Sacrifice  (China, 2010) – Covenant Moments

Based on Yuan era (1271-1368) play, The Orphan of Zhao, Sacrifice is story of epic revenge. A power hungry general wipes out his rival along with his entire family, save for one newborn. The infant is protected by the doctor who delivered him and raises him as his own, hoping to mold him into an instrument of revenge.

Questions about the Film:

–To be sure the film develops around one central moment, but within the plot itself we are given examples of covenant moments which reveal themselves in different forms of commitment. Can you name some of these moments?
– Covenant moments reveal themselves in the choices we made. In the film which covenant moments touched you the most. What does it reveal about your spiritual journey?
– How is tension created in the film? Within the characters themselves, within the plot, and most importantly between you and the film? How are your expectations set up and then frustrated? What does the film reveal to you about your expectations?

Questions for Refection and Prayer :

– Like the characters in the film we are all caught up in the social, political, and cultural events of our times which are bigger than us. How does your covenanted life allow you to live within those identity-shaping contexts? Can you name some of those contexts and how they influence you? How does these either support or deny your sense of identity?
– Do you live life as a tragedy or as a comedy?
– In terms of covenant how do you live your life as a Christian?
– In the film characters seek revenge with their own notions of justice. What is your lived sense of justice in this world? Does it make you feel a victimised, oppressed, alienated, despairing, powerless? Does it give you a sense of being limited? How do you deal with that sense of limitation?
– For you what is the relationship of justice ( i.e. of what is right) and your actual lived relationship with God?
– In your covenant moments what were the elements of justice and what were the elements of mercy involved?
– What in the film touched you, and why?
– Have you ever offered a covenant moment to another? What happened and what are the consequences today for you? How do you offer covenant moments to others?
– Has anyone ever acknowledged your life with a covenant moment? Were you conscious of it at the time? Now that you are aware of such a moment how did/does it affect your life?
— Would you consider parent/children relationships are filled with sacrifices? How does yours affect you? What does it show you about who you are?
– The word “Sacrifice” comes from two Latin words: “Sacer” meaning “holy” and “facio” meaning “I make”. What sacrifices have you made that have helped make you, and others, become more intimate with God?
– For you what does “intimacy” with God mean?

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This reflection is taken from www.fgitd.ca – a website which was developed to deal with current films and with further insights into the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 

Finding God In the Dark: Taking the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to the Movies (Novalis) by Canadian Jesuits, John Pungente and Monty Williams, answered a need for those looking to have access to their spiritual life but who did not have access to spiritual direction.  The web site  – www.fgitd.ca – continues this work. Please go to the web site for further material on the theme of the reflection.

The 2013 series –  Redeeming the Time – available on the web-site  www.fgitd.ca  allows users to explore the ways in which God uses our responses to our past, how we live today, and how we anticipate what is coming, to develop a deeper spiritual intimacy with God.   Earlier series – beginning in 2005 – are archived on the site. Check it out . . it could change your life.