Avoiding the Crucifix

Inside Catholic ^ | August 29, 2009 | Michael Pakaluk

[NYer]

According to tradition St. Thomas Aquinas once asked St. Bonaventure how he had acquired the deep theological wisdom he displayed in his writings. St. Bonaventure pointed to a crucifix and said that he had learned all he knew from contemplating it.

 

If there are any prayerful Catholics in our pews with St. Bonaventure's talents or dispositions, they are going to be deprived, for it is nearly impossible to find a crucifix in a Catholic Church in the United States. This became quite clear to me when I visited Mexico. The large crucifixes there, suspended over the main altar, set up in side chapels, or even placed at the entrances to churches, so that the faithful can piously kiss the bloodied feet of Christ, are powerfully realistic. They possess a photographic vividness. A friend of mine was deeply affected by one such crucifix in the Church of Santo Domingo in Mexico City: "You can see that they tortured Him," he said.

 

In our land of comfort and theological shallowness, where death is an unmentionable, we have "Risen Christs." These, of course, are not crucifixes at all. "Crucifix" means "affixed to a cross." The "Risen Christs" float on air in front of crosses. They are not realistic so much as surrealistic. When He was on the cross, Jesus hung, when He was on the ground, he stood. He never floated. What specific event in the life of Jesus does the "Risen Christ" represent? After Jesus rose from the dead, He left the cross behind Him -- He didn't hover about it. The "Risen Christ" is a religious image a Docetist might invent, not calculated to inspire reflection on the "theology of the body." Those who believe in flesh and blood and the resurrection of the body cannot be satisfied with it.

 

Does anyone know the meaning of the "Risen Christ"? Has anyone explained its significance to you? Probably not. Perhaps you, like me, pretend -- or, rather, hope -- that it is a crucifix. Perhaps you also supply the details in your mind and continue to think of the "Risen Christ" as a kind of polite crucifixion. But what does it represent?

 

One problem is that what it represents can be said in one sentence: "Christ reigned on the cross." It is an image which aims to state a proposition, and it says no more than that. It appeals to the head, not the heart: no one could possibly be moved to tears of pity by contemplating it. It is a one-dimensional, man-made sign; the crucifix, in contrast, is God's sign, ordained by Him as the image of His love for us. It represents not a proposition but a mystery that a million Bonaventures could not exhaust.

 

Another problem is that the "Risen Christ" simply cannot express well what it intends to say. The reign of Christ on the cross was in reality a bloody crucifixion. The best way to express that reality would be to hold up a crucifix. For Christ reigned in suffering; it is not that His suffering was one thing and His reign another. The "Risen Christ" suggests wrongly that, while the body of Christ was suffering, the soul of Christ was confidently triumphant. We would do better to apply here a saying of Wittgenstein: The best image of the human soul is the human body. That applies to Christ on the cross above all.

 

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14). Jesus was referring to the time when God punished the Israelites with a plague of serpents. To heal them, God instructed Moses to put a bronze serpent on a staff and set it up among the people so that "everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8). It would have been foolish, of course, for Moses to depart from God's instructions and make a symbol more to his liking; how much more foolish, then, are we for tinkering with that image which the serpent on the staff merely foreshadowed.

 

There is no point at all in trying to pretty up a crucifixion. Take death by electrocution to be a modern analogue: It would be absurd to hang electric chairs in our churches, but have happy and serene figures sitting in them. The cross was an instrument of torture. If we are scandalized by that, what keeps us from pursuing the logic of Jehovah's Witnesses, who say that to venerate the Cross is as perverse as venerating the murder weapon that killed a dear relative? Do we have secret sympathy with that point of view because we imagine that the Cross was a mistake or an accident?

 

Perhaps having supposed that the elimination of suffering is the aim of life and of morality, we are confused by the suggestion that Christ desires to suffer, that His purpose in life was to die for us. That Jesus loves us is a consoling thought, but that He loves us that much disturbs as well as consoles. A God Who gives that much might in fact ask that much. Catholicism without crucifixes is so much tamer.

 

Why is our timing so bad with these misguided reforms? Surely we need to be reminded more than any generation that Christ is crucified anew among us. Do we recoil from the crucifix the way our society recoils from pictures of aborted children? Violent crime surrounds us and stalks us, yet we remove what can be our only solace -- the murdered God. Can there be some correlation, strangely, between the absence of violence in our crucifixes and the presence of violence in our society? No culture since the Romans has found the murder and slaughter of fellow human beings as entertaining as we.

