Worship of Good Friday Cross?

[dmartinmca]

I can see the use of the plain cross but the words “Come let us Worship” or :Come let us Adore" are used which leads me to believe we are instructed to worship the Cross which would be considered idolatry. I would appreciate some (name removed by moderator)ut on this

 

[Jean_Anthony]

aaa

 

[Dorothy]

We worship and adore our Lord Jesus Christ for dying on the cross for us. Kissing the cross that the priest is holding up for us is an indication of our reverence.

 

[Crusaderbear]

Touching the empty cross after Good Friday is simply an acknowledgement that the Lord has risen! There is no worship of the cross, but the man who is no longer on it!

 

[1ke]

which would be considered idolatry.

Study further.

First, the word “worship” is not exclusive to a deity. It means reverent **honor **and **homage paid **to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. Synonyms: reverence, honor, veneration

Meanwhile, what the bible means by idolatry is worship of an idol as a god, specifically an image of a deity other than God or the deity itself.

No one giving reverence to the cross thinks it is a deity. We give honor to the cross on the day Christ died.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

What makes sense to me is that the cross is the symbol of our discipleship. That is what is holy and to be revered.

 

[DaveBj]

I can see the use of the plain cross but the words “Come let us Worship” or :Come let us Adore" are used which leads me to believe we are instructed to worship the Cross which would be considered idolatry. I would appreciate some (name removed by moderator)ut on this

I don’t exactly consider it idolatry, but the practice makes me feel uncomfortable, so I abstain. If I am doing wrong by abstaining, the Lord knows where to find me to correct me. So far He has not.

 

[rymichael]

On Good Friday we venerate the cross itself, not the crucifix. In many parishes, you will see the crucifix down for people to venerate. But it is the cross itself that we venerate and meditate on. This is the same cross that our Lord hung from to save us. Its wood becomes the wood of the world. The wood of the world Christ hung upon to save humanity.

 

[Todd977]

I can see the use of the plain cross but the words “Come let us Worship” or :Come let us Adore" are used which leads me to believe we are instructed to worship the Cross which would be considered idolatry. I would appreciate some (name removed by moderator)ut on this

St Thomas Aquinas discusses the *relative *adoration of images of Christ in general and of the Cross in particular in his Summa Theologiae, Part 3, Question 25, Articles 3 (Is the adoration of “latria” to be given to the image of Christ?) and 4 (Is “latria” to be given to the Cross of Christ?).

“Absolute worship is paid to any person for his own sake. Relative worship is paid to a sign, not at all for its own sake, but for the sake of the thing signified. The sign in itself is nothing, but it shares the honour of its prototype.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, “Veneration of Images”)

 

[porthos11]

I can see the use of the plain cross but the words “Come let us Worship” or :Come let us Adore" are used which leads me to believe we are instructed to worship the Cross which would be considered idolatry. I would appreciate some (name removed by moderator)ut on this

We do worship the cross. And further, we worship it with the adoration of latria, which is the worship due to God alone.

Shocker, and once upon a time, I would have been uncomfortable too. But no longer because I know that by worshiping the Cross (I do not water it down with words like “veneration” because I am not merely venerating, I am adoring), I worship him who was crucified on it. I will never plead guilty to a charge of idolatry, but I also will not shy away from something the Church says we do. It’s a matter of proper understanding, difficult though it may be. We worship the Cross with the adoration of latria.

newadvent.org/summa/4025.htm#article4

 

[po18guy]

Study further.

First, the word “worship” is not exclusive to a deity. It means reverent **honor **and **homage paid **to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. Synonyms: reverence, honor, veneration

Meanwhile, what the bible means by idolatry is worship of an idol as a god, specifically an image of a deity other than God or the deity itself.

No one giving reverence to the cross thinks it is a deity. We give honor to the cross on the day Christ died.

Indeed! The book Wisdom of Solomon treats extensively of idolatry. Modern (post-reformation) Christianity has come to either misunderstand traditional theological terms, or has grossly over-simplified them, formulating the belief that anything beyond their grossly over-simplified definition is automatically idolatrous or blasphemous.

As an example, the archaic English title “Your Worship” would seem to make the entire language blasphemous in some way! I don’t see Evangelicals or Fundamentalists abandoning English.

 

[Bookcat]

I can see the use of the plain cross but the words “Come let us Worship” or :Come let us Adore" are used which leads me to believe we are instructed to worship the Cross which would be considered idolatry. I would appreciate some (name removed by moderator)ut on this

No it is not idolatry.

The (I think 2nd) Council of Nicea explained this.

Later theologians further explained such is * relative adoration*.

It passes to Jesus.

 

[DaveBj]

On the other hand (from Protestant hymnody):

youtube.com/watch?v=YVNFvaunPUE