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DINKWaD's Corner
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
· National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.
o The nation’s capital comes abloom every spring with the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. See the famed cherry blossom trees, lining the Tidal Basin, while strolling by iconic sites like the Jefferson and Martin Luther King memorials.
· Plan ahead for next year:
o Skiing- Also known as downhill skiing, Alpine skiing began as a club sport in 1861 at Kiandra in Australia. Today, most alpine skiing occurs at ski resorts with ski lifts that transport skiers up the mountain.
· Bucket List trip: Bali Biking & Hiking Adventure Tours
· Religion in the Home for Preschool: March
· Motivating Children to Perform Good Deeds
· Fred Rogers, born on March 20, 1928-2003
· Won’t You Be My Neighbor Day
· 30 Days with St. Joseph Day 1
· Spirit Hour: Bock Beer Day
Rich/Poor Tour
💎 Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Vietnam
Valley of Wounds / River of Rising Light
Bosnia & Herzegovina and Vietnam sit just beyond the third ring of the global middle — nations marked by war, memory, and the long, slow work of rebuilding. Bosnia is a fractured Balkan valley where Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks live in a delicate balance shaped by trauma and hope. Vietnam is a fast‑growing Southeast Asian nation where Catholicism survives under pressure yet radiates youthful energy and missionary zeal. Together they reveal the world where wounds and rising light coexist.
🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina — Fragmented, Historic, and Quietly Faithful
GDP per capita (PPP): ~$18,000 (2024)
🧮 Why Bosnia Sits Just Above This Ring
Post‑war economy slowly stabilizing
Complex political structure (Dayton Accords legacy)
High unemployment but steady diaspora remittances
Tourism tied to Sarajevo, Mostar, and natural beauty
EU‑aspiring but hindered by ethnic divisions
✝️ Catholic Landscape
Catholic Croats form the main Catholic population
Shrines like Medjugorje draw millions of pilgrims
Church active in reconciliation and trauma healing
Priests often serve scattered rural communities
Youth movements strong in pilgrimage culture
⚠️ Challenges
Emigration draining young Catholics
Ethnic fragmentation
Slow economic growth
Rural depopulation
🌿 Pilgrimage Cue
Bosnia is a valley of wounds — a land where the Church tends to trauma with tenderness, pilgrimage, and the slow rebuilding of trust.
🇻🇳 Vietnam — Young, Dynamic, and Quietly Courageous
GDP per capita (PPP): ~$9,000 (2024)
🧮 Why Vietnam Sits Just Below This Ring
Rapid economic growth driven by manufacturing
Young population and rising urbanization
Export‑driven economy integrated with global markets
State‑controlled religious environment
Strong diaspora influence
✝️ Catholic Landscape
~7% Catholic — one of Asia’s largest Catholic populations
Vibrant youth movements and vocations
Marian devotion (La Vang) deeply rooted
Church active in charity, education, and healthcare
Faith often lived with quiet courage under restrictions
⚠️ Challenges
Limited religious freedom
Rural poverty
Environmental pressures from rapid industrialization
Migration to cities straining parish structures
🌿 Pilgrimage Cue
Vietnam is a river of rising light — a Church that grows through youth, devotion, and the quiet courage of believers who shine without spectacle.
🕊️ Editorial Reflection
Bosnia & Herzegovina and Vietnam reveal the world where wounds and rising light meet.
Bosnia carries the scars of conflict yet shelters a deep Marian heartbeat.
Vietnam surges with youthful energy, devotion, and quiet bravery.
One heals through memory.
The other grows through courage.
Both show that the Church thrives not only in stability but in the tension between suffering and hope.
March 20-Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Vernal Equinox-Happiness Day
Joshua, Chapter 8, Verse 1
The LORD then said to Joshua: Do
not be AFRAID or dismayed. Take all
the army with you and prepare to attack Ai. I have delivered the
king of Ai into your power, with his people, city, and land.
