Lilies of the Field is a 1963 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson. Adapted by James Poe from William Edmund Barrett’s 1962 novel, the film takes its title from the Sermon on the Mount. It stars Sidney Poitier as Homer Smith, an itinerant handyman, who encounters a group of East German nuns in the Arizona desert. Led by the determined Mother Maria Marthe, played by Lilia Skala, the nuns believe Homer has been sent by God to build them a chapel.