FIELD OF DREAMS: REDEMPTIVE RELATIONSHIPS

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the one activity that helps me pass the time when walking on the treadmill is watching movies on my Kindle Fire. I recently completed watching the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan and James Earl Jones. As one who loves to watch movies, this is one movie I can watch over and over.

The power of the film is not only about the sport of baseball, a sport that I have loved all of my life. There is a deeper power that touches the subconscious of those who watch the film, far beyond the drama and the intricacies of the game. That power is the mystery of relationships, specifically the multi-layer relationships that people have.

I find the film an allegory about a broken humanity in search of redemption. There is Ray Kinsella, who carries with him the broken relationship he had with his father, John. This is Shoeless Joe Jackson, who suffered a broken relationship with the game around which he had centered his life, because of his part in the “Black Sox 1919 World Series Scandal”. There is Terrance Mann who suffers a brokenness from his true self as a writer. Then there is Doc “Moonlight” Graham whose one regret in life was not being able to bat in the Major Leagues.

Shoeless Joe Jackson

 

Redemption comes at a cost. Ray’s path to redemption leads to being ridiculed within his own community, causes friction within his extended family, and without the comfort of certainty, leads him away from his family and home to far off Boston, MA, and Chisholm, MN, and almost costs him his livelihood as a farmer and his family, their home and farm. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s redemption comes with the cost of being banned from the game he loved so much, and only being able to play it again following his death. The cost of redemption for Terrance Mann is to forego the safety he created by cutting himself off from the world and upon breaching his self-created walls, engage once more the messiness, the drama and the trauma of human life. With no degree of certainty, as did Ray, he must fall back on trust as he reengages with his true self, by following the ghostly baseball players into the mystery of the corn field at the end of the movie.

These are all paths to wholeness. Ray is made whole again as he once more plays catch with the ghost of his father. Shoeless Joe finds wholeness in the playing of the game that he loves beyond life. Terrance Mann finds wholeness as he recommits himself to writing.

Moonlight "Doc" Graham

 But what about Doc “Moonlight” Graham, was his path to wholeness found in being finally able to bat in the Major Leagues? No, it was if the ghost of his younger self batting with Major League ball players was the satisfying of a past whim. He already had found wholeness and redemption in his vocation as a doctor, and this only becomes all the more clear when he assists clearing the hotdog lodged in the throat of Ray’s young daughter, Karin. Doc Graham had no regrets as he passed over the magic line to assist the choking young child.

The power of this film lay in illustrating that the path to redemption is found in the relationships we have with others, Ray’s relationship with his understanding wife, led eventually to his recovering the relationship he had with his father. Shoeless Joe’s relationship with Ray leads to his recovering the relationship he had had with baseball. Terrance Mann’s relationship with Ray leads to Terrance recovering his relationship with his true vocation as a writer.

 

As Christians and as Catholics we believe that in Jesus loving a broken humanity to death, we were redeemed. It is Jesus’ relationship with us, his selfless act of giving himself to us out of love that we have been freed from the brokenness that has dogged us from Creation. Chronologically, the salvific act of Jesus was over 2000 years ago. How are we to find redemption in the here and now?

The Jewish philosopher, theologian, and rabbi, Hans Buber, wrote in his masterpiece, I And Thou, that our relationship with one another is a window through which we look upon the face of the Divine Thou, the face of God. We continue to find the redemption of Jesus ongoing in the relationships we have with one another. St Paul reminds us that we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ, literally crawled into the skin of Jesus. Jesus continues to redeem others through his presence in us. It is through living in us that Jesus continues to redeem our broken humanity through our acts of love.

My dad, Walter W Wagner

 Who would walk out of the cornfield into our Field of Dreams? I would see my dad, Walter, who selflessly gave of himself to my family and to all whom he encountered. I would see my sister, Mary Ruth, who, in spite of her chronic illness, gave of herself to her patients and to my family. I would see my Aunt Ruth, and my Grandma, Katherine Wojnar who befriended so many people during their lifetime. I would see Dr. Maurice A Jones, one of the finest professors and mentors I ever had. I would see Blanche Schutrop from Chanhassen, and Donna Mae Kadrlik, Sr Sam Wagner to name just a few. 

Ruthie and I at my ordination, 1994

There are so many redemptive relationships we have in our lives if only we would open the eyes of our heart and notice them. My mom, my brother, my children, Ruth’s family. Of course, the most redemptive relationship I have ever had has been with my wife, Ruth. She chuckles in disbelief when I tell her this, but it is true. I have learned so much about love from her that it has transformed my life. She has utterly saved me from a life of self-indulgence and self-centeredness and has never preached at me even once. One of these days when I grow up I will be like her.

In closing there is this wonderful dialogue at the end of the movie:

John Kinsella: Is this heaven?
Ray Kinsella: It's Iowa.
John Kinsella: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.
[starts to walk away]
Ray Kinsella: Is there a heaven?
John Kinsella: Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.
[Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch]
Ray Kinsella: Maybe this is heaven. 

As Rabbi Hans Buber wrote, “In the beginning was relation.” And at the end of life is relation. I believe that what we will find in our redemptive relationships, is the heaven for which we long.