The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - A Review of the “Cabrini” Movie

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

A new movie is coming to theaters this weekend and Jeff Cavins offers his review of it. The movie is titled “Cabrini” and tells the life story of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first United States citizen to be canonized. Jeff shares his thoughts on the movie and reflects on the life of Mother Cabrini. Snippet from the Show “I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him.” -Mother Cabrini Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 366, Cabrini. Welcome to the show, my friend. Good to have you this week. You know every single week we talk about things related to our first. faith, about evangelization, Bible study, of course, and we also talk about being a disciple, learning to share our faith with others, all kinds of things. And you know, there's some beautiful things happening out there right now in the Christian arena, both Protestant and Catholic, just some really good productions in film. And I'm taking the time today to talk about one particular film. I had a chance to see Cabrini.

that was before it hit the theaters. And today, the date of this release of this show is March 8th. And March 8th is actually a very special day. You know back in 1911, March 8th was a global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women. And it took place for the first time back in 1911. And since then, it has kind of morphed into different things, but how fitting it is to release a movie. Angel Studios releases this movie on March 8th because Cabrini of course is about an outstanding woman and we're going to talk about that today. I want to talk a little bit about the film that I saw and a little bit about Mother Cabrini and some people that she inspired as well. One of them I worked for and we'll talk about that in just a moment. By the way,

You know that every week, if you would like to get the show notes, all you've got to do is text my name to the number 3377. That's text Jeff Kaven's one word. And you can text it to 33777. We'll get you on the list. You'll get all the show notes. It kind of helps you out with the show, especially if you're jogging or cross-country skiing or you're in the car.

We just want to help you out with that. So no doubt you've been hearing about this movie, Cabrini. And I know a lot of you are looking forward to seeing it, and I'm grateful to Angel Studios and Ascension Press for letting me see this ahead of time. Now, Angel Studios, you probably have heard of them before because they are the ones who put out The Chosen. And so many people have seen The Chosen. We have also the Sound of Freedom.

A lot of you have seen the Sound of Freedom about trafficking and the problems there. And they also acquired a new film called Sight, which is an amazing film about an eye doctor. In fact, my good friend, David Fisher, worked on site prior to it going over to Angel Studios, which was a big deal. And David Fisher works for St. Paul's outreach now, SPO out of the Twin Cities. And he was involved in the film. Also, this dystopian drama, The Shift. My daughter and I went and saw that a couple of months ago. Now, that's a little different.

I'll tell you, it's kind of a take on the book of Revelation, and it's a thinker's film. But Cabrini was beautiful. It was beautiful. Now, for those of you that are not familiar with, Cabrini, I was first acquainted with Mother Cabrini as a boy. And I think I was in my teens, actually. And my parents took us out to Denver, Colorado for a vacation. And while we were there, we ended up going to this shrine, I guess you could say, of Mother Cabrini's.

And we had to go up on the side of a hill. And it was a beautiful place. I can remember it very clearly. But I have to tell you, I didn't know who she was when I was a teenager. And that's one of the things I hear from people consistently about Mother Cabrini as they don't know who she is. She's like the quiet saint who had such an impact on big, big people. And yet a lot of people don't know who she is. Well, they do now because this film, I think, is going to do very, very well.

Now, when Angel Studios put this out, I'd be curious what they were thinking was going to happen because it's the story of this Italian young lady who has a dream. And the dream is that she wants to build an empire. And I think they even use the word there to build an empire of hope in the world. and she wants to build orphanages and take care of children. But they tell this story in a beautiful way that isn't overly Christianized, I guess you could say, kind of over the top where it's, oh, okay. And this is one of the things as a Bible teacher I've said to people over the years is that

the Bible is the Bible, the narrative of the Gospels, the narrative of the gospel. But people have a tendency to read the gospel in a way that cannot be duplicated. You can't do it yourself. And sometimes that happens in films where we put together, you know, a beautiful film about somebody, but it's told in a way that nobody else can identify with that or imitate that. Not true with Cabrini. They put together this film about Mother Cabrini in a way where I think people would look at that and say, I'm inspired.

I think I could do that. At least I would like to do that with the Lord's help to create something that is, beautiful for Jesus, something that is wonderful for Jesus. Now, there's a couple of people that did know about her life, and they went on to do some incredible things, and I'll get to that in just a moment. I can tell you this, the lady that played Cabrina, the actress Christina Delana, what a job. I mean, she really, really portrayed Mother Cabrini in a beautiful way, is a beautiful woman, a strong woman, a woman that won't take no for an answer. She knows what God has called her to. And by the way, Mother Cabrini, and it's portrayed in the film, had many

