See the Cross Differently!

Perhaps you have heard the quote made famous by Lenny Bruce, “If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.” This is shocking falling upon our ears; however, I wonder if we have become too sterilized to the sight of a cross. I mean think about it, when was the last time you were shocked to see a cross? Has this ever even happened to you?

In our Christian-saturated culture in the Southeastern United States we have become immune to the cross. Maybe if one happens upon a Catholic or Anglo-Catholic church with an almost nude Jesus crucified on the cross one might flinch, but otherwise it has simply become an important accessory to wear. However, on this Holy Cross Day we are charged to see the Truth of the Cross: what was an instrument of shameful torture and death has been transformed into a sign and symbol of, and gateway into eternal life.

We remember Holy Cross Day on September 14th as a result of the emperor Constantine and his mother the empress Helena constructing a monumental complex on the site of Calvary, which builders finished on this day in the year 335. What is now the Church of the Holy Speulchre had two distinct buildings: a large basilica used for the Liturgy of the Word and a round church for the Liturgy of the Table. This latter facility, which was merely called “the Resurrection,” had its Altar on the actual place where Jesus’ tomb was believed to be. What an image! The place of death transformed into the table of life! And, while this remembering of the constructing of this facility stands out as significant, what this day bids me to do is to see the Cross differently.

A few times in my life seeing a Cross affected me to my core. When I had my Cursillo crossed put over my head by Bishop Santosh Marray. The time I first served as crucifer when I was a child. And, most strikingly the day I stepped onto the campus of the Seminary of the Southwest where I was trained to be a priest.

Inside Christ Chapel no crosses hang on any walls. Very little, in fact resides on any of the funky asymmetrical insides of that space. Instead, the major feature that the space immediately calls one toward is the east window. Right outside that window sits a gigantic cross. This structure expands from bottom-to-top and the arms reach out to almost hug the viewer. Its three-sided nature ensures that wherever one is on campus the cross faces the seer. When I first saw this cross I was stunned. So many days I pondered how that cross reaching out in all directions calls us to remember how Christ Jesus transformed that shameful torture device into a way of resurrection for all of Creation.

In John’s Gospel for today Jesus could foresee that when he was lifted up he would draw all of Creation to him. On this Holy Cross Day we are drawn close to our Lord who forgave from the Cross, invited a thief into paradise from the Cross, and leads us into a life of Resurrection through that Cross. Jesus calls us to die to ourselves and no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ who died and rose again. It may not be every day that you are surprised by the Cross, but today allow the invitation of the Cross reach into your heart, so that you may die to yourself and live as a servant of Christ.