Joshua
was afraid and demoralized because on the Israelites first attempt at taking Ai
they were defeated. God here tells Joshua to be cheerful and be filled with
calm; be reassured.
John
Maxwell noted author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Series
states that all Christian leaders need to learn the proper balance between
faith and preparation or planning. Joshua is told by God what to do but not how
to do it.[1] Joshua
planned the particulars of the campaign against the Ai.
Law#4-The Law of
Navigation: Anyone
can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. To
make it happen, you have to take action. You must do what you know needs doing.
You must do it when it needs to be done. Don’t wait. You can make it happen. Knowing how is not the key. Taking action
is.
Where
should you start?
1.
Follow
your conscience.
What do you feel you should do? What do you want to do?
2.
Consider
your passion. What
do you get excited about? What do you need to do?
3.
Consider
your natural talents.
What are you naturally good at without much effort? What hobbies do you have?
What interests do you have?
4.
Consider
what society needs and values.
What do you love to do so much you would do it for free, but people are willing
to pay others to do? What do you see others doing that you would like to do?
If you want
to find your purpose, you must get on the seldom traveled road to significance
filled with setbacks, roadblocks, obstacles, and detours. This road leads to
your purpose. You must develop the vision in order to see where you want to be
next. Then, you must take the steps to move from where you are to where you
want to be. You should always be grateful for where you are and what you have,
but you should never be satisfied.[2]
Blessed
are those who hear the word of God and observe it.
(Lk. 11:28)
Copilot’s Take
Joshua’s renewed charge at Ai reflects what the
Catechism calls the virtue of fortitude, the grace that steadies a person in
difficulty and enables perseverance in the pursuit of the good (CCC 1808).
God’s command, “Do not be afraid or dismayed,” is not a dismissal of fear but
the divine strengthening that allows action in the face of it. The Catechism
teaches that God grants actual grace—help given “for particular needs” (CCC
2000)—and Joshua receives precisely that: courage for the moment, not a full tactical
blueprint. God entrusts the mission; the leader must exercise judgment,
prudence, and initiative. This is the pattern of biblical leadership: grace
empowers, but responsibility remains.
The setback at Ai exposes what the Catechism
describes as humanity’s “dramatic struggle between good and evil” (CCC 409).
Israel’s defeat was not merely military; it revealed hidden disorder within the
community. Before confronting the enemy outside, the people had to confront the
evil within. The Catechism teaches that sin disrupts communion and weakens
mission (CCC 1849–1851), and the purification of the camp restores the
integrity needed for victory. Evil often works through discouragement,
confusion, and compromise long before it appears in open conflict. Joshua’s
interior renewal—his refusal to let fear dictate the future—becomes the first
triumph, and the external victory simply manifests what grace has already
secured.
The discernment of purpose follows the same
catechetical logic. Conscience is the “aboriginal Vicar of Christ” (CCC 1778),
the place where God’s voice is heard. Talents are distributed unequally so that
each person may serve the other (CCC 1936–1937). The needs of society call each
person to contribute to the common good (CCC 1913–1917). When conscience,
passion, talent, and need converge, vocation emerges. Yet the path toward that
vocation is narrow because it requires confronting the obstacles that resist
it—fear, sloth, self-doubt, and the subtle temptations that keep a person from
acting. Lent sharpens this awareness by teaching that gratitude for the present
and longing for the future are not opposites but companions: one roots the
soul, the other propels it toward mission.
Jesus’ blessing—“Blessed are those who hear the word
of God and observe it”—completes the picture. The Catechism teaches that faith
becomes authentic only when it expresses itself in obedience (CCC 143–144).
Hearing without acting leaves a person vulnerable to the discouragement Joshua
faced; acting without hearing leads to confusion and pride. But when hearing
becomes obedience, and obedience becomes courageous action, evil loses its
leverage. This is the Lenten posture: purified, attentive, and willing to move.
