Tradition has coined the saying “Per crucem ad lucem – Through the cross to the light,” to denote that through our daily labours and struggles we rise to the divine light. But can we say that the opposite expression, “Per lucem ad crucem – By the light to the cross,” is also true? Let us look at an example.
When questioned by Jesus as to who He was, St. Peter replied resolutely: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). To which the Divine Master replied: “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven” (Mt 16:17).
Thus, after the light of grace had pervaded the soul of the first Pope, the Saviour offered him the cross, announcing His Death (cf. Mt 16:21). Peter, however, was incredulous and soon received the harshest rebuke uttered by Jesus: “Get behind Me, Satan” (Mt 16:23) – the Pharisees themselves had “only” been called sons of the devil (cf. Jn 8:44). That first inner light was intended to prepare the Prince of the Apostles for the cross. However, he rejected it, as if in prefigurement of his triple denial on the brink of the redemptive Passion. Light without a cross leads to darkness…
The fresco of Christ crucified adored by St. Dominic of Guzman, painted by Fra Angelico, portrays very well that the cross is not just a means, but a goal. This image is located at the entrance to the cloister of San Marco Monastery in Florence, and formerly reminded friars who entered that they had to die to the world, to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:19), following the example of his founder.
In the scene, all of nature is muted: the blue of the sky is monotonous and the earth is desolate and devoid of variation. Christ is dead, but serene. Everything converges on the greatest sacrifice, the Mass of all Masses, the bloody immolation – note the great drops of Blood – of the Lamb without blemish. It is on the Cross, finally, that everything is consummated (cf. Jn 19:30) and from which Christ draws everyone to himself (cf. Jn 12:32). The Cross is literally crucial.
The “painter of light” directs the viewer’s attention to Dominic’s gaze, fixed on the love of his life. In fact, it was through the eyes of his founder that the friar also raised his gaze to the Crucified.
Kneeling, the “evangelical man” tenses his forehead and lips, indicating concentration; his enlarged Adam’s apple reveals his passionate attraction to the Cross. In fact, he faithfully fulfils Jesus’ exhortation to Peter: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mt 16:24). In reality, Dominic’s cross is configured to the Cross of Christ.
Furthermore, the scene is one of eloquent silence: everything falls quiet so that the holy preacher can meditate upon and literally embrace the Passion of Christ. Dominic here exhorts us, as he did in life to a young man, to read the most perfect of all books: that of charity, or rather, Love itself incarnate.
As proclaims the famous Sonnet to Christ Crucified – No me mueve, what moves St. Dominic is not the Heaven promised by Jesus, nor the fear of Hell; what moves him is seeing Jesus nailed to the Cross and mocked, His Body so wounded, as well as the affronts and His Death.
Fra Angelico painted the Crucifix glowing with light – adding lime to the paints for this purpose – as if to confirm that it is through the cross that one reaches the light. Ultimately, man’s goal is the happiness of the beatific vision, the eternal contemplation of the divine light. However, it is worth remembering that the Martyr of Calvary is at the right hand of the Father with His resurrected Body, but retaining the wounds of the Passion as insignia of beauty, virtue and glory.1 Even in Heaven, then, the signs of the Cross can be glimpsed.
Truly, in Christ, the light and the cross converge, and this was, in essence, the blessed artist’s message to the friars – and also to each one of us: you have been enlightened by grace to embrace the cross, and it is through it alone that you will find the light. The unitive way, the most perfect way, therefore consists not only in uniting oneself to God through contemplation, but in uniting the cross to the light – and vice versa – in one’s own life. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ. III, q.54, a.4, ad 1.
