Part 4: The Redemption window: a vision of the journey’s end

As we near the end of St Benedict Week, Esther de Waal's final reflection leads us to Canterbury Cathedral's beautiful Redemption window, where the story of suffering, resurrection and hope reaches its fulfilment in Christ. Her reflection considers the Benedictine call to continual conversion: a lifelong journey of faith that leads us ever more deeply into God's transforming love.

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The final flight of steps brings me to the furthest Easterly part of the quire, the Corona

chapel, so called because it housed the head of Thomas Becket after his murder in

December 1170.Now it has become a place for the commemoration of the saints and

martyrs of our own day, Maximilian Kolbe, Mother Maria Skobtsova, men and women

who followed Christ to the end however costly that might be. I think of the vow of

conversatio morum, which Thomas Merton said was the most mysterious of all the

vows. It is the call to journey, to see life as a dynamic movement centred on Christ, to

persevere to the end.

But what I love most here is the Redemption window. The three central panels carry me

from the cross to the resurrection and to Pentecost. Old Testament scenes which pre-

figure Christ’s life fill the rest of the window- Daniel, Joseph, Jonah are all there showing

what varied forms suffering can take. And then at the top there is Christ, his right hand

upheld in blessing: Solus ab Eterno creo cuncta creata guberno. Alone from eternity I

create all things and govern creation. The cathedral has brought me to the figure of

Christ in the context of the overcoming of suffering, the triumphant victory. The paschal

mystery with which St Benedict ends the Prologue.

Now Canterbury was over, and that cathedral which had given me not only the

experience of magnificent architecture but had also carried the power to sustain and

strengthen me and give me insight into myself. This was still so strongly visual that I

could find myself entering the building by that north door and making that familiar

pilgrimage that would bring me to the Redemption window. And then I would go into the

cloisters and make that perambulation which ended with the refreshing water which

brought me consolation. As it does to this day.