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent[3]
Prayer.
O God, Who renewest the world by
unspeakable mysteries, grant, we beseech Thee, that Thy Church may profit by
Thy eternal institutions, and not be deprived of Thy temporal assistance. Amen
EPISTLE, Kings xvii. 17-24.
In
those days the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the
sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him. And she
said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to
me that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son?
And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and
carried him into the upper chamber where he abode and laid him upon his own
bed. And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, hast Thou afflicted
also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?
And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to
the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech Thee,
return into his body. And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of
the child returned into him, and he revived. And Elias took the child and
brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him
to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth. And the woman said to
Elias: Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord
in thy mouth is true.
GOSPEL. John xi. 1-45.
At
that time: There was a certain man sick named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town
of Mary and of Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with
ointment and wiped His feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.) His
sisters therefore sent to Him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is
sick. And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus
loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. "When He had heard
therefore that he was sick, He still remained in the same place two days: then
after that He said to His disciples: Let us go into Judea again. The disciples
say to Him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee: and goest Thou
thither again? Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man
walks in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
but if he walks in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
These things He said, and after that He said to them: Lazarus our friend
sleepeth: but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. His disciples therefore
said: Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. But Jesus spoke of his death; and
they thought that He spoke of the repose of sleep. Then therefore Jesus said to
them plainly: Lazarus is dead; and I am glad for your sakes, that I was not
there, that you may believe but let us go to him. Thomas, therefore, who is
called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die
with Him. Jesus therefore came and found that he had been four days already in
the grave. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) And
many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their
brother. Martha, therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to
meet Him; but Mary sat at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if Thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever
Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee. Jesus saith to her: Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha saith to Him: I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in Me although he be dead, shall live and everyone that
liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die forever. Believest thou this? She
saith to Him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the Son of the
living God, Who art come into this world. And when she had said these things,
she went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come and
calleth for thee. She, as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly and cometh to
Him. For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but He was still in that place
where Martha had met Him. The Jews, therefore, who were with her in the house
and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out,
followed her, saying: She goeth to the grave, to weep there. When Mary
therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing Him, she fell down at His feet, and
saith to Him: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus,
therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her,
weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself, and said: Where have you
laid him? They said to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews
therefore said: Behold how He loved him. Biit some of them said: Could not He
that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should
not die? Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the sepulcher: now
it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus saith: Take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to Him: Lord, by this time he
stinketh. for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to
thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? They took
therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said: Father, I give
Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but
because of the people who stand about have I said it: that they may believe
that Thou hast sent Me. When He had said these things, He cried with a loud
voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth,
bound feet and hands with winding-bands, and his face was bound about with a
napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him and let him go. Many therefore of the
Jews who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did,
believed in Him.
Preparing
for Battle[4] Know Your
Weapons-fasting.
When God’s
people fast, the power of their prayers is increased, especially when they are
engaged in spiritual warfare.
In response to
Daniel’s fasting and prayer, God had sent the Archangel Michael to battle a
demonic power (called “the prince of the kingdom of Persia”)
If prayer is a
spiritual weapon, fasting is the spiritual whetstone on which it is sharpened.
Bible in a
year Day 261 Ornate
Souls
Fr. Mike explains the
many parables we hear today in Matthew, including the return of the unclean
spirit, and the danger of ornate souls. He emphasizes that when God sweeps the
sin out of our souls, we must replace it with virtue, otherwise our souls remain
empty without a relationship with God. Today's readings are Matthew 11-13 and
Proverbs 19:5-8.
Spring Begins[5]
Spring
traditionally marks the end of winter and
the beginning of a season that signifies longer days and warmer temperatures.
The first day of Spring is also known as the Vernal Equinox. This
marks the day that the Sun's path is directly over the equator. This day
also contains equal amount of daytime and nighttime. This day typically
occurs each year on March 20, and on March 21 on some years.
