The Book of Eli and the Catholic Man’s Eucharistic Journey of Lent

One of my favorite movies is The Book of Eli (Columbia Pictures, 2010). It is a seemingly dark film set in an apocalyptic future, 30 years after a nuclear holocaust. The main character, Eli (Denzel Washington), wanders the wastelands of the former United States, following a calling from a mysterious heavenly voice, as he carries a bible westward to a destination and a purpose God alone knows.

The Book of Eli is a parable of what it means for the Catholic man of God to walk by faith along the narrow path of salvation in the desert of this shattered world. We are certainly made more keenly aware of this mission during the season of Lent, where we come face to face with our call to become broken bread and poured out wine – a sacrificial, Eucharistic offering – as we by grace take up our cross and live out the message of the Gospel in our dying to self for the sake of our Lord.

The Dark Desert and a Diet of the Word

Eli travels alone, yet he is never lonely, for he shares the journey with the One who has led him through the wilderness for 30 years. Though there is chaos and violence around him, he retains a calm resolve and a true sense of hope, enlightened by the words he reads every evening from the bible he is carrying. When he meets a group of marauders, men who have never known the wonders of the former world, he is told to surrender his possessions. It is here that the film shows Eli moving into the darkness where God is his light, as he dispatches these evil men like an avenging angel, sending those who reject the light to the outer darkness of hell.

During Lent, Catholic men are called to enter into a greater awareness of the darkness of this world. As we journey this broken road of manhood we have the word of God to give light to our eyes and victory to our lives as we overcome our enemies – the devil, our flesh, and the world. In our journey of self-denial and fasting, we take in the nourishment of the Scriptures and allow the beauty of the Eucharistic Liturgy to lead us ever forward on our walk of faith.

False Food and the Bread of Life

Eli finds his way to the burned-out remains of a city populated by a fragmented people, living on the brink of starvation, some even resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. It is run by a warlord named Carnegie (Gary Oldman), whose name is meant to serve as a symbol of the morbid carnival of lies to which the world has fallen. He and his militia maintain control over the city through fear and violence.

When Carnegie sees Eli take out a group of his soldiers in a bar fight, he invites Eli to join him in his evil cause, offering him food and the comfort of a young woman named Solara (Mila Kunis), the daughter of his mistress, Claudia (Jennifer Beals). Claudia, whose name means “Lame,” is blind from birth, and yet, has named her daughter after the light of the sun. Both women are a picture of the shoot of hope that springs up from the barren soil of humanity’s despair.

Rather than giving into temptation, Eli offers to share his bread and words of hope with Solara, praying with her in thanksgiving for the provision God has given him. Solara is drawn to the holy book Eli has, even though she cannot read its sacred words. The following day, she imitates Eli by praying with her mother, leading Carnegie to realize that Eli has a bible.

As Catholic men travel through this broken world, filled with people starving for true food, we know we are in a battle. While unbelievers consume one another with disregard, we are called to read the holy word, come to table, pray the prayers and receive with thanksgiving the Bread of Life we have been given by God through Christ. We know we must look for the lame and the lost and see the light that shines in those who are being drawn to the One who can give them the heavenly nourishment they need.

Under the Mighty Hand of God

Carnegie wants to use the bible to control those around him, but Eli understands this and knows his mission must carry him elsewhere. He manages miraculously to escape his locked and guarded room, and when Carnegie and his men come after Eli, he rejects the unholy call to give up the bible and turns to leave the city of death to continue his quest. The soldiers begin shooting, and Eli, ever protected by God, draws his weapon and mows down the men, walking away without a scratch.

For the Catholic man, Lent is a walk among the fallen of this world, a journey through the temptations that call us to stray from the path of righteousness. Any earthly offer of power, position, or pleasure pales in comparison to the light we experience when we bring our broken lives to the One who truly satisfies our greatest hunger. Our Eucharistic calling is to honor the hope that shines through the darkness as we seek to stay true to the righteous path before us. Though men may try to wound us, we know that we are sheltered by an unseen holy hand and guided in our steps to where the voice of Truth is ever leading us.

Living Corpses vs. the Body and Blood

After Eli leaves the sin-filled city, he is followed by Solara who is now seeking something greater than what her old world can offer. She is unprepared, however, for the harshness of the wilderness, and is attacked by a group of marauders on the road. Eli comes to her rescue and the two travel until they find a house inhabited by an old couple who have survived by killing and consuming the people who trespass on their land. Their bizarre world is a dusty collection of memorabilia from a bygone age and a diet of human flesh.

Carnegie and his men eventually catch up with Eli and Solara. Carnegie shoots Eli, takes the bible from him, and leaves to return to his wicked city with Solara. Solara manages to escape and returns to Eli, and the two continue moving westward until they come to the ruins of San Francisco on the edge of the old world. They find a boat and row out across the water to Alcatraz, a fortress on a rock that has become a refuge for survivors ready to remake the world in a more enlightened way.

