Cardinal calls Passion film a "masterpiece"

"You must meditate more on the Passion. Why, My children? Because you, too, as followers of Mine, shall go through your passion upon earth...Time shall bear out this message." - Jesus in the Bayside Prophecies, November 1, 1977

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia wrote this commentary on the film "The Passion of the Christ." It appeared in the Sunday Telegraph and on the archdiocese's Web site:

Ash Wednesday is the day when Mel Gibson's film "The Passion" will premiere around the world, depicting the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ.

Through a combination of anti-religious hostility, fear of anti-Semitism and shrewd marketing, "The Passion" has received more publicity before its release than most films do during their brief span of life.

The film is a contemporary masterpiece, artistically and technically. It is not absurd to compare it with the paintings of the Italian master Caravaggio, because of its beauty and drama. It is more genuinely spiritual, even more violent but less erotic than Caravaggio's canvases.

"The Passion" belongs to the turn of the 20th century, the cruelest in history, because of its violence which is explicit and continual. The scourging is worse than the crucifixion.

It is like Gibson's film "Braveheart," only more so, and confronting; viewers need to be warned. As a believer I found the film draining. Some with me at the screening wept. It is certainly an antidote to those who think the crucifixion was like an afternoon tea party. Jesus is not trivialized nor sentimentalized.

The film is not a literalist transcription of the gospel accounts, but a work of art where the terrible conflict between good and evil is illustrated symbolically. Evil is personified by a terrifying androgynous figure of a woman with a man's voice and (at one stage) a horrible child-like creature. Christ stamps on a snake (the tempter) during the agony in the garden at Gethsemane.

The outstanding performance is from Maia Morgenstern, a Romanian Jew, playing Mary the mother of Jesus. She is strong and beautiful in her suffering and tenderness, a convincing mother for the teacher and public figure who is being persecuted.

Actors who play the role of Jesus are at a severe disadvantage with me, because the demands of the role are impossible. I would not have gone across the road to hear some Christ figures in other films, but James Caviezel does well as Jesus. While Jesus' upper denture was probably not as perfect or pearly white as his, he has reverence for what he is attempting and comes closer than anyone I have seen in the role.

This film is not anti-Semitic because the heroes Jesus and Mary are Jews. We witness a terrible quarrel within the Palestinian Jewish community. Neither Jesus, nor anyone else calls for revenge. He explains that his attackers do not know what they are doing. Neither does the film lay the blame for Jesus' death on the Jewish nation.

The High priest Caiaphas and his supporters are not pleasant people, but we do not normally stereotype and condemn a whole people because of a few villains. This film gives anti-Semites no comfort. No one has accused the film of being anti-Roman, although they come out worst of all. Pilate's ineffectual attempts to free Jesus are shown clearly and the Roman soldiers, or some of them, are sadistic brutes, not just doing their job, but reveling in their cruelty.

The film will be popular, confronting and controversial. It is light years away from "Jesus Christ Superstar." Nor is it sugar and spice like "Godspell."

Every type of person will come to see it, if for different reasons. Some believers will be affronted. More will have their faith strengthened. Non-believers will find it engrossing, an elemental struggle between good and evil. Those who are searching will be provoked to reflection. I have requested that all senior students in Catholic schools be invited to see the film, but there will be no compulsion.

It will help outsiders understand why there have been so many martyrs prepared to die for Christ, (more in the 20th century than any other) and why Christianity has such a profound influence in many different cultures after 2,000 years. The call to follow Christ is personal and primal. There was never any medieval morality play with an impact like this film's.

The finest sermon on Christ I have heard was by an English layman, Malcolm Muggeridge; but that was a pale contribution beside this.

Generations of believers will see Mel Gibson's "The Passion" as a classic. But it is strong meat. Not for the faint hearted.

********

Editors comments:
Let us work to make "Passion" movie break all movie attendance records. Encourage every one you meet to see the Passion of the Christ film.

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Our Lady of the Roses' Awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

I live anew My Passion and My suffering...
"As I look upon your world, I live anew My Passion and My suffering. I look upon your world and I am forced to say: Has My Sacrifice been in vain? Always in the past the Father has sent upon your world a just punishment. The Father has created and the Father will take away! From your world, many souls will be removed!" - Jesus, March 29, 1975

Did My Son give Himself in sacrifice for nothing?
"My child, I am truly the Mother of great sorrow. As I cast My eyes about your world, I see much taking place that is repeating the time of My Son and His great Sacrifice.
"I cry bitter tears, for I can only ask, My children, why have you allowed satan to take you on your present path? Did My Son give Himself in sacrifice for nothing? Have you forgotten your purpose for living upon earth?" - Our Lady of the Roses, March 22, 1975

Basket weave cap...
Veronica - And now He's tapping His forehead. Oh, He wants me to tell you, as He told me this afternoon, that I must tell the world that when He was crucified ... they have a false notion about His crown of thorns.
The crown of thorns were placed in a basket weave cap and then placed on His head, and He was pummeled and hammered with sticks and a sledge hammer to get it down on His head; and that drove the terrible spikes of the thorns into His head. It seems that His murderers could not find gloves at the time to handle the thorns. So they thought to take their implements and place these terrible thorn weeds inside of the basket weave hat. And that is what Jesus wore when He was crucified. - September 27, 1986

The Agony in the Garden...
I saw Jesus on His knees, bent over in anguish, praying.... There was a great sadness in His face, great sorrow. He was talking to His Father in Heaven: "Father, I will drink of this cup, down to the last dreg, if it be Your will. It is not I that should seek that this cup be removed from Me. My strength is everlasting in the light, and My heart a bleeding vessel for this cup." -Veronica, March 8, 1971

Directives from Heaven... http://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D66 - The Passion of Christ (Part 1) PDF
D67 - The Passion of Christ (Part 2) PDF

Articles...

St. Alphonsus Liguori's The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ reading #1
http://www.tldm.org/lent/liguori1.htm

St. Alphonsus Liguori's The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ reading #2
http://www.tldm.org/lent/liguori2.htm

Links...

Americans line up to see 'The Passion', Newsmax, February 25, 2004
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/25/92400.shtml

Big turnout for 'Passion' opening, Fox News, February 25, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112402,00.html

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ are the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich
http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/passionmenu.html#christ

Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) Mystic, Stigmatist, Visionary, and Prophet
http://www.emmerich1.com/VenerableEmmerich.htm

The Passion of Christ Movie by Mel Gibson
http://www.passion-movie.com/home.html

"It is as it was"
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110004442

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