The First Day of
Spring is also called the Vernal Equinox.
·
The
Vernal Equinox is the day of the year where there are exactly 12 hours of
daylight and 12 hours of dark in the Northern Hemisphere.
·
On
the vernal equinox, the Sun crosses the equator into the Northern Hemisphere.
This has the effect of making the days longer in the Northern Hemisphere
until the Summer Solstice occurs.
·
The
Egyptian Great Sphinx points directly at the Sun on this day.
Vernal Equinox-Spring Begins Top
Events and Things to Do
·
Visit
a nursery and purchase seeds or plants.
·
Start
your spring cleaning.
·
Plan
your flower beds and garden.
·
Put
away winter clothes and prepare summer clothes.
International Day of Happiness[6]
The International Day of
Happiness seeks to celebrate and promote world happiness as a fundamental human
goal. It recognizes the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced
approach to economic growth, one that promotes sustainable development, poverty
eradication, happiness and well-being of all people.
At the UN Conference on Happiness in 2012, the United Nations proclaimed the
International Day of Happiness. The day was celebrated for the first time on
March 20, 2013 in an effort to highlight the importance of global happiness and
its impact on world development and peace.
International
Day of Happiness Facts & Quotes
·
There
are currently about 1.8 billion young people
in the world, more than ever before, creating an unprecedented opportunity for
economic and social progress. Many studies have proved the link between
happiness and productivity.
·
Happiness
is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Mahatma
Ghandi
·
At
this time of grave injustices, devastating wars, mass displacement, grinding
poverty and other manmade causes of suffering, the International Day of
Happiness is a global chance to assert that peace,
well-being and joy deserve primacy. — UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon
International Day of Happiness Top
Events and Things to Do
·
Print
out and hang up posters of the Ten Keys to Happier
Living. Research
has proven that these ten keys have a positive impact on happiness and
well-being.
·
Make
the effort to cross an item off of your bucket list. We all have dreams and
goals and fulfilling them creates happiness and a sense of accomplishment.
·
Give
to others. Whether it's donating to a charity
of your choice, volunteering or giving a thoughtful gift, studies have found
that giving makes us happier.
·
Reduce
the stress in your life. According to the American Psychological Association,
these are the 5 best ways to manage stress:
1) Take a break from the stressor
2) Exercise
3) Smile and laugh
4) Get social support
5) Meditate
· Watch a movie about happiness. Our suggestions: Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014), Eat, Pray, Love (2009), The Pursuit of Happiness (2008), Bruce Almighty (2003), Click (2006) and The Bucket List (2007).
Don’t Worry Be Happy[7]
Action for Happiness has developed the 10 Keys to Happier
Living based on a review of the latest scientific research relating to
happiness. Everyone’s path to happiness is different, but the research suggests
these Ten Keys consistently tend to have a positive impact on people’s overall
happiness and well-being. The first five (GREAT) relate to how we interact with
the outside world in our daily activities*. The second five (DREAM) come more
from inside us and depend on our attitude to life.
Giving-Do things
for others
Relating-Connect
with people
Exercising-Take
care of your body
Awareness-Live
life mindfully
Trying out-Keep
learning new things
Direction-Have
goals to look forward to
Resilience-Find
ways to bounce back
Emotions-Focus on
what’s good
Acceptance-Be
comfortable with who you are
Meaning-Be part of
something bigger
True
Happiness[8]
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True
happiness can be found by strengthening one's friendship with God through a
love for sacred Scripture and the sacraments, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Christians today can find many role models in the saintly men and women who
lived throughout history. The pope described the life of the 13th-century
Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude the Great. Far from being a historical figure
stuck in the past, this "exceptional woman" remains for today's
faithful "a school of Christian life, a principled life, and she shows us
that at the heart of a happy and real life is friendship with Jesus". St.
Gertrude entered the monastery at a very young age and was an extremely
talented student. She loved literature and music and was diligently devoted to
her studies. However, when she was 24, she grew disgusted with her secular
pursuits. She said the sense of turmoil and anxiety she felt was a gift from
God, who was giving her a sign that she needed to "tear down that tower of
vanity and curiosity." While her ardent love of learning helped bring her
to religious life, the saint said it had gone too far and it was driven by
pride. From that moment on, St. Gertrude began to intensify her relationship
with God. She switched her studies from humanistic subjects to theological
works, and in her monastic life, she went from living what she called being
"negligent" to a life of intense prayer and missionary zeal. St.
Gertrude represents one of the most famous female mystics in church history,
and she's called "the Great" because of her "exceptional natural
and supernatural gifts." She displayed "a very profound humility, an
ardent zeal for the salvation of others, an intimate communion with God through
contemplation and a readiness to come to the aid of the needy". "True
happiness is the goal in our life," and the only way to find that kind of
happiness is in forging a friendship with God. "This friendship you learn
through a love for sacred Scripture, a love for the liturgy and (by
cultivating) a deep faith and a love for Mary in order to truly get to know God
better".
Litany
of Humility[9]
O
Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Refrain:
Deliver me, Jesus
From
the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...
That
others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world, others may, increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I
should…
Fitness Friday-Camino Fitness Plan[10]
The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James (Feast Day, July 25) the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried. Wikipedia
6 Month
Action Plan
CaminoWays has partnered
with Peter from D-Pete Health and Fitness clinic to share this Camino Fitness
Plan and professional fitness advice to help you prepare for your Camino de Santiago trip.
Peter has created this
dedicated 6 Month Action Plan below, which is easy to print and follow.
Month
6
- Time / Distance: 25 –
30mins
- Frequency: 3 times p/w
- Progress:
- Walk – jog – walk-jog
(interval training)
- Include hiking gear (bag +
contents, jacket, shoes)
- Change route: hills – steps
– uneven terrain.
- Alternate days: 2 Train
days (back-to-back) – rest – Train – rest – Train….and so on!!
Month
5
- Time: 40 – 60mins
- Frequency: 3 times p/w
- Progress:
- Choose any of the previous
months.
- 5. Hiking trail: 1 -2
times p/w walk a local hiking trail; this will break you away from the
even surfaced roads and paths
Month
4
- Time: 40 – 60mins
- Frequency: 4 times p/w
- Progress:
- Choose any of the previous
months.
- 6. Cycle/ swim or jog one
of the 4 days for a variety
- 7. Attend the gym one of
the 4 training days for a variety
Month
3
- Distance: 5 – 7Km
- Frequency: 4 times p/w
- Progress:
- Choose any of the
previous months.
Month
2
- Distance: 15Km for 1/2
times a week & 10Km for 1/2 times a week
- Progress:
- Choose any of the
previous months.
- 8. Add an additional 5
-10 pounds (roughly 2-5Kg) to your bag
Month
1
- Distance: 20Km for 1/2
times a week & 10Km for 1/2 times a week Progress: Choose any of
the previous months
I hope you enjoyed our
Camino Fitness Plan prepared by the CaminoWays’ team and D-Pete Health Clinics.
There is a whole series of
Camino Preparation tips and advice on fitness we have prepared for you.
Continue reading our preparation and fitness plan by D-Pete:
- Know
Yourself, Camino Preparation Tip #1
- T-Rex
Syndrome, Camino Preparation Tip #2
- How
to prevent chafing, Camino Preparation Tip #3
- Motivation,
Camino Preparation Tip #4
- Heel
Pain, Camino Preparation Tip #5
- Shin
Splints, Camino Preparation Tip #6
If you would like to talk to us about the Camino de Santiago or preparing for your trip, please contact us on the form below:
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Reparations
for offenses and blasphemies against God and the Blessed Virgin Mary
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
[1] John Maxwell, The Maxwell Leadership Bible.
