They shall look upon the one whom they have pierced

The Cross is the gateway to heaven: none may enter without passing under it, and all good gifts flow from heaven through the Cross. Homily for Good Friday.

The Great Rood of Westminster Cathedral - Photo by Fr Lawrence Lew OP (2010) - link in picture

Go to Westminster Cathedral, and high above you, between the Sanctuary and the Nave, you will see an enormous icon, a painted crucifix several meters high, showing our Lord in the moment of death. His head slumped. His side pierced. In our own Cathedral in Portsmouth, you will find the same. A huge painted Crucifix suspended high above, in front of the high altar, standing between the nave and the sanctuary.

Before the Reformation, this was standard in every English Church; to have a Great Rood, normally at the top of a screen, dividing the nave (where the people are) from the Sanctuary (where the Altar is). Very often, in older English Churches, the Cross stood atop a great wooden screen, called the Rood Screen. It is a powerful image; the Cross stands at the doorway to the sanctuary – everything entering the Sanctuary passes under the Cross, everything coming from the Sanctuary likewise passes under the Cross.

In a Church the Sanctuary is a representation of the heavenly sanctuary, the great temple in the shining new Jerusalem where God dwells, and the Nave represents the earth. Anyone who wants to enter the sanctuary, to climb the stairway to heaven, must pass under the Cross, and all good gifts which come from that same heavenly sanctuary, the Eucharist, indeed all the sacraments, come to us from the cross.

The Cross is the gateway to heaven. When the side of Jesus was pierced, his body poured out blood and water. A few weeks ago we read Ezekiel’s prophecy; I saw water flowing down from the right side of this temple, and everything will live where the river goes. A river that makes stagnant salty waters fresh, a river that teems with life, a river that grants eternal life, pouring out from the right side of the temple. The Temple is the dwelling place of God, where the Shekinah (the glory of God) comes to rest. Jesus is the true temple, the true dwelling place of God on earth, and the river flowing from his right side, the cleansing river of living water, is that little trickle of blood and water.

When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two; a symbol of what had already been accomplished by the piercing of his side. The barrier between heaven and earth, between God and man, the barrier created by Sin, has been torn asunder, shattered, pierced. From the breach, from that tear in the veil of the temple, there came out blood and water. The cleansing water of baptism, the saving blood poured out for us every day, at every Mass, in the most holy Eucharist.

Everything good that comes to us from heaven, is poured out from the open side of Christ on the Cross. Everyone who wishes to pass from earth to heaven must pass through that pierced side; bathed in the river of grace flowing out from it. This is the genius of English Church builders for hundreds of years, who built those elaborate screens in front of the sanctuary and placed a Crucifix above the doorway. They sent a silent message, reinforced every time the priest entered the sanctuary to celebrate the Mass, and every time he left the sanctuary to Baptise or to give Communion; the Cross is the gateway to heaven.

Today, we fulfil again the prophecy of Isaiah, they shall look upon the one whom they have pierced. Jesus’ saving mission is accomplished on the Cross. My sins and your sins pierced him through. Isaiah writes, ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried… he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed. Today we look upon the one we have pierced, we bend low, we kneel before the Cross of Christ, we kiss it, because we see in it the doorway to heaven.

Tomorrow night we celebrate the resurrection, tomorrow we glory in the cross, today however we join in the sorrowful hymn of the whole Church, as we behold Christ crucified and cry out “I crucified you.” Today we repent, we fast, we recognise our sins, our faults, our failings. Today we look upon the one whom we have pierced, and we pray;

Lord, pardon us for our sins.

Lord, comfort us in our suffering.

Lord, let our Faith in you increase.