Reflections on the San Damiano Cross – The Reign of God

In my previous post (https://oldqueenslander.blogspot.com/) I wrote about the symbolism of the icon we know as the San Damiano Cross.  Like all icons worthy of that name, it has multiple layers of meaning and has the power of constantly leading the reader into the mystery of Christ.

I have been thinking of the icon’s invitation to us to contemplate the Reign of God.  It is a noisy icon – the characters surrounding Jesus are talking, conversing, listening to each other.  They are not caught up in silent contemplation, they are talking to each other.  Mary and John are conversing as are Mary Magdalene and Mary Clopas with the centurion listening in while the angels are discussing in wonderment.  In all these conversations they gesture towards Jesus.  They are smiling.  There is a sense of joy and laughter bubbling up through the images.

Is this what the Reign of God is like?  We who are called into this Reign have been gifted with a double focus.  We, like Mary Magdalene have ‘seen the Lord’ who is our source and centre of gravity; our meaning and our Trinitarian home.  At the same time, we are sisters and brothers who talk and listen to each other always in the presence of Jesus risen.  Angels and humans smile with joy, hope and wonder.

In the icon, the inhabitants of the Reign of God are diverse and sometimes unexpected.  Who would have thought that the centurion who pierced Jesus’ side and the temple guard who arrested him would be in this group?  God’s mercy is vast.

The smiling joy of the saints is not unrealistic.  The black colour indicating the tomb reminds us that the reality of death and suffering has been conquered by Jesus’s resurrection.  Thus, in the ambiguity of life, we have hope which brings joy.

We know all are in the Reign of God because Jesus’ blood, the fountain of life, falls upon them to give them birth.  Also, the icon writer has included everyone in the frame of the gold pilgrim shells, the gold border indicating the glory of heaven and the red of love which redeems and reveals.  Even suffering and death are redeemed because they have been conquered in the embrace of glory and love.

So, this icon of Christ in Glory tells the whole story of who we are in the love of God revealed in Jesus.  Who we are as beloved individuals and also who we are as the community of the Beloved who live in and extend the Reign of God.  We talk, we listen, our reference, our source is Jesus, we join with the angels and we already live in the glory of God’s reign.

Finally, Jesus’ eyes gaze out to the future when all will be fulfilled.  When the glory presented to us in this icon and which we live in faith and daily conversion is fully revealed.  Then we will know our glory.