many people want movies that are light, escapist fare. Some may even want Sunday homilies that are equally superficial. This makes it possible to hear Jesus’ many references to the Kingdom of Heaven without ever asking what does He mean. What is He talking about? What is the Kingdom of Heaven? Is the Kingdom of Heaven the Catholic Church? No, it is not. Is it all of the Christian churches working together to spread the gospel? No, it is not. Is it all people of good will who are working for peace and justice in our world, no matter what theire religious beliefs may be? No, it is not. What, then, is the Kingdom? Those readers who have studied the gospels closely are aware of a somewhat surprising fact. Though Jesus speaks of the coming Kingdom or the "reign of God" very often, He never says what it is. Instead, He says that the Kingdom is "in your midst," "within you," and "before you." He then gives us a variety of images and metaphors to convey what the Kingdom is like, but never what it is. It is like seeds of wheat that are almost destroyed by the weeds planted by enemies, like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large bush, like a small amount of yeast that makes the entire loaf of bread rise, like a treasure or a pearl of great value for which one would pay the highest price.
None of these parabolic images tell us what the Kingdom is. They only suggest how valuable it is and its power to grow from something small to something very large. Many scripture scholars and theologians have suggested that from the context of the entire gospel narrative it is evident that the kingdom is ultimately a mystery. It is the mystery of the powerful work of God, a divine "inbreak" into human history in the life, teachings, deeds, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that will ultimately transform human history and the whole world when Christ comes again in glory at the end of time. When we pray in the "Our Father" "thy Kingdom come," we are acknowledging that the kingdom is essentially God’s work and not our own. And while the Church is not itself the Kingdom, the Church and all of her members are called to be a sign of God’s coming Kingdom, the first fruits of the kingdom.
Every Christian, therefore, is called to live a life of faith, hope, and love every day in order to be a credible sign of this Kingdom. It is only by doing this amid the sorrows, joys, frustrations, and dreams of everyday life that we avoid the road to perdition.
Several events in this past year have made us aware of the need for all of us not to assume that we or others are living lives that place our feet on the road to the Kingdom. Indeed, the horrific nature of the events have suggested some may be going in the opposite direction, down the road to perdition.
The first and most shocking of these was the terrible events of one year ago, Sept.11, when four U.S. airplanes were hijacked and turned into human missiles of destruction, killing over 3,000 people in the inferno of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. This unspeakable horror caused an unending nightmare of sorrow for thousands, plunged the nation into shock and led to the war in Afghanistan and an ongoing "war against terrorism." This in turn exacerbated the differences between Islam and Christianity and seemingly intensified the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. In the midst of the smoke, fire, devastation, fear and tears, many Americans said that their lives had been changed forever. Now, a year later, we might ask ourselves, have we changed our lives in such a way as to avoid the road to perdition and follow the road to the Kingdom of Heaven.
A second event was the widespread allegations of corruption and fraud at the highest levels of major corporations like Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen that not only caused the stock market to plunge to all-time lows but also shattered the confidence of investors and made those who are arrested and punished for relatively small time street crime wonder out loud about "white collar" criminals walking away with millions. This has reminded us all of the importance of ethical standards in the world of big business (especially Christians in business) if we are to stay on the right road.
A third event was the rash of news accounts of children being abducted from their homes, abused and murdered. Each account of anxious and then grieving parents was more painful than the one before it. Neighborhoods living in fear and children asking why are these men doing such terrible things. This wanton destruction of the lives of the innocent and the young directly contradicts Christ’s words, "Allow the little children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Perhaps the event that was most immediate to us as Catholics was the allegations, first from the Archdiocese of Boston, and then from dioceses around the country, that perhaps as many as 250 of the nearly 50,000 priests in this country have sexually abused small children and minors. Then came allegations that some priests who were known to have abused children were transferred from parish to parish by their bishops, allowing them to harm yet more innocent young people. Gradually, Catholic people began to realize that they knew, liked and respected some of the offending priests. This forced the realization that these were not always bad priests doing bad things; but in many cases it was good priests doing bad things. It was further revealed that millions of dollars contributed by the faithful for the spread of the gospel might have been spent to compensate the alleged abuse victims. These terrible events and the media coverage of them caused great turmoil in the hearts of Catholics, driving the Church in the United States into the greatest crisis in our history. Exaggerated headlines like, "Can the Catholic Church be saved?" made many people compare the Church to corrupt secular corporations concerned more about image and profits than the welfare of vulnerable children entrusted into the Church’s care. Could some members of the Church itself, called to be a tangible manifestation that God’s Kingdom is at hand, be leading others on the road to perdition?
Pope John Paul II’s summer pastoral visit to America (Toronto, Guatemala and Mexico) brought into our midst one who called himself the "old Pope." His frail, weakened condition was evident in every painful step he took and every hesitant word he uttered. But his heart was full of love for the millions who welcomed him and his words urged us all to stay on the road to the Kingdom. Referring to Sept. 11, he told the participants in World Youth Day, "Last year we saw with dramatic clarity the tragic face of human malice. We saw what happens when hatred, sin and death take command. To believe in Christ means rejecting the lure of sin no matter how attractive it may be." Speaking of the priests who have abused children he said, "Do not let the shame and sorrow caused by the weakness of a few, blind you to the great good done by the majority of priests each day. Stay close to the Church. Stay close to Christ!" As he canonized Mexico’s first indigenous saint, Juan Diego Cuauhlatoatzin, he reminded the vast throngs of their radical Christian identity. "Mexico, always faithful."
Most of the scenes in "Road to Perdition" are filmed in dark shades of gray and black, evoking Depression-era paintings like the bare, desolate canvases of Edward Hopper. By contrast, the final scene shows Michael Sullivan’s son frolicking in the sunshine on a beach. Caught between colliding worlds (perdition and redemption), he has rejected his father’s violence and set his feet on the road to heaven, at least heaven on earth. Today is a very good day to ask yourself down what road you are traveling.
