Mel Gibson's Upcoming "Passion" Movie



As most no doubt already know, Mel Gibson's "The Passion" an account of the death of Jesus is based on the "Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" by a woman who will be beatified this Fall by Pope John Paul II. The book is online and I offer both the link and an excerpt below:





DOLOROUS PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST:



"This scene was rendered the more frightful to me by the sight of demons, who were invisible to others, and I saw large bodies of evil spirits under the forms of toads, serpents, sharp-clawed dragons, and venomous insects, urging these wicked men to still greater cruelty, and perfectly darkening the air. They crept into the mouths and into the hearts of the assistants, sat upon their shoulders, filled their minds with wicked images, and incited them to revile and insult our Lord with still greater brutality. Weeping angels, however, stood around Jesus, and the sight of their tears consoled me not a little, and they were accompanied by little angels of glory, whose heads alone I saw. There were likewise angels of pity and angels of consolation among them; the latter frequently approached the Blessed Virgin and the rest of the pious persons who were assembled there, and whispered words of comfort which enabled them to bear up with firmness.

The executioners soon pulled off our Lord’s cloak, the belt to which the ropes were fastened, and his own belt, when they found it was impossible to drag the woollen garment which his Mother had woven for him over his head, on account of the crown of thorns; they tore off this most painful crown, thus reopening every wound, and seizing the garment, tore it mercilessly over his bleeding and wounded head. Our dear Lord and Saviour then stood before his cruel enemies, stripped of all save the short scapular which was on his shoulders, and the linen which girded his loins. His scapular was of wool; the wool had stuck to the wounds, and indescribable was the agony of pain he suffered when they pulled it roughly off. He shook like the aspen as he stood before them, for he was so weakened from suffering and loss of blood that he could not support himself for more than a few moments; he was covered with open wounds, and his shoulders and back were torn to the bone by the dreadful scourging he had endured. He was about to fall when the executioners, fearing that he might die, and thus deprive them of the barbarous pleasure of crucifying him, led him to a large stone and placed him roughly down upon it, but no sooner was he seated than they aggravated his sufferings by putting the crown of thorns again upon his head. They then offered him some vinegar and gall, from which, however, he turned away in silence. The executioners did not allow him to rest long, but bade him rise and place himself on the cross that they might nail him to it. Then seizing his right arm they dragged it to the hole prepared for the nail, and having tied it tightly down with a cord, one of them knelt upon his sacred chest, a second held his hand flat,and a third taking a long thick nail, pressed it on the open palm of that adorable hand, which had ever been open to bestow blessings and favours on the ungrateful Jews, and with a great iron hammer drove it through the flesh, and far into the wood of the cross. Our Lord uttered one deep but suppressed groan, and his blood gushed forth andsprinkled the arms of the archers. I counted the blows of the hammer, but my extreme grief made me forget their number. The nails were very large, the heads about the size of a crown piece, and the thickness that of a man’s thumb, while the points came through at the back of the cross. The Blessed Virgin stood motionless; from time to time you might distinguish her plaintive moans; she appeared as if almost fainting from grief, and Magdalen was quite beside herself. When the executioners had nailed the right hand of our Lord, they perceived that his left hand did not reach the hole they had bored to receive the nail, therefore they tied ropes to his left arm, and having steadied their feet against the cross, pulled the left hand violently until it reached the place prepared for it. This dreadful process caused our Lord indescribable agony, his breast heaved, and his legs were quite contracted. They again knelt upon him, tied down his arms, and drove the second nail into his left hand; his blood flowed afresh, and his feeble groans were once more heard between the blows of the hammer, but nothing could move the hard-hearted executioners to the slightest pity. The arms of Jesus, thus unnaturally stretched out, no longer covered the arms of the cross, which were sloped; there was a wide space between them and his armpits. Each additional torture and insult inflicted on our Lord caused a fresh pang in the heart of his Blessed Mother; she became white as a corpse, but as the Pharisees endeavoured to increase her pain by insulting words and gestures, the disciples led her to a group of pious women who were standing a little farther off."

