The Crucifix Scandal

I was assisting in a history class one day shortly after my conversion. I was wearing a crucifix and the history teacher, who happened to be a Baptist, commented that crucifixes always bother her.

She asked me why we Catholics kept Jesus on the cross when he was risen from the dead. She expressed her offense at the sight of Jesus hanging there 2000 years after the fact.

Prompted, I believe, by the Holy Spirit, I broke into a chorus of an old hymn traditionally familiar to Baptists: Lest I forget Gethsemane , Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.She walked away with raised eye brows and a pensive nod.

Before I had given any thought to being Catholic I had decided I wanted a crucifix in my house. I had been plagued for too long by a pet sin that was draining the life out of me (more literally than I knew at the time) and I knew that part of the problem was that I took sin way too lightly. After all, being a Calvinist, I believed that I was one of the chosen few and that sin like this was only a temporary interruption in an indestructible relationship with Christ that began at the point of time I put faith in Him, and would not end until Christ himself had seen it to completion. I could not lose my salvation, so sin meant only a temporary loss of “fellowship” with Him.

I knew I needed to be constantly reminded of the price my Lord had paid for my salvation so that I would stop this presumptuous disregard for His will in my life. So I approached my (then) Baptist husband carefully and asked how he would feel if I got a small crucifix for the wall by my desk. He seemed unconcerned about it, especially in light of my motivation.

Little did I know that two years later there would hardly be a room in my house without one!

Recently my brother debated Patrick Madrid on the veneration of Saints and the use of images as an aid to prayer of devotion. The crucifix became a central feature of the debate. My whole being was shaken by the look of disgust my brother gave the beautiful crucifix that had been displayed earlier. How could anyone look with disgust on the most self-sacrificing act of love ever known? How could anyone loath the image of one’s Savior dying as a ransom for their soul? It was chilling.

As we read the lives of the Saints we find that many times victory over doubt or grace in suffering came as one of those precious Saints of God fixed their eyes on a crucifix. Converts have come home, myself included, because of the encounter with life-giving love that a crucifix represents

Could it be that the sight of the price paid for us makes some very uncomfortable? Could it be that as we look upon Christ giving his last drop of life for us we realize that we are called to the very same sacrificial life? Could it be that fixation on the resurrection, made “sanitary” by the omission of the crucifixion, allows us to believe we are called to live in painless power rather than in humility and sacrifice?

Should not the sight of the crucifix brings to the surface our regard for sin? Should it not be impossible to set our eyes on a crucifix and allow any sinful thought to linger in the same mind that is filled with that sight? Much like a recitation of the Ten Commandments, does not the sight of our sacrificial Lamb make us feel the pangs of every imperfect fiber of our beings?

In 1 Cor. Chapter 1, St. Paul tells us that “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” To those puffed up with the wisdom of this world, the sight of the Son of God hanging from a cross is a stumbling block, a sign of offense. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God, the wisdom of God, the love of God. And since His strength is made perfect in weakness, the crucifix is the still life caricature of the triumph of Holy Love over selfish sin. Far from being the low point of Christ’s life and something to be or brushed aside or forgotten, the Crucifixion is the pinnacle of the Glory of God in Christ Jesus.

So it is with gratitude I wear this crucifix. It keeps my heart focused on the Lover of my soul, it keeps me submitted to the cross I must take up daily to follow Him, it reminds me how much he loves the rest of the world and how much he wants me to give to reach them.

Patty Bonds is a Catholic convert who lives and writes from Phoenix, Arizona . She is the founder of Mary's Mantle, an apostolate to serve Catholics who are experiencing family opposition to the faith. Her brother is James White, an anti-Catholic author and speaker.

commented that crucifixes always bother her. She asked me why we Catholics kept Jesus on the cross when he was risen from the dead. She expressed her offense at the sight of Jesus hanging there 2000 years after the fact. Prompted, I believe, by the Holy Spirit, I broke into a chorus of an old hymn traditionally familiar to Baptists: Lest I forget Gethsemane , Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.She walked away with raised eye brows and a pensive nod.

re: "kept Jesus on the cross"

Hecklers can be annoying. Um...that's funny in a way...because as Catholics we actually keep the REAL presence of Jesus alive in our souls and in our churches and as the focus of every Catholic Mass which is...more LIVING Jesus than in some other denominations. As a Catholic, the primary associations I make at the sight of a real crucifix are with the sacramental protection from evil that this symbol has been institutionally associated with for 2000 years. The presence of a crucifix, worthily venerated, means the people associated with it, among other things, don't kill unborn children, they welcome the LIVING presence of Christ (and his MOTHER) into their lives without neurotic anger or hesitation at the sight of a representation of his great sacrifice on Calvary.

The crucifix represents the Christian's willingness to die to keep that loving presence of Christ alive, to defend the weak and innocent from evil, and to proclaim moral goodness unequivocally, unedited, without the bureaucratic, relativistic, secular humanist gobbledygook that enslaves modern America. No one who takes the crucifix seriously would ever kill an unborn child or vote for someone who proclaims that killing unborn children is a social priority enshrined by the Constitution. If more people in modern America took the Crucifix more seriously American society and culture would not be as drenched with immoral filth, the blood of innocents, and the goofy relativism and bad taste that three centuries of liberal iconoclastic Protestantism, secular humanism, and socialistic liberalism have managed to spawn, infiltrating and enveloping the church and just about every other social institution. The Crucifix represents deliverance from the powers of evil. Christ, risen, alive, living, redeeming, and sanctifying, has always been present in Catholic worship and in Catholic life.

A suggestion for anyone attacked by moronic anti-Catholics for the representation of Christ in Catholic sacred art: carry prayer cards depicting Christ revealing His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. This is how Christ appears to Catholics NOW when he has an important message for the world. The two are related - the Sacred Heart AND the Crucifixion. The message? Accept His sanctifying Body and Blood with devotion. Every aspect of Christ's life is holy. The tradition of the church since early Christianity has been to revere sacred representations of his life, sacrificial death, and resurrection.

Just a note: People have had their lives saved by wearing metal crucifixes, bullets have been deflected, etc. There must be a book on miracles of the crucifix which might come in handy for such awkward moments of anti-Catholic agitation. I just finished reading one on the Rosary which tells the story of muggers deciding not to kill someone at the sight of the victim's Rosary (which...does have a Crucifix curiously enough). The crucifix actually represents deliverance from the demonic and monstrous evils of the ancient world of the pagan Roman Empire, evils with which modern America currently flirts with returning to. There was a time when awareness of Christianity's sacramental protection from evil was revered and treasured as part of the blessings of Christendom - before the public display of Christ in art became a crime. It's interesting how far modern America has managed to take the process of de-Christianization.

Demons are afraid of the sight of images Christ, mention of the Word of God, the mere name "Christ," holy water, priests, prayers to Christ, Baptized Christians, and sacramentals of the Church. The "power" of Christ is not absent on a Cross. Blessed objects are not merely "symbols."
Holy objects have had some rather fascinating histories, including surviving fires, vandals,theft, and Atomic bomb attacks.
Holy objects like metal crucifixes or blessed pocket Bibles have deflected bullets. When the phenomenon of evil people averting their eyes from crucifixes or holy persons has been seen in person, it's an undeniable reality. When something miraculous has occurred it's not the wood or metal of a Rosary, for instance, which is responsible, but the relation between the divine power and the object in question is certainly very mysterious. Where a person was wearing a crucifix there is also the matter of the act of faith of the person submitting to the power of God and asking for protection. That in itself is part of a supernatural mystery, involving the Holy Ghost.

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