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.