 |
Faith under Attack
Spend a Holy Hour with Christ
against the Da Vinci Code
Kathleen Willett Redle
We were invited on opening night to attend the Da Vinci Code - not to watch, but to protest it. Some people asked us, “How do you know the Da Vinci Code is something bad if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie?” My response to this question is very simple: You don’t have to see a movie that lies about Our Lord, uses Gnostic gospels that distort Sacred Scriptures history, and depicts Christ as having children by Mary Magdalene to figure out that it is bad.
Yet countless Catholics (if you can call them that) will be giving Sony Pictures, the author Dan Brown, and the director Ron Howard their hard-earned money to see it.
The first Friday night I brought my two children Michael, age 16, and Julie, age 13, and we met my friend Maria who invited us. We saw another gentleman and a lady also invited by Maria. We made signs that said, “HONK If you love Jesus and you don’t like the Da Vinci Code!”, and “Where are the Rest of Christ’s followers?” Both had pictures of Christ crowned with thorns. Some other signs that Maria brought read, “Fiction doesn’t use real People,” “I love Christ, I reject the Da Vinci Code!” This sign had the Dan Brown book with an X mark on it.
The second night I went to the theater with my husband Steve, my mother, my three sons, Michael, Daniel, and Thomas, and my daughter Julie, their ages ranging from sixteen to eight. We left our two little ones with my Dad. There were also a few other people that Maria had invited.
Most of the people passing by in cars reacted positively to our signs and our presence. They honked and smiled from their cars or gave us the thumbs up. From our experience standing on the curb, it seems there were more decent people who are against the Da Vinci Code than for it.
In fact, the first night we protested, a police officer came out to talk with us probably at the request of the theater owner (whom we informed of our protest). We said hello to the officer and he smiled back at us. I commented to him, “I doubt seriously that if this were a film that Muslims considered objectionable about Mohamed that it would have ever gotten produced.”
Manila Times online
Catholics in the Philippines burn the Da Vinci Code in protest |
The policeman responded, “You’re so right. Muslims would have been up in arms and there would have been death threats against the producers. This says a lot about Christianity - that around the country there has been peaceful protest with no violence.” The officer was very supportive of us and said, “Good luck!” After he left, we prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
On Saturday night in the theater parking lot, a rowdy group of teenagers were chanting loudly over and over again in response to us, “Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci Code, we like Da Vinci Code!” They were well over 60 yards away from us. We just continued to sing Marian Hymns and God Bless America. They were no match for the Blessed Mother and soon grew tired and went back inside the theater.
There were others who were even more vociferous in their opposition to us. A few persons in cars rolled down their windows and made foul gestures and swore at us. The worst, however, directed at Our Lord, was a blasphemous impure epitaph too foul to repeat.
My friend Maria said, “That certainly reveals their minds darkened by Satan - that’s why they like the Da Vinci Code because it parades impurity and lust.” As it says in the Scripture: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Eph. 6:12).
After we prayed the rosary, my youngest son Thomas, who was getting tired after about 45 minutes of holding up a windswept, rather flimsy sign almost as big as himself with his older brother Daniel, asked when we would be done. I replied, “Patience, Tommy, we’re almost done. In another 15 minutes, we can go home. We’re doing this for Jesus. We have to tell the people in there that this movie is a lie and they shouldn’t see it.” My answer seemed to satisfy Tom and he smiled back and said, “I know, Mom.”
Those two hours spent outside the theater for two nights didn’t stop the multi-million-dollar movie Da Vinci Code from being shown, but that wasn’t the only reason we were there or our sole purpose for protesting. We were there to be public witnesses for Christ, to follow Him and be his disciples.
Didn’t Our Lord say to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemani during his hour of trial just before the temple guards took him to be crucified: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Stay you here and watch …. And he cometh and findeth them sleeping. And he saith to Peter: Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour? ” (Mk 34: 37)
It occurred to me that if we want to be Christ’s disciples, we have to be willing to pray with Christ and through Him and His Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross and amidst our own daily crosses. We have to be willing to be mocked and even spat upon like He was as we stand there with our Lady, always looking up at Him from “whence our hope cometh” in these desperate times.
We need to participate in a Da Vinci Code Holy Hour of Reparation that is being planned all around the country from 5:00-6:00 p.m., on June 18, the feast of Corpus Christi. You can try to organize one in your parish, or just make the Holy Hour yourself with some friends.
What other choice do we Catholics have? Are we going to fall asleep during Christ’s hour of need? We can either stand with Jesus and defend His Holy Name or sit at home doing nothing. Or, worse yet, sit at the theater watching the Da Vinci Code movie and eating peanuts and popcorn while they mock Christ and crucify Him all over again.
Holy Mary, pray for us, and make us true disciples of your Divine Son during his Holy Hour of need!
Posted June 14, 2006
Related Topics of Interest
The Da Vinci Code: Blasphemous Thesis and Bad History
A Refresher on Catholic Teaching about Marriage
Natural Marriages and Civil Marriages
Heaven: A Matter of Interpretation
Hell: A Demand of Divine Goodness
Related Works of Interest
|
|
Faith under Attack | Religious | Home | Books | CDs | Search | Contact Us
© 2002-
Tradition in Action, Inc. All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
