Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 3:13–17
Dear Savers,
Hello! My name is Laura, and much to my daughter’s chagrin, I enjoy shopping at secondhand stores. There’s something about the unexpected discovery and thrill of the hunt that has me frequently picking and foraging through your dusty aisles, scouring the cluttered shelves for the diamond in the rough—that one hidden treasure. And boy, have I found treasures! In a recent visit, I uncovered not one, but two crucifixes on your shelves; one, a vintage '60s of ornate brass, and the other, a handsome cherry-stained wood. Together, these priceless sacramentals cost less than five dollars, and I couldn’t be more pleased with my shopping experience—with one exception: I found them on a shelf labeled knickknacks, and I am writing to let you know that our Savior deserves a better shelf.
I know, I know, you are Savers, not the Vatican City gift shop. Still, we can do better, don’t you think?
A knickknack is defined as a “small, worthless object.” These are words we would never dare to use to describe the cross. For a Catholic, the crucifix is an incredible reminder of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection; a symbol of God’s love for the world. What you categorize as a knickknack, St. John Chrysostom defines as “our trophy raised against the demons, our sword against sin, and the sword of Christ used to pierce the serpent.”[1] This is probably too long a description for a shelf label, but you get where I’m going, right?
Maybe you don’t. And I don’t blame you. We live in a world that downplays the cross while giving value to much lesser things.
This Sunday, the Catholic Church will celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The Gospel of John will remind us that “just as Moses lifted the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14–15). Do you remember the Old Testament story, when God punished the Israelites for complaining by sending them poisonous serpents? And how, as a remedy, He instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole, and to lift it high, promising healing to everyone who looked upon it (Numbers 21:4–9)? This was a foreshadowing of His own crucifixion and the healing it would bring to a rebellious world.[2] It’s no small thing, and the reason we exalt it; for through it, we have been reconciled to God—His promise has been fulfilled: “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be driven out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31–32).
The crucifix, a source of protection from sin and evil, also becomes a visible declaration of our faith. Not only do I want everyone who enters my home to know we put our hope in God, but there are also days when I need to be reminded myself. I’ll be honest—life is full of trials and tribulations, and if I take my eyes off Christ, even for a second, breathing can feel unbearable, and the temptation to lose the cross and give up on God runs deep. But then, I look up, remembering the words of Saint Andrew of Crete, who reminds us that, “Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled. Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable.”
All that said, if you’re not in the practice of studying the Scriptures or reading the wisdom of the saints, I can understand why a crucifix might get lumped together with the porcelain Hummels, antique figurines, and other tchotchkes. So sanitized and sterile, it lacks the visceral reality of what it is: an instrument of torture and crucifixion, the most gruesome, humiliating, and cruel form of execution. There was no loincloth. The wood was blood-soaked. His flesh was torn, and his skin lacerated. The crucifixion was not tidy, antiseptic, or easy to look at; it was an absolute horror. And we celebrate it.
If you think we are strange, this story might help:
The Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey in California have a chapel with crucifix I am longing to see, because in place of the usual heading we hang above a crucifix—INRI, the initials for the Latin title translated as Jesus, King of the Jews—it reads Rex Gloriae, which means the King of Glory, implying that we do not mourn the tragedy, we exalt the victory.
The paradox of the cross is that it is both:
weakness and strength,
defeat and victory,
foolishness and salvation,
woundedness and healing,
despair and hope, and
death and resurrection.
Oh, how we pray not to carry it, and yet there is no way to eternal life without it. Oh, how we try to run from it, and yet there is no escape. We are so afraid of being called to stand at the foot of it, yet there is no safer place to be.
More than a source of torture, the crucifix is a symbol of glory, that moment of victory when Jesus offered His life for sinners and reconciled the world to God. It’s amazing when you think about it, that the instrument humans used to reject Jesus, God used to redeem the world. And in a world where the reports of tragedy are far too numerous, what a comfort it is to know that God can take the worst evil and transform it into the greatest good.
No knickknack has the power to do that—only God.
I’m not asking that you build a shrine for religious donations, but I did notice that you keep your most valuable items for sale in a locked display case toward the front of the store. What if you kept the crucifixes there? I wonder if this would encourage the world to look at the cross with fresh eyes? It’s certainly worth a try.
With love,
Laura
Food for thought or journaling ...
The cross is not a tragedy. It is a victory. What can you do to celebrate it as the ultimate triumph and glory of Christ?
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. Amen.
P.S. If the gospel reading for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross has you interested in the stories of the Old Testament people and events, and the way they point us to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, check out our studies, Beholding His Glory and Beholding Your King.
[1] “25 Timeless Quotes About the Holy Cross From the Saints,” Catholic Ace (accessed September 2025), https://www.catholicace.com/holy-cross/.
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition (Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012), #2130.