 

We should take our clue from the early Christians: while their pagan countrymen in the colosseum watched thousands of murders for entertainment, they in their catacombs meditated on a single murder as worship. It is necessary for us to sanctify violence, so to speak, by dwelling on it only under the right conditions. The crucifix is the proper instrument through which to view it. Certainly no one who meditates on the suffering of all of humanity in the person of Christ can then flippantly watch violence for pleasure.

 

To be sure, canon law requires only that a cross be present at the Mass. But a church should be used by the faithful for prayer as well as Mass, and often the choice of the legal minimum is not the best choice. It is even sometimes the case (as in the Reformation) that a choice for the cross alone implies a choice against the crucifix.

 

We should put the crucifixes back. Whatever the reason they were removed from the churches after the Council, it was a mistake. Our friends around us -- we can see this clearly -- are suffering dearly from their abortions, divorces, loneliness, drug abuse, and materialism. The superficial trendiness of bourgeois Catholicism won't draw them into our churches, but we can hope that prayer before the wounds of Christ will.

[NYer]

The Crucifix - I could write a book on this topic. Here in the RC Diocese of Albany, one often has to search for the Crucifix inside a church. In the Cathedral, they have moved it to an interior column ... ? In my previous parish, there was a larger than life Risen Christ on the back wall of the sanctuary - but no Crucifix in sight. The General instructions of the Roman Missal mandate that there be a "Crucifix on or near the altar and visible to all". I am not confrontational by nature but when it comes to my Lord, and defending my Catholic faith, I rise to the challenge. And so it was with my stomach in knots that each Sunday I would arrive at church, approach the celebrant and ask that the processional cross be placed in a stand next to the altar. Such requests were usually met with rebuffs, depending on whether it was the pastor or a visiting priest. The visiting priest, though few in number, had no problem with it.

And then it happened. One Sunday I walked into church and to my great surprise, saw a magnificent Crucifix hanging in place of the Risen Christ. After Mass that day, I complimented the pastor and asked if this was now a permanent fixture in the sanctuary. Much to my chagrin, he noted that the Crucifix would be there throughout Lent. In other words, a 'seasonal decoration'. Sure enough, on Easter Sunday, the Crucifix was gone and the Risen Christ back in its place of prominence, surrounded by gold lamee fabric and white lace ... seriously! Once again I approached the pastor. This time he glared as he said: "Jesus was only on the cross for 3 hours but is risen forever!". Those words penetrated my heart like a sword.

When looking for a new parish, I checked for a Crucifix. At St. Ann's, there is a simple yet authentically crafted Crucifix directly behind the altar. Our future church is a former Methodist/Episcopal church that needs furnishing. The simple cross from the present church is too small for the larger space. Father rescued a nearly life-sized Crucifix from one of the churches closed by Bishop Hubbard. It took 6 men to bring it down, get it into the truck and carry it into a back room of the 160 y/o building that is slowly being restored. The crucified Christ rests on his side in that back room. It is too heavy to hang in the sanctuary but Father has plans to mount it outside the church.

Here is a priest who recognizes the sacrifice our Lord made for us and points to the Crucifix at every opportunity, to remind those who have become complacent. The question, then is why do some priests fear the Crucifix?!!

[Alex Murphy]

To be sure, canon law requires only that a cross be present at the Mass. But a church should be used by the faithful for prayer as well as Mass, and often the choice of the legal minimum is not the best choice. It is even sometimes the case (as in the Reformation) that a choice for the cross alone implies a choice against the crucifix.

When being faithfully Catholic isn't even enough PING

[Salvation]

Being Catholic: Sacred Things, Crucifixes and Crosses

[steve86]

Your comment is obviously a very heartfelt and perceptive one. A great Catholic comment. I go only to the older, poorer parishes around here and they all have proper Crucifixes, along with the proper rubrics of the Latin Mass, of course.

[Nosterrex]

It is a sign of the times in which we live. Christians want Jesus, but they don't want Jesus on the Cross. They want a Christianity that ignores the need for repentance and sacrifice.

[SuziQ]

On Good Friday, our Parish sets up a cross, and folks file up to kiss the foot of it. I refuse to do it, because it's not a Crucifix. We need to kiss the feet of the Crucified Christ, NOT a blank piece of wood!

