"Midnight Mass"--The Cats Were The Tip-Off

“Midnight Mass”— The Cats Were The Tip-Off Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t watched “Midnight Mass” be aware, there are spoilers. I will try to stick to early episodes but if you liked to be surprised, this article might not be for you. Art often provides a way to understand, to process, the times in which we live. Mike Flanagan’s highly interesting and entertaining series is such an attempt to understand, or perhaps better, to chew over what we’ve been up to in the Western nations for the past two years. The cats were the first tip-off. Early in the coronavirus scare, we saw scenes coming from China of cats who were killed, sometimes even dropped from high-rises, but perhaps more often, exterminated by government officials. The cats were sacrificed for the greater good. Even our big cats in the United States were, for a time, suspect. Dogs too were also sacrificed in China for “the greater good.” They were carriers of covid, and thus, unclean. In “Midnight Mass,” both species are early victims of the new or perhaps rather old, religion. Which brings me to the religiosity itself—the rejuvenated priest is a purveyor of “salvation” in the very first episode. In the same way, in real life, masks, lockdowns, distancing and vaccines were all invested with sanctity and salvation. Stanley Hauerwas, a theologian whom I greatly admire, in a dialogue with Will Willimon, even as the lockdowns held full sway at Duke and the world, opined “isolation may be a form of love.” And, of course, as is necessary to all religions, there must be those who fail to comply; there must be sinners, transgressors, the unclean who are outside the assembly, outside the church. Even the “We’re All In This Together” mantra is echoed throughout “Midnight Mass.” In the very first episode, a rather domineering woman insists that come a crisis, the entire community repairs to one and only one refuge, the church. On the island, they, like us, are “stronger together” until, of course, they aren’t. And miracles. As in real life, many insisted that the masks had protected them from colds and flu for a year, so in “Midnight Mass” wonderful things happen to build the assembly of the faithful. It also looks to me like the old/young priest has similarities to the nation’s high priest, complete with his own feminine devotee/boss lady and do-gooder, in real life taking the form of the always scarfed Dr. Birx. As Father Paul administers the sacraments and safety/salvation, so too, Dr. Fauci. But perhaps the priest, like Dr. Fauci himself stands for all of us. We were troubled, half-demented, weak and then we “found the solution.” The solution was a bit troublesome, no one likes to lug a big heavy box around. The box must be dragged into the manse by the young priest himself but once there it not only provides safety, it also provides comfort. The priest knocks on the heavy wooden box and companionably, whatever is within, knocks back. But the real tip-off for me comes from the opening scene. What was it that we were most afraid of? Was it getting covid? Yes, we were afraid but that fear paled before another, the fear of killing someone else. Is it any wonder that this is exactly how “Midnight Mass” begins? In the years following the horror and desolation at Salem Village, every attempt was made to sweep what had happened under the rug. It was only later, with Nathaniel Hawthorne, that the attempt was made to understand what had happened in the darkness. What is less well known, is that Sweden preceded Salem in being grasped by delusion. Sweden also gave in to witchcraft hysteria, and from 1668-1676 wrought horrors that real evil witches might envy. But their reckonings, how they processed the events of these eight years, differed from that of New England. The Swedes were far more willing to look things in the face. As the delusion was dying out, the clergy and governors prudently advised the populace simply to pray to be delivered from evil and abandon their hyper-focus on invisible menaces that might or might not be infecting themselves or their neighbors. Mike Flanagan ruminates in the direction of the church. As a Presbyterian minister, I think that’s a pretty good direction. How was it that the good, holy, and just commandment “love thy neighbor,” become a monster that justified ratting on our neighbors, attacking them in public places, isolating ourselves and coercing small and large sacrifices? How did that derivative of the word salvation, namely “safety,” become a false idol, not just in the time of the covid scare, but arguably since December 7th, 1941 or on second thought maybe even earlier, even 1692? I pray, hope and actually expect that quite soon congregations all over this nation will begin to figure out the answer; we’re close. But here’s the question that I think Mike Flanagan is asking, and I think it’s a good one, how is that people fall prey to dark angels and convince themselves that these angels are angels of light?