ILO:
Spokenword,
We know He is no longer on the cross. If that is a reason for us not to wear a crucifix, it is also a reason for you not to wear a cross. Why do you wear an empty cross instead of an empty tomb? Jesus did not resurrect from the cross, He resurrected from the tomb. The cross is only a symbol of His suffering and death. The tomb is a symbol of His resurrection.
I hope you will seriously answer my question above. It is asked in all sincerity. I really do not understand why non-Catholics wear an empty cross.
In Christ’s Love,
ILO
Hi, ILO -
It is an interesting topic. From what I’ve read it seems that several folks who have replied are tryting to put this into a “right” and “wrong” kind of thing where there is some kind of idea that a cross without a corpus or one with a corpus is THE way that a cross should be seen or worn.
If we’re not careful, we could get into one of those battles that really does nothing but get our sinful PRIDE up: “I’m more Catholic than YOU because
I wear the RIGHT kind of cross! Nya Nya!” Or “I’m a BETTER Christian than YOU because
I wear the right kind of cross!” I’m thinking that’s NOT what Mother Church has in mind with EITHER kind of cross!
The deal is: BOTH are right. There is nothing that says a “real” Catholic has to wear - or use in some other way - a cross with a corpus and nothing else. Conversely, there is nothing that says a “real” Catholic has to use one without a corpus. It simply is not a matter of doctrine. BOTH kinds of cross teach us part of the truth about Christ’s life and sacrifice.
Is one inherently BETTER than another. Nope. Is one a Protestant thing and the other a Catholic thing? Nope. Both kinds are worn and used by Protestants and Catholics alike. There is no need to assign an inferior or superior rating to either kind of cross, or a person who chooses either kind of cross.
As Christians, we are, or should be, “Easter” people - the resurrection made us what we are - people who can have ultimate faith in the triumph over the grave. That said, the sacrifice of the cross provided the atonement we would need, and that was given us by Jesus. IMHO too many Christians are “Good Friday” Christians - they can never get from that Friday to the Sunday that is the triumph of all triumphs. How man folks - Protestants, especially - that carry on and make a huge to-do over Good Friday’s events - even to the point that on Easter all you hear is about the sacrifice and the sufering - and never seem to get to the point that the suffering is over?
We do well to keep holy our Good Fridays. Mother Church teaches us to do so, does she not? Ignoring them is the last thing we should do.
But Holy Mother Church ALSO teaches us that Holy Week and especially the Triduum are navigational waypoints on that ultimate journey of journeys - the road to Easter - to Pascha - which gives us as followers of Christ the ultimate victory that he received - victory over death and hell!
Remember the victory taught us in the Eastern Churches’ great troparion for the Paschal Season: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life!”
So which is the greater of the two days to celebrate? The Church teaches us without equivocation or doubt that Easter - the day of Resurrection - is the highest and most venerable of all our great and Holy Days.
Does that mean we forget the great and amazing sacrifice consummated on Good Friday - the breaking of the Holy BOdy of Jesus? Never!
It’s like the sill debate over faith and works… they are not mutually exclusive, but rather are complementary to each other.
So it is with our symbols - and our crosses. One is not superior over the other. They each represent invaluable and inseparable aspects of the same g reat story of victory. But a cross has to be “with” or “without” - no cross can be both. So one is not superior and the other inferior.
It simply is inaccurate to state that non-Catholics wear empty crosses and Catholics wear cricifixes. Both wear both. And if more of one group wear one kind, so what?
The symbolism of both kinds of crosses is valid and valuable, and rminds us of something we need to be reminded about. There’s no real theological or “Catholic” need to approach obsessiveness over a “correct” kind of cross for Catholics or Protestants to wear. We have other more important things to deal with… or at least I do. I must remove the log from my eye before I come close enough to you to work on the splinter in your eye.
Pax Christi!