During a Dec. 14 blessing of an icon of the crucifixion that hangs above the main entrance of Saint Hugh of Grenoble Church in Greenbelt, Maryland, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said the image reminds the faithful that “God loves us in a personal, individual and profound way.”
The depiction of the crucifixion, Cardinal McElroy said, shows that “God loves us with a love that knows no bounds.” He added that “in a deep and profound way, God has no boundaries when it comes to His love for us.”
Washington’s archbishop blessed the icon during a Mass that was well attended despite the snowy weather and frigid temperatures. Among those at the Mass were Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan, other city officials, the donor of the icon, and Delphia Dirks, the artist who created the icon.
Dirks, who created several other icons for the parish, began learning iconography while living in Moscow with her husband, Harlan Dirks, who died in 2016. He served on a diplomatic assignment to the former Soviet Union as part of the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The crucifixion icon blessed by Cardinal McElroy is the seventh icon created by Dirks for the Greenbelt parish.
Among those icons is one of Christ seated on his throne in heaven, flanked by the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Hugh of Grenoble, the parish’s patron. That image hangs above the main altar.
In addition to the crucifixion icon and the Christ enthroned icon, Dirks created for the parish an icon of the Nativity, one of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River, and other icons featuring the Archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, and Saints Peter, Paul, Gregory and Bruno.
In an interview before the blessing, Dirks said iconography is still appreciated because the craft, which dates back to the second and third centuries, “is ancient and it is new at the same time.”
She said she paints her icons because “I want people to recognize where our religion comes from, and I want to create a beautiful way of making it understood.”
“I am honored and very happy,” Dirks said of the blessing of her icon.
Father Walter Tappe, pastor of St. Hugh Parish, explained that the crucifix icon hangs above the main doors of the church to show that it is through the cross that the faithful can approach Christ in heaven.
Cardinal McElroy said the location of the icon “reminds people when they leave this church to not leave behind what they received here – the grace of Christ.”
The cardinal said the “beautiful icon” helps the faithful understand that “even in our suffering we can pray to God, who is not remote. Christ is united to us in our suffering.”
Referring to the Mass’s Gospel reading in which Jesus says, “among those born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist,” Cardinal McElroy said that “John points us always to the person who is Jesus Christ.”
“This role of John is our role – to point to the person who is Jesus Christ,” the cardinal said. “In this beautiful icon, we see the call of Saint John the Baptist.”
In blessing the icon, the cardinal said the image “lifts our eyes to the Lord” and is “a sign of our redemption.”
Welcoming Cardinal McElroy to the parish, Father Tappe told him that “we are so pleased you have received good news from your doctor.” The cardinal recently underwent surgery and announced last week that the doctors have pronounced him cancer free. Father Tappe also added that the parish was honored that it was one of the first visited by the cardinal since his surgery.
