Have you ever seen the movie The Mission with Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro? In it DeNiro plays a very vile man who kills his own brother. With the guidance of a priest, he tries to find peace through penance for what is done and then he becomes a monk himself. In the end of the movie he reverts back to his violent ways, not his former life, but he solves the problem in the movie by reverting to violence he once was proficient at. my question is can we change our nature? God calls us to use the gifts he has given us. I'm sure that he did not give the gift of violence to people, however I wonder if sometimes we are culturally conditioned to think certain ways of being and living are undesirable when in all actuality God wants us to use those traits to serve him.
Some very important people in my life people I respect greatly have been very forward direct and sometimes even offensive people. The common thread however seems to be that all those people had at the center of their lives love. When we are motivated by a selfless love a love that is not self seeking, a love that is giving and forgiving then God will use any gift that we have, any skill or trait to serve His ends.
If you have seen the movie the Mission. I would love to know what you think. Do you think that the DeNiro character failed or do you think that he was living out the way that he was designed by God?
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