For centuries, the Church has faced the challenge of living up to the teachings of Jesus. As a result, she constantly looks to better the lives of the faithful and her own life as an institution. During the Second Vatican Council, the axiom Ecclesia semper reformanda (The Church must always be reformed) became the byword for Church renewal in the 20th century.
Throughout the world, the cross is the universal symbol of the Christian faith. But, for the first four centuries of Christianity, it was not. Christians were being persecuted and put to death for their faith. Crucifixion was only too real for them. Not until Constantine made Christianity legal did Christians begin to make use of the symbol of the cross as a sign and affirmation of their belief in Jesus who died and rose for our salvation.
On the Mediterranean coast, half way between modern Tel Aviv to the north and Haifa to the south, stand the ruins of Caesarea Maritima, the magnificent city that Herod the Great built between 22 and 10 B.C. Herod’s palace, built on a promontory jutting out into the sea, was an engineering marvel. The city’s 40-acre harbor could accommodate 300 ships. The city boasted a hippodrome as well as a theater with a seating capacity of 3,500.
In 1300 A.D., the wealthy merchant Enrico Scrovegni built a chapel adjacent to his palace in Padua. He then commissioned the Italian artist Giotto to decorate it with frescoes. In a series of frescoes, Giotto painted the vices and the virtues. In one of these, Giotto depicted
Charity as a woman.