World Over - 2018-03-15 - 'Paul, Apostle of Christ' Panel, Jim Caviezel with Raymond Arroyo

tonight a star-studded panel discussion and preview of the new movie Paul apostle of Christ taped live before an audience at Franciscan University star Jim Caviezel executive producer Eric growth and biblical scholar Scott Hahn joined me on a very special edition of the world over right now [Music] now from Washington DC Raymond Arroyo a warm welcome to all of you joining us in the United States and the world over our exclusive preview of Paul apostle of Christ with Jim Caviezel Scott Haun and Eric growth with unseen footage is coming up if you'd like to comment on tonight's show you can send me a tweet at Raymond Arroyo but first an important story to bring you it appears that there's a lot of activity of the Vatican this week to burnish the image of Pope Francis on the occasion of his fifth anniversary the Vatican communications office was caught in an embarrassing clumsy attempt to lend heft to Pope Francis's theological prowess this week they told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they had doctored a photo of this letter by pope benedict xvi officials smudged out some of the latter lines of the letter and suppressed the entire second page monday the Vatican used it to suggest that Benedict had endorsed eleven books of theology reflecting Pope Francis's thought they quoted Benedict is saying that he and Francis enjoyed internal continuity this line was used to beat back those critical of some of Francis's ideas particularly concerns about amoris Laetitia on Thursday the Vatican admitted to the AAP that they had doctored the image of Benedict's letter and left out the bit where the Pope emeritus says he did not have time to read the 11 books of theology does not endorse books he hasn't read and won't be endorsing anything according to the Associated Press the missing content significantly altered the meaning of the quotes the Vatican chose to highlight the Vatican press office has not commented on why the picture of the letter was doctored the AP pointed out that just weeks ago the Pope had condemned fake news and the distortion of facts and the major blunder comes on the heels of an announcement that the Vatican has produced a new documentary by vim vendors he's an Academy Award nominated filmmaker it's titled Francis a man of his word and it features Francis speaking out on immigration ecology Oh justice and more it will hit theaters in May but it's not the only film coming to your Cineplex --is on March 23rd Palm Sunday weekend this movie will hit theaters it's called Paul apostle of Christ will preview it tonight it starts British actor James Faulkner as st. Paul and Jim Caviezel as st. Luke the story centers on Paul's captivity under Roman Emperor Nero's persecution of Christians and a special friendship he and Saint Luke and joy I moderated a panel discussion about the film recently at Franciscan University with Jim Caviezel executive producer Eric's growth and Franciscan University zone dr. Scott Horne you can see it in theaters next week but tonight here's our exclusive look it was taped before a live audience it's Steubenville watch I want to jump right in you know why we're here we're here to talk about this incredible new movie Paul which is coming this Palm Sunday everywhere I know many of you are joining us live via streaming video and we have your questions we want to get to but I want to start him and I ask the panel I'll work my way down why this story of st. Paul and why now Jim you were offered I know after the passion to play Apostles Saints a few villains Jesus again why this worldwide Luke and why did it take you so long to come back to a biblical epic that's a long question because aunt one at a time you know I had was looking at you know when I looked at the passion there was a great script Mel Gibson had come off the Braveheart and you know he's quite remarkable director and and so I don't I didn't know how to turn that one down this one a great script and a lot of them it didn't this this one was amazing because it didn't beat you over the head a lot of the dialogue that was used by Andrew Hyatt was cleverly put in there I knew you know when I when the a film was about done there was a guy that had brought in to watch it and he didn't he doesn't know God or any religion at all just wanted to hear would even he would say and he said that that was a great film and he says but the writers it you know he said genius I said why do you say that he said well he's like a philosopher I said well what were the lions will to live is Christ to die is gain that's a that's a really interesting concept I said well that's in the Bible who it is so a couple days later he calls me up and he says you know I'm I might want to see your Passion of the Christ and I said oh okay oh here oh oh go get you a copy hit well hold on a second I said I might want to see the Passion of the Christ but at least it planted a seed and it had the effect that we were looking for yeah Eric why st. Paul and this moment of his life you know st. Paul this could have been an Indiana Jones movie I mean the guys shipwrecked he's beaten he's arrested he's beaten he's clubbed he's arrested I mean it's a lot of drama that happens with st. Paul why this part the latter part of the life when he's imprisoned it's kind of confined sainthood at the end why did you all choose to that part of the story yeah I know when you try to decide how do you tell Paul's story you really would need to make a Multi multi episode miniseries almost out of it you know so how do we how where do we land and it's it was it was an exciting thing it's an exciting thing for us to kind of reflect on someone's life especially these