people oppose her. She had bishops oppose her, a pastor oppose her, a mayor of New York oppose her. And at first, the Pope even, Pope Leo the 13th. And he was even saying no pretty much to what she wanted to do, yet she prevailed. And I know a couple ladies like that. One is Mother Angelica, who never took no. She knew what God had called her to do. And the other is Mother Teresa. And I remember talking to some people who knew Mother Teresa, and Father Groschell was one of them. I just let you in on this conversation. We had with Father Groshell years ago, he said to me one time, he said, I have been with Mother Teresa all around the world, helping her out and so forth. And he said, I have been in over 200 arguments with Mother Teresa,

and I have lost 200 arguments with Mother Teresa. He said that she knows what she wants to do and she gets it done. That's Mother Cabrini. And it's really done well in the film with Christiana Delano. She does a great job, as well as so many others who did a great job, the actor who plays Pope Leo the 13th is phenomenal. And I think you're going to enjoy it. So as far as acting and cinematography, top-notch, really top-notch. And again, they tell the story in a way that's not over-the-top, Christianized, but it's something that everybody could identify with and say,

man, I like to be with. You know, I like to be like that person. Now, you know the person that was acquainted with Mother Cabrini. I think it was four years after she was beatified. It was Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was the one that was so inspired by Mother Cabrini that that was really her launching point. She wanted to be like her.

And I can see that now. I didn't know that before the film and I did a little bit of studying on this. I didn't know that, but I can see it now that Mother Teresa naturally would be inspired by Mother Cabrini. and then she would go out and she'd be doing some of the things that Mother Cabrini did as well. Another thing about this film that really touched me, and then we'll get into a little bit about the life of Mother Cabrini in the film and some things that are not in the film.

But one thing that really hit me was that when I was watching it, I was thinking on and off about Pope John Paul II. And I asked myself afterwards, why? Why was I thinking about him when I was watching the movie, Cabrini? And here's the reason I think I was. The movie did what I think St. Pope John Paul II was trying to do during his pontificate. One of the things that he's known for is that he canonized more saints than everybody before him put together, more than any other pope, I should say.

He canonized, you know, so many people. And I think he was asked one time why. And his answer was that we need them more than ever. We need the saints more than ever right now. What are saints? Saints are examples of the faith. They're heroes of the faith. Men and women who triumphed and they are with God today in heaven.

And they are role models for us. And man, do we need those today? We need role models like never. before men and women. We need them as role models. We need to look at their life. We need to emulate them. We need to model ourselves after them. And this film, Cabrini, did just that. It provided a doable representation of a saint that people who are seeking God and want to serve God could look at it and say, I can see myself doing that. Maybe I will do. what Mother Cabrini did.

That's what I think was so brilliant about the film. And I've heard people say, you know, about the film that, well, it didn't have this or it didn't have that or didn't have this. But you know what? I think Angel Studios did exactly what they wanted to do with it. And that was lay out her life in a real way and let people observe. So we live in an incredibly selfish era right now. And we need examples of humility, selflessness.

and care for other people and loving the disenfranchised, the orphans and the widows, just exactly what the scripture says. In fact, James says that pure and undefiled religion is to take care of the widows and the orphans. So Mother Cabrini is doing exactly what James said. She's trying to take care of the orphans. I'm going to take a break. When we come back, I want to go into this a little bit and take a look at her journey. in the film here, and then some things that were not in the film as well, and then end with

a few takeaway points. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Hi there, I just wanted to hop in real quick to tell you about a great way to listen to both Bible in a year and Catechism in year. It's called the Ascension app. Not only does the app contain the entirety of both podcasts, it also includes transcripts of each episode, the full text of the Great Adventure Bible, and the Ascension Catechism, over 1,000 answers to tough Bible questions we couldn't get to in the podcast, bonus content from the Bible and your companion, and so much more. This app really enhances the experience of the podcast and helps you get more out of the Bible and Catechism. I highly encourage you to check it out in the app store. Just search Ascension app or text the letters

APP to the number 71391 to get a download link sent directly to your phone. Thank you so much again for being part of this community. And God bless. Thanks for coming back. Talking today about Mother Francis Cabrini, the new film Angel Studios put out. It launches today, March 8th. If you're listening in the future, it was March 8th, 2004, and coincides with the day of women internationally. So Mother Francis Cabrini, she was born in 1850 in Lombardi, Italy. And as she was growing up, man, she was a sickly girl. In fact, they didn't think she was going to live a long life.

She ended up living to, I think, 67, I think that's what it was, if I remember, right? But, you know what? She also built 67 institutions around the world. I think she was 67 when she died. You check it out. You check it out and let me know. So she was very sickly. They didn't think that she was going to live a long life and she had a good family life,

particularly a relationship with her father and her father would read stories of what to her. He would read regularly stories of great missionaries, missionaries of the faith. You know, that's something for us as parents to take to heart is that there are so many great stories out there that are written in so many films now. We need to put these before our kids because they're going to look for role model. out in the world, they're going to want to be like someone, and why not show them the great heroes of the faith, the missionaries? That's what Francis Cabrini's father did for her. Now, she was rejected from being a missionary. That's what she wanted to do. She wanted to build an empire of hope, and she was rejected from being a missionary by every group that she visited.

