A New Processional Crucifix
This weekend at Mass you may have noticed our altar servers carrying a new processional crucifix. The crucifix is both simple and beautiful! I want to briefly explain why we have a new processional crucifix when we already had two crosses (a simple wooden cross used during Lent and the gold cross used the rest of the year). We are replacing the two other crosses because they are not crucifixes.
What is the difference between a cross and a crucifix? A crucifix is the cross with the body of Jesus crucified upon it. The wooden cross we used during Lent did not have the body of Jesus at all, while the gold cross had a resurrected Jesus upon it. The Church in her instruction on the Mass explicitly requests that we use a crucifix, writing, “The cross adorned with a figure of Christ crucified, and carried in procession” (General Instruction on the Roman Missal, 122). Consequently, we have purchased the new processional crucifix that you have seen at Mass. We use crucifixes in the Church not because we want to glorify death, but because they are the great sign of God’s love for us. We hear, for example, in the 1st letter of St. John: “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us and sent his son in expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). We may in time look into a nicer golden processional crucifix to differentiate between Lent and the rest of the Church year, but for now we will use the new crucifix. May the cross of Jesus lead us ever deeper into the Father’s love.
God bless you all!
Fr. Gary