Weekly Thoughts

FATHER MICHAEL’S DIARY

28 MARCH 2025

LOOKING AT THE CROSS 2

In October 312 the victory of the Emperor Constantine over his rival following a vision when he was instructed to put the sign of the cross on his soldiers shields led to his conversion to Christianity which became the official religion of the Roman empire and the adoption of the cross as the preeminent Christian symbol. Contemporary Christian writings, among them the Apostolic Constitution (before 235) attest to the place of the sign of the cross in worship and devotion. In the 14th century as Christian devotion came to focus more and more on the physical sufferings of our Lord. Julian of Norwich includes among her visions, or showings, a vision of the blackened face of the dying Christ. As a result crosses began to carry a figure of our Lord’s crucified body thus becoming crucifixes.

There have been objections to the use of crucifixes because they show suffering and torture. Although this was indeed what crucifixion was intended to be (one the most painful methods of execution ever devised) this is not what the classic crucifix in intended to show. The body of Christ (the corpus) should be relaxed for it shows the moment after Jesus has said: “It is finished, Father into your hands I commend my Spirit”. In other words it represents the moment of victory, of our redemption. 

A devotional exercise which is popular in Lent is the way of the cross or stations of the cross as it is sometimes called. In Jerusalem the via dolorosa (the sorrowful way) runs from Caiaphas’ palace through the streets of the city and ends up in basilica of the Resurrection which covers the sites of both Calvary and the sepulchre where Jesus’ body was laid to rest. Tablets marking the 14 sites in Jerusalem can be erected in churches (we have them at St John’s) so that people can make a symbolic pilgrimage.

Another representation of the crucifixion is the mystical image known as “Christ the King”. In this the crucified is shown crowned as king and robed as a priest reigning in triumph from the cross. Whichever representation of the Crucifixion you choose all of them remind us of cost of discipleship: of suffering and the triumph, of death and resurrection.

READINGS AND PRAYERS

30 MARCH – FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (MOTHERING SUNDAY) – John 19.25b-27 – behold your mother – thanksgiving for all who have mothered us

31 MARCH – Monday – John 9 – the man born blind – for spiritual enlightenment 

1 APRIL – Tuesday – Ezekiel 47.1-9,12 – the river of life – for spiritual purification

2 APRIL – Wednesday – John 5.17-30 – I seek to do the will of him who sent me – for grace to follow God’s will

3 APRIL – Thursday – Exodus 32. 7-14 – Moses intercedes for the people of Israel – for a spirit of repentance

4 APRIL – Friday – Wisdom of Soloman 2.1,12-22 – let us lie in wait for the righteous man – for those who suffer for the faith today

5 APRIL – Saturday – John 7.40 – end – no prophet is to arise from Galilee – for the spirit of discernment