These Are the Knees – A Reflection

This Reflection is inspired by a Crucifix in the Church of the Holy Spirit at Dennehy’s Cross, Cork.  Carved from rosewood, the crucifix was specially commissioned from a Kenyan artist to remind Ballineaspaig parishioners of the link to their sister parish of Turkwel in the Diocese of Lodwar in the Turkana desert, Kenya.  This place has strong links with the African Missions. Bishop Patrick Harrington SMA served as Bishop of this Diocese for over ten years years and Fr Oliver Noonan SMA ministered in this very Parish. 

The Crucifix was installed in the church sanctuary in Dennehy’s Cross on Mission Sunday, 19th October, 2014.  While attending Mass this striking work often attracted the gaze of Rosalie Maloney,  the author of this reflection.  In particular she was intrigued by the knees of Jesus, which seem to be made from a different material and are of a different colour to the rest of the figure. Contemplating them inspired in her the following reflection:

These are the knees Mary kissed better when Jesus tumbled as all children do.
These are the knees that sat at table
with the bride and groom at Cana
with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in their Bethany home
with Pharisees, sinners and tax-collectors
with his disciples during their many meals together including their last
and with Mary and Cleopas her husband in Emmaus.

These knees touched the ground when Jesus
conversed with the children face to face
washed his disciples’ feet
and prayed to his father in Gethsemane.

These knees carried Jesus
on foot
by boat
to synagogue and Temple
to Jericho, Jerusalem, and Capernaum.

These knees bent when Jesus sat down –
on a mountain or in a synagogue to preach
in a boat by the lake to speak in parables
opposite the treasury to observe the widow’s mite
by the well where the Samaritan woman would give him water.

Before these knees many fell in supplication or thanksgiving:

Jairus
Zebedee’s wife
the Canaanite mother
and the Samaritan leper.

These knees relaxed in sleep on a storm-tossed boat.

These knees bent to mount and ride a donkey into Jerusalem.
Before these knees the soldiers knelt and mocked, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
These are the knees battered and bruised from falls on the Calvary road.
These are the knees his mother touched lovingly as Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb.

These are the knees . . .

With permission from Rosalie Moloney, Ballineaspaig  Parish Faith in Action Group