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We cannot proclaim Christ risen without the Cross

5/6/2024

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Good Friday, 2024. Photo courtesy of Maria Hernandez, St. Mary's Cathedral
On Good Friday, we direct our gaze towards Christ crucified. The silence of the opening procession, the solemn reading of the Passion and the veneration of the Cross invite us into this mystery of Christ’s crucifixion and death. The shadow of Christ crucified has fallen upon human history, a shadow of suffering but one that comes through the shining light of God’s sacrificial love.

This contemplation upon the cross of Christ, His passion and death have been depicted throughout the centuries by means of art and music. Probably the most well-known image is Michelangelo’s Pieta that is found in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It is statue of our Blessed Mother seated and holding the dead body of Jesus in her lap. Such art evokes in us the ability to express our faith and to convey the meaning of such scriptural depictions of Christ.   

A number of years ago when I was visiting a Catholic High School in our Diocese, there were some students who were encouraging a fellow classmate to show me a picture of Jesus as a child in the carpenter shop at Nazareth with Joseph. He was somewhat reluctant to do so, however, when I saw the picture, I could see why it had such a profound impact on his fellow students. The sketched picture depicted Jesus as a little child who was bent over and picking up nails from the floor as Joseph looked on. The sun was coming through the window and on the back of the child you could see distinctly the shadow of cross falling on the back of the child Jesus. The picture was a reminder that even as a small child, it was to be the will of the Father that He would give His life on the cross. He was marked by this truth from the beginning of His hidden life in Nazareth and throughout his whole ministry.

In Christ crucified, we see suffering as the ultimate sign of God’s love which is the mystery of the cross. The following dictum is true “those who love will suffer, and those who love as Christ loved will suffer the cross.” Every year when we come to this mid-point in the Tridium of Holy Week, we sometimes face the temptation to rush ahead to the end, to the empty tomb so that we can proclaim Christ’s resurrection. The early Church was able to hold these together in tension. As Christians we cannot proclaim Christ risen without first coming to the Cross. This is the focus of our Good Friday liturgy.
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The cross was soon to be celebrated as the source of their life as a Christian community. It marked and shaped their identity as individuals and as a community. They saw the cross as part of Christ’s mission from the beginning. The cross was present throughout the entirety of his earthly life. He bore the cross of rejection by eating with tax collectors and prostitutes. The cross of misunderstanding in his identity as the Son of God. He associated with sinners and through his ministry to the sick he wanted to chose to heal them and to take away the burden of the cross that they were carrying. Thus, the early Church learned to see their life and witness to Christ through the reality of the cross.

Through Christ’s cross and suffering, God offers to all humanity love and healing. In the Letter to the Hebrews, we are told that “He became the source of eternal salvation for all who believe in him and obey Him.”

In John’s gospel we are told that upon His death a soldier pierced His side and immediately blood and water flowed out. Although what seemed like physical signs of death the early Church saw these as “new signs of birth.” It was from the side of Christ crucified that the Church was born to continue to proclaim this message of salvation and healing. The water symbolized the sacrament of baptism and the blood pointed to the sacrament of the Eucharist, both essential for the life and mission of the Church then and now.

In the public veneration of the Cross today which is integral to the Good Friday liturgy, we are invited to see the salvation that God offers through Christ which points to a new birth of our humanity. A birth that comes from the suffering of Christ which in fact is the mystery of love. A love that embraces our humanity in all its fragility.

It is the choice in our lives that reflects the obedience of Christ in accepting the cross. From a human perspective, there can be many emotions when faced with the cross. Sometimes it is met with anger and outrage by seeing ourselves first as victims, or we respond with denial in not wanting to accept this reality in one’s life, or of fear that I am helpless, vulnerable and not in control.

The cross opens us to those “spaces of suffering” that are part of everyone’s life. It can cast the shadow of suffering over us but it can also reveal the light of God’s love through mercy and forgiveness. Let us contemplate the Cross of Christ that casts not just the shadow of suffering over the world but the light of God’s salvific love which is the true mystery of the cross we venerate.      
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​Written by Most Rev.  William T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
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​March 29, 2024
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