The first thing one usually notices upon entering a Catholic
church or chapel is the crucifix hanging over or set upon the altar. Here at St. Angela Merici, it’s pretty hard
to miss. And it is a crucifix—not just
an empty cross, clean and elegant, but a cross being used to crucify Jesus of
Nazareth—the innocent lamb of God—who laid down his life to take away the sins
of the world.
The crucifix—it’s an instrument of humiliation, and torture,
and pain and death, and is central to our field of vision upon entering the
Church. We hang crucifixes in our
schools, wear them as necklaces, kiss them before and after prayer, meditate on
them and ponder the mystery. Why does
the Church instruct that there should be a crucifix wherever Mass is
celebrated, giving such pride of place to such a cruel reality?
Why not make scenes of Christ’s birth the focal point, or
artistic representations of his resurrection or ascension, or what about the
picture of the laughing Jesus? Isn’t that much nicer? Isn’t that a Jesus that
we’d want to get to know, maybe share a slice of pizza with, hang out on Friday
night with?
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow me”, so says the Lord in today’s
Gospel. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all
relate this “If-then” conditional statement of the Lord.
If you want to be my disciple, then you must
take up the cross—you must deny yourself, you must give yourself up. It’s explicit, it’s uncompromising. If you want the rewards of discipleship, if
you want eternal life, you must daily be crucified with Christ.
The crucifixes in our homes and on our persons are not just
jewelry or decoration—they are powerful reminders of who we are meant to be and
how we are to conduct our lives. We need
those reminders because it is so easy to forget—it is so easy to forget that I
am supposed to be imitating him, in self-sacrifice, in self-denial, that just
as Jesus emptied himself on the cross, and poured himself out, so to am I.
Many of the Saints made meditation on the crucifix part of
their daily prayer. Saint Mary Magdalene
who was present at the crucifixion was said to have meditated on that scene
every day for the rest of her life.
Saint Aloysius Ganzaga the young Jesuit saint whose feast day we celebrated
this last week is almost always depicted in art as holding and gazing upon a
crucifix.
We do well to follow their example, to clutch the crucifix
in our hands and contemplate the depths of God’s love for us. Keep a crucifix on your night stand and pray
with it when the alarm clock goes off for a few minutes. If you look at a crucifix and feel nothing,
then you haven’t looked hard enough.
The simple tradition of putting crucifixes on the walls of
our homes, and wearing crucifixes around our necks are powerful practices. Those crucifixes remind us that being a
Christian in this world is not easy, but as Christ endured his passion, he can
support us in our trials.
A crucifix placed in
the home reminds us that our love for our family members needs to be
Christ-like. We are less likely,
hopefully, to yell and scream at each other, when there is a crucifix reminding
us of Christ’s love. A crucifix around
our neck may help us in those times when we are tempted to abandon the
commandments of God, it may help us to remember how abhorrent sin is to
God. Those crucifixes in our houses and
around are necks may also spark a conversation with someone who has not yet
come to believe in Christ, or who has fallen away from the faith.
The Crucifix in the Church particularly near the altar
reminds us that when we come to Mass we are gathering on the hill of Calvary;
that when we come to Mass, we are lifting up our prayers with Jesus who is
lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. This is why every Mass has a Mass intention:
the intention of this Mass is for the repose of the soul of Kevin Connery. The soul of Kevin Connery is being lifted up
to the Father at this Mass.
This is why it is also important to come to Mass a few
minutes early, not so that we can peruse the bulletin, but to recollect
ourselves for the celebration of the sacred mysteries, to think of all those
reasons why I’m coming to Mass, all the blessings of the week that I am
thankful for, all the people I need to forgive, all the needs of my family and
the world, which I wish to lift up to the Father with Jesus on the Cross, all
the areas of my life where I need conversion from selfishness.
Saint Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ”, meaning the most important thing we will ever do is not
to win the baseball trophy, not to be elected president, not to graduate
college, not to have the fastest car or biggest house on the block, but to daily
be crucified with Christ—to pour myself out with him, that others may have
life.
Perhaps no other gospel lesson is more difficult or more
important. To be his faithful friend we
must turn away from self-centeredness and selfishness, and pour out our lives
generously.
As we continue our celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, let us renew our commitment to take up our cross daily and follow the
Lord in generous self-abandonment that we may come to the eternal reward of the
faithful for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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