The indignation for yet another offense against the Christian faith will have already passed, with the commercial for the brand of crisps that replace the consecrated wafer. It’s a shame, and it’s best to think about it coldly, so as not to laze about with indifference and shrug one’s shoulders, once again, as if “even then”. Get used to considering every fair criticism, every heartfelt uprising of believers at the repeated mocking or obscene representations of the sacred as basically moralistic, useless or even harmful.
And then sshhh! Let’s keep quiet, or they’ll do worse. Sshhh! We remain silent, because for centuries we have dominated propaganda, and the sense of guilt bends us and shuts our mouths in front of any insult. Let’s keep quiet, because there are only a few of us and no one cares. We keep quiet, no one in the sacristy tells us anything.
How many decades have we been silent? Someone will remember a denim short to follow with the famous evangelical saying. More recently we saw the archangel Gabriel giving Mary the morning-after pill (abortive, not contraceptive), in a commercial also awarded for originality. And the Last Supper is set in a Burina tavern, where ditties are sung with wine, nothing but consecration. There are countless LGBT nativity scenes etc. in the various nativity scenes, the pseudo-artistic exhibitions with half-naked Madonnas, or disguised as batwomen, and Christs veiled by condoms… in the third century they drew the crucified Christ with the head of a donkey. But we are silent for what? Because we don’t really care.
Because we don’t really believe that Jesus is the salvation of life, mine and others, and that the consecrated host and wine are really his body and his blood. While queuing for the Eucharist, we almost have to reach for our cell phones. Fortunately, and by grace, God loves us and saves us anyway. Of course, talking about persecution as some have said is out of place, in the most persecutory time towards Christians in all of history, and it involves prison, torture, assassinations.
We should rejoice in the freedom we enjoy, but also know how to use it. The Pope scandalized right-thinking people years ago with that expression: “If someone offends my mother I’ll punch them.” Instinctive, perhaps not very merciful, but metaphorically intended, the message was clear and effective. Without raising your hands, you have to at least raise your voice and ask for respect. The same that is claimed and granted towards the Islamic religion, for example, also because fear is a powerful driver, and we have suffered many fatwas and massacres.
It’s easy to be creative and witty, with those who turn the other cheek… But there is an underlining that goes unnoticed in the judgment on the above-mentioned crisps commercial. The nuns protagonists are pin ups, models, and arouse anything but thoughts of purity. Aren’t nuns women? No feminist protests for a retro image of women? Enough with the intriguing and seductive or evil and mustachioed nuns. Take a tour of the convents, look at reality, to offer material to the imagination.