Easter is the time to once again hear the story of the Resurrection.
How about six more resurrection stories?
That’s what St. Joseph’s Communications offers in a new series of documentaries called Restored.
Each documentary is about half an hour and takes the viewer into the lives of people who are struggling but find redemption. Their personal restoration also prompts them to work to restore the lives of others.
There is, for example, the story of homeless people in Austin, Texas, whose dignity was restored because a man named Alan Graham built a small village called Community First. There is the blighted Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park, resurrected because the late Cardinal Francis George asked Franciscan Fr. Bob Lombardo to move into Our Lady of the Angels parish. And there are prison inmates actually trying to overcome their addictions and their reliance on gang membership because of the example of Deacon Pablo Perez, who walked the same road they did—before he had an encounter with Christ.
Restored: Stories of Encounter is a six-part documentary series on individuals “who had radical encounters with Christ and went on to make a real difference in the world,” say the series’ producers. “This series provides vivid and deeply human role models for all who desire life in Christ.”
Eric Groth, president of ODB Films, told Aleteia that the concept for Restored came about after his company ’s work on films like Paul, Apostle of Christ and Full of Grace.
“Along with telling stories of saints with the big S, we felt compelled to create stories of ‘everyday saints,’” Groth said. “Our desire was to show real-life people living out their Catholic faith in heroic ways as they respond to God’s universal call to holiness. Restored is the result of that.“
A common theme of the stories featured in the series is people responding to a call they discerned in their lives. They saw a need and realized that they had a God-given ability to do something about it, rather than leaving the problem for government or an NGO to fix.
Another thing they all have in common is the way they treat the people in trouble, whether they be drug addicts, former gang members or mentally unstable homeless. They start with the fact that they are human, created in the image of God just as much as they are.
More information is available here.
And today we celebrate...