Review: 'The Calling', Filmmaking Masterpiece Moves Hearts to say 'Yes' to God

'The Calling', now available on DVD, is a must gift for every Christmas list. More than a movie; it is an invitation to love and an encounter with the God who is Love. In this "epiphany of beauty', we discover that Priesthood, religious life, marriage, and parenthood are all, when lived as a response to "the Calling", a path to holiness, happiness and the fullness of life.  

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P>CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - I received a DVD of the film "The Calling", a documentary by David A. Rhanghelli, just before Thanksgiving. I was intrigued by the topic and the subtitle, "Life is a calling, what is yours?" However, the DVD arrived just as my wife and I were to travel across the country to Seattle to visit with our oldest son, daughter in law and two of our six grandchildren.

I was already exhausted and the thought of the airplane ride made it worse. To exacerbate the situation, we are living through a family crisis and are spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted. During this difficult Advent I find myself walking around singing the refrain of that silly old song, "I need a little Christmas".

I put that DVD into a very large "work pile" and decided it could wait until we returned. We returned more tired than when we left. So, as the pace of life continued to accelerate, the pile was left untouched with the film on top, waiting to be watched and reviewed. It was when I received a kind E mail from David A. Ranghelli, the Director of the film, that I began to sense that watching this film was about more than a review.

So, when my four year old grandson awakened very sick this past Thursday, "Poppi" became responsible for watching this wonderful little boy. After my morning prayer I got the little guy settled in to watching the "Backyardigans" and decided to watch the film on my laptop computer. I found that little piece of Christmas I so desperately needed, and much, much more.   "The Calling" is a masterpiece.

From the beginning scene this film melted away my cynicism, rejuvenated my weary soul and restored within me the hope of the season. It is a must gift for every Christmas list. More than a movie; it is an invitation to love and an encounter with the God who is Love.  Watching this film I was repeatedly moved to prayer, tears, repentance and reflection on the meaning of life and the beauty of the Christian vocation.

On November 21, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI met with 250 Artists in the Sistine Chapel. He told them they were "custodians of beauty," and asked them to be "heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity." He is continuing the trajectory of his predecessor, the venerable John Paul II, by reawakening within the Church a love for the Arts and a rediscovery of Beauty as a path to God. In his 1999, "Letter to Artists" the late John Paul II called for the creation of "epiphanies of beauty" and encouraged the flourishing of all the arts in a great renewal of humanity for our age.

David RA Ranghelli, Chuck Schultz, Trey Burvant, and all involved with "The Calling" have created such an "Epiphany of Beauty" in making this film.  I thank them for giving this weary deacon the "little Christmas" I need. I encourage everyone who reads this review to watch this film and discover - or rediscover - your own Calling. The film revolves around the meaning of "vocation", a word whose etymology in the Latin gives us the essence of the film's claim that everyone has been summoned, called by God. Further, that we all are able to "hear" His voice if we learn to listen and live to respond.

Father Phillip Scott is a priest in Tampa, Florida. He is a magnanimous, loving, charismatic priest whose genuine relationship with God is evident from the moment the viewer first meets him in this film. He is the founder of a new religious community in the Catholic Church called "The Family of Jesus the Healer". Fr. Phillip communicates the love of a living God in his lifestyle of poured out sacrificial love for others.  He is a "Man's man" and a "Priests priest". Everything about this man draws you to the One whom He serves. His humor, his empathy, his compassion, his wisdom, his dynamic faith, strength of conviction and his infectious smile communicate the truth he proclaims, that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and is the meaning of life itself for every man, woman and child created in His Image.

Father Phillip lives as a Christian, a follower of the living Jesus Christ. He really believes that Jesus continues His redemptive mission in the lives of his followers as they live their vocation within the Body of Christ, the Church. Because of this kind of living faith he is able to be a spiritual father to the members of the religious community he founded. He bears the life of the Risen Lord for others.  At one point in the film Father Phillip explains, "Every man at his deepest level is a father". It becomes clear as the viewer watches this priest live his vocation why Catholic and Orthodox Christians call priests "father".

