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On why Order of the Phoenix is my favorite Harry Potter book.

It is the book which focuses on the importance of the heart over the head. It is in Order of Phoenix that Dumbledore affirms to Harry Potter that his greatest strenght is in his ability to feel pain. #HarryPotter

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The most cathartic parts of this movie is when Paul and Angus get to be honest with each other about their own pain. Paul slowly become a sort of a Father figure who turns a Christ figure willing to risk life and limb for Angus. Mary too finds healing for her inconsolable pain in connection with her pregnant sister who promises that if her new born child would be male, Curtis would be his middle name.

The movie starts with Paul as an angry man, drowning his pain in alcohol and vitriol. The movie resists finding romance as an easy salve to his pain. Instead it attempts to help people find resolution through honesty, acceptance and facing the truth of their past. The last scene of the movie is Paul taking a swing of liquor and spitting it out, setting Paul on a new journey.

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What happens when 3 souls with sorrow are stuck together with each other over Christmas break?

In Holdovers, Paul, the teacher, starts sublimating his pain by making life miserable for the students around him. Can Paul change? What would it take for Paul to change?

Holdovers centers on 3 people who have experienced significant loss in their lives. Mary, the cook, lost her son. Tully lost his father. Paul is spewing vitriol in a private school he teaches history at while grieving past betrayal.

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This healing community is not about mere acceptance. Mere acceptance isn't enough. Acceptance ought to be accompanied by honesty about true self. If not, it becomes false acceptance. What makes Holdovers satisfying is in observing the trio be honest about their true past.

Paul, being a history nerd and teacher, takes Angus to a museum and says, only when we understand the past we can makes sense of the present. The irony being that he is not honest about his own past. He remains a prisoner of his past, which keeps him bound to Barton.

One of the most moving parts of the movie is when Paul and Angus encounter their past. Both Christian theology and Stoicism value this encounter with the truth of oneself. But they differ is in the role of community and painful emotions play in the process of healing. Stoicism attempts to use reason to keep painful emotions at bay. Christianity has a positive view of emotions, even attributing negative emotions to God himself.

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Watching the interactions between children and parents in The Crown helps us to see the power and potency of the father would and how it can powerfully shape us. We need to reparent ourselves. A great place to start is to be honest about the relationship with our parents.

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If you are someone who feels like your Mom or Dad does not love you what would you feel? What would you do?

The answer to this question plays out in the new season of The Crows TV series played out in the relationship between Diana and Dodi Al Fayed. #TheCrownseason6

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When one has a very imperfect earthly father how can one see a perfectly loving heavenly father? This were seeing Jesus as the face of God's love may be helpful.

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This reminds me of a verse from Isaiah 53:3 of how Jesus himself was rejected and acquainted with grief "he is despised rejected off men, a man of suffering, acquainted with grief." In a world trying to suppress grief, this provides a way to turn our grief to gifts. #Grief

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At first glance, Luna Lovegood appears as a dreamy, eccentric individual, often mocked at Hogwarts. Yet, Luna possesses a remarkable gift – the ability to offer solace to those facing distress. #HarryPotter #empathy

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This gave her a unique perspective, making her more sensitive to things others are blind to. Luna's empathetic nature and comforting presence are a testament to how her own grief shaped her into the remarkable person she became. 🦉💫

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@dickiebush 🤖🤖🤖

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Misfit also recognizes that if there is not resurrection then anything goes. It is the argument that Ivan Karamazov makes in Brother Karamazov - "if God is absent then nothing is prohibited." One might it was Misfit and Ivan who truly understood the importance of Easter!

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Flannery O'Connor's short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, is a brilliant critique of culture Christianity. The "bible belt" as a sort of a culture that is imbued with a morality of being nice and fair to people. The one who is nice and fair to others is the good Christian man.

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Misfit continues... "and if He (Jesus) didn't (resurrect) then there is nothing for you to do but to enjoy the few minutes you've got left the best way you can - by killing someone or burning down his house or do some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness."