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 Sculpture
created by Anthony Antonios
Foundry, Ranieri Sculpture Casting
Photograph by Lou Manna of The Manna Group, Inc.
History of The
Crucifix
THE STORY OF JESUS THE
LISTENER
Devotion to the Passion
In the Spring of 1978, Fr. Claudio
Piccinini, C.P, was assigned to the Passionist monastery of Our
Lady of Sorrows, West Springfield, MA.
Fr. Augustine Paul Hennessy, C.P. the
rector of the monastery at the time, asked Fr. Claudio to be the
director of the Confraternity of the Sacred Passion, an
organization of laity associated with the Passionist community.
As director, Fr. Claudio wanted to help the members deepen
their devotion and remembrance of the Passion.
It is within the
Confraternity that The Story of Jesus the Listener begins.
Fr. Claudio decided to obtain a large
crucifix and carry it into members’ homes and the homes of their
families and friends. Father asked each individual member and
the entire family to pray in front of this crucifix. They were
asked to meditate on the love that God has for each one of us as
manifested through the Passion and Death of Jesus His Crucified
Son.
The idea of bringing the crucifix
into the homes proved to be a very good one. In fact, it turned
out to be so good that Fr. Claudio felt that the Lord Himself
must have inspired it. Very early on Fr. Claudio saw that the
idea was doing much good to the people involved. As a result he
decided to dedicate every free moment to the development of this
devotion to Jesus the Listener.
The Crucifix needed a name that would
immediately indicate the content and scope of the devotion that
was being started. While talking to Fr. Jordan Loiselle, C.P.,
one of the Passionist priests living at the monastery, Fr.
Claudio asked him whether he had any ideas on the matter.
Without hesitation, Fr. Jordan answered, “Call Him ‘The
Listener’.” Fr. Claudio responded: “Yes, we will call Him
‘Jesus the Listener’”.
Fr. Claudio’s enthusiasm grew
recognizing that the title “Jesus the Listener” described his
desire perfectly. He thanked Fr. Jordan, and the crucifix was
called “Jesus the Listener.”
Fr. Claudio’s initial desire was to
help the Confraternity members deepen their love and devotion to
the Passion of Jesus. It soon became apparent that a new
devotion had been born and that it possessed a rich and profound
theological insight filled with spiritual content. We have
always been told that “we” are to listen to God. But this
devotion teaches that Jesus is “The Listener.” Jesus invites us
to share with him our prayers, our requests, our hopes and
dreams; and as our God, he always responds.
The First Host Home
Through the generous donation of a
benefactor from Northampton, MA, Fr. Claudio bought an artistic
wooden crucifix from Italy for the Jesus the Listener program.
A portable wooden shrine was made to display it. The first
host-home family was chosen from the list of Confraternity
members.
A new Mission of
Evangelization
The devotion that had been initiated
by Fr. Claudio was becoming the shared property of hundreds.
What had started as a simple way to encourage family prayer in
the presence of the Crucifix was revealing itself to be a
Mission of Evangelization with Jesus the Listener at its
center. The presence of the Jesus the Listener Crucifix in the
home became a beautiful and deeply spiritual experience for
everyone involved. The program was successful because it was
helping many people, spiritually and emotionally.
One of the most interesting and
beautiful phases of the development of this Evangelization
Mission was that a few individuals were inspired to conduct
Jesus the Listener home services themselves under the leadership
of Fr. Claudio. With this, a new Group Mission was born
confirmed by the participation of the community.
The Mission
The crucifix is brought into the home
for week-long periods, or for as long as the host home wishes to
have it, using the following format.
1. Initial Explanation of
the Devotion
The presence of the Jesus the
Listener Crucifix in the home reminds us of the presence of God
in our lives through the Passion and Death of his only begotten
Son Jesus Christ. While there might be other crucifixes in the
home, the presence of this Crucifix, so different from the
others, reminds us specifically of the place that the Cross
holds in our lives. It is the Cross that most concretely shows
the infinite mercy and compassion of a listening God.
The Crucifix is placed in a visible
place of honor in the home enabling Jesus the Listener to become
the light in the darkness, the sign on the road, the compass at
sea. The Crucifix becomes the concrete and physical point of
contact among us and God, between our humanity and his
Divinity.
2. Lighting of the Pascal
Candle
A small Paschal candle is lit beside
the Crucifix and remains lit as long as there is someone
present. This Paschal candle reminds us that Jesus is the Light
of the World. He is the Risen Lord. He is living and active in
our lives.
This burning candle also symbolizes
the burning desire of our hearts to stay with our Crucified Lord
and offer him our prayers and sacrifices in reparation for our
sins and the sins of the whole world. It represents our desire
to surrender our lives to the will of God and to be consumed and
absorbed by his love for us. It indicates to us that Jesus is
the Way, the Truth and the Life and that we are purified,
comforted, forgiven and healed by his burning love, as gold is
purified by fire.
3. Prayer Service
The prayers, readings, meditations,
Litany, Chaplet of the Five Wounds etc., in the Jesus the
Listener book are used during the private or communal prayer
meetings.
During the Prayer Service, besides
proclaiming the Good News, whenever possible time is allotted
for questions and answers. The Prayer Service also aims to
educate and inform those present on various points of our faith
and Christian living.
4. Sacraments of Penance and
the Eucharist
Whenever possible during the week,
the Eucharist may be celebrated in the host home. If there is a
priest and it is requested, the Sacrament of Penance could also
be celebrated.
5. Conclusion of the Host
Home Visit
The visit of the Jesus the Listener
Crucifix to the host home concludes with 1) a ceremony for the
departure of the Crucifix and 2) the enthronement of an 18-inch
Jesus the Listener Crucifix that remains permanently in the
home.
6. The Pocket Crucifix
As the Devotion of Jesus the Listener
grew among the Confraternity members, Fr. Claudio also began
distributing a pocket Jesus the Listener Crucifix during his
Passionist Parish Missions. This practice is still continuing
and more than a million crucifixes have been distributed.
7. The New Crucifix
Fr. Claudio realized from the very
beginning that the crucifix he had initially purchased was not
fully representative of the idea contained in the title of the
Devotion. The crucifix he needed would have to represent Jesus
still alive and listening. By its very appearance, the crucifix
would need to express all the aspects of Jesus’ sufferings and
the depth of his mercy and love for us. The Jesus of this
crucifix would have to show us, even physically, that he is
indeed listening to us and that, even though he is bearing great
suffering, he has the will to listen to our suffering as well.
Fr. Claudio
began looking for a way to produce such a crucifix, and after
seventeen years, the Jesus the Listener Crucifix was realized.
The Crucifix that was specifically
designed for the program is one that expresses the qualities
necessary to draw us closer to Jesus the Listener and to inspire
us to gratitude for his infinite love and mercy. This new
Crucifix helps us to place ourselves in the presence of God, a
suffering God who has totally surrendered himself to death on
the Cross so that we may live, now and for ever with him in his
Kingdom.
A Theological Reflection
on
Jesus the Listener
“Jesus the Listener” is the title given to a crucifix
representing Jesus hanging on the cross, still alive, leaning
forward, in a posture of listening. Jesus is portrayed with his
eyes open looking forward and asking everyone, as it were:
Speak to me, I am listening”
Those of us who are Christians believe, as a matter of Faith,
that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Most Holy
Trinity, that He died on the cross and rose from the dead three
days later.
Most representations of this great event, portrays Jesus
as dead on the cross. There are some, both in paintings and
sculptures that represent Jesus still alive on the cross, but
these representations do not focus the thoughts of the onlooker
in any particular way.
This new representation of Jesus on the cross alive and
looking at us makes a specific statement that for us becomes a
theological insight since it speaks of God and the way He acts.
The fundamental statement and meaning of the act of
crucifixion is that precisely in this act of self-surrender on
the part of Jesus, God the Father redeems the universe. Jesus is
at the same time the sacrificial lamb and the High Priest
offering himself on the altar of the cross to expiate our sins.
“Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life”
(Jn 3:16). Jesus dies so that we may live as children of God
restored to our original friendship with God that we had lost
through original sin.
With the creation of man and woman God brought to completion his
first act of investment. He had already created spiritual
beings and He had created matter in calling into existence the
physical universe. In the creation of man and woman He crowned
all that existed and made his act of creation even more daring
by empowering human beings to share in the governing of the
material world. “God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fertile and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things
that move on the earth’” (Gen1:28).
This was something new. God had not given the same
power sharing capacity to the spiritual beings he had created.
The investment God was making in humanity possessing life and a
free will to administer it and everything else there was around
human creatures was total and full of potentials.
The crucifixion of Jesus and his death on the cross was
the event in the eternal plan of God that brings to completion
the second act of investment on the part of God. As it was with
the first, so it is with the second act of God’s investment. It
is total and eternal.
With the death of Jesus God speaks his final word of
what He thinks of life and of us. He stops at nothing. With
and through the Passion and Death of Jesus on the cross, God
reconfirms his first commitment to us and shows that his love is
not temporary, but eternal.
The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is God’s seal on
all that Jesus has done to show us the meaning of the Father’s
love for us. All that Jesus had said and done, including and
especially his Passion, Death and Resurrection are salvific acts
because they were acts of eternal love carried out to fulfill
the eternal plan of the Father. “Tell me, if Christ is preached
as raised from the dead, how is it that some of you say there is
no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the
dead, Christ himself has not been raised. And if Christ has not
been raised, our preaching is void of content and your faith is
empty too” (1 Cor 15:12-14).
This crucifix that we call “Jesus the Listener”, together with
all the other crucifixes that have been made by the artistic
talents of men and women, makes theological statements over and
above the physical suffering obviously manifested at first
sight. In Jesus the Listener we are led to new and fresh
theological insight. Here we are in the presence of a kind of
mystery that is at once impenetrable and yet visible. God comes
to us as The One Who Listens to us.
From the first to the last pages of the Bible we are told that
God gives purpose to everything He made. At the same time He
gave us commands to be obeyed: “The Lord God gave man this
order: ‘You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden
except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree
you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely
doomed to die’” (Gen 2:16-17).
A superficial impression that the relationship God wants to
establish with us is a one-way affair, is quickly dispelled as
we read the story of the flood at the time of Noah. We learn
there that God is concerned about what is happening to humanity,
takes steps to correct the situation and concludes his
intervention by revealing that the relationship between Him and
humanity is not one sided. God acts to prove it. “See, I am
establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds
and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and
came out of the ark. I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the
waters of a flood: there shall not be another flood to
devastate the earth” (Gen 9:9-11).
From this time on the relationship between God and us becomes
even clearer with the establishment of a covenant with Abraham.
“The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go forth from the land of your
kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show
you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I
will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I
will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you”
(Gen 12:1-3).
Through this revelation we clearly see how God has decided to
deal with us. There is a true dialogue and God is truly
listening. This moment in the history of Revelation becomes
thematic for all the rest and it is normative for our
understanding of who God is. He loves, He cares, He listens to
all we are saying or even thinking. “Your Father knows what you
need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8).
Yes, our God is a God who speaks to us and listens also. Our
needs, our dreams, our hopes and failures are of concern to
Him. Our God is a living and ever present God. There is
nothing we think or say that escapes His attention or goes
unanswered.
We need only look at the life of Jesus and His teaching to be
totally confirmed in this fact. Every time anyone approached
Jesus and made a request for oneself or for anyone else, Jesus
always answered the request if it was accompanied with Faith.
At times He answered those requests that were made in the
privacy of one’s heart, such as the woman with the hemorrhage
and the penitent woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee.
Throughout His life Jesus demonstrated that He was ever ready to
listen and to respond to whatever concern was presented to Him.
In so doing He reveals to us what is most fundamental in His
relationship with us. He loves us with a love that is infinite,
as befits His divinity, but He also shows us that His love is
founded on true concern represented by His attentive listening.
DESCRIPTION OF JESUS THE LISTENER CRUCIFIX
Jesus is hanging nailed to the Cross. He is still alive and in
a posture of listening. His body is stretched out forward
precisely because He wants to listen more attentively and more
closely.
His eyes are turned toward the person in front of Him who is
talking with Him. Jesus is straining to listen.
His face expresses all the mercy of a man who loves without
counting the cost and of a God who forgives without conditions.
His face expresses the divine compassion, love, and forgiveness
of the human condition, together with the great suffering which
His body and His soul are experiencing.
Jesus the Listener manifests in his body the atrocious condition
of a crucified man, and the cruel reality of sin experienced in
His soul. Spiritually and physically, He feels and lives all
the components of the tragedy which is Calvary. At the same
time He inspires the person who stands in front of Him who looks
at Him and talks with Him, not only to feel sorrow, repentance,
conversion and a sense of remorse, but above all to feel love,
confidence and the hope of victory which the Passion of Jesus
represents.
Jesus the Listener ought to inspire the person talking with him
to want to talk with him, to be close to Him and to tell Him
everything felt in ones soul and suffered in ones life. The
Jesus who is listening is ready to forget His personal suffering
to sooth those of others.
The details of the crucifixion are those which can be observed
in the Shroud of Turin as regards the place of the nails, what
foot is over the other, the length of the hair and beard, the
composition of the crown of thorns and the height of the body of
Jesus, which seems to have been close to six feet.
The most important feature of this Crucifix is the expression of
the face of Jesus, full of pain and suffering and at the same
time full of mercy and compassion, of forgiveness and hope, of a
joy which words cannot easily express.
The Crucifix must live and remain impressed in the mind of the
person who has seen it as the One who Listens with patience and
mercy. Jesus on the cross is the presence of the greatest act
of God's love toward each one of us.
 
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