Please note, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne is rated T. Previously, we looked at Batman's ability to stand up to the evil of Darkseid. Now we see why he was able to do that. Darkseid's attack in Final Crisis sends Batman back in time, as chronicled in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. During his journey, Batman makes new friends in the past while his friends in the present are working to help save him and the world from Darkseid's final plan. For Batman to come back from the worst of it, he has to come to a realization: The first truth of Batman, the saving grace. I was never alone. I had help. The same is true for us in our struggles with evil. Not only do we have God with us, we also have the whole Body of Christ supporting us. That is how we get through our darkest moments: with help. We are never alone. That is true for Batman, and it is thankfully true for us in our life of Faith as well.
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Please note: Final Crisis is rated T. Renowned writer and theologian G.K. Chesterton once said in Tremendous Trifles: Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. A popular paraphrase of this quote comes from Neil Gaiman in Coraline: Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. From Scripture, we know of the temptation the forces of evil offer us. We know evil has tried to tempt even Jesus Christ, though it failed.
While Jesus has gotten the final say over evil on the Cross, we still face those remnants of evil in our own lives every day. While through Baptism we become part of the Body of Christ, we are still flawed and frail creatures in this world. The constant battle against the forces of evil in this world can be intimidating. That is why Chesterton's words as a writer and a believer are so important. Sometimes we need a story to show us that evil can be defeated and that it can be defeated by us. This is where, on Batman Day, the Caped Crusader comes in. Batman is a hero who posses no superpowers. Unlike some of his colleagues in the Justice League, he isn't an alien or divine. The only difference from you and me is that Batman has a lot of money to fight crime, and perhaps a little more training to do so than the vast majority of us. Yet in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, Batman goes head to head with Darkseid, one of the Justice League's greatest threats and one of the near embodiments of pure evil in DC comics. Darkseid, to hide his plans, has Batman kidnapped and tortured. It turns out he has a even had a hand in a lot of Batman's recent troubles, and some of his past hardships as well. Darkseid, it seems, has been looming over Batman as a bogey for just about his entire life. Yet Batman perseveres. He frees himself, delivering one of the final blows to help Superman finally defeat Darkseid for good. Batman faces his own perils in doing so, but there's only one word he has in the face of this terrifying evil: "Gotcha." This image from Final Crisis is one I've kept with me over the years, quite literally. It has been the lock screen from my phone almost since the series came out. It acts as a constant reminder to me that we can face evil head on, even with how flawed we are. It is a reminder that I can, in spite of my shortcomings, live out my Faith in the face of the evil that would try to destroy it and me in the process. Thanks to Christ Jesus, I know that Good has won out over evil in the end. It's thanks to the stories of Scripture, and others like those of Batman, that I know I can live into that victory each and every day, even though I am not perfect, at least not yet in this world. Please note, Sky: Children of the Light is rated 9+. Towards the end of the Season of the Little Prince in Sky, the Little Prince has a conversation with your player character before leaving to go to Eden, the place where all go in Sky to die and then be reborn.
There are aspects of this conversation that are reminiscent of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Crucifixion. For one, your character ends up falling asleep, much like the Disciples did while Jesus tried to pray. There is even a moment when your character wakes up to find the Little Prince gone, just as Jesus goes off on His own as he prays. There is also the aspect of the Little Prince trying to protect the player character from his choice to go to Eden. After waking up, your character travels further to find the Little Prince encountering a Dark Dragon, commonly known as a "Krill" to Sky players. This creature is a sure sign of death. Jesus also tries to protect His Disciples. When they are violent against the Roman soldiers arresting Jesus, our Lord tells the Disciples to stop and the Roman soldiers to let them go as He is the one they really want. The Little Prince’s actions are based in love. He seeks Eden out of love for the Rose. He also leaves before your character awakes out of love for you. Jesus make His actions out of on single love: the love of His sheep. In Gethsemane, Jesus looks after the specific sheep of the Disciples. On the Cross, Jesus looks out for everyone. The Little Prince in Sky helps give us a reminder of Jesus’ actions as well as that love God has for all of us. |
Please note, there maybe Spoilers in the Posts below!
The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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