amazing Saints of the past from the from the end of their life and you and you look at you know the amazing conversion experience that he went through from being saw the greatest persecutor of the early church to the Lord saying you're mine this is me who you're persecuting and turning you know his heart converted into the greatest promulgator of the faith and and and yet to look at that from the end of his life where he's he's gone through that conversion and all those experiences where he's gained wisdom and yet we can still see a man who's very human who knows he's saved by the grace of God and yet he still has those struggles with his humanity and that's I think an important thing for us to real be able to reflect on and say hey he's a lot like I am dr. Hahn before I go to a clip because I realize you all haven't seen this movie yet we're not going to show it to you tonight we're gonna show you a trailer but hold on dr. Hahn the importance of st. Paul today and his relevance today would be what for the last 2,000 years no other writer has had the influence of st. Paul when you look at the New Testament he wrote 13 out of the 27 books he was Luke's mentor Luke was Paul's companion for this movie to show the two of them sharing one heart one life it's significant Luke only route wrote two books of the New Testament the Gospel of Luke which is the single longest book of the New Testament and in second place is the book of Acts and so he only wrote two but he actually ends up giving us more words for word count than Paul the two of them together over half of the New Testament for 2,000 years people have been poring over this but for the last 10 years especially Catholics because 10 years ago this year Pope Benedict the 16th called for the year of st. Paul and so we spent a whole year focusing on his writing sort of rediscovering his his genius but also his heart well we're gonna show you a clip of this a little glimpse of Paul apostle of Christ watch I Luke sent a message to all those that follow our Lord Jesus Christ there is a terrible evil in the world darkness is spreading [Music] no you are suffering persecution faith is being tested I know you question the way but I've come to Rome to find Paul to write his story to bring hope to bring light into this present darkness and to remind us all how God changed a hateful man we'll change the history of the world I'm not kidding [Music] stained with the blood of her brothers and sisters this is was trusting God gets you people that desperate we're the only one left in the city I cannot fix that we can inspire their faith arrest people looking to me before Christ the day I heard you preaching my god I saw Christ in you women children that will never meet you there must be an account of your backs what do you really know about these questions I am concerned with these documents we've got to get these out of your own do you think that we are plotting an escape right the world and they send it to whatever God you want look meant overthrown room torrent justice they want revenge no love is the only way [Music] because you have the strength to do it people died today this world doesn't know a thing [Music] where sin abounds grace abounds more [Music] [Applause] now as I watch that gym there are those who have seen it and I've seen it there is one moment in prison and I don't think we have a clip of it but I'll tell you where you are sharing with the people in prison about to be handed over to Nero circus and thrown to the Lions you teach them the our Father in that scene was there any hesitation going back to this vehicle era and did you worry about this performance being compared to that of Jesus I didn't I didn't I didn't mind it because I wanted the world to see Jesus in Luke aren't we at our greatest when the world sees Jesus and each one of us that's a bonus a little twofer a casting twofer honey I like that - did playing Jesus and someone one of the questions that came in and I were taking your questions and will be asking him a little later did playing Jesus help you in any way or prepare you for playing this character when we don't know a whole lot about and we'll talk to dr. Horne about what we know of him there's not a lot of biographical material in the Gospels about Luke well Jesus was a lot harder because I had to walk on my pool twice a day right get that down that one was a lot physically just more demanding the the you know that whips the beatings shoulder separation pneumonia makeup times were from 2:00 in the morning till 10:00 in the morning from 10:30 to 4:30 I was usually freezing and then they had to you know get the makeup off and that took 2 hours every day just to get it off and then I had you know sores all over my body and then I end up having pneumonia I end up struck by lightning and it was a open-heart surgery you know so but you would have never seen that performance had we shot that in a studio it was birthed in pain the pain in this movie paul the apostle of christ was there's just the neglect that that god feels and how I felt when I was going to Mass every day that the world doesn't love him and when you do something like this you go to a very very deep place and it he doesn't he doesn't protect his friends from suffering so I remember James in John when they said I want to be at your right left hand side and are you willing to drink the cup I'm going to drink yes and you will so whenever you do something like this if you take the cross out of it you take any kind of suffering out of it it's not going to have the power that needs especially in this day dr. Horne tell us about Luke himself what do we know of him through either the sacred tradition or what clues into the Bible does the Bible give us as to who he might