Enduring Devotion

A global economy in the tank, wide-spread racial tensions and...oh yes, a pandemic. At the mid-way point of 2020 there is so much that seems like our worst nightmare, and we can never forget climate change.

Still there are moments of gentle wonder which may not seem like much in the bigger picture yet tell us that life still has its surprises. 

One of these came for me yesterday in an article about a sculpture, a statue of sorts, but not one which people want to topple. There is a remarkable wooden crucifix, an eight-foot image of the crucified Christ, in a town in Italy. The Holy Face of Lucca has been the subject of improbable legend for centuries with claims that it was carved by Nicodemus, the religious leader who came to Jesus in the night with a question to which Jesus responded, "God so loved the world that he gave his only son..." While the statue is not 2,000 years old, recent scientific testing suggests that it was created as an object of devotion anywhere from 1200 to 1300 years ago, in the period sometimes called the Dark Ages. How is it possible that this image of Christ has endured through time? 

A New York Times article notes that  "By the late Middle Ages, the image was so well known in Northern Europe that it became an object of devotion of the French nobility. “By the face of Lucca” was an oath sworn by William II of England and it is mentioned in Dante’s Inferno."

My undergraduate degree was in Art History so I've long had an awareness that art, whether music, or painting, architecture or sculpture, express the sublime and divine in ways which words can't. At the time this crucifix was created life was too often "nasty, brutish and short" with little room for the luxury of devotional images. Yet the Holy Face of Lucca was lovingly crafted and has endured, now considered the oldest wooden sculpture on the planet. 

This little news item reminds me of the importance of recognizing beauty where it is found and of the importance of devotional expression in so many forms. Yes, it seems as though we are shrouded in "gloom and doom " but there has always been a desire for creativity, to seek something more profound. We can pay attention to the face of Christ wherever we are.  .