Over the past several months, the author of the following article, Joseph Cascarelli, and I have conversed many times. Ours is a relationship that began with a simple thank-you note I sent him. He had written an article on retiring from his career as a trial lawyer and what he thought was most important about retirement. In my view, it was spot on.

As we conversed one day, he casually mentioned another article he had written entitled “My Father’s Crucifix” and offered to send it to me. When I read it, I found it so profound on so many levels that I wanted to share it with you here.

Please let me know what you think.

De Colores!

Tommy Smith
Lay Coordinator / South Carolina Catholic Cursillo

By Joseph Cascarelli

A crucifix recovered from the ruins of World War II becomes a lasting symbol of faith, reverence, and fatherly strength.

This story is about my father’s crucifix.

I was around 4 years old. I remember kneeling at my bed, my father at my side, looking up at my blue-colored wall, where hung a crucifix between pictures of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart.

I remember my father telling me, “Someday you are going to be an altar boy, and you will need to know your prayers in Latin.”

And so, my father taught me the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar and other prayers, including the Pater Noster — the Our Father — in Latin. He would nightly kneel with me before that crucifix, praying and teaching me my prayers in Latin.

That crucifix made a lasting impression on me. There is a moving, true story behind that crucifix. This is that story… [read more]