By this time the majority of the 2.3 billion Christians that live on the face of the earth have probably heard of the outrageous and blasphemous opening act of the 2024 Olympics.

One part of the three plus hours of the show presented LGBTQ+ people depicting what appeared to be the Last Supper Jesus celebrated with His Apostles on the night before His torture and crucifixion.

Below you see a woman, representing Jesus, sitting at the center of a long table.

Is the center figure a priestess? The woman makes a heart shape with her hands. Is that supposed to be a veiled reflection of the love of Christ for His Apostles, or the Sacred Heart of Jesus? She has what appears to be either a headdress, halo, or possibly a Eucharistic host above her head. 

The Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper shows the moment immediately after Jesus pronounces the words (as found in the Holy Gospels) of consecration and transubstantiation of the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. That moment, re-presented in every Holy Mass, is the source and summit of the Catholic, Orthodox, and the Eastern Rite Churches. It is the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion – all Roman Catholics, the 26 cultural Rites in union with Rome, and the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches believe it to be true.

The “blue man,” at the front center was intended to represent Dionysus. Or was he intended to represent the resurrected Jesus Christ? 

In Greek mythology, Dionysus is the Greek god of wine. Dionysian consumption of wine brings a person to spiritual and physical ecstasy. Dionysus is known as a dying-and-rising god (resurrection). He also acts as the divine communicant between the living and the dead, and is known as a god of epiphany. Is this another veiled reference? The feast of Epiphany in the Roman Catholic Church is the celebration of the divine manifestation of the child Jesus to the world  represented by the three wise men (Magi). 

The blue man ascends  (resurrection) in front of the female at the center of the table.  A female Jesus, at the Last Supper before His death, then changes into the blue man. He was on a platter, presumably dead, then rises up, resurrected. He gives us the peace sign. He is also specifically transformed  into a man. A reference to a transvestite? How could the IOC not see the intentional mockery?

The color blue in Christian sacred art represents divinity, transcendence, and the guidance of a soul to divine life. Dionysus is the god of wine, health, and love. The blue man is surrounded by flowers. Red, in Christian iconography has many meanings, but is especially associated with wine, health, and love (wine -the consecrated body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ transubstantiated by a priest during Holy Mass; health – when consumed the transubstantiated wine provides the communicant with the divine life of Christ, love – the  redemptive love of Jesus Christ given to His creation). 

Some commentators said that the performance represented the “kitsch” that the city of Paris has embraced since the beginning of the 20th century. I disagree. The performance not only represented kitsch, it represented the contempt, willingness to insult all Christians, and specifically the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Rites in union with Rome. It also represented the stupidity of the IOC and all public and private individuals  associated with it.

Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the ceremony, said that he didn’t see a problem with the act because it was not meant to offend but unify people.

Hah!

For Mr. Jolly, his assistants, and many of the world’s correspondents to say that there is no relation of that Olympic act to the Christian faith is bogus. They are either grossly (and happily?) ignorant of the basic tenets of Christianity or they just don’t care that it was a direct act of contemptuous ridicule of the Christian religion and the Lord our God, Jesus Christ.

I saw a reporter interview Olympic attendees and asked them about the Dionysian performance. The  eight people interviewed said they saw nothing wrong with it. They gave either woke answers or were completely oblivious to the symbolic meaning. I wonder if they would say that if the act portrayed a holy moment within the faith of  Jews or Muslims. I’m sure Jews and Muslims would be in the streets protesting the blasphemy and rightly so. No faith should be mocked.

Christians of all faiths must be willing to speak out and protest such contemptuous insults to God and faith. What are we, and our clerics, waiting for?

Our Lord promised a winnowing.  It will surely come. May God have mercy on our souls.

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