It was Christ fixed to the Cross That Beckoned

I remember when I was a toddler, old enough to talk but young enough to be carried by my father.  We were leaving Mass and I was playing a game with my parents and older brother, where I would point to an object and ask "what is that?" And they would gladly tell me. The reason I remember this so clearly is because of the last object I pointed to.

I asked "what is That?" and my brother replied "that's a Crucifix."  And I asked "why is the man on it?" And he said "because people didn't like what he taught." And I finally remember asking "what did he do wrong?" And my mother finally explained, after stifling my older brother to prevent any confusion, that he didn't do anything wrong.  I have carried this memory in my heart for a very long time, because it was obviously one of many conversions in my heart toward our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The reason I bring this up is to highlight the importance of not just the Cross but the Crucifix as a Catholic symbol and a tool of evangelization. In Oklahoma, where it is basically the buckle of the Bible Belt, you never see a Crucifix but rather empty Crosses hanging on people's walls or in the Christian book stores.  It was not the Cross that saved us, but rather it was Christ who died fixed to the Cross who saved us! Hence the name Crucifix.

Finally, I remember hearing a talk by my personal Hero the late Great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and how he recounts in the scriptures that St. Paul when preaching to the Greeks in Athens gave the most profound philosophical argument in favor of Christianity, but only a few Greeks would come and follow the risen Lord.  Bishop Sheen went on to explain how Paul must have discerned why they would not come, and when Sheen reached 1 Corinthians a letter to the Greeks of Corinth he realized that Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit must have solved the riddle. For Paul cuts straight to the chase and within the first chapter preaches what all Catholics hold dear.  Paul preaches Christ Crucified and so should we! No matter who we are evangelizing, we should never be ashamed to speak of the God-Man dying on the Cross and rising from the dead!

1 Corinthians 1:23 "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."


God Love You!