Back Home Again in Indiana



We returned around 9:30 last night from a busy week on the road, where we visited relatives, the grave of Martin Luther King Jr., the CNN center, Centenial park, the Bronson Speedway, the Holy Greek Orthodox Monastery of Panagia Vlahernon, the Shrine of Mary Queen of the Universe, City Lights at Universal, Old Town, Disney's Wide World of Sports, Tropicana Field, Treasure Island, and a few other sites that I'm sure I'm forgetting about. We ate at Sonny's Real Pit Barbeque, Carrabas, Sweet Tomatoes, Bahama Breeze, Sloppy Joes, and the various hotels we stayed in. I spoke with a campus minister at UF, a noted female Catholic evangelist, a professor of Theology at St. Leo's University, several Catholic publishers, a Jewish convert to Christianity, a woman claiming to receive messages from Our Lady (Jesus too but she seems less impressed with him), Tammy Faye Baker, and Kathy Lee Gifford. We sat in a lot of traffic. I had forgotten how bad it is to drive from point A to point B in Florida with tons of tourists on the road and other challenged drivers.

A "Collapsed Catholic"???



From the Catholic League a note of a new designation for Catholics who have left the faith in the rear view mirror:



“In a wide-ranging piece Bill Keller wrote for the New York Times on May 4, 2002, he said, ‘I am what a friend calls a ‘collapsed Catholic’—well beyond lapsed….’ He did not say who his friend was but let me guess. Anna Quindlen? Maureen Dowd? In any event, in this same column Keller offered the following insights:







· “Karol Wojtyla [Pope John Paul II] has shaped a hierarchy that is intolerant of dissent, unaccountable to its members, secretive in the extreme and willfully clueless about how people live.” Sounds like the newsroom commenting on Keller’s predecessor, Howell Raines.



· “Like the Communist Party circa Leonid Brezhnev, the Vatican exists first and foremost to preserve its power.” Now consider how Susan E. Tifft, co-author of a book on the Times, commented on the way the Sulzberger family (who own the paper) reacted to the Jayson Blair mess: “Even when it’s difficult, the family will do whatever they have to protect this jewel, their newspaper.”



· “He [the pope] has trained bishops that the path of advancement is obsequious obedience to himself.” Which is perhaps preferable to obsequious obedience to affirmative action.



· “This is, after all, the church that gave us the Crusades and the Inquisition.” This is, after all, the same newspaper that lied about the Communist slaughter of the Ukrainians in the 1930s, ran a grand total of 9 editorials criticizing the Nazis in 1941, 1942 and 1943, and labeled Fidel Castro “an agrarian reformer.”







“Thus are Catholics acquainted with Bill Keller. It is worth remembering that during the Jayson Blair scandal, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said it was wrong to ‘demonize’ the top brass at the Times. We look to Keller to do likewise to the Catholic Church, ‘collapsed Catholic’ or no.”

Continued Observations



Met and shook hands with Kathy Lee Gifford who told me, "Nice to meet you brother."



Saw Kirk Cameron who looks about twenty, although I'm sure that he is close to forty. Mel Gibson is rumoured to be in the building promoting his forthcoming movie Passion.



Talked with visionary Rita Ring, more on that at a future date.

Varia-Report from the Road



Visited the Orthodox monastery, very much a work in process. Two monks in rural Florida. Very hospitable, offered us a Greek treat and water upon our arrival. Showed us to the bookstore where they had a wide array of books in Greek and English. One monk offered when we told him we were Catholic and not Orthodox, "You're people too." He then proceeded to give me what he perceived to be the difference between the Orthodox and Catholics--namely that they, the Orthodox, were more Orthodox. Later when the other monk arrived on the scene he was more reserved and stood off to the side, leading Amy to term that as "good monk, bad monk" of course, since the one that was very talkative may in fact have been the "bad monk" since monk aren't supposed to be talking non-stop.



Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of Amy looking very middle Eastern--wrapped in cloth from head covering to toes. The talkative monk helped dress the women--which seemed to me to defeat the purpose of them dressing.



The monks rise at 12 midnight and pray the Jesus prayer along with whatever else their elder has prescribed for them to do. They also pray together at 5 a.m and again in the evening. Interesting stop along the road.



Now in Orlando, it is the daily grind of the CBA convention. The mega Christian trade show. Free books, Tammy Faye (Baker) Resner, John Hagee and the Hal Lindsey are encountered at every turn. On past visits I've found myself questioning the sincerity of faith present here. This time I find myself amused by some of the participants. I have seen Hal Lindsey in a wheel chair traveling the floor, then encountered him listening to Reggae while sipping a tropical drink awaiting the vacancy of the a table at a local hot spot.



It is all very interesting. Lindsey famous for his "The Late Great Planet Earth" one of the first in a line of books that predicted the end of the world, seems to be enjoying himself right up to the bitter end. I don't blame him, but I wonder if the Epicurean philosophy of "Eat, Drink and be Merry for tomorrow we die" is the same as "Watch, for the Son of Man comes when you least expect it," and the parable of the master returning while the servants are having a great time figuring he ain't coming anytime soon.



The high here yesterday was in the 80's, how's that for all you non-Florida people imagining this is the hottest place on the planet (the feel-like temp, something uniquely Floridian was 101 though).

Hopefully a Visit Here Today



An Orthodox monastery in rural North Florida:



By the toils and labor of our spiritual father, Elder Ephraim, and with the blessing of our Bishop Alexios of Atlanta (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America), the monastery has been operating since March of 1999. Before our arrival and founding of the monastery here in Florida, we were living our monastic life in the Monastery of St. Anthony the Great in Phoenix, Arizona and before then in the monastery of Philotheou on the Holy Mount Athos , Greece.



Since our arrival in Florida, our life has been an intense sacrifice and struggle without pause. Firstly, we fought against much opposition to acquire zoning approval from the county authorities. After a much publicized ordeal and a seven hour defense before the county commissioners, by the grace of God and under the shelter of our Panagia's protection, permission was granted for the monastery to remain and to plan for future building projects. We fought for and permission was granted to begin a cemetery where our reposed Orthodox may be buried and commemorated in accordance with our most sacred Orthodox tradition.



Realizing the natural beauty of the property, we then commenced cleaning up the sorely neglected property; cutting down dead trees, removing old, rotted fences and clearing the overgrown brush. This project we have been working on for over a year and the property has finally acquired a well-kept park-like appearance. In the meantime we have remodeled a garage, which we are now using as a guest/coffee room. These are the exterior projects that we have been working on over the last two years.



Most importantly, however, we have been fulfilling our duties as monasteries; i.e. the daily liturgies and vesper services, memorial services, and especially the Sacraments of Holy Confession and Holy Unction. In a time when our Orthodox Christian Faith is besieged by much modernism and heresy, we are standing strong in the face of adversary and are presenting to you the faithful the pure and uncompromised truth of our Holy Orthodox Faith, the Faith and Tradition of the Apostles.

Revisiting the Past



Spent last night at the Bronson Speedway on my way to Orlando for the Christian Booksellers Association trade show. A lot has changed since in the over twenty-five years since I once worked as a flagman at this track, but in many ways little has changed. It still takes forever for them to get through a simple 50 lap race.



Let me dispell a persistent rumour about Florida. It isn't any hotter here than it is everywhere else at this time of the year. In fact, last night it was in the low 80's and very comfortable--this in mid-July.



ASA driver Mike Cope is now the owner and operator of the Bronson Speedway.



Besides being a flagman at the track in 1976-1977, I also helped build the front wall, grandstands and even dug pole holes for some of the surrounding fences. All are still standing! Amazing!