The Bishop's Wife: The Most Important Prayer
A sweet romantic comedy proves to be a surprising Advent meditation on desire, prayer, and finding our most important thing.
Since we are in Advent, I thought I’d pivot from witches to an angel for this post!
This particular angel is named Dudley, and he appears in a wonderful movie from 1947 called The Bishop’s Wife. It stars Cary Grant as the angel, David Niven as the bishop, and Loretta Young as the bishop’s wife, Julia. While the movie is a romantic comedy, it also asks us to engage with questions of faith and prayer — perfect topics for this season, as we prepare for the birth of the Prince of Peace.
The movie begins with the camera following Cary Grant as he walks the streets of Manhattan during Christmas time. We don’t know he is an angel just yet; he looks like an ordinary human being (if you think the handsome and charming Cary Grant is ordinary!). As he strolls the streets, we see him enjoying carolers, shoppers, and children joyfully admiring marvelous toys in store windows.
... But he also performs little miracles and acts of kindness as he goes. He saves a runaway baby carriage from being hit by a car and escorts a blind man across the street. No one realizes they have been visited by an angel, but we the audience realize that, in the world of this movie, angels are real and walk among us:
Prayer is real, too. This angel has been summoned by the prayer of Bishop Henry Brougham. Henry’s prayer is uttered in desperation: A wealthy widow, Mrs. Hamilton, championed his promotion to bishop and has enlisted him to build a cathedral, anchored by her pledge of one million dollars.
The cathedral committee is meeting in a study at the bishop’s home, where Mrs. Hamilton imperiously insists that a memorial chapel dedicated to her dead husband be placed prominently at the front of the cathedral — a bit of idolatry that rankles Henry.
The bishop’s wife, Julia, returns from shopping just as the meeting is ending, in time to see Henry tell Mrs. Hamilton, “Surely you understand that this cathedral cannot be designed for the glory of an individual. It has to be created for all the people.”
Mrs. Hamilton leaves in a huff, and Henry is afraid that she will withdraw her pledge unless he agrees to her terms. Julia is upset with Henry, too, but for different reasons: He has become so focused on building the cathedral that he has forgotten who he is. Julia laments that he is unhappy and consumed with worry. They used to be happy, she says, and Henry’s gift was making other people happy, too. “You’re no financier,” she tells him, “and you’re not a promoter.”
The man Julia fell in love with is not the kind of man who can get the cathedral built. But Henry has made his choice; he will be the kind of man Mrs. Hamilton wants him to be. Unable to see how he can accomplish his goal, he utters the prayer that summons the angel.
Perhaps you have been faced with a similar choice and prayed a prayer like his: “O God, what am I to do? Can’t you help me? Can’t you tell me? Oh God, please help me.”
So, Dudley appears. But Henry is filled with doubt. Even a bishop has trouble believing angels are real or that they can be of any help. Furthermore, Dudley seems more interested in Julia than in getting to work. He greets Julia as she comes down the stairs, holding her in a loving gaze. Henry is impatient, and they have the conversation that keeps me returning to this film every year at Christmas:
Henry: “There’s no time to lose.”
Dudley: “Because the cathedral must be built?”
Henry: “Obviously! That’s the most important thing.”
Dudley: “Or because Julia must be happy? You know Henry, it’s going to be difficult for me to help you until I’m sure what it is you really want.”
Dudley puts his finger on the problem we encounter when we pray: Do we really know what is most important?
This sweet, romantic movie dramatizes just how easily our desires are influenced by the desires of others — which is not a bad thing in and of itself! Julia’s desire for Henry to be happy serving the St. Timothy’s parish as a local priest was once Henry’s desire, too. But he has succumbed to Mrs. Hamilton’s vision for him as a bishop who desires above all else to build a cathedral.
Will Henry gain a cathedral, but lose Julia’s love?
Suzanne Ross
I hope you watch the movie, and notice the little ways that, by paying attention to Julia, Dudley draws Henry’s attention away from the cathedral. Slowly, Dudley awakens Henry’s old self — the Henry who values his wife more than any building, however grand or holy.
The Henry who can finally tell Dudley, “Julia means more to me than my life. I’m not going to lose her.”
Ah, now that’s a prayer from the heart!
It won’t spoil the movie for you if you watch this clip from the very end, where Henry delivers a Christmas Eve sermon written for him by Dudley. Notice how he is calmer, more at peace with himself, and genuinely happy:
This is the transformation that comes from discovering oneself as a truly beloved child of God!
Until next time, please remember that you, too, are such a beloved child. This is your deepest identity. My hope for all of us this season is that we are able to discover our “most important thing,” and find the happiness and peace that such a discovery brings.