Will be to arrive where we started,
And know the place for the first time.
- TS Eliot
Martin, a senior government adviser, treated unfairly and fired. In the face of major setbacks in his life, as an atheist, Martin felt trembling in his heart.
Philomena was in the twilight of her life, but there was one more thing on her mind. She wants to find her lost son Anthony for 50 years.
Martin and Philomena are two completely incompatible people who come together because Philomena is looking for her son.
Martin's higher education allowed him to question orthodox religious beliefs. Philomena was a devout Catholic. She became pregnant and gave birth to Anthony as a result of a one-night affair at a young age. She had to work in the monastery and put her son in foster care in the monastery. The monastery sold Anthony to an American family under a paper agreement. She always endured the pain of parting with her son. The teaching of the monastery was ingrained in her heart: her pain was her redemption.
The trip to the United States to find a child made the two souls have a better understanding of each other. When they learned that Anthony had died five years ago, the two hugged.
But the search for relatives did not end there. Martin even recalls having an affair with Philomena's son 10 years ago. When he recalled the already vague impression, Philomena heard tears, as if she had seen her son.
The two began to have a deeper spiritual connection.
"Why have you kept this secret for fifty years?" Martin asked.
"I committed a crime, so I'm going to hide it." But Philomena felt that it was also a sin to hide it.
On the last leg of the family hunt, Philomena told Martin that she wanted to find a church to confess.
In the confession room, facing the priest, she choked up.
"You have to face it, and God will forgive you," the priest said.
But that wasn't the answer she was looking for, she got up and left without saying a word. I realized later that, in fact, this was exactly the answer she was looking for, but it came in a way she didn't expect.
Philomena finally breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that Antony had returned to her convent in Ireland to find her before her death, which was a great comfort and relief to her.
When he found the nun Hildegard who prevented the mother and son from meeting, Martin asked: "I need an explanation!"
Facing the mother who was struggling to find her son, the nun's answer seemed so weak: "Suffering is the way to atonement."
Before leaving, Philomena said calmly to the nun, "I forgive you."
Martin passed through the gate of the convent and stopped in front of the souvenir cabinet.
Philomena placed the statue of Jesus that Martin had given her in front of Antony's tomb.
The salvation we need is forgiveness.
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