And so what did she do? She said, I was to start my own organization. I'll start my own organization. I'll start my own mission, you know, in ministry. And so that's what she set off to do. Now, as I was watching this, what hit me again was, of course, Pope John Paul the second, but what hit me was Jesus. You know that, and if you've heard me talk about this on the show before, that in order to become a disciple in Jesus' day, you couldn't just decide, I'm a disciple, I'm a card-carrying disciple of Jesus, didn't work that way. You had to be chosen. You had to be chosen by a rabbi to become one of his Talmudim or one of his disciples, and that's the only way it worked, is you were chosen, and they chose you because they thought

that you could become like them. Remember what Jesus said? You didn't choose me. I chose you. And what is interesting about the choosing of the 12 disciples is this. Jesus chose the unchosen to change the world. He chose the unchosen to change the world. Now, right there, that should bring hope to a lot of people because we live in a culture of unchosen people

and we're searching for likes, we're hunting for likes, we want to be liked when we're created for love. We're created for love. Don't settle for likes. And Jesus men were unchosen. He chose the unchosen to change the world. And that reminds me of Mother Cabrini, who she wasn't chosen by any missionary group. She wasn't accepted by the leadership for the most part. She was told, in fact, to go back to her town, be happy with what she was working on.

Give up the dream of China and Afghanistan and, you know, the rest of the world. But that desire in her heart grew and she could not deny it. she could not deny it and i love that i love that type of zeal and let me just pause there for a moment and say if that's you where you have a vision for something and you feel like you're always being told no you're not fast enough you're not rich enough you're not this enough or that enough then you're going to like this film because it's the story of a woman who wasn't chosen but ended up changing the world. And that's true of Mother Teresa,

and that's true of my old boss, Mother Angelica, as well. Both of them, amazing people. So she had this dream to do this, and she was getting nose at every turn, and yet she continued with a tremendous tenacity. And one of the things we learned from the film was that in 2,000 years, the church has never approved an order for women to operate without a man in charge of it.

She was the first, and it was Pope Leo who changed his mind and said, you can do it, but he said, under one condition, you're not going to the east, into China. I want you to go to the west, and that landed her in the United States. Oh, man. And it was in 1909 that she became an American citizen. And then it was in 1938 that Pope Pius the, I think it was Pope Pius the 12th, it declared Cabrini blessed. And that was on then on July 7th, 1946, after an extensive review of her life, Pope Pius the 12th, canonized her, making her the first U.S. citizen to be declared a saint.

In 1950, she was named patron saint of immigrants, and in the United States, her first, or her feast day, rather, is November 13th, and she is the first American saint. And you know what's interesting? One woman was so impressed and inspired by Mother Cabrini. I mentioned this before, that four years later, she started her own missionary ministry. That was Mother Teresa, as mentioned that earlier. And then, of course, she died on September 22nd, 1917 at Columbus Hospital in Chicago. An amazing life. A really, really amazing life.

Now, it was in March of 2020 that to Colorado did something very special because, you see, when she spread her work throughout America, Colorado was one of the places that she had a profound impact at, you know, and so it was March of 2020 that Colorado replaced its Columbus Day holiday with Cabrini Day. I don't know if you knew that. I didn't know that. And it was to be held annually on the first Monday in October. Cabrini Day became the first paid state holiday in the country to honor a woman. Yay.

I remember as a boy, as I said earlier, going to Denver and I went there to that shrine, but I didn't know who she, who she was. So one of the things that really stood out to me about the film was her tenacity. And she showed a tenacity that reminded me so much of David's three mighty men who showed tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds, in the face of overwhelming fatigue, and a seemingly insignificant job. She was a hero in all of those. She was a hero. And she reminds me so much of Mother Teresa and Mother Angelica in so many different ways. But more than anything else, she reminds me of a woman in the Bible. And this woman in the Bible is known as the

the woman who was very persistent, and she would not take no for an answer. And it's found in Luke's Gospel chapter 18. And I thought about this while I was watching the film. And here it is, Luke 18, starting in verse 1. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. That's Cabrini. She didn't lose heart. It was tough, though.

really, really tough. And I imagine that a lot of people in her shoes would have given up. But listen, if you've got a vision in your heart to change the world, you have what it takes to resist giving up. If you really believe it's from God, you can keep going, even in the face of criticism or people rejecting you. And so this parable really is a message to always pray and not lose heart. Jesus said, in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man.

There was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Vindicate me against my adversary. For a while he refused. But afterward, he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor regard man. Yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.