have been well there's a certain irony here because we know most of what we know about Paul from Luke in the book of Acts and we know most of what we know about Luke from Paul in in terms of written sources he refers to him as the beloved physician we surmise that he was most likely a Gentile but he was also Paul's companion from chapter 16 in the book of Acts all the way through but he more more than just a companion more than just a protege he was a disciple of Paul when you read at the Gospel of Luke you realize how a Gentile could have assimilated so much of the Hebrew Scriptures to illuminate how Christ fulfills it but this is also where the oral tradition of our church kicks in because how did Luke know what he writes in Luke 2 19 and verse 51 she pondered these things in her heart well the tradition sort of fills in the blank by telling us that not only did he spend time with the Blessed Virgin but he also painted her that was another element that he had this gift of artistry and so this icon of Our Lady goes back to Luke and our tradition so Luke has a depth and at the same time a humility about himself and so he spends most of the time in the second of Acts giving us almost most of most of what we know about st. Paul in his travels god I wish you were with me when we made this movie I would have been a lot better in it that makes two of us the sequel you can come back and advise on the sequel okay I have to share this with you this is a little clip of Paul apostle of Christ watch [Music] well considering all they've been through can you really fault they're responsible what did you tell them love is the only way and after all you see you still don't believe it this isn't anything I've seen my god this is a world in the grip of evil listen sis neuro circus it's it's it's passionate hate blood washing down the street widows orphans starving to death babies born with a slightest defective dispose dispatch discarded this world doesn't know a thing about love so you would give up on the world when Christ did not give up on us why not know why not love is the only way love that is kind it does not envy that is not proud love that does not dishonor that does not seek for itself love that is not easily angered of the rejoices in truth [Music] of that never delights in here God that protects Trusts hopes endures all things that kind of give me all right [Music] it's a great scene and it kind of captures that relationship Eric why and tell us your thinking on this relationship between Paul and Luke and then we see it there and start really absolutely it's it's it's it's so beautiful to watch like these actors bring it to life - you know like I mean how many times have we heard that the love is patient love is kind at weddings and every when you see the context that it may have come out in you know or something really human their relationship is beautiful it's it's it's it's a big brother younger brother it's a mentor to someone new and growing in the faith and and it's just it's a beautiful thing to show and I I think in our world today you know as filmmakers we want to put in in in the context of these stories all kinds of things that we can connect with you know and we have a need for mentors in our lives and we have we have people that we look up to and we have people that have drawn us deeper and into our faith and that's just so important for us to to see and share in the film process Jim for you first of all we should say and both you and Eric can talk about this this was a very tight shoot James Faulkner who plays Paul only landed on the set three days before you started shooting so this you didn't have a lot of time to build a relationship with James Raymond that that scene wasn't originally written in the script I asked Andrew if he would write this scene and he did a marvelous job at it but it wasn't in the original I said because of this is one of the most familiar things I always hear at weddings did you draw on anything personal as you approach this world Jim I mean you'd gone through you lost a mentor a couple of them this year well you know Beverly Dean and my manager and my lawyer died this year he happened to come with me III did a thing for Pope John Paul and Poland and he came with me to Auschwitz and we went and you to the very place at Maximilian Kolbe was executed and you just could feel the haunting Ness of the souls and so when I came back I said goodbye to him and he didn't know that I was never gonna see him again he died in the hospital two weeks later and so David Zealand produced this came back to me again he come to me originally for it and talked to me about it and I didn't jump up and down about it I think it was just the appetite wasn't there and then two of my staff husband and wife committed suicide and I so one of the worst thing there you know and then I get this screenplay and read it and it just I had to do it I just had to work this out and I think that you know how do that as part of life happens and what you were ready for it when it came this movie essentially is what happens when your mentor goes you know you're there and Frank and I would we will walk along it wasn't easy doing the passion it wasn't it was much harder afterwards because of the just the response of what you know a priest has a collar on and I can risk have a lot of compassion for him when they're treated terribly in in a shopping store but my my collars my face and you would people walk by that and say there goes Jesus there's Jesus but a lot of times it's not good but you know what that I'm not a victim here and that's what Frank always talked to me about as a mentor so in this particular scene it's there's no victims here and Paul definitely wasn't and but I had to find ways to make