I SAW a beautiful French Christian film this past weekend entitled “The Apostle”. It’s a story about a young Muslim man named Akim who is being groomed to be an imam (a prayer leader of a mosque). His life turns upside down when he becomes a friend of a Catholic Christian man who helps him get out of a dispute over his bicycle accident with the driver of a car. As their friendship blooms, the Catholic man invites Akim to attend his child’s baptism.
Despite his brother’s objection, Akim attends the Christian baptism. During the baptism, something extraordinary happens to Akim: the ceremony deeply touches his heart and he becomes thrilled with the Catholic Christian faith. He brings home a copy of the baptismal rite, secretly reads it many times, and gets amazed by the Gospel passages. Days and nights come and he can’t keep thinking about the Christian faith and the words of Jesus. He keeps being drawn to it and to the person of Jesus, especially after he speaks to the Catholic priest to answer him all his questions.
Like the Apostle Paul, Akim experiences a profound conversion. He decides to embrace the Catholic faith to the great dismay of his family and friends. His brother gets extremely upset about his conversion until Akim suffers from a brutal attack by some Muslim young men, which leads him to a hospital bed.
Akim’s brother cannot take seeing his brother suffer and keeps on asking who hurt him. Akim tearfully looks at his brother and then reaches out to him to touch his hand. Akim’s brother finally responds to his gesture and reconciles with him.
At the end of the film, Akim and his brother pray together, each in his own way.
The movie is not only well-crafted but it’s also beautifully acted out. The actors who played the Muslim family effectively portrayed the grief, conflict, and disapproval over Akim’s conversion. In the end, what touches a person about the film is the deep love between two brothers that no religious differences would ever destroy.
The movie brings relevance to today’s society when we hear about horrific stories of hatred of Moslems towards Christians. It helps us to respect and to tolerate one another’s religious differences. After all, what matters most in any religion is the love that we have for one another and the peace that we bring into this world. St. Paul in this Sunday’s Reading is right when he says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” (Ephesians 4:30-32)
Let’s continue to pray for peace among many religious groups in this world. Let people of all religions practice not only their love for God but also their love for the whole human race. Let’s be that one family of God that we claim to be!
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
