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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Fr Dermot Preston

Good morning.

For a secular age, it is slightly surprising that one of the most popular works of art in Britain is a painting of the Crucifixion.

It is a spectacular canvas by Salvador Dali and hangs in the Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. It is not traditional – it has no nails or crown of thorns; and Dali saw the triangular placing of Christ’s arms and body hinted at both the modern Hazmat warning of atomic radiation, and as a classic depiction of the crucifix being presented to the lips of a dying person to kiss and prepare for death.

The full title of the painting is Christ of St John of the Cross because Dali’s inspiration came from a small pencil sketch made by the Spanish mystic, Juan de la Cruz, which is a sketch of the crucified Jesus as seen from above – the dizzying perspective so distinctive of the Dali painting.

Ironically, John of the Cross was not primarily a visual artist, and his fame penetrates through to the present day because of his writings, which date from the early 1600s and are classics of world literature and profoundly insightful of the interior journey of the human being.

He lived through turbulent times and suffered greatly in the teeth of opposition from his fellow believers, yet his meditations such as The Dark Night of the Soul, have a timeless quality which unveil the deeper truths running beneath the hustle-&-bustle of daily life.

The temptation at Christmas is to focus of the exterior pomp-&-ceremony; so Lord, on this the Feast day of St John of the Cross, give me an Advent prompt to put down roots into The Eternal Story.

Amen.

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