cinema antiqua est caritas OR my (insane?) theology of old movies

We don't do it much anymore, since the Spirit of Vatican II swept in with a Spirit of Protestant Bland, but Catholics used to light candles for the souls of the dead, prayers in the form of flames offered for our loved ones suffering in Purgatory. Pay your dollar, light your candle, say a prayer of intercession to Our Lady (or St. fill-in-the-blank) and ask for your granny's sweet release to the Beatific Vision. It was a beautiful sight, all golden-glowed, a statue of Mary ringed with flowers and a host of candles burning round her feet, a wax halo, a symbol of piety and love.

Boy, I'm sure glad Fr. Hippy Dave got rid of all those gaudy side altars so he could put up a few more groovy felt banners! Thanks Father! No need to light candles anymore. Why, Bishop Feelgood said so!

Gah.

To light the flame these days, is to queue up the flicker of ancient cinema, oldie-moldy black and white stuffs that shine like silver or mercury, and as you light your way toward a retrovision, you will see the faces of the dead or dying and unknowingly offer a prayer for their souls. Yes, I am on drugs, why do you ask? It doesn't matter that I'm telling you this while in a state of Pepsi One induced ecstasy (and yes Virginia, caffeine is a drug), what matters is that you listen to my new evangelization and open your hearts to love. Old movies are love. Love poured out for Carole Landis, poor creature, dead by her own wretched hand, but does she know the joy she brings us now? Every second of her screen time is a second chance for her soul, a chance for a new generation to witness her beauty, her simmering talent, to get a little jolt of everyday happy, we watch her smile and BOOM! a spark of love is jettisoned into cosmic space, into the metaphysical heavens, possibly into Purgatory if her sad, depressed soul made it there in the last throes of her life before she faced the unyielding judgement which comes with suicide, maybe she called out for mercy before the death knell struck, who knows, but maybe she can hear our cinematic joys now as we watch her glide along the sidewalk of a 20th Century Fox backlot stage, and maybe she'll get one step closer to the love of the universe...