Gathering Around the Cross
theophilus March 22nd, 2008
The demise of the Catholic Church has been greatly exaggerated.
How do I know? I saw it firsthand last night.
At the evening liturgy, I watched as family after family went up to the Cross in various forms of veneration. Family after Family!
At one point, my mind really started wandering and I looked up at Mary and wondered what she thought of all of this. Remember, the first veneration of the Cross was performed by a whopping six people (Mary, the other Mary, John, the Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus).
Now, in this one church alone – at this one service alone (my parish has a 12:30 and a 7:30), person after person came forward. Some old, some very young, teenagers, college students, couples, families, and folks by themselves. The veneration went on a good 45 minutes to an hour.
And this was at one service in one church among all of the churches in the world, where the millions of the faithful came forward to remember the Passion, venerate the Cross, and receive the Holy Eucharist.
And it dawned on me – we are all drawn to the Cross. Even our Protestant brethren share this attraction. It’s the source of our redemption and salvation. It’s the source of our peace and our love. It’s the essence of our life and our being.
We gather around the Cross because we are lost without it. We cannot go it alone without Christ.
So, it doesn’t matter the side issues that may cause rancor within the Church – what matters is that we believe in Christ crucified and Christ risen. That we believe in the mercy and forgiveness that only he can offer. That we believe we have this life so we can walk the path of Christ and bring others to him.
What’s important is that we gather around the Cross every day of our lives – that we venerate the Cross every moment of every day by the way we live.
And let’s remember that we have each other to give us strength. We are a catholic Church – we are all in this thing together – we do not go it alone.
