Climb Every Mountain - A Different Kind of Discernment

"Climb every mountain, til you find your dream.

A dream that will need, all the love you can give,

every day of you life, for as long as you live."

- Sound of Music

     The hour and a half long conversation almost ended with, "I think you should watch The Sound of Music. Except I laughed and admitted that it's my favorite movie. Ok, it beats Titanic on the list of my favorite movies, people; I'm serious. I would watch it over and over as a kid and even as a teenager, I'd watch it so much so that one year for Christmas, Santa brought me the special edition DVD set. I was in the musical in high school and I'm pretty sure that without trying really hard, I could sing every song by memory. It's my, hands-down, favorite musical and movie of all times. 

     So, why is it my favorite? Many might right away suggest it's because of the nuns. Well, only in part. I love the Mother Superior character, because I would need someone like that in my life. I am essentially Maria: sneaking out to go visit my favorite nature places (THE RIVER!), being late for everything, except for every meal, making people laugh and of course, singing. I am constantly singing, or at least humming to myself. And while, I would probably drive all the other sisters crazy, Mother Superior would come to my side and love me for who I am. But the nuns aren't the only reason. 

     The movie takes place during Nazi invaded Germany. While some may say it's horrible, WW2 is my favorite piece of history. I am fascinated by the psychological studies that surround it like why did Hitler captivate so many people by his speeches, or how could one possibly think that the Jewish people were the root of all evil, and whoever thought that any type of torture was humane. But I also love the stories of heroism and survival. I feel like I know some of the people who I've "met" in stories, so well. Especially, the von Trapp family. 

     Of course, another reason why this movie is my favorite is because Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are in it. Julie Andrews quickly became the actress I wanted to live up to as a kid. Of course, that may never happen now, but when I was young, I wanted to grow up and be just like her. Christopher Plummer was simply the most adorable male actor in the movie and I can't help but melt when he sings Edelweiss for the first time. 

      The reason I love this movie the most however, is probably why my own personal "Mother Superior" told me to watch it again. While it circulates around the war, and the convent and family, what it really is about is finding and then chasing your "dream" or rather, "God's will." If you take away the convent and marriage, it becomes a story of coming of age for Maria and finding out really what God wants from her. Both the convent and marriage were good things for Maria, but where would she have been able to best be herself and be an instrument of God? That's what she needed to find out. She needed  to take a break from one, to find the other, the "better for her." She needed to climb another mountain. She needed to take a risk, and fall in love with another person, not just God. And the truth is, she got the best of both worlds: she fell in love with Captain von Trapp and the God within him. 

      At the end of our conversation, I could almost picture Sister Cathy singing "Climb Every Mountain" to me as she encouraged me to take a risk. From one real person to another real person she told me to take a risk and I know exactly what that risk is. It's the same exact risk Maria took when she left the Abbey the second time. This is my turn to climb every mountain, until I find that dream. And maybe the dream is what I've always thought it was, maybe it's something completely different. It's a journey, a discovery, a time to climb the hills that are filled with music!

Sister Sunday Struggles

"If we didn't have the struggle, we would never see the glory." - Mother Superior, The Mighty Macs

     After the fourth time of seeing the movie, I've gotten used to seeing my college campus on the big screen. I'm used to the fact that the nuns at school are now celebrities, since their faces all over the set. And I've gotten used to the fact that my school pretty much changed the history of women's college basketball forever. But the truth is, I don't see the movie over and over again because I have a lot of school pride, or because I love basketball or even because I feel like a little celebrity every time my dorm building shows up on the screen. I honestly see it because of two people: Mother Superior and Sister Sunday.

    If you've seen the movie, you know that Sister Sunday is in her final year of temporary vows and is considering leaving the convent. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, the best line is said (see above). Every single time, even though I know it's coming, I start to cry when I hear those words. I can't tell you, in all my years of discernment, how many times I've been told, there are going to be ups and downs but when we finally get to the end, only then will we see the glory. The line hit so close to home the first time, and still does every time I see the movie. And so, Sister Sunday, after being told by Mother Superior that she must stay and find a place to fulfill God's ministry through her, she stays and continues on with the profound lines throughout the movie.

    In another scene, Sister Sunday and Coach Cathy Rush are discussing with another man (who does not know Sister Sunday is a religious) their significant others. Sister Sunday tells the man that her significant other is a carpenter, good with hands and works miracles. I still cannot stop laughing every time she says it; I've said that so many times about my boyfriend. 

    As I sat in the theater in the middle of all my nuns from home (seriously, the majority of the audience were nuns), the one sister who I sat next to and I were laughing and crying and laughing some more, all the while discussing every profound moment in the movie. Yet, since we walked in late, she had missed my favorite line. As we were leaving the theater, I told her what she missed and we shared a hug, something I always call a "heart embrace." My relationship with her said to me, no matter the amount of struggle, she'll always be there for me, because she knows what it means to struggle and want to give up. 

     Seeing the movie with my sisters from home was just enough to make me realize that each sister, no matter where they come from or where they've been, has been through a struggle of some sort and that religious life isn't easy. To quote a mighty mac herself, "Religious life is not poetry, it is the roughest type of prose." My sisters seem to understand that while it was hard for them during their discernment, it's even harder for me considering the society I am growing up in. The truth is though, they will be there to be the Mother Superior to my Sister Sunday struggles.