Most people know the legendary story of Lana Turner’s discovery, but in case you are unfamiliar with this fascinating bit of Hollywood lore, allow me to briefly recap it for you. According to legend, the 16-year-old “sweater girl” was sipping a soda in a local café when a casting director spotted her, liked the way she looked and ultimately signed her to a major studio where she became one of the biggest stars of her generation. It’s the kind of story that blows all of the statistics out of the water, seems slightly far-fetched when you first hear it and is the kind of fairytale that still inspires thousands of people to move to Los Angeles each year in hopes that they too can be an “exception to the rule.”
Here’s the thing though: Lana wasn’t an exception to anything. Yes, the guy found her and yes, she proved to be a natural, but she was hardly an anomaly. She wasn’t given an Oscar merely for showing up on the back lot. No one proclaimed her the greatest actress of all time. In fact, she didn’t land her first leading role for three years! She had a contract, but she still had a lot of work to do, a lot of dues to pay, a lot to learn and she didn’t really get to skip any steps along the way. Conversely, she wasn’t immune to the type of scandals that tend to plague prominent men and women. Lana Turner was married seven times. She was romantically linked to a number of actors and in 1958; her daughter stabbed one of her lovers to death in her Beverly Hills home. (The coroner later determined that the teen acted in self-defense.) No question about it, Lana Turner had her share of faults and failings, but most people concentrate on the first part of the story…when Lana Turner “made it” simply by being in the right place at the right time.
Sometimes I think we as Christians have the same problem when it comes to looking at the story of our own faith. We collect our sacraments like Pokemon as though they are some kind of “Fast Pass” to salvation. I hate to break it to everyone, but they are not. The sacraments are not a Hollywood cafe. We aren’t rewarded merely for dressing nicely and being in the right place at the right time. We have to do a lot more than that.
Although Baptism takes away the stain of Original Sin on our souls, it doesn’t stop us from committing more. We can receive the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, but it’s not like we become perfect Catholics who no longer need to attend Mass. Like a musical instrument, a sport, or an acting talent, our faith is something we have to practice over and over and over again in search of constant improvement. We will have days in which we will hit our marks and days in which we will fall short, but we still keep practicing and we never stop. We must participate in the Eucharist. We must talk about our failings and ask for forgiveness in reconciliation and we must work to find God’s vocational call for our life.
We can’t simply cruise through our existence without having anything to show for it under the guise that God chose us. God may have signed us as a contract player but it’s up to us to carve our own leading role and produce the best work we can. When He comes into the editing room for a private screening of our narrative, He wants to be pleased with our biopic, not disappointed. If we take His lessons to heart, we may not get an Academy Award for our performance, but at least we won’t end up on the cutting room floor.
Today’s Mass readings: EPH 4: 7-16; PS 122:1-2, 3-4AB, 4CD-5; LK 13: 1-9