[2]https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141120221705-25477363-the-law-of-navigation-it-s-all-about-knowing-where-you-re-going
[3]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[4]Thigpen, Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN
Books.
[7]http://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/80220/10_keys_summary.pdf
[8]http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2010/true-happiness-is-found-in-close-friendship-with-christ-pope-says.cfm
[9]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=914
[10] https://caminoways.com/camino-fitness-plan/
[11] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods
To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (p. 892). Workman Publishing
Company. Kindle Edition.
Nothing Sacred (1937)
🎬 Production Snapshot
- Studio: Selznick International Pictures
- Director: William A. Wellman
- Release: 1937
- Screenplay: Ben Hecht (uncredited rewrites by several others)
- Stars: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Walter Connolly
- Genre: Screwball satire / Media farce
- Notable: One of the earliest Technicolor comedies; a rare Lombard–March pairing; a foundational “fake news” satire decades before the term existed.
🧭 Story Summary
Wally Cook (Fredric March), a disgraced New York reporter desperate for redemption, discovers Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a small‑town woman supposedly dying of radium poisoning. He brings her to New York as a tragic heroine, and the city explodes with adoration—banquets, parades, charity drives, and endless newspaper coverage.
But Hazel isn’t dying. Her doctor misdiagnosed her, and she decides to ride the wave of sympathy a little longer. Wally, believing her doomed, falls in love with her. Hazel, trapped in her lie, tries to confess but is swept up in the city’s appetite for melodrama. When the truth finally threatens to surface, the machinery of publicity becomes even more absurd: the city needs her to be dying, and the newspapers would rather preserve the myth than face the truth.
The film ends with Hazel and Wally escaping the circus entirely—alive, married, and leaving New York to choke on its own sensationalism.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
- Media sensationalism was already a national anxiety. The 1930s saw tabloid wars, Hearst influence, and the rise of celebrity journalism. The film exaggerates—but only slightly.
- Public appetite for tragedy was booming. Depression-era audiences devoured stories of suffering, martyrdom, and “human interest” uplift.
- Technicolor comedy was rare. Wellman uses color not for beauty but for garishness—a visual metaphor for a city drunk on spectacle.
- Ben Hecht’s cynicism is the film’s spine. A former Chicago reporter, he knew exactly how newsrooms manufactured emotion.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Even though the film is secular and cynical, it opens rich moral territory:
1. Truth vs. Performance
Hazel’s lie begins as self-protection but becomes a trap. The film exposes how easily society rewards performed suffering over authentic virtue.
Catholic moral tradition insists that truth is not merely factual but relational—ordered toward the good of others. Hazel’s deception fractures every relationship around her.
2. The Temptation of False Martyrdom
Hazel becomes a “saint of the tabloids,” adored precisely because she is believed to be dying.
This mirrors the spiritual temptation to seek admiration for suffering rather than holiness—martyrdom without sacrifice.
3. Media as a Distortion of Human Dignity
The city treats Hazel not as a person but as a symbol.
Catholic anthropology insists on the inviolable dignity of the human person; the film shows what happens when a society forgets this and turns people into consumable narratives.
4. Redemption Through Escape, Not Applause
Hazel and Wally’s final act—leaving the city and its lies—echoes the biblical pattern of exodus.
Sometimes the only path to integrity is to walk away from systems that reward vice.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink: The Tabloid Spritz — light, bubbly, slightly bitter (Aperol or Campari with soda). A nod to the fizzy, gaudy world of publicity.
Snack: A simple charcuterie board—bright, colorful, arranged almost too perfectly. It mirrors the film’s theme: beauty arranged for display, not substance.
Atmosphere:
- Warm lighting
- A newspaper spread on the table (real or symbolic)
- A sense of theatricality—because the film is about how easily we stage our own lives
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to perform a version of yourself—suffering, success, virtue, or tragedy—because you believe others expect it? And what would it look like to step out of that performance and live in the freedom of truth?
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