Editorials

A Star That Shines

It’s good when you hear about film stars that take their Christian faith seriously. Chris Pratt, the star of TV’s “Parks and Recreation,” and Marvel Comics’ film, “The Guardians of the Galaxy,” and the movie, “Jurassic World,” is a practicing Christian. When asked by paparazzi what he thought of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie divorce, he simply said: “I’ll pray for them.” When harassed by an overaggressive autograph seeker who was using foul language at him, he uttered: “You should be nicer. You got a cross on your chest and you’re cussing me out…(D)on’t be a jerk.”

Pratt seems like the kind of man who can be a good example of a film star to our young people. When his newborn baby was ill, Pratt stated: “We were scared for a long time. We prayed a lot,” Pratt said. “It restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really redefined it. The baby was so beautiful to us, and I look back at the photos of him and it must have been jarring for other people to come in and see him, but to us he was so beautiful and perfect.”

It’s heartwarming to note that even when doctors indicated that his son, Jack, would live with disabilities due to the premature birth, Pratt believes God healed him in the NICU. In addition, Pratt declared his Christian faith when he expressed how God sent him the love of his life, actress Anna Faris.

Over the Easter Triduum, Pratt posted a photo on Instagram showing himself along with two other men planting a gigantic cross. And Pratt, although he has yet to state what branch of Christianity he follows, stated in an Esquire magazine interview in 2014 that he prays substantially daily.

Pratt is quoted as saying the following, concerning the future of his acting career:

“I need to work while the work is here…I have my eyes on the prize. The big picture is my wife and my son and I living somewhere other than L.A., just being able to be a Boy Scout leader, drink beer on Saturday, go to church on Sunday, having fun. I could coach him in football. That’s the goal, and I need to do as many big movies as I can while there’s still time. Because you never know what’s next.”

Let’s hope that many more celebrities of faith who actually believe and practice their Christian faith will come forward and not be afraid to be Christian believers in the midst of a very secular Hollywood.