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Praying The CruCifix
q by Julien Chilcott-Monk
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see
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Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction and How to Use this Booklet . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Paternoster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter One: The Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter Two: The Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Chapter Three: The Head of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter Four: The Face of Christ and the First Four Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Chapter Five: The Shoulders of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Chapter Six: The Arms of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chapter Seven: The Hands of Christ and the Fifth Sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter Eight: The Wounded Side of Christ . . . . . . . . 36 Chapter Nine: The Loincloth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Chapter Ten: The Knees of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter Eleven: The Legs of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chapter Twelve: The Feet of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The scriptural quotations are taken from the Second Catholic Edition of the RSV revised according to Liturgiam Authenticam 2001 and published by Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2006. All rights reserved. First published 2017 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. © 2017 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society. ISBN 978 1 78469 161 5
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foreword for the purposes of this booklet, contemplation and meditation may be defined as follows: Contemplation - the free insight of the mind, dwelling with affection and heightened admiration on the sights and scenes of wisdom and divine love without any particular programme or idea in mind. (richard of St Victor) Meditation - applying the mind to some spiritual mystery or particular event or thing in order to stimulate spiritual emotions and reach conclusions pertaining to one’s life.
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introduction and how to use this Booklet
a
s a diversion from the desk at which i sit, sometimes in a desultory fashion, writing words or music, i provided myself with the task of restoring some two hundred and fifty or so crucifixes i had acquired from many sources. They were, for the most part, antique and in various states of disrepair and neglect, surplus to requirements and no longer the object of devotion, merely an echo of the distant past. and yet, it has been a fruitful diversion. indeed, i am still working my way through the collection having disposed of over one hundred restored crucifixes in support of the Oxford Oratory. however, this introduction is not, of course, in any sense concerned with any fundraising attributable to the sale of these items, but the consequence of the work for me i.e. the benefit i derived from being reminded of the countless ways in which artists, modellers and sculptors express their understanding of the events of the Passion of our Lord. and, therefore, what began as a pleasurable diversion from the written word became the inspiration for just such another exercise. This booklet is designed to assist those who would pray with the crucifix more deeply and intimately, or, perhaps, in a different or new way. although readers may use the text as presented, they should allow themselves free rein to pursue personal thought and ideas as they read.
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It is of great benefit first to contemplate the crucifix for as long as the reader has time to spend, and then to meditate on one particular feature of the crucifixion. Each chapter provides that feature, either of the cross or of Christ’s body, as its subject, opening with the cross itself and concluding with the feet of Christ. The text leads the reader by means of a thread of connecting thoughts and ideas, which traces a path through the Gospel narratives and naturally flows from the subject of the chapter. Throughout the text, the reader may wish to pause at any point and take a different pathway, before completing the chapter, which is there to fuel the meditation and which will produce thoughts that eventually turn into prayer. Often, the Paternoster is the best vehicle for such prayers, and a few suggestions, specific to the chapter, are made within the prayer at the end of each chapter. A hymn verse is provided to bring the chapter to an appropriate conclusion. The cumulative effect of the book, it is to be hoped, will be a deeper understanding of the events of the Passion of our Lord and a rewarding spiritual exercise in contemplation, meditation and prayer. JC-M St Joseph Copertino
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PaTernOSTer
T
he following expanded Paternoster is often a helpful way of guiding all our intercession and other prayers (the dotted lines allow for personal prayer in the first person): Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. heavenly father, praise and thanks for your goodness, loving kindness and mercy shown to us in the incarnation, death and resurrection of our Blessed Lord; for the gifts you lavish upon us; for the glimpses of heaven we see on earth; for the lives of the saints and their intercession. [in particular, i thank you for…] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. help us to live on earth as citizens of heaven. May we keep the cross of Christ ever before us. Give us this day our daily bread. encourage us to be unselfish, and assist us to be instruments of your divine generosity and agents of peace and love. give us strength to fulfil the vocations you have given us. [Look with love on my family and friends…; relieve and comfort the sick, the dying and the bereaved…; and look mercifully upon the souls of the faithful departed…]
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And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. forgive those who sin in ignorance and those whom we have caused to sin. [forgive my sins of negligence and commission‌] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [Preserve me in particular from the temptation of‌] grant these prayers through Christ our Lord. amen.
