A DISTRACTION CALLED 'DA VINCI'

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Lent is a time when our thoughts turn to the life of Jesus Christ. As we follow the Lenten season, we continually meditate on the critical events of His life and death, and finally experience the joys of His resurrection at Easter. During Lent two years ago, the film "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson made its debut. It was widely acclaimed, and also widely criticized. It was a real spiritual meditation on the passion of Christ. For all of its faults and inadequacies, it probably is one of the best modern interpretations of the passion of the Lord.

During the curial retreat before the beginning of Lent, I used the film to begin our meditations. In order to understand the human experience of Christ's passion, I chose as the framework the five stages of death and dying as outlined by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. She was a psychiatrist who studied dying patients and gave insights as to the various stages that people pass through until their death. Some of the meditations included an exegesis of the Seven Last Words.

Allow me to note that this Good Friday, the Prayer Channel (Channel 97 on Time Warner; Channel 30 on Cablevision) will televise my preaching of the Seven Last Words from noon until 3 p.m., as well as all the Holy Week liturgies from St. James Cathedral Basilica. It is my hope that these services will air several times so you might have a chance to experience them.

The life of Christ is indeed fascinating. Another film, made from a book released several years ago and scheduled to come out around Eastertime, is "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. It certainly is an interesting novel. If the film were to be criticized, however, it is because some purport that it is fact and not fiction. Even its author, at times, wavers between the two poles. Mr. Brown recently has had to defend himself in court in England against charges that he violated copyright laws, since he is said to have borrowed extensively from ideas that appeared in another book with a similar theme.

The basic plot involves a modern-day mystery story that takes place in France, where Mary Magdalene is said to have spent her last days and left her child there to propagate a descent line. The myth is that the child is a child of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. She is the Holy Grail in person.

Unfortunately, many have used this novel as an opportunity to question the veracity of the Gospels. Over 40 million copies have been sold, and as the old adage goes, once it is in print, people believe it. This, unfortunately, is the case with "The DaVinci Code." Many have come to believe that the New Testament is a cleverly concocted myth.

The notoriety around this film has prompted the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to open a Web site at www.jesusdecoded.com where the facts can be distinguished from the fiction. Catholic and Protestant apologists have also published several books debunking "The DaVinci Code." Unfortunately, the movie will be released around Easter to gain public attention at a time when attention is concentrated on the life of Christ.

The attraction to the person of Jesus Christ has confounded many and converted many down through history. The attraction certainly is not to an historical figure; rather, it is the attraction to the spiritual message of the God-man.

Each Lent we are invited to put out into the deep, to meditate on the person of Jesus Christ and to come to understand better His life, death and resurrection. Lent offers an opportunity to meditate on the Stations of the Cross, either in our churches or privately at home. The Way of the Cross brings us into contact with the passion of Jesus Christ and helps us all understand better our own difficulties and sufferings, which find their meaning when we join them to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Keep up your Lenten journey, for Easter is close at hand.

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