An Invitation to the Feast

Since I first read about the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, different thoughts have been going through my head. I’ve made a few comments here and there (mostly to my husband) but held off on making any definitive statements until I (1) knew if the intent was to portray the Last Supper or not (2) more thoroughly reflected on the topic in light of our Christian faith.

For a while, I felt like I didn’t have anything new to add to the discourse, but as I was reflecting on the statements made by Thomas Jolly,the artist behind the scene, I realized that his vision, though carried out poorly in my opinion, reflected a hunger for God. I can’t help but think these themes he hoped to artistically display are drawn from the Last Supper (whether intentional or not) and gifted freely and beautifully through the Eucharist at every Mass.

The artistic director, Thomas Jolly said several things in response to the outrage expressed over this divisive scene.

“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock. Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”

“I wanted to make a ceremony that repairs, that reconciles.”

“My goal was simply to say that we’re a part of this “big we”.” He referenced inclusion, kindness, generosity, and solidarity as “ideas that we greatly need.”

These themes of unity, love, reconciliation, generosity, and solidarity are proclaimed in the celebration of the Eucharist and the life that flows from receiving our Lord in this way.

At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.
SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM 47

Unity

At the Last Supper, Jesus provides an image of Christian unity with Him being the True Vine and the followers being brances (John 15:1-17). An even more powerful image of unity lies in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist unites us to God. We are united as the Body of Christ in His Church. We are united in hope with anticipation for Heaven after experiencing a foretaste in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit…Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.
CCC 1325-1326

See also CCC 1348, 1354, 1370-1372.

I pull a lot of quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (shortened as CCC). You can find the full paragraphs for free, online.

The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church. Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body – the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism.
CCC 1396

Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
CCC 1391

And everyone is called to this feast. Jesus longs for all of us to be One. He calls all the people to Him. Unfortunately, many haven’t responded to that invitation, but it is out there always.

The Eucharist and the unity of Christians. Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine exclaims, “O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!” The more painful the experience of the divisions in the Church which break the common participation in the table of the Lord, the more urgent are our prayers to the Lord that the time of complete unity among all who believe in him may return.
CCC 1398

Love

God is Love. He gives us this unfathomable, powerful gift of Himself – not just in the sacrifice but through all of Him. The Eucharist is a gift of love given from Love.

The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; “thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament.”
CCC 1337

@ewtn_news On day one of the National Eucharistic Congress, Sister Bethany Madonna, of the Sisters of Life, highlighted God’s unending love for each of us. She reminded the crowd of over 50,000 that God meets us where we’re at but will always be there to call us closer to him and encouraged the faithful to ask the Lord to reveal himself anew to our hearts. #EucharisticCongress #eucharisticrevival #catholic #sistersoflife #eucharist #eucharisticcongress2024 #vatican #popefrancis #catholic #catholics #catholicchurch #catholicism #ewtnnews #ewtn #fypcatholic ♬ original sound – EWTN News

At the Last Supper, His new commandment was love. The Eucharist is an example of God’s immeasurable love for us, but it also commands love for others.

I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35

Reconciliation & Healing

We prepare to receive the Eucharist by repenting of our sins, Reception of the Eucharist bestows the graces to avoid future sin.

Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is “given up for us,” and the blood we drink “shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.” For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins…As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him
CCC 1393-1394

The Eucharist heals us. There are countless stories about the healing power of the Eucharist. If you have about half an hour, this talk by Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart is an amazing start.

Generosity & Solidarity

The Eucharist is a generous outpouring of Jesus’s love for us, but it also calls us to live generously and love others.

The collection you see at Mass prior to communion isn’t to make a wealthy building – it is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people.

From the very beginning Christians have brought, along with the bread and wine for the Eucharist, gifts to share with those in need. This custom of the collection, ever appropriate, is inspired by the example of Christ who became poor to make us rich.
CCC 1351

Solidarity is part of Catholic Social Teaching (see CCC 1939-1942 for just a brief look).

Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones.
CCC 1948

When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, when we recognize Him there and allow Him to change our hearts, we will strive to live in solidarity, especially with our marginalized brothers and sisters.

The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren
CCC 1397

Our Eucharistic faith nourishes us in a profound way as we strive to live in solidarity with one another and with the beautiful world God has created for us.
Stephanie Held, “Caring for Our Common Home: Eucharistic Solidarity”

I was privileged to attend the National Eucharistic Congress earlier this month. where this was lived out in what speakers said, the opportunity to help pack meals for those in need, and the actions of many of the attendees.

