Thursday, March 20, 2014

Obi-wan Kenobi and Padre Pio

Consider the two men pictured here... They are both bearded, boss, bold in power, and beautifully humble. Perhaps you knew that already. Perhaps you've always known. Search your feelings, reader, you know it to be true! Ben Kenobi and Padre Pio. Yeeessss, your insight serves you well...

And it gets better. They are also each completely Catholic. Did you know that Alec Guinness, after playing the role of Fr. Brown, G.K. Chesterton's crime-solving cleric, had a conversion experience and entered the Catholic Church? (Read this inspiring article for more details on that one!)

An excerpt from the author Rita Reichardt: "Guinness was received into the Catholic Church by the bishop of Portsmouth, and while he was in Sri Lanka making The Bridge over the River Kwai, his wife surprised him by also converting. As is often the case with new converts, he felt periods of deep peace punctuated by physical delight. He recounts once running like a madman to visit the Blessed Sacrament in a little nondescript church. Reflecting on that episode, he wrote, "If religion meant anything at all it meant that the whole man worshiped, mind and body alike . . . There was some reassurance when I discovered that the good, brilliant, acutely sane Ronald Knox had found himself running, on several occasions, to visit the Blessed Sacrament." 

Wow. The force was strong in this one. Impressive.... most impressive. May we have just as much a fire in our hearts for the Lord of Lords as Sir Alec Guinness! 

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