Blasphemy, reparation and the two great commandments

By Thomas V. Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 29, 2024

Our Lord taught us two great commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor. The first is, of course, the more important, and without it, we cannot fulfil the second. Of the Ten Commandments, the first three pertain to love of God and the last seven to love of neighbor. The first commandment forbids idolatry, the second forbids blasphemy, and the third forbids the profanation of the Lord’s Day and of holy things in general.

Violations of the first three commandments offend God more than any other sins. Do we sufficiently realize this? Consider that St. Thomas Aquinas taught that blasphemy is, in its object, a worse sin than murder. Or consider that in the Old Testament, when God poured His wrath on His people and allowed them to be conquered by their enemies, it was typically because they had fallen into idolatry (together, to be sure, with the oppression of widows and orphans, and the other sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance).

The mockery of the Last Supper performed as part of the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics is a direct attack on the Sacrament of Love in which Jesus made, and continues to make, His Heart totally vulnerable to us unworthy sinners. How long do we expect His Father will allow us to abuse Him? Do we, indeed, wish He would end His patience now and get to the part where fire comes down from heaven? If so, are we prepared for our own judgment—are we certain we have not been guilty of blasphemy ourselves? Or are we content that the end should come when mankind is least prepared for it, resulting in the damnation of countless souls? Are we confident that God will judge our sentiments of outrage to have been an adequate response to evil?

Most, if not all, of the major, approved private revelations of the past two centuries have prominently included the theme of reparation for blasphemy—appropriate since the era beginning with the Enlightenment could aptly be dubbed the Age of Blasphemy. Yet it is striking that we almost never hear about reparation in the modern Church. Satan seems to have succeeded in lowering our defenses just when we need them most; the elimination of devotions of penance and reparation in recent decades has been most convenient to the enemy, in much the same way as the removal of exorcism prayers from a number of rites of the Church just when the occult was gaining ground in society.

Revelations such as the Holy Face and Fatima ask us to approach this problem from the standpoint of both great commandments, love of God and neighbor. That is, they appeal to our compassion for the wounded hearts of Jesus and Mary. And they warn us that we need reparation to appease God’s anger—not out of servile fear, but out of compassion for the countless sinners (including ourselves) who need more time to repent before meeting our Maker. Indeed, by making reparation, we win the grace of repentance for ourselves and for other sinners, even the most callous blasphemers.

Providence always provides God’s people with weapons, or (if you prefer) medicines, specially crafted for the times. The prophets, both of the Old Testament and of recent centuries, challenge us not to stay on the sidelines but to take up the particular tools of reparation that are laid ready to hand. We need not guess at what is most pleasing to God, or be generic in our response like Namaan the Syrian, who, when told by Elisha’s messenger to wash himself seven times in the Jordan to be healed of leprosy, said, “Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” (2 Kings 5)

Since this recent blasphemy was against Our Lord, it would be a beautiful thing for more Catholics to rediscover the essential but forgotten devotion to the Holy Face, which beautifully combines spiritual warfare (“Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered…”) with reparatory meditation on the sufferings of Christ’s Holy Face during His Passion. And in response to mockery of the Last Supper, what better way of countering hatred with love than to frequently and reverently participate in the perennial and ultimate act of atonement—the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!