THE DEATH OF DEATH
On Good Fridays, we venerate the cross as we remember the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is at the center of the liturgy. Thepriest raises it at least three times while the people kneel in prayer. The people, at the proper time, line up to have a chance of adoring the cross by kissing it. We, Christians, honor the cross. It is the symbol of our faith. Once a source of shame, punishment, absurdity and death, it is now a sign of wisdom, love, obedience and faith for all Christians.
Why exalt the cross? Why give dignity to a thing of pain and death? Why honor the very place of death for our Savior? The honor is really in the Lord who died on the cross. Jesus redeemed man through the cross and even the cross itself from its bad meaning. By itself, it is nothing. But whenever we regard it in faith, we always see the Lord on it and what He did with it. Through it, Jesus showed the love of God to us. Through it, Jesus obeyed His Father. Through it, death met its death.
The way many people patronize it should be a source of joy and happiness to us Christians. You see it painted on doors, tattooed in different parts of the body, as pendants, churches, tombs, etc. But we ask how are they used? For what reason and for what purpose are they being displayed? Hopefully they are used not as mere decorations. It will be a great disrespect to the Lord. It should be displayed as an expression of faith. The sick during the time of Moses obtained healing by looking at it. Many times, in the history of the Church, sick people received healing through the cross.
It follows then that the cross should help us realize how much God loves us (John. 3:16). He was willing to offer even His only begotten Son to become one like us and die the worst death. To exalt the cross is to recognize what God has done for us — and the commitment to share that love and render obedience to Him! Fr. Benny Tuazom
REFLECTION QUESTION: Look around your house, your room, your belongings, your body. How do you use the cross? What reverence do you give it?
Thank You for dying on the cross, dear Jesus, out of love for us and obedience to the Father. May I realize this truth every time I see a cross.
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