A falling crucifix and a crisis of faith

To hear of a man crushed by a giant crucifix, it should rightly give us pause. Years ago I heard of a man who prayed before a statue of Christ on the cross every day, asking God’s mercy for the man’s wife who was battling cancer. His wife made it through, and after enduring the pain and emotional exhaustion of that fight, the man wanted to clean the statue in appreciation. Except, the statue fell on him, leading to his leg being amputated. The church raised money and donations for the man, but he ended up suing. ///

Faith Full is a Catholic podcast hosted by Tony Ganzer. This episode features a news report from 2012, and reflections on what a falling crucifix might mean (if anything at all.)

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Before we get too deep into this wild story, I want to express sympathy for the people involved. To battle cancer, to believe prayers have been answered, to lose a leg in an accident with a falling crucifix—it’s all a bit much and demands some thoughtfulness.

The story from 2012 originally came from local TV station CBS 2 in New York, about David Jimenez. Jimenez’s lawyer reiterates that his client believed his devotion to the crucifix was responsible for his wife being cured, so he asked permission to clean the crucifix since it was seen as having been neglected.

The 600-pound statue was supported only by one screw in its base, the lawyer says. The church gathered donations of goods and money, but Jimenez filed suit to try to expedite a settlement from the archdiocese’s insurance company, looking for 3-million-dollars.

It’s a wild story that not surprisingly attracted naysayers in the comments saying it was clearly a message or a bad omen. For me, it sparked a number of questions: is it accurate to say the man prayed to the crucifix, and that he felt the object had power? Does it mean something if a crucifix falls down? What is this story saying, or not, about faith, and about God?

The headline proclaims Mr. Jimenez as “Deeply religious;” his devotion to the cross is mentioned throughout. Those faith-skeptics might proclaim: Ahh, see what good faith is? See what praying leads to? It did not help you? Where was God? I do not share those skeptical views of faith.

But I did, briefly, go down a rabbit hole. While a crucifix is a holy symbol, it is not to be prayed to directly, similar to statues and icons. The crucifix is an object to remind the believer, or focus the believer’s attention on God. By praying to an object, as the awkward syntax in the news story presents, the crucifix has itself become an idol. There’s also a difference between showing reverence to an image of Christ, for example, and praying to an object—the reverence is shown in respect to Christ, and not because it’s a thing.

The cynical Christian might say, “Well, so the man prayed to an object, and thus was taught a lesson by God.” Despite graphic episodes in the Old Testament, I tend to think God’s new covenant makes clear he is not in the smiting business, and he is a loving God. In the view of Christianity, it is through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection that man is saved, and provided the Holy Spirit to discern manifestations of God within us and others.

If we take the news story at face value, that Mr. Jimenez is a ‘deeply religious’ man, and he has chosen to be devoted to God, then why is his leg crushed? It may not be satisfying, but no one on this side of Heaven can know why this happened as it did. We do not know fully where we are going in life, the lessons we must learn, the spiritual growth we must experience. We do not know if opportunities for charity are at first blurred by pain and what we see as tragedy. And this goes for anyone, facing anything in life.

Do I find it good that this man has lost his leg? No, of course not. But we cannot know why this happened. It is through faith we seek the strength to believe in the plan set out long before we came into existence on this Earth. And it is in faith that we seek strength to stay the course when met with epic sadness, or seemingly insurmountable pain.

At times, I don’t think we know how much we can handle, or how much more we must grow or experience. We do not know everything. Jesus recognized the difficulty of our having true faith in what cannot be known, referencing the power afforded by faith only as big as a mustard seed. It is in those darkest of nights, in the face of the most daunting tasks, that even the slightest bit of faith can give us the strength to push farther than our minds, hearts and souls believed to be possible.