It was perfectly OK for you to venerate the Cross on Good Friday. He died for all our sins, not just those of us in the Catholic Church.I have been attending RCIA (here we just call it Faith Course) the last year and therefore I am not technically a Catholic (yet). Was it okay for me to kiss Jesus feet at the Adoration of the Cross at the Good Friday liturgy or should I have waited in my pew just like at communion?
Yes, that was what I thought. It’s because it is a sacramental, right? Just like the ashes on Ash Wednesday?It was perfectly OK for you to venerate the Cross on Good Friday. He died for all our sins, not just those of us in the Catholic Church.
Yes.Yes, that was what I thought. It’s because it is a sacramental, right? Just like the ashes on Ash Wednesday?
Because (and this has been said before), we DO worship the cross, and we worship it with the adoration of latria, the worship due to God alone. It’s one reason we genuflect to it, which is a gesture of worship [latria] and which we normally do only to the Blessed Sacrament. It’s of course more nuanced than that, but that is the gist of it. We do not merely “venerate” the Cross; we worship it, and with the worship due to God alone.Actually we venerate the cross I’m not sure why the USCCB keeps insisting we worship it that’s what adore means in Catholic theology. I believe anyone may venerate the cross
Adoration is the worship you give to God alone (as compared with veneration of saints and their relics, or the hyper-veneration given to the Blessed Mother). This includes worship due to the Eucharist.Adoration is of the Holy Eucharist, usually on display in a monstrance for several hours at various times of the year.
Thanks!Adoration is the worship you give to God alone (as compared with veneration of saints and their relics, or the hyper-veneration given to the Blessed Mother). This includes worship due to the Eucharist.
But this is also the same worship given to the Cross: the adoration of latria due to God alone. The only difference is in the end of the worship. The worship of the Blessed Sacrament is absolute, that of the Cross is relative.
Sounds very much like idolatry to me. You described it as “the worship due to God alone.” Given your definition, how is this not a form of idolatry?Because (and this has been said before), we DO worship the cross, and we worship it with the adoration of latria, the worship due to God alone. It’s one reason we genuflect to it, which is a gesture of worship [latria] and which we normally do only to the Blessed Sacrament. It’s of course more nuanced than that, but that is the gist of it. We do not merely “venerate” the Cross; we worship it, and with the worship due to God alone.
And no, it’s not idolatry, before anyone freaks out.
relative vs absolute latria.Sounds very much like idolatry to me. You described it as “the worship due to God alone.” Given your definition, how is this not a form of idolatry?
Would the same reasoning apply to, say, a statue of the Sacred Heart? Or an image of the Divine Mercy?relative vs absolute latria.
Catholicism knows what it talks about. The Church is not so stupid as to think a crucifix is God. But it also knows what kind of worship to give an image of Christ, since that latria does not have the image as its end but rather it passes to its prototype.
Yes, cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, ST III,25,3. Insofar as we do not have the actual, true Cross with us, we worship the Cross with the relative latria as we would an image of Christ (cf. ST III,25,4,“I answer that”).Would the same reasoning apply to, say, a statue of the Sacred Heart? Or an image of the Divine Mercy?