GOSPA

 

THREE STARS – Thought-provoking

 

 

        Central to Christian experience is the desire to encounter God.  This longing of the soul has caused multitudes of mystical visions and unexplained miracles throughout the world.

        GOSPA is the cinematographic presentation of an actual mystical experience which began in 1981 in the small Yugoslavian hamlet of Medjugorje.

        Six children, ages 10 to 16, experienced simultaneously and mutually the vision of “Gospa,” Mary, the mother of Jesus.   For four of the children, who are now young adults, the visions have continued into the present.

        Though the film is done in an unsophisticated form, with some fictionalized characters and drama, the simplicity fits the documentary  purpose of the film.   Stripped of the usual Hollywood sensationalizing, we are  instead focused on the visions themselves along with their effects on the believers, church and the state.

        The most disturbing of these, and the one which makes up most of the film’s emphasis, is the violent reaction of the state.

        Under communist rule, the atheistic philosophy of the ruling party demonstrates itself in an arrogant antagonism toward the children and the pastor of the Roman Catholic Church that they attend. 

        Sending soldiers to keep people away from the mountain on which the visions began, the children simply move to the church and continue their mystical encounters under her protection.

        The state responds predictably with torturous arrest and intimidation.  Though father Zozo Zovko (Martin Sheen) is only imprisoned, the film postscript notes that 601 priests have been killed by the government since 1981 with hundreds more in jail.

        This fact once again demonstrates, just as it did during the Roman Empire, or in Hitler’s and in Stalin’s time, that there is nothing more threatening to a totalitarian government than the existence of God and the devotion of His people.

         The church, by its very nature, is a form of organized resistance to the state and its authority over the lives of people.   For the Christian, final authority belongs to God and his guidance in our lives. 

        In a telling statement of the irrationality of the state, the leader of the communist government proclaims, “There is no God.  Or if there is, he is not in Yugoslavia.” 

        But of course God is in Yugoslavia, and no nation, either through government or culture, can suppress his existence or his continuing encounters with his people.

        But also at issue is the second question of the film.  Are these visions of the children real?

        Along with Fr. Zovko, we are forced to ask ourselves the question:  Are they real?    Did the children truly encounter Mary?  And if they did, what is the meaning of the encounter?

        Though the film never answers the question of the authenticity of the visions, this too, fits the nature of mystical experience.

        Seen as “self-authenticating,” persons having mystical experiences seldom feel a need to convince others of their experience with God. 

        Like love between two people, there is little desire on their part to spend time convincing anyone of the authenticity of their love,  rather their desire is to simply spend more time with the beloved.

        What the film and the literature distributed at the showing does demonstrate is that the message the children claim Mary gave is very appropriate to that war-torn area of former Yugoslavia.  

        Mary is quoted as asking for PEACE, through “prayer, fasting and loving one another.”

        In the postscript, the film explains that 20 million people have come to Medjugorje as pilgrims.  The government is more democratic, and the church has the simple task of helping people encounter God.

        While many of these pilgrims come for personal healing, the call for peace through prayer and fasting has never been more critical in war-torn Bosnia-Hercegovina.  The call of GOSPA may be greater today than at any time in recent history.

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