The Cross: Word and Sacrament
This small and simple spiritual gem offers a profound contemplation of the Seven Last Words of Christ, with specific application to the seven sacraments he instituted. Adrienne von Speyr leads us to the foot of the Cross, where she gazes upon the crucified Christ and listens deeply as he cries out in suffering and opens the portals of divine grace.
The Cross: Word and Sacrament will challenge and encourage the reader to participate more deeply in the Paschal Mystery through a greater appreciation and understanding of the sacraments and their source in the Cross. The words Jesus utters in his agony, as recorded in the Gospels, contain not only the gifts experienced in the sacraments of the Church but also questions: Do you truly understand what is being offered to you? Will you accept these gifts? Will you suffer the mystery contained in such love?
In short, this book calls the reader to conversion, which is a continual process of turning toward the Son, who leads us, in union with the Holy Spirit, into an ever-deepening relationship with the Father. Thus is the reader invited to enter the very life of the Trinity, that communion of love without end.
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About the Author
Born September 20, 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds,Switzerland, Adrienne von Speyr was a laywoman, wife, medical doctor, spiritual writer, and Catholic mystic.
Originally a Reformed Protestant, she converted to Catholicism on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 1940 under the spiritual direction of the famous Jesuit theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar.
After her conversion, Speyr began to have many mystical experiences of the Trinity and the saints. While in a state of contemplative, mystical prayer, she dictated to von Balthasar almost 70 books, including commentaries on the Bible and various theological topics. With von Balthasar, she co-founded a secular institute, Johannesgemeinschaft (Community of St. John).
Her mystical experiences grew in frequency until her death in Basel, Switzerland on September 17, 1967.
She was buried on her sixty-fifth birthday, September 20, 1967, in Basel.