Father Phillip Scott heard the Lord call him, in these words, "My son, return to your country of origin". That country is Peru, and the priest intends to move his missionary community there in obedience to the Lord. As has happened through over two millennia of Church history, others drawn to Jesus through this man's compellingly Christian way of life have joined with him in this new religious community called the "Family of Jesus the Healer". The film focuses on the move of the community to Peru, their missionary work with the poor, and the continuing challenges faced by the central characters in living out their own Christian vocation or "calling".

Mother Mary Elizabeth is the head of the women's community. She has two grown daughters and six grandchildren. Like other women in Christian history who have lost their husbands and raised their children, she has responded to a later vocation to spend the rest of her days in the religious life, as a nun. This was enough of a challenge to her daughters when she lived that vowed life in Tampa, Florida. However, for her to now move to Peru, far away from them and the increasing gift of grandchildren, well that is another story.

The relationship between the daughters and their mother is one strand in a tapestry of relationships woven together in this beautiful documentary. In one of her comments explaining her transition to the religious life Mother Mary says "it's all about family; that's what my life was all about and that was the most surprising thing about religious life, it's still all about family.' Her daughter explains at another point, "The day that my mother received the habit (distinctive religious clothing of a nun, sister, monk or brother) was like a death." She writes in a letter which her mother shares later in the film, "You are still my mother, I did not forfeit my rights to you, I gave you up.you are everyone's mother now."

Orlando Castillo is a young man, from a wealthy family, who lives in a gated community in Tampa, Florida. His father is a Doctor. Along with his loving wife, they have raised their son in the Catholic faith. Orlando exudes a goodness and love of life which any father would be thrilled to witness in the life of his son. He has been discerning the possibility of a call to the priesthood since his teenage years. His Catholic parents are pleased. However, when responding to that sense of a vocation to the religious life and the priesthood comes to mean leaving Tampa and the family to move to Peru and live with the poor, they begin their own deep struggle.

As the young man leaves for Peru for his first stage of discernment in the religious community, the documentary presents the response of these loving parents with honesty. Their son's letters home are their only initial connection to him. It is a pattern which has played itself out in the family life of many of the saints throughout the ages. We watch his father move from hurt, to mistrust and suspicion of Father Phillip, to surrender to the Lord's call in his son's life. The scene when Orlando, at a Mass attended by his parents, enters the novitiate of the religious life and takes the name "Brother Jose Maria", is profoundly moving. You want to be sure to have some tissues nearby.

However, it is not the only part of this documentary which will bring tears to the viewer. Later in the film Mother Mary-Elizabeth, responding to her daughter's needs and her own desire to be a grandmother, seeks a year's leave of absence from the community to return to Tampa. Father Phillip is at first hurt and somewhat angry. She is a major part of the relational foundation of the Family of Jesus the Healer. He is a spiritual father and she a spiritual mother. Yet, he rises above this understandably human response and explains "she took off the habit to meet her children as a mother." Later the priest asks the question which is at the heart of this documentary film, "What is God's Will?" He explains that "the goal is to find the Lord...In finding Him you will help one another".  

In Father Phillips words, responding to a Calling is not only about moving away from something, but about moving toward Some-One. It is in that truth that we find the message of this film, everyone has a Calling! The Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church reemphasized this teaching. It is found at the heart of the Gospels and was the clear teaching of the early Church. Every Baptized Christian is called to hear God's voice! We all have a "vocation."

In this masterpiece of filmmaking, this "epiphany of beauty", this message is communicated in the lives of all of the main characters. Priesthood, religious life, marriage, and parenthood are all, when lived as a response to "the Calling", a path to holiness. They are a Way of following the Lord Jesus Christ and experiencing the fullness of human flourishing and true happiness. 

"The Calling" is more than a beautiful film; it is an invitation to find the meaning of human existence.  Buy the DVD for your own Christmas present! Then, buy it for everyone you love. Give them all the gift of finding their own Calling. 'The Calling' is a filmmaking masterpiece which moves hearts to say 'Yes' to the Lord.

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