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ChaPTer One The CrOSS
T
he cross is always a formidable object to contemplate. But if we try to place ourselves in the roman empire of the first century, would we recognise the punishment of crucifixion from nearly two thousand years of painting and sculpture? even though much of the detail is lacking in the gospel narratives, there is no reason to doubt the general accuracy of the depictions we know. But was the crossbeam already attached to the upright when placed on our Lord’s shoulder? in all probability, it was. Was a saddle or seat fixed to the upright? it is likely that such a modification would have been added at golgotha. even so, there were many different methods of crucifixion throughout the roman empire, many refinements. and what have artists made of the cross? Some lift the cross above the ordinary with beautiful inlays of gold, silver
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or brass and mother-of-pearl, of satinwood, snakewood and, perhaps, laburnum; others add semi-precious and, occasionally, precious stones. Thus the cross is elevated to a thing of great beauty so the artist can attempt to reflect the intense perfection of our reconciliation with the heavenly father through our Lord’s supreme sacrifice. nevertheless, many sculptors are content to leave the cross a simple and plain affair merely oiled and polished, happy to devote their artistic energies to the corpus, and cause every sinew and bone and wound to cry out to the onlooker. The Wood of the Cross it is likely that our Lord’s cross would have been roughly made from cedar, acacia, tamarisk, or wood from the aleppo pine; old, discarded beams might have been used. With all these trees, their timber, their wood, along with the terebinth, olive and others, our Lord would have been familiar, brought up as he was by his carpenter guardian. he knew the hazards of the woodworker’s shop; he could allude, with experience, to the effects of sawdust in the eye (Mt 7:3-5; Lk 6:41, 42). Jesus knew the raw material well, its capabilities, its strengths, its weaknesses. fig wood, for example, was not highly regarded as timber and is unlikely to have featured in Joseph’s storeroom. The fruit of the tree was a rather different matter, and was often significant in Jesus’s preaching and teaching. The parable of the fig tree (Lk 13:6-9) shows us that we have time to amend, to begin afresh, with the free gift of grace
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lavished upon us. The vinedresser intercedes on behalf of the fig tree and buys time, as it were, from the owner. We are now certain that in such good hands the roots of the tree will be nourished and will bear fruit. But we know that Christ, the vinedresser, goes much further; he takes on the world’s sin and suffers the punishment for that sin, and so effects a reconciliation of mankind with the Heavenly Father. Now, perhaps, we can begin to make sense of the curious episode on the day following our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is hungry and on finding nothing but leaves on a fig tree “for it was not the season for figs” (Mk 11:13) vows that no one will ever again eat from it. The following day Peter remarks upon the fact that the tree has died. The Evangelist then inserts our Lord’s teaching on faith and prayer leaving the acted parable of the admonishment of the fig tree for us and the disciples to mull over. The vinedresser has nourished us, and our duty is always to be ready to fulfil what we have been called upon to fulfil - our vocation. God hungers for our success. It is never the case that we can excuse ourselves with the plea: it is not my time, I am not ready; I can do it in a different season, next spring, say. We have the tools, the talent, the strength and the divine support - grace. Unlike the fig tree, which cannot produce fruit out of season, we must be ever alert to respond to the call of the Heavenly Father, otherwise we shall be as worthless as the tree that is never able to produce fruit.
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Paternoster Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. help us, heavenly father, to live as citizens of heaven. give us this day our daily bread. and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. May we bear any burden we are called upon to carry, with fortitude and quiet courage, strengthened by your grace. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. help us to be alert and not miss any opportunity to do good works. amen. Ave Maria hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. holy Mary, Mother of god, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. amen. Gloria Patri glory be to the father, and to the Son, and to the holy Spirit. as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. amen. ✠Fidelium animae. ✠May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of god, rest in peace. amen. The Cross dissolves the darkness, And drives away temptation; It calms the wavering spirit By quiet contemplation.1
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