Homily 9 April 2004 By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Good Friday On the Crucifix
The third chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians reads, “I
count all things to be but loss... so that I may know Him, and the
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
made conformable to His death.” (3:8,10)
We are probably familiar with the figure of the Risen Christ on the
cross and that 15th Station of the Cross which displays the
Resurrection of our Lord. Both these innovations of traditional
articles of worship take our attention away from the passion of Christ,
from His death on the cross, and from making our contribution “to make
up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Col. 1:24) and
redirects it to a heavenly realm, to a state of perpetual bliss wherein
suffering is no more and penance no longer necessary. Is this
really to our advantage?
Sometime ago, I met a Baptist woman who became a Methodist - for she
liked them better - who asked me, “You know, some churches have a
crucifix, we have a cross, do you know why?”
“I imagine it’s because you believe in a Risen Christ.”
“That’s right,” she responded proudly.
But I would not let her off so easily. “And that is a good
thing,” I said, “Catholics also believe in the Risen Christ, for our
preaching would be in vain if otherwise (1 Cor. 15:14), but the
Catholic Church treasures her crucifix because she desires, like St.
Paul, “to preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23) but also because she
knows human nature and the weakness of man who, when given the easy way
out, takes the easy way out. The crucifix reminds us of our
Savior’s great love and motivates us to return that love.” She
seemed to understand.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Phil. 3:7-12) we have a remedy
against taking our Lord off His cross; that cross to which the Jewish
leaders referred when they cried, “come down from the cross then we
will believe.”
Frank Sheed, the famous 20th century English Catholic apologist,
writes, “the cross without a body is like a vacant hotel. A hotel
is meant to house someone. Someone died on that cross and it is
meaningless unless someone had died on it.”
In the Epistle to the Philippians we have a corpse on a cross; an
occupied hotel. This letter is something of an epistle of the
cross - not empty - but with a body... either our Lord’s or our own.
In beginning this letter, St. Paul tells the Philippians as much as
ourselves, “For to you it is given not only to believe in Christ but
also to suffer for Christ.”(1:29) ‘To believe’ and ‘to
suffer.’ Here are two strands of a strong rope which, when spun
together, form the firm rope whereby grace may hoist us up to heaven.
In middle of this same letter, St. Paul continues, “I count all
things to be but a loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my
Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as
dung that I may gain Christ.”(3:8)
The saint goes on to tell us that he desires to know the power of
His resurrection, but also (as my missal reads) the “the
fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable to His death.”
St. Paul desires to suffer with Christ. Why? So that he may
attain to the resurrection. In this same middle passage, St. Paul
writes that he lives not as if he already had attained to the
resurrection, nor as if he were already perfect, but he lives, rather,
so as to apprehend Christ, and he says further that indeed it is Christ
who more apprehends us than we, Him (3:12)... by which we understand
the work of Grace. And this grace is needed to believe in Christ
but how much more to suffer for Christ! Comparatively,
belief is easy, suffering is the test.
But again, why not remove the suffering image of the Lord; He is off
His cross now is He not?
He certainly is. Off His cross bearing glorified wounds. He
is off His cross, but we are not. We are going through our
passion; we are still in the valley of tears. If we see only that
Christ is off the cross we will be tempted never to suffer, never to
pick up our cross and follow Him... under the guise of being a
‘resurrected people’... an encouragement harmful to spiritual
growth.
Our blessed Savior has given the admonishment, “pick up your cross and
follow me”; He has spoken the warning, “Unless you do penance you too
will perish.” The cross is essential - a cross with a body. The
body must bear a cross; be nailed to a cross; and die on a cross.
St. Rose of Lima says: “Apart from the cross there is no other ladder
by which we may get to heaven.”
So it is clear, every cross needs a body in order for it to serve its
purpose.
Near the end of his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul
concludes, “Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who
so walk,... for there are many (and he weeps to say this) who so walk
as enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end,” he goes on,
“is destruction; whose belly is their God; whose glory is in their
name; who mind earthy things.”
In short, Christians can only harvest the joy of Easter and Pentecost
if they have first suffered patiently the pains of Gethsemani and
Calvary.
And the crucifix brings this to light. For the crucifix is
really a picture, an image, a relic of love. It uniquely reveals
God’s love for mankind in one gesture; it pointedly reminds us and
motivates us to love God in return in our own small and poor measure.
So if a Baptist woman turned Methodist asks you one day, “why do
Catholics have a crucifix?” You may say to her, “because St. Paul
encourages it - but more - because of love.”