Everyone loves watching a good movie, but have you ever tried praying with one? If not, you may want to try out “Cinema Divina,” a term coined by Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP as a way of adapting the traditional movements of Lectio Divina to the cinematic experience. While Lectio invites us to engage attentively and prayerfully with a text, Cinema Divina helps us to watch and listen more deeply so that we can discover where God is speaking to us through a film.
Film is a uniquely powerful form of storytelling, and that makes it perfect for prayer. As Pope Leo XIV told filmmakers and stars this past fall: “One of cinema’s most valuable contributions is helping audiences consider their own lives, look at the complexity of their experiences with new eyes and examine the world as if for the first time.”
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One of my favorite things about Cinema Divina is that it can be done just as meaningfully on your couch as at a retreat house. Here are some practical tips to help you get started:
Choose a movie
I believe you can find God in almost any movie, but I also recommend being intentional about the movies you choose for Cinema Divina. You will want a movie that makes you feel and makes you think. The emotions, memories, and reflections that arise as you watch will be the material you bring into your conversation with God, helping you determine what the movie means to you, personally.
While movies with explicitly spiritual themes can be great for Cinema Divina, don’t feel that you need to limit yourself to one particular genre. Some of my most powerfully spiritual experiences of Cinema Divina have been with “secular” films which, nevertheless, evoked something true about life and the human experience (including: “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Moonlight,” and “Barbie”). That includes rom-coms, superhero films, and even horror.
A good place to start might be the Vatican Film List from 1995, which celebrated film’s first century by highlighting 45 movies as exemplars of the form. You may also want to check out my Catholic Movie Club column for AmericaMedia, where I offer spiritual reflections on a wide variety of films.
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Prepare to pay attention
In “Gravity and Grace,” Simone Weil wrote: “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer.” Attention is an essential part of Cinema Divina. In order to pray with a movie, we must first be present, which takes some preparation. Whether you watch in a theater or your living room, you will want to limit distractions (I recommend putting your phone facedown and just out of reach). You may also want to say a prayer before you watch, to mark that time as sacred. I usually set a brief intention, asking God to help me be fully present to the film and how God might be speaking to me through it.
Watch actively
Cinema Divina requires us to be active, not passive, viewers. We watch not only to find out what happens next, but also to appreciate the film as a work of art. How does the director use the camera to tell the story? How are characters and objects framed in each shot, and what does that tell us about their relationships? What about the use of sound, of light or shadow, the use of editing? The goal isn’t to dissect the movie while you watch, but to appreciate the artistry involved and to understand why the movie impacts you the way it does, which will be important in prayer.
Finally, pay attention to how you react to the film. What stirs your emotions? What memories or associations arise in response to the story? If it’s helpful, write these down in a journal or just make a mental note to reflect on them later.
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Spend time in reflection
Once the movie ends, spend some time reflecting on it (maybe as the credits roll). What moved you? What scenes or lines linger for you? You may want to rewatch a scene (in Lectio, this is called repetitio). As you reflect on the movie’s impact on you, begin to think about what that means. Why did you react so strongly to certain parts of the film? Do you see any resonances with your own life, or with a question you are currently trying to unravel? How might God be speaking to you through the film?
Discuss the movie with God
After you reflect, set aside some quiet time to listen to God. You may want to sit in silence or, if you need something to occupy yourself (as I do) you can take a walk or journal. Whatever you do, approach this step with a spirit of receptivity. Create space for God to respond to you. Sometimes that may come in the form of a concrete insight, and sometimes it may simply be a sense of God’s loving presence. Allow yourself to listen to how God is speaking to you through this film, this moment.
I like to say that Cinema Divina is where film criticism and contemplation meet. The more you learn about movies as an artform, the more you will be able to engage deeply with a film in prayer. But in the end Cinema Divina isn’t about evaluating or analyzing a movie: it’s about being present. That can feel countercultural in our hyper-distracted age, and deeply sacred. Cinema Divina teaches us one of the most important spiritual tools of all: how to pay attention.
