I’m sure by now most of you are aware of the obscene and blasphemous opening ceremony of the Olympics that took place in Paris just over a week ago. Among other things, JESUS, the Last Supper, the Mass and the Apostles were mocked in a highly sexualised, debauched and perverse manner in an act featuring drag queens and demonic looking figures, and all done in the presence of children. The opening ceremony broadcast worldwide was a blatant attack on Christianity and in particular on Catholicism and her moral teaching. While shocking in its brazenness, perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised. Satan knows which is the true Church, and will therefore always attack it.

There has since been a massive backlash against it from Christians and non-Christians alike. Bishop Robert Barren, the popular American media bishop hit the nail on the head when he said that we now know who they think their enemy is. The woke leftists feel threatened by Christ and the Catholic Church, because the Catholic faith is a total repudiation of their agenda. But how demoralising it must have been for the many devout Christian and Catholic athletes taking part in the Games who have spent years preparing for it, to then have their faith mocked and blasphemed in this way at the opening ceremony, and in Paris, the eldest daughter of the Church and city of so many saints. The organisers of the Olympics have since apologised and said they never intended to offend anyone. Let’s not be naive. They knew full well what they were doing.

However, God decided to let us know what He thought about it, because hours after the opening ceremony, Paris suffered from a power cut that lasted several hours, and the only building not affected was the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of JESUS, which continued to shine brightly on the hill of Montmartre. Darkness can never prevail against the light of Christ. The Sacré-Coeur was built in the 1880s in reparation for the horrors of the French Revolution (1789- 94), when churches and altars were desecrated, priests and nuns put to death, and a prostitute was enthroned on the High Altar of Notre-Dame and worshipped as the “goddess of reason.” The Sacre-Coeur has had uninterrupted Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration since 1885 to make reparation for these crimes against God.

So what can we do about this blasphemy today? Firstly we can make our protest heard, because we rightly feel offended, and the social and moral order has been further undermined.  I hope that you might protest by clicking on the following link: www.olympics.com/ioc/contact-us  Of course, Christ being God is not hurt by these outrages, but He does expect us to defend His Name among the pagans – for their sake, that they might be converted, but also for our sake, that we may be strengthened by doing so, as well as giving witness to Christ, thereby strengthening others.

Secondly, and even more importantly, we must make reparation, because God’s honour has been attacked.  Therefore, next Tuesday 6^th August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, we will have a Holy Hour of Reparation at 6.30pm, during which we will pray for the perpetrator’s conversion. I hope as many of you as possible will come. Spend some of the time when you may have watching the Olympics to make reparation instead. The more people who come, the more graces will be bestowed. This is an opportunity for you to make a public stand, and say, “I will not have God mocked!”

Fr Paul Gillham, IC