Given at the Solemn Liturgy of the Passion, Good Friday, 15th April 2022 at Westminster Cathedral
We have knelt in silence, marking the moment of the death of Jesus.
We have heard the solemn proclamation of the words: ‘It is accomplished’.
Now, for us, the cross is no longer simply an instrument of torture but it is the fulfilling of God's will and, for us, a sign of victory.
That cross will be carried among us shortly.
We shall see our King.
We shall see the faithful witness.
We shall see our Saviour.
We shall come forward, with confidence, to that Throne of Grace, to touch his cross, to make it our own.
That touch - today a touch rather than a kiss - expresses our desire to be his disciples, his people, a people like him committed to compassion in a world marked by terrible suffering and cruelty, a people wanting to give up resentment and bitterness, a people crying out, with him, ‘Father, forgive!’
‘This is the wood of the cross on which hung the Saviour of the world.’
Listen now to these words, written over a thousand years ago in the ‘Dream of the Rood’. Here it is the tree that speaks, telling us of this great and wonderful deed in which today we find such sorrow and such joy.
Then the best of the wood said in words:
That was very long ago – I remember it still –
I was hewn down from the edge of the wood
ripped up by my roots.
Strong foes seized me there,
worked in me an awful spectacle,
ordered me to heave up their criminals.
Those warriors bore me on their shoulders
until they set me down upon a hill.
Enemies enough fastened me there.
I saw then the Saviour of Mankind hasten with great zeal,
as if he wanted to mount up upon me.
There I did not dare, not against the word of the Lord,
bow or break, when I saw the corners of the earth tremble
I might have felled all the enemies, nevertheless I stood fast.
He stripped himself then, young hero, that was God Almighty
– strong and resolute – he climbed up onto the high gallows,
brave in the sight of many when he wanted to redeem mankind.
I trembled when the warrior embraced me;
even then I did not dare to bow to earth,
fall to the corners of the earth, but I had to stand fast.
I was reared a cross. I heaved up the powerful King,
the Lord of Heaven; I dared not topple or reel.
They skewered me with dark nails,
wounds so easily seen upon me,
treacherous strokes yawning open.
I dared injure none of them.
They mocked us both together.
I was besplattered with blood,
sluicing out from that man’s side,
after launching forth his soul.
Many vicious deeds have I endured on that hill –
I saw the God of Hosts racked in agony.
Darkness had covered over with clouds
the corpse of the Sovereign,
the gleaming light, black under breakers.
All creation wept, lamenting the King’s fall.
Christ was upon the cross.
From ‘The Dream of the Rood’, English, 8th - 10th century
By your cross and Resurrection, Lord, you have redeemed the world. You are the Saviour of us all. Amen.
✠ Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
Photo: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk