In medieval Ireland, the sweet peasant girl, Shannon, is finally old enough for her life's dream of marriage and motherhood. But a disturbing vision calls her to abandon her dreams and remain single forever in service to the good queen. She is willing and she has a plan, but the long journey to the castle is treacherous and more is at stake than she ever imagined.
A backdrop of miracles and signs and wonders shows intense Christian spirituality as experienced by Saint Patrick, the ancient contemplatives, and so many in covenant communities today. To Serve The Crown explores discernment, chastity and evangelization while celebrating the closeness of God’s loving presence and his great gift of zeal for the Lord.
Why Ireland?
The main story arc really came from “an old Irish legend” as told in a homily by Father Don Maroon of Saints Peter & Paul church in Wellston, Ohio. This homily was given at the 4:30 vigil mass on November 17, 2007. It’s a great story. The mass readings for the day were:
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
|
Malachi 3:19-20
Psalm 98:5-9
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19
|
Real Influences
Most of the dialog in the movie is adapted from actual conversations Greg has had over the years. All of the spiritual events in the movie are spiritual events Greg has experienced. There are no revolutionary theological claims in this story that can’t already be found in mainstream orthodox Christianity, but hopefully the unique perspective will speak eternal truths to some who otherwise would not find it. For those already fervent in their Christian faith, the story hopefully proves edifying. For youngsters, it's just an adventure!
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
The movie is a journey story. The protagonist must get from point A to point B and collect various items along the way. It is an adaptation of the parable from Matthew 13. The path, the rocky soil, the thorns and the rich soil of Matthew 13 are represented by different villages on the journey. Also, each soil type is mapped to one of the classical sources of sin: the world, the flesh or the devil.
The village of Ravensport in the movie represents the birds stealing the seed of God's word so it cannot take root. The evil people there are full of lies and violence as is Satan, “the father of all lies and a murderer from the beginning.”
In Blackstone, the seed of God's word falls on rocky soil. It is received at once with joy but persecution comes and the word withers for lack of roots. The buffoons in this village are slothful and gluttonous, slaves to sins of the flesh.
The village of Kilbriar in the movie represents the world. The seed of God's word grows but is choked out by the thorns of busyness and corrupted by hypocrisy and spiritual pride.
Only in Richwood does God's word take root. There it yields good fruit a hundred fold.
The Youth Metaphor
The actors in our movie are primarily young people. It's fun for them, we want to reach youth with the movie's message, and youth possess a precious innocence and idealism that inspires us all. However, the villains in the movie will all be played only by adults.
We're using the actual age of the actor as a rough metaphor for one's state of grace. This is meant to resonate with the idea of GK Chesterton, who wrote in his book Orthodoxy of a child's sense of wonder:
“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
CS Lewis expounded on the same concept of sin making us old. The character representing Eve in his fiction Perelandra starts out free and naive but gradually becomes more troubled and tired as the character representing Satan "reasons" with her over many days and weeks and months.
Of course we read in Matthew 18:3 "Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."