And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes,

will he find faith on earth? Will he find faith on earth? So Mother Cabrini, she reminds me of that woman in the parable, that she wouldn't take no. And in every instance, when she was going up against clergy, the Holy Father, a mayor... You could see it in her eyes. She wasn't going to take no.

And she wasn't going to back down just because somebody who had more authority than her did not agree with the idea. That's tenacity. That is tenacity. And that kind of tenacity that Mother Cabrini had is couched in faithfulness and love and mercy. It's not just her saying, you know what, I'm going to do my own thing. No, it was who she was and who she knew Jesus that compelled her to be so strong and to resist. And that comes through on the movie very well. It comes very well.

In fact, that's probably the takeaway. That and what she said, she said to Pope Leo the 13th, Your Holiness. The world is too small for what I intend to do. oh man did that that's a line and a half put that on your t-shirt put that on your bumper sticker that is an amazing statement your holiness the world is too small for what i intend to do and you know she didn't mean it in a braggadocious way or an arrogant way prideful way no she said it because the love of God was so in her heart. So my takeaway, to be honest with you, is I want to be like that.

I want to focus in on the mission that God has given me. I want to do what the Lord has put on my heart. And I don't want to back down from it. I want to fight for it. I want to pray for it. I want to be tenacious. So let me ask you a question. Do you have that kind of a vision?

Do you have that kind of a vision for life? for yourself? Is there anybody that inspires you? Anybody you would want to be like? Like Mother Teresa and Mother Angelica, both of them. Both of them were aware of Mother Cabrini. And we know for sure that Mother Teresa talked about it quite a bit. And that was her model for what she wanted to do.

But do you have something? if you don't what i would encourage you to do is i would encourage you to take some time to pray this week and if you get a chance go see the film see it it's worth it it's good it's well done it's got a powerful message go and see it and then i like you to go and pray and ask the lord lord what are you calling me to what is it about me that you wanted and you wanted out of me what would you like me to do for your kingdom and listen to him? Listen to him long and hard and continue. Even if you don't know at that point, continue to make this a prayer, make it regular to go to the church, go to a chapel where the blessed sacrament is, sit before the Lord, and like Mother Cabrini, ask God, what are you calling me to?

my guess is that there's going to be a lot of religious a lot of priests a lot of brothers and sisters that are going to come out of this film because they're going to one day look back and say that film caught my heart her her passion caught my heart you know what that's what saints are for that's why we have them and i think i think this movie is out right now for a reason that people are have lost hope purpose and their life, direction in their life. And Pope John Paul II said you will find your life when you give it away. When you give your life away and you die to yourself, you're going to find out who you really are. And Mother Cabrini did that in spades. She knew who she wasn't. That's why

she went forward. And it reminds me a lot of Jesus when he was tempted in Matthew chapter four by the devil in the wilderness of Judea. He went out there and what did the enemy do? He didn't say, oh, you can't do these things or anything like that. He didn't taunt him and anything. Anything like that? What did he do? The enemy went after his identity. If you are the son of God, make these stones bread.

If you are the son of God, hurl yourself from the temple mount. If you are the son of God, worship me. No, you couldn't get Jesus on that. Why? Because he knew who he was. He knew his identity. and Mother Cabrini knew her identity as a daughter of God with a vision and she didn't let go of it.

And today, in the world, identity is at stake. Identity is under attack. Who you are is under attack. Who your children are and your grandchildren. It's under attack. And now is the time to claim who you really are according to God. and then ask him, I know who I am. What do you want me to do now? And I truly believe that the Lord will answer you. I tried to answer that call back when I was 18 years old. When I said at 18 years old,

Lord, what do you want to do with my life? And I had this strong sense in my heart at 18 that I would spend the rest of my life teaching people the Bible. I was 18. I'm older than that now. and that's all I've ever done. And I can tell you that I feel like I am on earth for this purpose. And I don't know how long I have to live, but I know that I'll be doing this the rest of my life. And I know that you have a call as well. And so again, seek God, ask for his will and proceed.

To Angel Studios, great job. You really did a wonderful, wonderful job. And I hope I get to meet Christiana del Anna someday because she did just a great job. And you know what? There might be people listening to this podcast right now that after you see the film, you may go into filmmaking to make a difference. All of you in the creative arts, the singers, the writers, the videographers, the actors and actresses, keep it up.

Keep it up. You're making a difference. Let's pray. in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jesus, we love you so much. Thank you, Lord, for Mother Cabrini. She's such an example to all of us, to feed the poor, to clothe the naked, to take care of the orphans, to give her life in what the world would call such a meaningless life. But to us, it is everything to do your will. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I pray, Lord, for all listening right now that they would be inspired by this film to go see the film

and that you would continue to speak to their hearts as to what you want them to do. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. I love you, my friend. I really do. And it's an exciting time to be alive. Keep hope out there. Good things are going to be happening with the Lord.

God bless. Thank you.