Rest In Peace. Rise In Power

Rest In Peace. Rise In Power, Chadwick Boseman

In my Sunday homily I used an illustration from filmmaker Rachel Morrison about a 4 minute short she made for Netflix called, “The Lucky Ones.”

Rachel puts images to a letter she wrote to her 5 year old son about this time of quarantine.

The most moving part of her letter is when she begins to wish her son goodness.

Rachel does this by recalling a summer from her young life in which she ate desserts of pudding and jello for every meal in a room filled with balloons and a bed that went up and down...It was only later that Rachel understood, that this summer, in which bedtime didn’t matter, was a time her mother was in a hospital room dying of cancer.

The reframing of something difficult as something beautiful is seen in her work Fruitvale Station. Perhaps strength and beauty is seen even better in Black Panther.

Though the work was stunning enough to garner her an Oscar Nomination, the first ever for a woman; perhaps it was the behind the scenes work with Chadwick Boseman who we now know was battling cancer himself, that’s even more poignant.

In coming days we will hear many stories of Chadwick’s talent, his kindness, his relentless pursuit of his craft; all the while, not revealing the life and death struggle he was fighting in his own body.

If ever there is a superhero story it’s this one. Rachel knew it from her mother. Chadwick knew it in his culture and in his body.

Long live the men and women and people of goodwill who long to tell stories that help others grow and heal—even when they are in pain.