Nishii 1

Rina Nishii

Dr. Weldmier

LIB 135-03

8 Oct. 2018

Visible Sign of Invisible Grace

Dazzling white sunlight waves like curtains and illuminates the earth through the breaks

in the big clouds. Meanwhile, the light emphasizes the long dark shadows falling on the ground

as if it compares the darkness in the human world and the sacredness in God’s Kingdom. In an

Irish town where such a spiritual sight spreads, a drama film Calvary depicts seven days of hope

and despair of Catholic priest Father James in a small church. One day, Jack, a man visiting the

church, says to James, “I’m going to kill you, Father… [in a week],” to release pent-up anger in

his early experience that he had been raped by another priest for several years. Then, James is

distressed at the lost faith of the villagers, even skeptical feelings against the faith. However, this

film encourages viewers to looks at the world “sacramentally” in Catholicism through the scenes

depicting tangible things which communally help other people get closer to Jesus, such as a

conversation between a Catholic woman and Father James, his self-sacrifice, and forgiveness

from a James’ daughter Fiona. In contrast, Evangelical authors like Norman Geisler and Ralph

MacKenzie would criticize these Catholic sacramentalities because they will focus on a personal

relationship with God rather than group relationship.

The first significant scene that depicts mediation between God and James is that Teresa, a

woman whose husband has gone, tells James at an airport that she will go back to her home

where she is unwilling to go home, but she wants to return her husband’s body nearly his family

when James attempts to give up a priest role which encourages people to get closer to God and
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leave for Dublin for protecting himself from Jack. Although she expresses sympathy toward

James because his church was burned down, she does not persuade him to take his role.

However, her voice somehow including her determination changes his attitudes and lets him

decide to meet Jack on the seventh day of murderous notice. At the same time, this mediation

ultimately leads to Father James death because he is shot down by Jack on the day despite the

fact that God’s grace in Catholicism is an experience of love, not death. Therefore, some viewers

might suspect whether her voice is truly God’s voice, but I suppose Teresa’s voice represents

exactly visible sign of invisible grace. Before James dies, he meets and talks with a villager who

feels a sense of disassociation in the world. James’ thoughtful words move the man to tears and

help him reach out to God’s grace. In other words, Teresa’s mediation causes people to act

communally toward one another, so there would be no problem to consider it as sacramental

beyond just the seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.

The second important scene showing the sacramentality in the world is that James’ self-

sacrifice behavior when he goes to a beach without weapons to talk with Jack with murderous

intent and meets a painfully tragic death by being shot in his head. In this scene, as a priest,

James tries to save the irrational and insane man in deep hopelessness by showing him God’s

invisible grace through his perceptible voice and existence. This will absolutely represent

unconditional love without seeking any rewards, purely considering the other person. Thus,

James’s behavior can be considered to metaphorically express Agape. If James has a gun and

points it at Jack, what impressions do the viewers have? They may interpret the scene as that

James fearfully and unwillingly appears in front of Jack because he has no choice but to play a

priest role. Showing his hostile reaction toward the person who irrationally keeps hostile attitude

against him seems a very common human behavior, so in this case, the scene will not create as a
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sacramental worldview as the one with James without guns. If parents having a gun listen to their

children's unreasonable complaint, can people feel the love there? Similarly, viewers will not feel

Agape if James has a weapon that can hurt others while trying to heal the emotional damage that

Jack had during his abusive childhood. Therefore, James’ action symbolized by self-sacrifice

proves the world is not just insanity but accepts one’s existence unconditionally under love.

The last key scene which will really help to convey sacramentality is that Fiona offers

forgiveness to Jack who serves in prison due to a murder of her biological father, Father James.

Although the film actually does not contain a scene where Fiona says, I will forgive you, Jack,"

she tries to tell him something via telephone in the prison's meeting place while modestly lifting

the corner of the mouse and gazing at him with tears in her eyes. When thinking about what

Fiona says and what her tears indicate, I think she might try to practice a teaching– the best

virtue is to forgive others– that James tells her as her father and a Catholic priest before being

killed by Jack. In short, her forgiveness is derived from the Roman Catholic Church, and Fiona

seems to adopt this to bring Jack to believe love and change him not to just hate everything in the

world. As his response to her behavior, Jack sees her facial expression and attitude and silently

pick up a phone. His reaction seems to indicates he receives a strong impression of her

forgiveness and try to accept the existence of love and God. Therefore, what truly saves Jack’s

mind is Fiona’s forgiveness and this must be a visible sign of God’s invisible grace reaching out

to Jack.

On the other hand, Norman Geisler and Ralph MacKenzie would not accept the

sacramentalities that the film mentions through tangible or physical things in Roman Catholic

Church in light of Evangelism which highly values an individual divine-human relationship. For

example, Norman and Ralph would argue that Fiona’s forgiveness is morally right and beautiful
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but not sacramental because her forgiveness is a communal action done as a result of that Father

James who belonged to Roman Catholic Church shared his value to Fiona before he dies. In

addition, Fiona tries to help Jack get closer to Jesus Christ through this mediation. However,

Evangelical authors must consider that Jack should individually respond to the God’s grace

reaching out to him through feeling, so her behavior prevents him from developing the personal

relationship with God. Therefore, the authors do not consider Fiona’s action in the prison as

sacramental.

Calvary would enable viewers to recognize sacramentality and unconditional love in

Catholicism through mediation of communal interactions, self-sacrifice, and forgiveness, even

though Evangelical Church will disagree with this thought. I do not intend to criticize the

Catholic view, but I suspect James’ self-sacrifice will eventually bring Jack to unhappiness and

more difficulties in the long run because of a part of teachings in Japanese Buddhism: All

matters have always causes and results, and our happiness and unhappiness are determined by

our own behaviors, not by supernatural beings. In light of this idea, I wonder whether Jack can

live the happy life because he killed an innocent, good priest Father James. Realistically

speaking, James and Fiona might save the bruised Jack’s heart, but society will regard him as a

murder and treat him in an unfriendly coldness of manner.