@ewtn_news Participants at the National Eucharistic Congress are on a mission to pack up 360,000 meals for the poor and hungry throughout Indiana with Million Meal Movement. #eucharisticcongress #eucharisticrevival #eucharist #eucharisticcongress2024 #feedthehungry #service #millionmealmovment #catholic #catholics #catholicchurch #catholicism #ewtnnews #fyp #fypcatholic ♬ original sound – EWTN News

In Summary

Whether the intention was to portray the Last Supper or not, the reality is that so many people saw it as such. As upsetting as that scene was for Christians, I choose to see that underneath the potential mockery (or just plain ignorance), there is a longing for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

We know that the answer to that longing lies in our relationship with Jesus lived out through our Christian faith. While I think pointing out why the scene is problematic and challenging organizers to apologize and do better is an appropriate response, I think this also opens the doors for an invitation. While some people thought they saw unity, love, reconciliation, generosity, solidarity, and other good things portrayed in this scene, we as Christians know there is something so, so much better out there.

That disheartening scene is just cold,stale french fries when compared to what else is abailable; let’s share the Good News and remind people that they are invited to the heavenly banquet.

Other Considerations

I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not to include this section in this blog post. Honestly, I would’ve preferred to just keep the post at what it was above, but I know that theres a strong likelihood that people will make comments that will bring up the following points. This is not meant to be an exhaustive explanation on these subjects; it’s just meant to show that I did take these into consideration prior to writing the post as a whole.

Importance of The Last Supper

People are not upset about the painting itself; they are upset about what that painting depicts.

The Last Supper leads into Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. This is a core message of Christianity – Jesus’s death and resurrection gave us forgiveness of sin and restored our relationship with God so we can hope for eternal life.

Jesus institutes the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is “the source and summit of Christian life.” Catholics truly believe that the Eucharist is Jesus: body, blood, soul & divinity. It’s hard to even begin to explain how important this is.

“There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.” – St. John Vianney

“In Jewish tradition, Jesus’s direction to the apostles to ‘do this in memory of me’ creates the tradition for a ritual that must be performed again and again in His memory” (Orange County Catholic). That is why we celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist at every Mass. At any givien time of the day, there is likely a Mass being offered somewhere in the world.

Here are some resources:

Scriptural References: Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; Lk 22:7-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 14:1–17:26
Context to Mark 14:22-25
Catechism of the Catholic Church references: 1323, 1333, 1337-1344
Excerpt from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults
Holy Thursday: a Mandate, a Meal, and a Ministry
Encyclopedia entry
Brief article on the significance and some art references
Overview of the Last Supper and how Catholics observe it on Holy Thursday
How the Last Supper relates to Passover

Bacchanalia vs. The Last Supper

Many argue it isn’t even a depiction of “The Last Supper”; it is supposed to be a Bacchanalia. There is a lot of evidence supporting that the Bacchanalia was the intent, but we cannot overlook the similarities to “The Last Supper” (whether intended or not).

Bacchanalia

Artistic director Thomas Jolly explains,” There is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the God of celebration in Greek mythology. The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone.”

Johnny Grimes said “The scene in question was not a depiction of the Last Supper but rather an ancient Greek Bacchanal. This choice reflects the Olympics’ historical roots in ancient Greece. A Bacchanalia is a celebration honoring Bacchus, the god of wine, also known as Dionysus in Greek mythology. These festivals were characterized by their exuberance and festivities, often lasting for several days.”

Phillipe Katerine explained it’s a misunderstanding; it was never about “The Last Supper” and he was representing Dionysus. x

Some people suggest (though this has not been confirmed by Jolly) that the painting that inspired the tableau was “The Feast of the Gods.”

“It was reportedly based on The Feast of the Gods, a 17th century painting by Dutch artist Jan Harmensz van Biljert that hangs in the Magnin Museum, in Dijon, eastern France. The painting depicts an assembly of Greek gods on Mount Olympus for a banquet to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. The figure seated at the table in the center has a halo of light behind his head.” x

Walther Schoonenberg makes the visual comparison on X.

The Last Supper

That being said, I don’t think we can completely disregard the similarities to “The Last Supper.” Obviously, a number of people saw visual similarities between the Opening Ceremony tableau and Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

Some argue that the apology from Anne Descamps (Paris 2024 Spokesperson) implies that “The Last Supper” was parodied, but there wasn’t a concrete statement saying it was.

Barbara Butch is seen wearing a halo, and both “sides” have used that as evidence either for “The Feast of the Gods” or “The Last Supper.” Much more concerning is the now-removed social media post where Barbara Butch posted a screenshot from the Opening Ceremonies and “The Last Supper” with the caption “THE NEW GAY TESTAMENT.”

There are some claims that Piche, one of the performers, stated that it was referencing “The Last Supper,” but I can’t find what French media outlet reported this originally, and it’s only been reported on Catholic sites (one example and another). I don’t think that it being only reported on Catholic sites immediately disqualifies it from consideration, but still something to note because others may dismiss it as biased. I think if we as Christians want to use quotes from Piche as evidence that the scene was referencing “The Last Supper”, we need to use sources those who disagree with us might accept. If anyone has the original interview or a citation from a secular source, please share it with me so I can update this post.

