In my line of “business”, you see all kinds. The business which I am talking about is the business of standing for something…quite literally. Whether it’s defending the unborn, traditional marriage, freedom and now the Holy Face, you spend a lot of time observing people and their reactions. It’s quite amusing at times. Depending on the cause, you see all kinds of people. The list is quite long indeed. The Angry, the Annoyed, the Amused, the Bored, the Bemused, the Busybody, the Confused, the Clueless, the Curious, the Debater, the Indignant, the Joker, the Know-it-all, the Offended, the Perplexed, the Scornful, the Self Righteous, the Suspicious, the Serious, the Snob, the Stoic, the Sympathetic, the Tourist, the Tyrant, the Unassuming, the Unfazed, the Violent, and the Wasted.

I sometimes wonder when Jesus was looking down from the Cross, if He was ever amazed at the absurdity of the wide range of reactions his Crucifixion must have generated. These people simply have no clue. They are oblivious to what is going on. What this means to the world. What it means to them and where they will spend the rest of eternity.

The Tourist is particularly relevant to Parliament Hill for obvious reasons. They take a lot of pictures. Over the two weekends that we were on the Hill, there were quite a few tourists taking pictures, and a good number of them took pictures of the Holy Face. Christianity is withering and fading so quickly from the public consciousness, you have to wonder if this will be the only real encounter with Christ before they die. We don’t know if any tourists were converted or even if a seed was planted. (I do know that we don’t have any more medals to give out. They all went. And I only have a few “Trucker Rosaries” left (which are more and more precious to me now more than ever)). Most people are not seeking after God or if they do happen to meet Him in some fashion, they remain at a comfortable distance. Getting too close can get awkward and decidedly uncomfortable. So they take their pictures, smile politely, whisper to their Amused friend, and move on. And God permits this, just like He did 2,000 years ago when He was hanging on the Cross. There were likely some tourists at Calvary as well. And of course, today we have a strong contingent of Tourist Christianity represented within the Catholic Church from laity to bishop.

Now the Tourist doesn’t conceal who they are, and they are easily picked out in a crowd. But the Tyrant is a different animal. He’s a master at deception and concealment, and for the naïve and spiritually blind, he can be lethal. Behind his cold, steely eyes is a hatred for all that is Sacred. Because, for him, the Sacred is an obstacle and impediment to enforcing his will through control and power. It is the only thing, really, that stands in his way.

The Tourist has no problem with the Tyrant because the Tourist is not interested in freedom that God gives him. The Tourist is only interested in “safety”, “health” and entertainment. Indeed the Tyrant just looooves the Tourist because the Tourist can be easily controlled and manipulated. There is no root in him. He can be cut down easily and harvested for useful purposes. And the Tourist doesn’t really care that his fellow citizen’s consciences have been trampled on, because, for him, he has already sold out his conscience to the Tyrant and to the State. He’s sold his birthright for a pot of porridge, and invited the vampire into his own home. And why? Because, deep down, he has forgotten his own worth and who he is.

How we Catholics have completely abandoned the very rudiments of our Faith concerning the right use of conscience and freedom is a scandalous betrayal of Our Lord. Why? Because the freedom the Lord has given to each person is fundamental and intrinsic to what a person is. Let that sink in for a moment and compare that what has transpired over the past two years with Covid. Christ would rather die than to compel and coerce any of His creatures to betray their consciences and wills, even when it concerns their own eternal salvation. But for some bizarre reason, the State thinks that it can compel its citizens to join a Health Cult, and with the complicit and open support from self-professing Catholics and other Christians. It is nothing less than a betrayal of epic proportions. It’s staggering, really.

On Saturday morning during my prayer time as I was reading the Scriptures, a phrase came into my mind: “blasphemy against the Incarnation”.

Yes, that’s exactly what this Covid Health Cult is. Where Christ redeems and claims the human body for His own, even dying in it to save humanity – freeing not just the Spirit but the Body as well from corruption – this arrogant and wicked Cult wishes to remove the freedom which Christ has given to us to be stewards of our own body for His glorification and instead demands that we bow down to it and sacrifice what God has given to us.

Do you think the Tourist can see this truth? Does he even care…even if the Tyrant were to admit it was true?

In her Immaculate Heart,

John Pacheco
St. Joan of Arc Community