The Sorrowful Mysteries

We have HBO and Cinemax until midnight, so I have watched some films, new and old.

This afternoon, the new film Nightingale with David Oyelowo was on. I was unfamiliar with it, and the scene where he is putting on his bowtie seemed to move me in an uncomfortable Norbit way, but I did not know what was going on.

When I understood, I was drawn into the story of a disturbed individual, who reacted in a certain way to a number of traumas in his life. At the very least, the Oyelowo character was a liminal person who seemed to be arrested at certain limens  - or threshholds -   in his life, perhaps at the traumatic times, and revisits them: he moves back and forth in time in a way normal people do not.

The film shows the main character killing his mother. He also makes videos talking about things and posts them on YouTube.I am not sure that that is to be interpreted as actually happening, or as a nightmare that is triggered by his traumatized personality.


One thing was clear: the absolute depths of sadness and sorrow.

So I had three decades of the rosary left to say today. As I have mentioned, sometimes I recite the Hail Mary - English, Latin, Greek, or Arabic - but most of the time I start and just shine in and around the words.
Thus, I finished the rosary with the sorrowful mysteries that the film held, and I started the prayer and let the horrible sorrow take hold for a short time, then repeat.

At the end, David Oyelowo holds an empty rifle and awaits the police to storm his house, and probably shot him. On his final video, he asks everyone watching the video that they will hug their babies as hard as they can...

And I alone saw the Virgin hugging the Child and then - suddenly! - stepping over a future threshold, and straining to embrace Him as He died in front of her.

It moved me on limitless levels of mothers, fathers, and children, and the traumas that diminish us all, and then all the years of effort needed to rebuild.

I thought much of the future, for David Oyelowo is of Yoruba descent, and so is my son-in-law.

Madonna Of Czestechowa

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