Jim Caviezel recently awed us with what may be the greatest Catholic address of the 21st century. The impassioned speech to FOCUS’ leadership summit came after the famed star of The Passion of the Christ took on the role of St. Luke in Paul, Apostle of Christ.
Now, Caviezel is back at the podium with a touching tribute to the Blessed Mother, which touches on the role of his faith in his career, and explores theology, doctrine, and the role of Mary in the lives of all Catholics.
Caviezel began his talk by giving the crowd a little insight into his own relationship with Mary, which began a little before his career-launching role in The Thin Red Line. He describes the night he got the part, at the house of Terrence Malick, which began with him being late because he was praying the Rosary in his car.
The rosary he held was an heirloom that belonged to his wife’s grandmother, but he felt deeply called to bring it in with him and to give the rosary to Malick’s wife, who had lost her own beads — blessed by Mother Teresa — and had been praying all day that another set might come to her. Caviezel implies that it was perhaps Mary’s intercession that led to the success of his acting career.
He goes on to speak a bit about his role as Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Christo and then touches on the tremendous physical strain he was subjected to during his role as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, which he talked about in his previous speech.
This time when he speaks of The Passion, he focuses on the perspective of Mary:
The Passion reveals the obvious biblical truth that Mary, like no other, shared in that suffering of Jesus Christ, as “Co-redemptrix.” As St. Teresa of Calcutta exclaimed, “Of course, Mary is the Co-redemptrix. She gave Jesus his body, and the offering of his body is what saved us.”
Caviezel sites instances where Mary was more aware of Jesus’ position as redeemer than any of the apostles were. When she sees Christ arrested, she is the only one who can sense that the redemption of the world is at hand. He also notes Mary’s role as the opposition of Satan and as the spiritual mother of all people.
It is Caviezel’s firm belief that Mary is the “Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces, and Advocate for all humanity.” His humble, soft voice became emboldened as he stated:
It is my hope and prayer that the Pope will proclaim this truth as a Marian dogma, so that every single living human being will know that they have a spiritual Mother that loves them, and who will intercede to bring them to Jesus, their true Savior!
Caviezel explains that in a world where “the power of Satan is evident,” we must rely on Mary, the opposition to Satan. He asks us all to trust in Mary to fulfill her promise at Fatima, when she said, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph … and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
He finally calls on all those present to “call out to your Mother, pray the Rosary for world peace! Adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and Heaven will respond!“
As always, reading Jim’s words does no justice to his heartfelt words and we highly suggest giving the above video a watch. If you’re strapped for time and would rather just read the transcripts, you can find them at Sign.org.
And today we celebrate...