him a bit of one is he they can't play a guy who's good becomes good or ends the goodest pardon my grammar and I think that's a problem with a lot of faith-based films they're just so full of sugar I can't drink that much later for my coffee know where you were going there okay let's Scott to set up this next clip give us a sense of the historical and biblical context of this moment in Paul's story because in the wider context we're seeing a Christian community under assault in hiding being persecuted Paul is imprisoned what else do we need to know to fully understand this the Roman Empire under Nero fell into the deepest corruption the darkness was most likely demonic and so here is the Christian community as the body of Christ experiencing what Jesus body had just undergone a couple of decades before back in the early 30s and so you recognize that this is the moment when it looks as though this Empire this culture of death will snuff out the life of Christ's body and yet the relationship between Paul and Luke and I love the way James Faulkner plays Paul because I'm not sure people love Paul but they will after this movie and I've loved Paul since I was 15 he has been a person of interest of mine for 45 years but I think what this movie shows us it reminds me of that old proverb they buried us but they didn't know we were seeds and you see that and you really do see that in this film you know these people they think it's the end I mean they really do think this is it and it's only the beginning I want to show you this little clip this is another moment from Paul watch we must retaliate for this brutal act many of us have only a short time left in this city we must hold strong now hold strong so we like disease stalks then we do nothing to defend ourselves well we're safe from the city just to be hunted down and killed cares we understand your anger talk when was like a son to us you should never have let him go right you blame yourselves and not the ones who have murdered him and who else have they taken from you this woman has come to you covered in the blood of her child what would you do kisses tell me what would you do we do what they do to us murder them in the cover of darkness fire and burn them in their homes while they sleep you speak as if your ears have never heard the words of Christ you've never worked with Christ how can you say he would say these things in a place of such an evil like Neela quiet he's still none of us here who walked with Christ but Paul was followed him longer than us all I have watched him be beaten I've watched him he stoned in thought and who once did he raise his finger against his oppressors let peace be with you for we live in the world but we do not wage wars the world does this begins with you gaseous love is the only way you really see that tension we were talking about I mean they you know should we take up arms or should we just keep suffering and love our way through this we have a number of questions that have come in from many of you watching you're watching us on formed on their internet outlet platform so I'm gonna get to some of those questions and then we're gonna take a few questions from here as well this one came in for you Jim this woman or man rather mark Smith I was saved during the Passion of the Christ in 20 2004 I've been in ministry ever since in the movie changed my life do you expect this film to have the same effect as the passion a lot of questions about the passion I'll give you that one and one more do you think this film will have the same effect as a passion yeah I think it will have a great effect tremendous effect on people has a great power in it because we didn't you know the performances are powerful but the words are still stronger and we didn't change any of that I don't the passion of the christ' was a unique experience that has never been if before I was 33 years old with the initials of JC and it was just I mean it was it was Jesus that was a miracle in itself because I kept saying why would you choose me and if my friend from magic Oriya said God doesn't always choose the best Jim but he chose you so what are you gonna do about it but it's true you know and in this one you know the that there's a great message in there about forgiveness that and this was very powerful and this time right now because people are talking in my industry civil war this is crazy do you have no idea you know what you're talking about it's six hundred and something thousand people died in the Civil War and our country in the last one can you imagine what that what you're talking about this is not what our Lord wants forgiveness is everything it's forgiveness at all costs and that does not mean it weakness it does not mean passivity it means meeting evil face-to-face with love and that's the power behind this one I have questions for you two guys true but I have two I have a follow-up here and I've got tons of these I was going to ask you this earlier Jim mentioned and I was there for some of this the shoulder shoulder separation during The Passion of the Christ hypothermia the body you know when they would take the latex bodysuit that he wore on the cross when you peel that off the first layer of his skin came off on some mornings given all of that and the hits with the whip all of that the physical suffering this questionnaire is asking was it worth it to go through that physical suffering and would you be willing to do it again I did it one time that's all I need to do it you know there's talk of rest the resurrection the sequel no yes and would you do it again well that's the resurrection but I can tell you this much when they roll the stone away there won't be little Easter bunnies and eggs around it this is you know this is the