I thought I would reflect on the Baptism1 scene from the film The Godfather which was based on the book of the same name by Mario Puzo. This film clearly isn't for all viewers. It is violent (even in the above scene) and contains a scene of nudity (I first saw this film on an airplane. I couldn't believe such a film would be available on an airplane. What if children watched or saw it on another person's screen?). In spite of those reservations, I did enjoy the film. It depicted Michael Corleone's descent from a good guy with a bad family to a bad guy himself. In the above scene you can see that not only does he become a bad guy, but also rises to become the Godfather (the mafia kind).
This scene, I think, is my favourite scene in any film. The juxtaposition of the two kinds of Godfather (mafioso and spiritual) was just brilliant. The way that it went back and forth between the two was just a masterstroke. We might not be able to see ourselves in such scenes : most of us are not mafioso - let alone leaders of such criminal syndicates - nor are we chosen to be Godfather (or mother) to a soon-to-be-Catholic child. Perhaps if we flip the names we can see it. Instead of "Godfather" put in "son of God" or "child of God" on the one side, and "son of Satan" or "child of Satan" on the other.
In a way, the Baptism scene in The Godfather presents that very reality : we choose, through every thought, word and deed2 to be a child of God or a child of Satan. The scene in the film makes us see Michael Corleone's hypocrisy in the most drastic light :
His affirmations on behalf of his Godchild (actually director Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, now a director in her own right : Sophia) against evil and sin and placing himself within the visible Church which is the mystical Body of Christ on the one hand with his vicious, vengeful and violent attacks on his enemies on the other.
Again we might not be doing these things in particular, but it remains the case that there is an incongruity between the life we proclaim in faith (as at Baptism) and the life we lead after we are dismissed from Mass with the Ite miss est3. If there was a split screen playing our Baptismal (or Confirmation) promises on the one side against our thoughts, words and deeds on the other would they match up? Which Michael Corleone have we chosen to be?
It is also a reminder that the sacraments do not do away with free will. We can (sincerely) believe the teachings of the Church and still break with Her in the facts of our behaviour. And of course the more we do this the more difficult it is to reconcile with God. Moreover, the more we persist in sin the less likely it is that we will even be able to call it a sin. This is no small problem. Think of how many Catholics live in objective states of sin and yet do nothing to rectify it because they feel they have done nothing wrong? The practice of sin itself habituates us to think of it as a virtue rather than a vice. On the macro-level we can see this with the rainbow Pride that we see everywhere. Father Dwight Longenecker famously said,
First we overlook evil.
Then we permit evil.
Then we legalize evil.
Then we promote evil.
Then we celebrate evil.
Then we persecute those who still call it evil.
Perhaps Michael Corleone, as he made these affirmations of faith and disavowal of evil, felt no pangs of conscience against it. Even in the movie itself we can see his insidious slide into evil. At first he seemed to fight it, then participated in it, and finally seemed to joy in it. Are we so different?
Although this scene was a depiction of Baptism, it is a sign for all of us pointing to another sacrament : Confession. It is in the confessional where we wage war against this other kind of sonship : sonship to the devil. The practice of making regular confession (say every 2 weeks, or better yet as soon as possible after committing a mortal sin) will not only rid us of this evil, it also disposes us to that good that Baptism pointed us to. When we purify ourselves of sin we also become more aware of sin - other sin - that perhaps we missed before or would have missed had we not at least begun that very difficult task of growing in faith.
I highly recommend finding a good confessor and only confessing to him (barring some emergency of course). This familiarity will help the priest, as a kind of doctor of souls, diagnose our spiritual malady and recommend ways to mend our broken souls. This can be tough too : we often confess the same thing over and over4 and it can be embarrassing to acknowledge this fact to anyone and especially a priest who we see repeatedly. But this is pride, and just another sin we must overcome.
Michael of course is merely a character in a fictional story, but our story and our spiritual combat against evil is all too real. Near the end of the scene the child is baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. When we enter a Church, we make the sign of the cross after dipping a finger into holy water. This too is a reminder of our baptism. Ensure that all we do during the day is bookended by the sign of the Cross, so that everything we do in between is truly to the glory of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Notes
1 The rite of Baptism might be a little unfamiliar to modern eyes. It is the rite of Baptism according to the Extraordinary or Traditional Form. You can find the text of that HERE.
2 The Confiteor from the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, often called the Novus Ordo :
| I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. | Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, et vobis fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, opere et omissione: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, omnes Angelos et Sanctos, et vos, fratres, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. |
3 Go forth, the Mass is ended.
4 “It is only gradually that we make progress in our Christian lives, and that we may never get any further than oscillating between falling and getting up again. As likely as not, our whole life will be one long battle and, when all else fails, we may end up simply saying to God, ‘Lord save me, whether I like it or not; dust and ashes that I am, I love sin.”’ Tugwell, Ways of Perfection, 37. (quoted from Robinson, In No Strange Land: The Embodied Mysticism of Saint Philip Neri, 39)
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