I recently binged a wonderful program called “The Chosen.” It is the first ever multi-season series about the life of Christ. I love how it brings the Gospel to life with all of the detail and richness that it deserves. The characters are real, honest portrayals of people, and they are extremely well-acted.
There’s warmth, humor and compassion to Jesus, and he comes across as someone you would want to know and be friends with. The scenes with the men and women who Jesus calls to follow him remind me of big family dinners with my brothers and sisters-in-law. They joke and argue with one another as they struggle to comprehend the new life that Jesus is calling them to share with him.
I have found my own prayer life greatly nourished by the episodes. For me, it has been like an Ignatian exercise of praying with the Gospel using all of my imagination and senses. I binge-watched Season 1 in just a few days. And I joined over a million people on Easter Sunday who watched the Season 2 premiere live.
The entire series is free. You can watch all of Season 1 on
Vivid Angel. You can also watch Season 1 and Season 2 by downloading the “The Chosen” App onto your devices. Remarkably, “The Chosen” is the largest crowd-funded media project in history! Over 75,000 people made contributions totaling over $10 million in record time to fund Season 1. In all, there will be seven seasons.
I encourage you to watch “The Chosen." It is especially appropriate for families to watch together. I think children and young adults will really be drawn to these characters and it will help them understand the Gospels in a fresh new way.
We live in remarkable times when it comes to technology and social media advances. This is definitely the best use of those resources that I have come across in a long time. I pray that it will help millions of people to (re)discover who Jesus is, to fall in love with him, and to share the Gospel and the Christian faith in new ways.
God Bless,
Father Francis