real deal and what he's going to do with it is going to blow your mind it's absolutely going to make you so proud Scott we had a question and they were asking how true is the depiction in the film to the Scriptures you've seen the movie I have seen the movie what I would comment on is the relationship between Paul and Luke I would underscore how similar it is the relationship we can can we can see between Paul and Timothy Paul and Titus both of whom he speaks of as his spiritual sons that's what you get that spiritual bond between Paul and Luke so when they look at each other you get that sense of spiritual paternity you know but the fact that Paul wrote so much of the New Testament he is the most studied writer in history but we don't recognize to what extent all of us are spiritual children of st. Paul and I think that's one of the things that you really pick up on not just a love for Paul but a love for Paul's spiritual fatherhood that is affected all of us you know he says imitate me as I imitate Christ the only thing that he really did that Christ didn't do was right Jesus never wrote anything down he said do this in memory of me he didn't say write this and so most of the 12 never ended up contributing a single book to the collection of 27 that we now call the New Testament but not because they were lazy or disobedient they all did this Eucharist in memory of him but Paul is the one who really took his rabbinic training and applied it with the Holy Spirit to illuminate the mystery of Christ fulfilling all of the promises and all of the prophecies and I would say this movie really captures that relationship which I want to strive after and this movie is dedicated to the the persecuted church those who are persecuted for their faith was that an idea from the beginning Eric or something you'll know it was actually an idea that came in prayer like later on as we were you know multiple drafts into the film and our lead producer TJ Burton and I we were walking and just kind of really again reflecting on what was going on around the world and also and reflecting back to the time when we did most of the writing of this film was really when when things with Isis and the terrorism was really heating up and starting to get pretty intense and and more aware so kind of connecting it to that and just realizing that this is you know this is going on in the world right now and so many people suffer and we in our American culture we don't get it we don't we don't understand it we don't feel it and yet there are we've got off in find ways to reach out in solidarity and even a simple way of saying hey or we're with you we walk with you we love you we know you're being persecuted and and to offer them that Scott these letters of st. Paul are really about a persecuted people - a persecuted people it rip these really are letters of keep the faith hold it together I know it's bad I know they're burning you in the streets I know they're cutting you up but this is the embracive keep walking through what of that message do we need today and why is it so relevant when you look at the earlier letters of Paul like first Thessalonians or even the Corinthian correspondence there's a lot of interesting and profound theological speculation but when you fast-forward to the prison epistles you get a sense that they're shorter and they get right to the point which is how do you live the gospel especially in the face of the persecution around us in the world and I think you know I think back 3040 years nobody saw this coming I mean what has happened to our culture in redefining everything from marriage to right and wrong you know a traditional morality is now viewed as weird which is the weirdest thing of all and so we have got to buckle up and really pray and enter into the wisdom of Paul's writings because we might not end up in prison but our children or our grandchildren will and they're gonna have a lot to learn from the lessons of this man you know it said that Paul was such a zealous Apostle Paul was because Saul was such a zealous persecutor God redirected all of that energy and even though he's aging in this movie it is really refined and deep and then I think that's the kind of wisdom we need now you know theological speculation has a place but that really practical wisdom in the face of death and suffering this is where we learn life's deepest lessons Jim we had some Twitter's I know what they're called I'm just it's late we had some tweets a Susan Browns writes hello from Scotland will the movie get a release in the United Kingdom Eric you answer that one and then we'll move on there's a part two to this well with James Faulkner being you know a great British gentleman he'd better get a release in the United Kingdom right now it will and it's really exciting along with our March 23rd release here in the United States we currently have it being released end of March to the middle of April right now in 24 different countries around the world tell us about the spiritual practices that you adopted as you were preparing and working on the film the spiritual practices you adapted for the playing of this world well in the passion of the christ' I went to I took the Eucharist every day and it's powerful I mean just it goes right through my DNA it attaches to it on the passion I you know I would go to confession every day and then what what I would do is as I was praying the rosary then I would go into that today Aramaic Hebrew the Latin and that kept my focus very very strong and then in this one you know I got up early in the morning and you went to Mass as well multi-has Catholic churches all over the place so I just walk out my door go right inside there and then I I had the relics I had Luke Saint Luke with me I had