Another performer, Hugo Bardin, said “An apology means recognizing a mistake, recognizing that you deliberately did something to harm, which was not the case. What bothers people isn’t that we’re reproducing this painting. What bothers people is that queer people are reproducing it.”

Some sources claim that the scene was called ‘La Cène sur la scène sur la Seine’ which translates to ‘The Last Supper on the stage on the River Seine,’ but there isn’t any official documentation confirming this. Again, please feel free to share sources confirming this and I will update this post.

Robin Schultz has a brief Tik Tok that talks about setting in art.

@violinrobin Replying to @🤖 it literally takes five minutes of research and a basic understanding of art #jesus #parisolympics2024 #olympics #biblestudy ♬ original sound – Robin Schultz

It’s both

Simcha Fisher said “I’m pretty sure it was intended as both: A snarky little nod to the Last Supper, and an equally facile gesture in the direction of ancient Greek history. It’s the Olympics! Here’s a god! It’s a cultural moment! Here’s the DaVinky thing! Lights! Drag! Naughty bulges! Tee hee! I think that’s all it was. Just the usual flashy mess that passes for artistic expression”

There is even the question of the similarities between the two paintings purported to inspire the tableau.

The Magnin Museum did, however, acknowledge similarities between the work and The Last Supper, which was painted more than a century earlier before the Protestant Reformation, which rejected Catholic art and even destroyed many works.

That may go some way to explaining the confusion. “In the context of the Reformation … the artist found a strategy for painting a Christ-related Last Supper under cover of a mythological subject matter,” the museum said.
Jon Henley, The Guardian

Intention vs. Perception

There is so, so much discourse around this, and I don’t think we’ll ever truly get to the bottom of whether or not “The Last Supper” was a source of inspiration or intended parody subject.

I’ve heard some people argue that France is so secularized and/or that “The Last Supper” is such a common image that people didn’t even realize the similarities or potential controversy when creating the living tableau. But the response of people hurt by the portrayal should open people’s eyes to the reality that this is what many people see. It’s a French artistic display but it was received by a global audience.

And the global audience is seeing something that wasn’t the intention of the artistic director but is instead quite hurtful.

When we put something creative out in the world, we have to recognize that people might not perceive it the same we perceive it. There are two ways to respond:

Accusing the offended party of being overly sensitive (or self-centered or stupid) for seeing it that way – apologies, if even given, are along the lines of “I’m sorry you’re so foolish”
Acknowledging that, when viewed from a lens different from our own, we created something that may be hurtful to others, even if that wasn’t our intention

Though there have been apologies, I think they should be more founded in the latter.

Apologies & Forgiveness

@apnews Paris #Olympics ♬ original sound – The Associated Press

Anne Descamps (Paris 2024 Spokesperson) said “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance. Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

To be honest, I’m not very impressed with the apology. First, there is the if they offended anyone. Clearly, people are offended – own up to it.

My other frustration with the statement from Descamps is that they believe the achieved the goal of tolerance. Bishop Robert Barron has a strongly-worded video where he says “Everyone’s welcome, everyone’s tolerated, all this lovely diversity, until you get to anyone that disagrees with your ideology, like these 2.6 billion people. So don’t give me this business about tolerance and diversity…I wonder what planet they’re living on if they think that harmony and peace and all this was achieved by this clear affront to Christians.” I think his commentary on tolerance and the apology itself is great, but I also recognize that some readers may disagree with his stance that the creators were trying to be intentionally offensive.

Though the apologies leave something to be desired, the quality of the apology shouldn’t dictate forgiveness. Instead, we can call out the problems (and even possess some righteous anger) and focus on asking forgiveness from God and making reparations.

Other Comments

There are some common themes I’ve seen in arguments from people who claim Christians shouldn’t be outraged. In addition to the theme that the tableau wasn’t even meant to depcit The Last Supper in the first place, there are two other common ones.

“You Just Hate Women and the LGBTQ+ Community”

I quoted Hugo Bardin‘s claims that Christians are offended because it was queer people portraying the Last Supper earlier in this blog post. I’ve seen other arguments that the offense was because the inclusion of women. It boils down to the same claim that the Church hates women and the LGBTQ+ community. Trying to address this false claim would be several other posts, so instead I’ll simply say this: the issue is not who was part of the portrayal but how they were acting.

A tableau of the Last Supper comprised solely of women might be controversial, but it wouldn’t cause such an outcry. If all the people participating happened to be queer, it wouldn’t cause outrage (depending on how it was presented).

The issue is that it was mixed with pagan themes, was grossly oversexualized, and done in the context of any other party rather than a pivitol moment in history that holds religious significance.

Where is the Outrage About XYZ?

It’s true that Christians may hold double-standards by not criticizing other irreverent depictions of the Last Supper or other things that make a mockery of the faith. Though I would argue that Christians do speak out about other mockeries, even if they didn’t, that doesn’t make this specific scene less offensive. People being inconsistent about what insulting media they acknowledge doesn’t make the subject matter less insulting.