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Robert Barron | – Bishop Barron on “The Goldfinch”

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Robert Barron
By Bishop Robert Barron
47 Comments

The new film “The Goldfinch” is based on a novel by Donna Tartt, who is not only a great novelist but also a Catholic, and I think her Catholicism comes through especially clearly in the spiritual lesson of this story.

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About The Author

Bishop Robert Barron These are brief and insightful commentaries on faith and culture by Catholic theologian and author Bishop Robert Barron. The videos complement his weekly sermons posted and podcasted at WordOnFire.org.

Comment (47)

  4. Bishop, with all due respect, while I enjoy watching your movie reviews, I wish you would address the events and scandals happening in the Church. It seems kind of odd that someone with a big platform like you would not talk about the troubling events happening in the Church. I wish you would address these troubling events (sex abuse scandal, Amazon synod, etc.) because you are an important voice in the Church with a lot of influence. You might help guide the faithful through this turbulent time.

  5. Actually Mr. Barron, the message to be gleaned is an athiestic one.

    People believe in god so strongly. Its precious, its what they put all their faith in, its what they cling to to remind them of hope and promises of reunity and bliss. But pull away the newspaper wrapping and it didnt matter whether what was inside was actually real, it still comforted you when you needed it. It could be a painting or a book, or laptop, just as your source of meaning could be christianity, or islam, or a pantheon of Norse or Egyptian gods.

    Either way people dont use their religions to actually do anything or come to any useful conclusions about the world. It stays in a locker while you use science and reason in your day to day lives and only comes out when someone you love dies or your going through some troubling times.

  13. I think this might speak to the spirit of poverty in relation to the virtue of hope. When we struggle with spiritual poverty, we cling disorderly to things (even legitimately precious things) because we have no hope. Maybe that's why it's so painful to let go to some things…it feels like all the hope we invested in them is being taken away.
    We're trained by nature and by ourselves to strive and hope for certain goods like family, kids, friends, even wealth only to face one day when we shut our eyes not being able to have them anymore. Speaking for myself, without the hope in Christ, nothing is worth hoping for; without Him, it might even be better to cling to that painting even only if for the illusion. He's the only one that can balm that pain in this valley of tears.

  15. Hey Bishop Barron, I had a quick question concerning this video. You say that people/experiences should be savored and then let go of. My question is, to what end? Is there an ultimate purpose to any of these things if we are not supposed to hold onto them? Thank you in advance for any response.

  21. With all due Reverence to you Bishop Barron. I think getting caught up in reviewing films, seems like playing go the crowd. Ie, those on a more secular footing. These are challenging times for the Church and Society as a whole, I think it's important not to get too caught up in pop culture. Just my humble opinion, I may very well be of the mark..

  24. There was a very pivotal scene( one that expands over the course of the book) after the explosion; in it the reader finds out WHY Theo took the painting in the first place….It had little to do with his mother(I hate to give out more here due to spoilers)….. although he hung on to it dearly for years later because of her and her memory.

  25. It is just lovely thank you. It is a clarion call in my brain and I've been having more and more of these as time rolls on that my gifts from God are my ability to create music and words. I've hoarded it out of fear of rejection, so I go on with my none musical life. In the back of my mind I'm always wondering when I should start again to create or at least release the things I've already created. Paintings admired by the dark you could say. I'm still struggling with the verve to begin again that life but its so personal I hoard them. I enjoy them so that is enough. I keep waiting for the springboard of inspiration to go like a geyser that will overwhelm unwillingness but my ability to suppress is still strong. The cycle to non exist until I don't exist remains until eventually I don't exist at all. I have several backdoor escape plans that are selfish in nature but hold on to the belief that God knows my songs and has heard them. Being Catholic I participate in this world but I'm playing the long game for Life Everlasting. I'm realizing I'm using this format to justify my own selfishness.

  26. "Carel Fabritius died young, caught in the explosion of the Delft gunpowder magazine on October 12, 1654, which destroyed a quarter of the city, along with his studio and many of his paintings. Only about a dozen paintings have survived. According to Houbraken, his student Mattias Spoors and the church deacon Simon Decker died with him, since they were working on a painting together at the time."
    "Among his works are A View of Delft (1652), The Goldfinch (1654), and The Sentry (1654)."

  31. why not just hold on to what you love while you have it and then hold on to the memory when it's gone? why does everything have to be subject to some kind of pay it forward communism where nothing in life can ever really be possessed or enjoyed? i feel like this is one of the destructive things about christianity.

  34. Love your ministry, Bishop. You take the most beautiful thing that was ever created with human input – the Catholic Church – and make it accessible, in all its glory, maddening complexity and transcendent truth. So, what indeed to you do with precious things in our lives? Are we to "let go" of the most precious thing of all? Or do we defend her against the massive assault she is under? And how do we do that when the attacker is our father, and our big brothers are silent?

  36. I can't wait to read a book by Donna Tartt now! I'm on a waiting list for The Goldfinch. As I was listening to this wonderful review, it occurred to me that the painting itself illustrates your point Bishop Barron. Someone tried to hold onto a goldfinch – putting it on a chain – rather than just appreciating it in its natural setting. 
    God bless! You have been such a blessing to me and my family!!

  39. Good day Bp Barron!
    I have come across you St Thomas aquinas book, and i cant help but thank you for such an elucidating work on St Thomas' spirituality. I just can't understand a word that you often use for: God, Jesus, and man, and that is the word: ecstacy… Can you elaborate on that… Thank you!

  40. Bishop Barron, you can even see that same theme in the Goldfinch painting. The beauty of a bird is in its flight, and it must be released in order to enjoy it in its full glory. But in an attempt to hoard that beauty, the bird is chained, leaving us with a gift that is longer-lasting, but unfulfilling.

  45. At one point we see Theo and his friend Boris in bed together holding each other tight.  At another point we see the two boys kiss on the lips.  I had the impression they were a bit more than just friends. Not that I'm complaining or anything but that didn't seem very Catholic to me.

  46. i think its important to note maybe the biggest motif in the story- the painting is a metaphor for theos heart and soul. after his mother’s death, he becomes afraid of getting to starched to people, so he hides his painting (his heart) away. only when he shows it to boris it is taken away from him- tying back to a quote from the book, you cannot control who you fall in love with. so maybe boris uses this painting for bad things, but he never intended to lose it, and travels all the way back to theo to make sure it is returned. maybe that can tie into your point of precious people and gifts, but it’s important to note, for i think it also reinforces your point.

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