"A Father's Hope, A Mother's Love"

This post is about... Naruto Shippuden episode 297. I remember when I first watched this, not only did I get the feels, but I got eyes full of tear- I mean water... you know, cuz my eyes got dry and stuff.

This was me all episode long

But aside from getting really emotional, I was also affirmed of something: we live in a world that is starved of God, that in fact, there are signs in every corner of world of a longing for God.

This episode of Naruto displayed for many to see, a message that is Catholic in its very nature: a glimpse of what Marian love is like.

Ever have issues receiving the word of God in your life? You feel like God the Father has something to say to you and you can't seem to hear or get the message? Or perhaps, you want Him to say something about your life and He seems silent? In a way, it feels like He's detached from us, that He doesn't care for whatever may be going on in our lives. This is not true, far from it: "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" Jeremiah 29:11. But despite reading, knowing, and even experiencing this truth, we fall wayward and question God's plan for our lives. 

If this is our experience with our Heavenly Father, then how often must we experience an even worse brokenness with our human parents? We know that they desire good for us, but yet in their humanity, fall far short of this great God-given desire. Gaara, the main character of this particular episode, experiences, in full, the brokenness of human relationships.

So for those of you that don't follow the series and insist on still reading this post, I will give a brief summary in hopes that this sufficiently prepares you for the rest of the post (and well, I guess those that do follow the series, you can read it also) . Gaara grew up as the youngest of three siblings, but despite that, grew up in complete loneliness. He was a human experiment. His village and the village leader, the Kazekage, his father, tried to seal a powerful beast inside of him in hopes that their village could retain this great power for themselves. Everyone up until then that had this great beast sealed within them would go mad and rampant on the village, killing many. Gaara was no different. As a child he would lose control of himself and kill villagers. Seeing that their experiment with Gaara had failed, Gaara's father tried to kill him several times in order to keep the village safe (if you think you got issues with your Heavenly Father, well...). He failed each time (well, duh Alphonse, Gaara lived up until this point). Unable to kill Gaara, he was kept as a secret weapon; a human weapon for the village. He lived in solitude and isolation. Everyone around him was scared of him. No one cared for him.

Side tangent, I just lied to you, there was one that did care for him: his uncle, Yashamaru. But in a tragic "test" of Gaara's ability to control himself and the powers sealed within him, Gaara ended up killing Yashamaru. Talk about a tragic life, no one loves you except one person, and you end up killing that one person.

But Gaara didn't hang his head low (well actually, for a time he did, I guess). TLDR; Naruto becomes his first authentic friend and from there Gaara straightens out his life. He grows up to become a great shinobi. In fact, he becomes the fifth Kazekage, that is, the recognized leader of his village.

But through all of this, there is one person we have yet to mention: Karura, Gaara's mother. Where was she during all his pain and loneliness? Well, she died right after child birth. Gaara loved her very much. He treasured her, at least up until that aforementioned "test" involving Yashamura. Gaara was lied to, and told that his mother did not love him. This left Gaara devastated and closed his heart completely. 

But despite her absence, she has a vital part to play in Gaara's story. In fact (this is slowly becoming one of my more used lines), it is through her that we can come to learn and experience a glimpses of what Marian love is like.


1. Mama Mary is our protector.

Gaara's main power is to manipulate sand. He can harden and soften it. Use it for offence and for defence. This power is mainly known for its defensive prowess: "absolute defence". One may think that this is a power that Gaara received from having the powerful beast sealed within him (that's a logical assumption since the power is OP and the beast is OP). But, in fact, this is a power that Gaara receives from his mother.

Throughout the fight with his father (TLDR; Gaara's father was reanimated/"resurrected"), it is revealed that through this power, his mother is always protecting him.

If you needed more proof, the sand even takes on the shape and form of his mother throughout this fight. This kind of reliable and strong protection that Karura gives to Gaara is what we can expect from our Mother Mary.

We know that through the command of our Lord Jesus, Mary is our mother: "Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home" John 19:27. As such, we know that she loves us dearly, and as any mother would do, she will protect us. We also know that as Mother of God, she is filled with grace: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” Luke 1:28. And through this grace, she has power: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” Genesis 3:15. As such, demons and devils fear her and under her mantle of protection we need not fear anything.

2. Through Mary we are brought closer to God


There's a flashback in this episode where Yashamura and Gaara speak about wounds and healing. Yashamura explains to Gaara that physical wounds are easy to notice. Blood or bruising appears, but given time, these wounds heal on their own. They heal even faster if you apply medicine to them. Then Yashamura explains to Gaara, wounds of the heart are much more troublesome. Given time, they may never heal. In fact, there is only one cure for them, love (*snap* *snap*).

How do I get me some love?

Despite lying to him, Gaara's father reveals to Gaara in this episode that his mother loved him. Then Gaara has a flashback about Yashamura telling him how his mother loved him. Gaara begins to realize that this power he received from her is a symbol of her love. That this protection is her embrace of love. Gaara's father then begins to pour out his heart to Gaara. In a spirit of repentance, he admits that he was the one who took away everything from him: life, friends, family, community. He also gives great insight, that through Karura's great love for Gaara, he has been given an opportunity at all these things. Her belief in Gaara and protection of him, propelled him to where he is.

From this episode comes one of my favourite lines in the whole series,"Thanks to her, for the first time, I received medicine [love] from my father."

And isn't it true?! That through our mother we are able to receive our medicine of the heart from our Father. Now, Gaara's father is completely short of our Heavenly Father, but it is no lie that we at one point lived in such division from our Father. It took a mother's yes to bring us closer to God. Because of Jesus through Mary, the gates of heaven were opened up to humanity! And so, we can receive medicine to heal the deepest wound of our hearts: separation from God.

I believe we live in a starving society. One that hungers and thirsts for the love of God. If we just look around us, we see the signs littered all over; a world that deeply desires the love of God. I also believe that the world intrinsically knows of this longing, that this is the reason we see it spill out and over into our literature. In all kinds of literature we can see the love of God because literature is a expression of the heart, and what greater thing can the heart express than love for God?

"In my distress I called upon the Lord;  to my God I cried for help." Psalm 18:6

... And with that, may God be praised!