st. Paul with me and and then just always pray the rosary and then just the rest of it is just oh and I have a devotion to st. Genesius and of course our lady really you know she brings so much peace because constantly we when you do films like this you're always gonna be under attack but I don't see the differences I don't see that as a bad thing it just sharpens me it it makes me stronger I believe that the devil is more afraid of me than I am of him Jim I want to ask a quick question you can all take a crack at this there's a moment in the movie where Paul tells Luke we had miserable days together how I missed them and I love that that's so captures their not only their relationship but what they went through and that that explains the closeness of this bond what did that moment mean to you how did you prepare and show this father-son relationship with a man you barely knew he was the you knew him for three days as an actor you know that was one of those scenes that was done when we were my Malta again another late scene as as time goes goes on again these guys were very flexible and continually break it making this you know something that had just human nest wit you know there's humor in this and I think that you know Paul Luke here is a he's a he's a pagan he's a doctor he's got its life made in the shade you know I don't know how many times it guys in Hollywood say why are you making all the ruckus here you've got a great life Jim you know you you you're making money you're doing doing that and it was just this emptiness that I'm supposed to do something more there are good doctors and there are bad doctors what is a good doctor a good doctor goes out and he administers to his sick even in middle of the night my dad would get up and go help someone else out because he understood their pain and he wanted to help rid of it and he did it at any any hour that's a very good doctor bad doctor is essentially someone that does it for money and you can play it that safe in my tent my business and I thought of about that with Luke that he had it made in the shade and yet when he heard Paul speak his life was changed forever he never in fact he says I never saw Christ in the flesh but the moment I heard you preach I saw Christ in you we need to be Christ for others and that's through our love you know we also wanted to provide a moment where you think about the struggles that we all have in our journey of faith and and some of them were at times we're in the deepest darkest pits of our lives and yet because of what Christ has done we can even still find joy in the midst of that you know and we can find and that joy can and that joy really does come from the fact that we know people are walking with us in a lot of ways we have companions so even in the midst of their trial and the turbulent and the struggles and the journey they went on you know if you're also kind of you're together in a mission and you're rooted in something that God has called you that you're doing together and it could be a hard moment but it's it's different where we may not always experience that happiness of life but even in those trying times we can still find joy and we wanted to show that in the film to bring a little levity there's a moment where that can happen they want it he just I was thinking about my growing up experience as a young person and I was dating this lady and I prayed God would give her to me and he did and and I remember going god please get this woman out of my life but I'll tell you that when Isis relate to pole well you'll find out in a second oh yeah I what I wasn't she wasn't home you know she wasn't home it's like you're Rome sweet home I wasn't home and I you know first that was very important in there because why would you give up all the the things it's because that here is everything when I finally met Carrie I was home and you know it's been a best I almost never did The Passion of Christ I almost never was an actor I almost never married my wife and I almost never adopted my three children from China that had brain tumors and cancer what a boring life you know and I think that was the spirit of that scene it's like you know here we are with the Romans you know or kind of something pretty cool here probably he's happening it's hard but it it's still beautiful there is also something that mentorship and the more I I was weeping during that moment when he said you know what miserable days we had god I missed them I I was thinking my friend father Richard John Newhouse whom you knew Scott for those of you who didn't know father Richard he was this kind of Magisterial figure he founded first things magazine he had this great rumbling voice sort of like Paul and when he was dying the last time I saw him we took him from the hospital and we were driving and I said well we've got a you know the Pope is coming and you're gonna we're gonna do this next thing and he took me by the hand and he said oh no my friends our adventures are over our adventures are over now Raymond but you'll have many more and when I when I saw that moment I kept thinking of Richard and so many of us having to let go of the people who we relied on for all these years and that's a hard thing because you now realize you have a bigger role than you thought or that you then you bargained you have to be that role model for others now it's the passing of the guard you want to add anything skin yeah I'm reminded of that old TV series Band of Brothers you know when you when you're working with people you wouldn't even be friends with but you've got to be willing to lay down your life for them and they are for you suddenly you end up bonded in a way that you couldn't even imagine before that experience and if that's true in the natural