Evangelization Outreach / Fr. James Brockmeier

The veneration of the cross teaches us important lessons in life

In a few weeks, the Church will enter Holy Week and celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Friday of the Passion of the Lord and the Easter Vigil. While the catechetical work of the Church so often happens in parish religious education and classrooms in our Catholic schools, the liturgies of Holy Week are tremendous teachers.

This Lent, I have been reflecting on the many Good Friday liturgies in my life, particularly the veneration of the cross during those celebrations.

As a young elementary school student, I remember seeing a big wooden cross processed to the front of the Church and hearing the deacon sing “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world.” I was convinced that somehow the true cross, the one that Jesus carried and died on, was being carried into my Church. I could barely bring myself to touch it when it was time.

Years later, I remember being an altar server, a little bit disappointed that our cross was just one of many crosses, just a reminder and not the real thing. I had the duty of wiping the places where the cross had been kissed with a purificator. Why were people touching and kissing this cross with sadness and love in their eyes?

As I got older and had my own experiences with the cross in my life, I began to understand the beauty of coming forward each year to venerate. It might not be made of wood from the real cross of Jesus, but I learned from witnessing the faith of those around me that I could truly encounter the cross of Jesus in that moment.

The cross we venerate is a sacramental, an object that calls our minds to the passion and death of Jesus.

The liturgy of the Church helps us to express in sign and symbol the deepest truths of our faith. By his death and resurrection, Jesus has freed us from our sin and transformed our own suffering. The veneration of the cross of Good Friday teaches us to show our gratitude for his cross.

In his general audience during Holy Week last year, Pope Francis invited us: “Let us think precisely about the cross: out of the most terrible instrument of torture, God wrought the greatest sign of his love. Having become the tree of life, that wood of death reminds us that God’s beginnings often begin with our endings.”

The Lord allows us each a share in his cross; he invites us to carry it and not to lay it down. It is easy to run from the suffering that the Lord allows us to experience in our lives.

Venerating the cross teaches us not to run, but to approach the cross with devotion. When we touch or kiss the cross, we learn that it is the source of our salvation.

I encourage you to participate in your parish’s celebration of Holy Week this year. Venerate the cross, and let it teach you to love and embrace our Lord’s saving cross.
 

(Father James Brockmeier is the director of the Office of Worship within the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelizing Catechesis. He can be reached at jbrockmeier@archindy.org.) †