AND WHO SAID "MOVE THE CRUCIFIX"

 

I recently attended let us say a 'large Church'.  On entering the church I was confronted with an altar, yes to be expected, but behind the altar there was only a large white wall which contained neither a Tabernacle or a Crucifix.   I did find them eventually on a wall which I passed on the way to the toilets.   I show the crucifix above.

The defence for this action if I asked would be "Well they did not have such things in the early Church so we are not doing it now whatever the guidance of the Church is today"   But we are not in the early Church and the only question we should be asking in relation to this is whether by not displaying the crucifix has the Church gained or lost?   The matter as always is settled by the words of Jesus "By their fruits you will know them".   So is the diocese flourishing, are thousands of people returning to Mass, are there innumerable vocations to the priesthood.   When I ask this question I am always reminded of Cardinal Leonard of Belgium.   I cannot remember the year I looked up the statistics but it was around 2000.  There was only one Seminary in Belgium and in this particular year it had 35 student priests from the nine diocese of Belgium.  Of these 17 came from one Diocese the diocese of Namur.   In that Diocese they were building more Churches to keep pace with the growing Catholic population while in the other 8 they were closing churches down because the congregations were dwindling.    When the bishop of that diocese, Bishop Leonard was made the Cardinal of Belgium on a visit to Louvain University he was pelted with eggs by the 'catholic students' who came from the other eight because of his faithfulness to the teaching of the Church.

It is the drive of bishops like Leonard that have proved just what a wrong turn the Church made in this country in the sixties and seventies.   Unfortunately there are those who have a Church that suits them and the care little whether it is fulfilling the wishes of Jesus Christ.    The return to the Early Church idea was a failure because we do not have in the present day the Faith of the early Christians.

But back to the Crucifix.  I once visited an Evangelical Church


where a preacher spoke in horror of how some people had actually made images of the Cross and put a figure of the suffering Christ upon it.  He was of course referring to Catholics for it was a Catholic practice.  I considered in his Church without the insight into Catholic practice he had every right to say what he did and I certainly did not contradict.   However inside the Catholic Church I expect an honest approach.   The Mass is a representation of the Sacrifice of the Cross.   At the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples "Take this and eat for THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE OFFERED UP FOR  YOU"   And giving them the cup he said "THIS IS MY BLOOD WHICH WILL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.  DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.  He therefore linked the giving of the bread and wine to the sacrifice he would offer of himself on Calvary.   "When we eat this bread and drink this cup" said St Paul "are we not in COMMUNION with the body and blood fo Christ"   The pretence then that the Last Supper is just a meal among friends has not place in Catholic Belief.  The cross on the altar reminds us of what the Mass is really about in Catholic teaching.   No priest or bishop has any right to mislead others in the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Perhaps if I had been asked by my Evangelical friend why I revere the cross I would have answered "Because this is the greatest act of Love every recorded in human history.   "That God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son......"   When I look at a Crucifix then I do not so much see the suffering Christ as I do the wonderful love God has for me and the whole world.