realm of human conflict how much truer is it in the supernatural realm of spiritual warfare where Paul and Luke are more than just a band of brothers with Titus and Timothy you know they've seen false brethren they've seen people defect to the enemy they felt the pressure to even consider that but they've never caved to that so to say goodbye to Paul must have been one of the hardest lessons for Luke and yet at the same time to end up being able to spend time with our lady you know that is offsetting consolation ever there was a yeah yes sir this is for Jim and Eric how pervasive is the anti conservative anti-christian attitude in California and Hollywood and how is it ever vicious in terms of its manifestation or hurtful we're I'm pretty new to the scene in a lot of ways you know so I might defer to Jim because he's had so much experience with the head yeah sure it's hurtful but you know it goes back to being a victim you know what are you gonna do about it make great movies you know and really that's that's what it that was you know there's my mission and there's God's which one are you gonna follow you know I I do there were five things I almost didn't do that would have changed my life drastically and being a Christian is taking the hard road but it's the greatest road it's adventure its on its I will I will say um as film producers to that it the mission is more than just the film that we make but the mission is also the caring for and the loving of the people in the process of making the film and that's that's the thing that tugs my heart the most that God has is using the the tool of the film but and we we hope that it blesses millions and millions of people but the few hundred people that we got to work with in the process you know were we loving them where we expressing dignity where we caring for them where we being servants were we and you know you you can look at Hollywood and you can be overwhelmed by the craziness of it but but if we can just say hey we need to do our part what God's calling us to do and to love those people who are in front of us and care for them then I think that's how we can kind of it's you know little by little make a dent and in this film I won't reveal it but the the moral conundrum at the center of the film is really about serving those that hate you the whole movies about do you smack them or do you serve them that's a hard question yes the last question I am a senior theater major and I cannot tell you how many times I've been told you're either gonna have to give up your faith or you'll never make it what advice or consolation when you give to the theater majors that are trying I'd say hogwash I'm right here don't you know I'm right here you know there's the same thing you know I heard it a long long time but you know Count of Monte Cristo you know Passion of the Christ trust me on this all you got to do there's my dad played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA great philosopher he had a thing called the pyramid of success the pyramid of success that I go from is your mental capabilities your physical capabilities but what drives you is the holy spirit the fire that gets in your heart you could do anything that they read the scripture you know of all the miracles that occurred I'm here I'm a walking miracle I got struck by lightning I mean they split me in half but here I am I put myself back together somehow with my Jesus powers I did yes sir it seems like Christianity's presenting one of two ways in Hollywood and one of the spectrum there's the cynical secularism but on the other end of the spectrum it seems like there's this sort of soft prosperity gospel version where you know the coach is to go state is believe in Jesus and you know the villains are the mustache twirling atheists so you know breaking the mold and you know get getting into Hollywood how do we keep Christ's message authentic and real and not have it get watered down and too soft pandering Christ is Christ is authentic be authentic that that that that is that is the truth and it's the power when you come in a room I've seen every athlete that really believes I've seen people to give lip service but what is authentic love they feel your love when you walk in they they know you're credible they they don't have peace and they're craving for it and what I just don't believe in passing the buck off to someone else that I have to do it and that's my relationship with Christ and I go through the mother because she really authenticates it I'm being obedient to what the son asked us to do I'll say it like this like for example when I go to Starbucks this is a kind of a Jesus song Jim Caviezel JC you know but when I go to Starbucks I love pumpkin scones every year I love the pumpkin scone but I also like my coffee very hot and black okay now when you drink black hot coffee right it's bitter and it's and you gotta you know pull that air and cool air to cool that down I enjoy that I don't know why but I enjoy that process after I drink a bit of bitter I then temper it with some sweet okay if I have too much sweet I temper it with some bitter okay the way that Christians a lot of them tell bad movies and not just them other people that they put all the sugar in their bitterness and one then I'm I'm tempering if I have a sweet roll and I bite into it now I'm in a temperate with sweet coffee there's just too much it's across the board yeah they can't be they can't be mixed but you can mix it in your mouth and and that's just the fine art of doing that Mel Gibson if that analogy goes with Mel Gibson and how he does a film and how he sets you up but he's always continually staying ahead of you and you have to guess where the guy is going and that's just what I was born to do