After Rocky Balboa accepted the responsibility of training Donnie Johnson, the possibility of a future fight with the current champion, Ricky Conlan presented itself. It was exactly the venue that Donnie was thinking of as he pursued his new adventure. As his life unfolded, however, Donnie could see that as Rocky kept pointing out to him, the most important person he had to convince was himself. He had first to work with his new girlfriend and the importance of love in his life; he had to place his own past behind him, and become the person that he wanted himself to be. He also had to work with Rocky who was ready to give up on his own life as well when he discovered that he had cancer. At one point he told Rocky, "If you fight, I fight." In the end, even though Donnie "Creed," son of Apollo lost the fight, he won "the night." At the same time, his mentor Rocky Balboa won his own fight as well.

Although Scripture scholars are uncertain about the different endings of Mark's Gospel, one thing is for certain: there was some type of disbelief about Jesus' Resurrection among his followers. In this rendition of the closing of Mark's Gospel contained in the Scriptures, Jesus rebuked his disciples for not believing those who told them about the Resurrection. It is easy enough to get into the mind of those who did not believe. They thought that Jesus was the Messiah, but when he died, it was all over, and they were ready to give up.

Being ready to give up may be the most common expression of depression that the human being suffers. We have something happen that we did not want to happen; we suffer a tragedy in the family or to ourselves, and we know how much it will take just to get over it. We are not ready to accept it. In the movie "Creed," Donnie Johnson has many setbacks--his girlfriend not understanding his actions, his mentor refusing to fight the cancer that he could fight, his own anger. He was ready to give up. But he managed to overcome his problems, worked it out with his girlfriend Bianca, convinced Rocky to undergo the treatment, and in general, accept his situation and move on.

Our world in general is not an easy world in the sense that everything will work out the way we think it should. There will be set backs--always. If we look at them as temporary blocks, we can easily overcome them, provided we can see beyond them, realizing that there is always hope. After Jesus rebuked his disciples at the end of Mark's Gospel, he told them the means whereby they could once again find the belief they needed, namely to preach the Gospel. In the process, they would convert others to what they should have done in the first place, bringing all to believe.

We do not want to miss the ending of the movie. The son of Apollo Creed did not accomplish what he wanted, but he could say with his mentor Rocky that life was really "not bad, not bad at all." 

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we are tempted to give up on life at times because of the way things work out. Give us the grace to truly understand what You want of us as we accept You totally in our lives. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America