A few years ago, the Parish removed the smaller Crucifix that was hung behind the altar, and replaced it with a beautiful mosaic of the 'Risen Christ'. It's a nice piece, but many of us demanded that the Crucifix remain in the Church, so they hung it on one of the Confessional doors at the front left side of the Church. At least we were able to keep it close by.

[thefrankbaum]

Come now. Do you generally strive for the minimums in life? In school, did you take comfort in ‘C’s, because, well, that is the minimum expectation?

[EAGLE7]

Good post. It is all too human to attempt to avoid pain and suffering and focus only on the good and pleasant. As it is said, ‘everyone want’s to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die’. Most Religions and much of Psychology recognizes that pain and suffering is an unavoidable, necessary part of life. The first noble truth of Buddhism is that life is suffering. Carl Jung wrote that Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.

The problem with much of the Church today is our refusal to accept pain and discomfort. God forbid we have to set aside our creature comforts and put our faith on the line to confront the modern manifestation of evil...Marxism / Progressivism.

[Kirkwood]

Risen Christ: Acts 1:9-12

[Steelfish]

Good post. The cross is a symbol. The crucifix tells us what that symbol is all about. There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.

[sanjoaquinvalley]

I’m a Southern Baptist who generally wears a cross. I had (notice I’m speaking in past tense) a JW friend. She was an older lady who had very kind to me.The fact that I wore a cross just drove her nutty. She did not understand the importance of what it stood for. She thought it was pagan and anyone wearing it would be cursed.She mistakenly thought that a cross or crucifix was worn like a good luck charm out of fear. I tried to explain that nothing could be further than the truth, but she could never wrap her mind around it.

[Salvation]

You fail to recognize the significance of the crucifix. Without Christ’s suffering and death for OUR sins, we will have eternal life.

I understand what you are saying about the Resurrection, but people are depressed these days becuase they do not realize that their sufferings, aches and pains are also a part of Christ’s suffering. Thus, we are linked forevermore to Christ in both in death on the Cross and the promise of his Resurrection.

[Salvation]

Good for you for explaining that to a Jevovah’s Witness member.

You stood up for Christ and told her the truth. Now she knows, although she may never accept it. At least you planted the seed.

[Salvation]

Oops, my fingers don’t type as fast as my mind goes.

You fail to recognize the significance of the crucifix. Without Christ’s suffering and death for OUR sins, we will NOThave eternal life.

[Nosterrex]

First of all, I didn’t say anything about the resurrection. I’m not certain if you have me confused with someone else or not. My point is that too many Christians want Jesus benefits, but they want it without the Cross. The Cross is a instrument of death. Christ says that we must take up our cross and follow him. That is precisely what too many Christians don’t want to do. When Christ calls a man, he calls him to die.

[Salvation]

Thanks for your clarification.

[NYer]

There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.

Indeed! Fr. Corapi delivered the following during Holy Week this year.

All of the suffering and darkness of Good Friday finds its meaning in the burst of Light that is Easter morning. All of the fear, the insecurity, and the uncertainty; all of the betrayal, the mockery, and the suffering are vanquished by the glory of the Cross. No pain, no gain! No cross, no crown! No battle, no glory.

This Holy Week and the Rest of Your Life (Fr. Corapi on dour situation in the world)

[NYer]

On Good Friday, our Parish sets up a cross, and folks file up to kiss the foot of it.

Is this a Catholic Church?

It's a nice piece, but many of us demanded that the Crucifix remain in the Church, so they hung it on one of the Confessional doors at the front left side of the Church. At least we were able to keep it close by.

Oh brother ... where does one begin?!! My former parish did the same thing with the Tabernacle (after my departure). They built a separate room for it but a large group insisted that the room be fitted with a glass panel through which they could view the Tabernacle. It breaks my heart to hear these things.

Suzi .... if you have not already seen this, I strongly encourage you to visit the following link. The information provided is invaluable in terms of arguing for your rights as a Catholic. Most Catholics are ignorant of the regulations that govern how a Mass is to be properly celebrated. Equipped with this information, I was able to successfully stop the introduction of liturgical dance in the parish.

Is Your Mass Valid? Liturgical Abuse

[NYer]

God forbid we have to set aside our creature comforts and put our faith on the line to confront the modern manifestation of evil...Marxism / Progressivism.

From time to time, I post extracts from then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's Pro Eligendo homily at the Mass celebrated before the cardinals were sequestered in conclave. The following is part of his commentary on St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.

Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.

You can read the full text here . Ratzinger is a theologian imbued with extraordinary wisdom. May he be granted a long life!