but well that's the nice thing about it does and that's the nice thing about this film it's one of the few Christian films if I may use that nomenclature since the really the first since the passion that acknowledges the brutality that's happening around these people and what happens to them and it's not always a pretty picture but to my mind if you're not gonna be honest enough and show the whole thing then don't tell the story that's half the story we had people all the time you know coming after us and saying oh you know I just I just don't like violence I just don't like violence you know and and they missed the spirit of what Jesus has done for us I can't look away from it when we did that you know Mel was like okay all right we're gonna put the hooks in Jim side right here Jim come on get over here right so when the cut when he runs over here and he comes over man oh sorry Jim did I hit you oh yeah and then put the hook right here and it's gonna rip the flesh right off his side everybody's looking at him like what oh don't worry about it I'll figure it out you know and then he cuts away and he shows the Blessed Mother it's just extraordinary he tempers it but you think you're seeing it still because you see her flinching and we still see it in in our minds eye we think well actually watching it but was more disturbing was showing the the devil holding the baby now what do you think that means I mean so you know you have the Antichrist if Satan and then these geniuses like here we are you know carrying the cross and then he goes I got an idea now let the devil over there and put Mary over here and and Mary you look at the devil just just look at him and Jesus you don't look at him okay so just keep walking no and so they're both looking at each other but Mary it's brilliant I mean she's just like not with my children not with my children it's it's so powerful and then later on you know he's all right Jim I know your shoulders really messed up you know and uh but you're but you're carrying it okay and you're gonna go down all right and then I'm gonna have John and you know what no let's not do that Mary you go run run so she's running and he speeds the camera and this is just the genius of the man and she comes and lands there I mean just like at home plate she run no I want you to slide and like you're just like it's a World Series game and you know she's from Romania and and wait oh yeah so he run you know around it so she just ran in and slid right into me and right at that moment then the cross comes down and boom I cuz my shoulder was dislocated I turn look up and I got my own blood cuz my I bit my tongue so bad that it just streams of blood coming out my mouth and Mel is gone wow that's brilliant and the Hovis say you have her say son I am here Aloha me close AHA Kadesh mother I make all things new and then I lift up the cross my shoulders dislocated and I got to get my arm over the darn thing and because it's dislocated it looks like I'm holding the most precious baby that ever was you know that that cross was so and it was just that that was the act of God that was it was doing that so you know going to Mass every day these little miracles would happen but how it makes what's great about it is it when suffering comes I don't run from it the cross I go to it I attack it I go into it I I want if this loneliness then so be it I'm not might my faith isn't conditional on how I you know whether I'm loved or not I know I am it's not before we go is there something there for us to understand about the enduring power of the scriptures in that it unflinchingly captures the real history and the real moment that these people that we are called to follow in their footsteps lived it doesn't look away during those horrible moments it bears down no it doesn't and when I reflect back on my watching of the movie I was struck at first by wait a minute that's from Philippians that's from Corinthians that's from you know and he wrote that about 10 years earlier you know he wrote that about 15 years earlier but I've written a fair bit and most of what I've written I have spoken both before and afterwards so what this film impressed upon me was how much of what we read and Paul was in the heart of Paul all the time not just when he finished one epistle he never talked about charity and love you know again no this was exactly what he talked about all the time and so he's not quoting his epistles he's reading straight from the script of his heart that's what it's all about but lived the lived experience whether on screen or in our lives gentlemen I thank you all for your candor your honesty your fun and for all of you for allowing us in it's been a wonderful evening I want to thank everyone at Franciscan University of Steubenville particularly Michael Hernon being such gracious hosts Paul apostle of Christ opens in theaters everywhere March 23rd that is all the time we have for now until next week the show continues on Twitter and Facebook you can like me at both places or follow me on Facebook the links are at Raymond Arroyo dot-com be sure to join us next week we have an exclusive one-on-one interview with Jim Caviezel a very moving interview and authors Missy and Mia Robertson will be here from the duck dynasty clan they'll tell us about their new book princess in camo two children's series until then we'll be scouting the world over for all that is seen and unseen on behalf of the staff and crew of EWTN news thank you for watching I'm Raymond Arroyo from Washington DC I know [Music] you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 313,008

Rating: 4.8554621 out of 5

Keywords: WOT, WOT05997

Id: zA10PipsdzA

Length: 58min 45sec (3525 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 16 2018