The settlement is headed by Lombardi (Malcolm McDowell), whose name means “long-bearded.” He represents the wisdom of tradition and age, as well as the security God offers to the ones who still believe in a better world beyond what their eyes can see. Eli tells Lombardi that he has a King James Bible with him. He asks Lombardi to get paper and pencil and, with his dying breath, dictates the entire bible, verse by verse, while Lombardi writes it all down. As Eli is speaking, the camera zooms in on his eyes, and we see that Eli is – and has been throughout his journey – blind.

In this world, there are two cities we can see – one with the eyes of the flesh and one with the eyes of the Spirit. The old city of man is desolate and doomed to destruction. The new city of God is a rock that shines high above in the heavenly realms, where the glory of the Father’s faithfulness meets our future hope in Christ. Lent calls Catholic men to walk as wounded warriors through the wilderness, surrendering our lives to the cause of our faith and moving ever forward toward the promise of a better life to come. We who believe are seeking a holy city where we shall share in the bounty of the righteousness preserved in heaven for us through the cross of Christ.

The Eucharist is the sacrament of our salvation, our spiritual experience of moving through the river of death to the rock upon which our hope is found. Just as Eli gives his life so that the true food of the Gospel may be given to the remnant of God’s people, so too do Catholic men, by our participation in the Eucharist and the season of Lent, become broken bread and poured out wine to a lost and weary world.

The Tragedy of Falsehood and the Triumph of Sacrificial Faith

As the story comes to a close we learn that the bible the blind Eli had been carrying with him is in braille, and is of no use to Carnegie, who has returned to find his city falling into total chaos now that he no longer has any soldiers to maintain order. A wound from Eli’s gun has infected his leg and he has little time to live. With his dying breath, he asks Claudia to read the braille bible to him, but Claudia tells him it has been so long that she no longer remembers how to do it. She smiles for she seems to know that the passing of the world around her is a good thing; and we have a sense that she actually can read the bible and will take in its life-sustaining food in the days to come.

Back at the fortified city, we witness the bible being printed on an old-fashioned printing press, and Lombardi placing a copy on a shelf in a prominent and central place. As Eli is laid to rest, we hear his final prayer where he, like the Apostle Paul, thanks God for leading him to the completion of his mission, for guiding him with signs and friendship along the way, for sustaining him throughout his desert journey, and for helping him to fight the good fight and finish the race. His sacrifice inspires Solara to listen to her own heavenly calling as she leaves the safety of the city to rescue her mother and bring her home to this place of refuge from the wicked world.

Blindness and True Sight

The ending to the movie speaks so powerfully to the two paths that lie before us, and of how the journey through the wilderness Catholic men experience during Lent causes us to hunger for the food that truly satisfies, even as it fills us with One who is the Bread of Life. As husbands, fathers, and brothers we are called to take the word of God into our souls, and over a lifetime to integrate it into our consciousness to such a degree that we can readily recite its truths to all who will hear. As we are fed by God’s word and the Eucharist, we are given new eyes to see the ugliness and absurdity of this dying, sinful world. The journey carries us across the Jordan to the Promised Land where we experience our holy filling and our Sabbath’s rest. In Christ, the light we have been given finds its fullest expression of joy, as we answer our call to die to self and surrender all we have and all we are to build the new city of God.

We, like Eli, must learn to use our new eyes, to be blinded to the world that is passing away, so that the light of Christ may shine forth from within our hearts. To the dying who dwell outside the true city of hope, the word of God is as unfathomable as a braille bible to a sighted man. We know that in the end, the wicked will fall into chaos and be forever lost, while the righteous will flourish anew in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the nourishing message of hope that the Eucharist and the season of Lent bring to those who hunger for redemption and rest.

Giving Lent a Second Look

It was even more enjoyable to watch The Book of Eli the second time, knowing now that the main character was blind for the entire story. There are those who claim that God gave Eli his sight until the very end of his journey, but I chose to accept that, while his physical sight was gone, God did indeed provide Eli with an inner set of eyes. This is what Lent and the Eucharist do for Catholic men who surrender to their wonder and beauty. We become soldiers, blinded to the world that is wasting away, guided by an unseen heavenly hand, given sight beyond what our eyes can see, and called ever forward along the joyful path to the eternal dawn that is Easter morn.

May you, as Catholic men, come to discover all that this journey can bring to your life. May it open your spirit to the ugliness of this broken world, to the beauty in the One who draws to himself all who seek the light, and to the truth that comes when we follow the voice of the Spirit that speaks from the Eucharist and our journey through the wilderness of Lent.