Hail, O Cross, Our Only Hope – Good Friday – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon; March 29, 2024

One soldier thrust his lance into Jesus’ side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified and his testimony is true; he knows he is speaking the truth, that you also might come to believe.

On this day when we specifically commemorate the death of Christ on the Cross we do not celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which his death is represented and offered in an unbloody manner through the separate consecration of the bread and wine. Instead, we venerate the Cross, as the symbol of his redeeming death, from which the power of the Holy Eucharist and indeed all the sacraments comes. The veneration or adoration of the Cross is one of the characteristic features of the Good Friday liturgy.

What does it mean to venerate the Cross?

First there is the true Cross, the wood itself upon which Jesus was crucified, the most precious of relics. In this regard St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: “If, therefore, we speak of the cross itself on which Christ was crucified, it is to be venerated … in one way in so far as it represents to us the figure of Christ extended thereon; in the other way, from its contact with the limbs of Christ, and from its being saturated with His blood. Wherefore in each way it is worshiped with the same adoration as Christ viz. the adoration of ‘latria.’ [“latria” is used for the honor due to God alone, as compared to the honor of “dulia” that is given to the saints or even “hyperdulia” rendered to the Virgin Mary] And for this reason also we speak to the cross and pray to it, as to the Crucified Himself.” (ST IIIa q.25 a4) The true Cross receives a worship that is practically indistinguishable from the worship given to the sacred humanity of Christ himself, the humanity of the Son of God, because it is forever so united to him as the instrument upon which he wrought our redemption. That is why the Church’s ancient and famous hymn dares to sing, “Hail, O Cross, our only hope.” (“Vexilla Regis”)

The Cross is the standard of Christ the King, as the same hymn proclaims: “The Royal Banner forward goes, The mystic Cross refulgent glows.” Vexilla Regis) And the words of Pope St. Leo the Great: “O how wonderful is the power of the Cross! O now unutterable the glory of the Passion, wherein stands the Lord’s judgment seat, and the judgement of this world, and the might of the Crucified.” (Sermo 8 de passione Domini, 6-8)

The Good Friday practice, throughout the world, derives from and represents the adoration of the true Cross that took place in Jerusalem. Here we venerate an image of the Cross in a manner that represents also the worship due to the true Cross itself. In this regard, St. Thomas Aquinas tells us “the same reverence should be shown to Christ’s image as to Christ Himself. Since, therefore, Christ is adored with the adoration of ‘latria’; it follows that His image should be adored with the adoration of ‘latria.’” (ST IIIa q.25 a3) Or in the words of the 2^nd Council of Nicea “The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype; and he who adores the image, adores the person whom it represents.”

This Good Friday practice, then, is a precious treasure of the Church. We come forward with faith in Christ, remembering his bitter suffering and thirst, and with profound gratitude for giving his life for us on the Cross, we genuflect and kiss the Cross, rendering thereby honor and glory to the Son of God.

From the sacred liturgy we have the antiphon: We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection, through whom we have been saved and delivered. (Entrance antiphon for Mass of Lord’ Supper).

Or from an ancient hymn: “Faithful Cross the saints rely on, noble tree beyond compare! … Sweet the wood, sweet the iron, sweet the burden they bear!” And “Noblest tree of all created, richly jeweled and embossed: Post by Lamb’s blood consecrated.”

We look up to the Cross as to the true tree of life. From the side of Jesus there flows the life-giving fountain of Blood and Water that reaches us in the sacraments. It is the stream that makes glad the city of God. (cf. Ps 46[45]:4)

As the Israelites, dying of serpent bites in the desert, raised their eyes in faith to the bronze serpent that Moses, at God’s command, had mounted on a pole, we raise our eyes in faith gazing upon Christ crucified, appearing as a worm and no man (Ps 22[21]:6), twisted in agony as into the shape of a serpent, having come in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. (cf. Jn 3:14, Rm 8:3) It has pleased God through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether in heaven or on earth, making peace through the Blood of his Cross. (Col 1:20)

It is not enough merely to show outward honor to the Cross of Christ but we must also learn to recognize, accept, and embrace the cross in our own lives, drawing strength and courage from him.

In the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: “My love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring to be fed; but there is within me a water that lives and speaks, saying to me inwardly, Come to the Father. I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Romans 7)

Such ardent words might daunt us. Then, let us turn to Christ’s Blessed Mother and ours, received from him at the foot of the Cross; she will encourage us, for as she stood by his Cross, she stands by us as well.