The Contradiction of The Cross

When you go to Mass, sit in the pew and take a look around the church, what is the first thing you see?  What is your focal point?  Is it your friend, two pews ahead of you, or your sibling across the way?  Is it the celebrant coming off of the altar and heading to the back of the church to get ready for the procession?  These are fairly common occurrences at any Mass and allowing these, or many of the other distractions, to capture our attention in that moment is normal.

What should grab our attention, though, from the time we walk through the door on Sunday morning, is what hangs over or behind the altar or, more importantly, what is depicted.  It is the Crucifix that should capture our attention and our focus every time we walk through the door for Mass.  After all, the One who was crucified, the One whose image the Crucifix bears, is the reason we come through the door in the first place.  It is He who summons us and it is He who greets us.

When thinking about the Cross, one can’t help but think about the brutality that it represented for so many, including Jesus.  It was an instrument of death and those that were condemned had to bear its weight as they carried it themselves to their place of execution.  They were then brutally fastened to it and hoisted up to hang until they passed, on full display for all onlookers.  It was a cruel and inhuman manner of execution for sure, ultimately causing death by suffocation, heart failure, dehydration or other factors.

Even though it was known by all to be an instrument of death, the Cross took on a whole new meaning when Jesus was fastened to it and raised up.  This instrument took on a new identity when Jesus passed, taking our sins to the grave with Him.  In an instant, the Cross came to symbolize something very different, something to be venerated.  It became the tree of life and it came to represent our salvation.  Although it ended the earthly life our Savior, it provided a path to new birth for us.  Through the Cross we were redeemed by Jesus and have the hope of eternal life.

I feel it’s important for us, as Catholics, to remember that the Crucifix, even more so than just the Cross in and of itself, is a reminder of what Jesus did for us and the sacrifice He made.  It puts the love of God on clear display, showing that to save us, His unworthy children, He gave up His only begotten Son.  A Cross that does not bear the image of Jesus tells only part of the story; it is not quite complete. 

Seeing the image of Jesus on the Cross helps us to never lose sight of or touch with what He endured for us, what He went through to save us or what our sinful nature cost Him.  He died for us so that we can live!  He brought us back to the Father and healed the division that we’d created.  We owe all to Him.

What was originally intended as an instrument of death has given each of us life.  It is the symbol of salvation and of eternal life… a beacon of hope.  Blessed are those who accept and embrace this contradiction.  Blessed are they who know that the death of One, on the Cross, yielded life for all.