The Gaze of the Crucified Christ

“Like many young people in her community, at the age of seventeen, Pauline Dimech promised to fix her gaze on Christ crucified for the rest of her life. At the age of thirty-four, she experienced Christ crucified gazing at her. Through the narrative of her life story, Pauline’s book illustrates how the divine gaze, as in an icon, precedes the human gaze ‘in order to engulf it in an infinite depth,’ as Jean-Luc Marion would say.”


—Natalino Camilleri, former Superior General, Society of Christian Doctrine





“This is an autobiography of an individual born and raised on the island of Malta. It describes Pauline’s childhood and portrays her simple family background. Notwithstanding this, she flourished into an intellectual, a renowned Maltese scholar and indeed a theologian embracing the teaching of the Catholic Church through a feminist perspective. The journey toward her spiritual fulfillment is depicted in the chapters describing her experience with the crucified Christ gazing upon her.”


—Victoria Spiteri, Head of School, SGPC Valletta Primary School





“Dimech writes about growing up, discovering empathy, learning about Jesus and the saints, and noticing an insatiable thirst for knowledge and being of service. She writes with passion about political and spiritual awakening. . . . Christ told her to stay with him, and she did—despite the pain and joy of falling in love in a context of chosen celibacy, the cruel but liberating absoluteness of death, and the pain of illness. . . . An eye-opener of a book.”


—Jenny Zammit, Family Therapist and Counselor