Rosary

I have been asked/criticized about why I wear a rosary. As you know, it is the traditional cross of the Catholics which has Jesus still hanging on the cross. At first, I wore it for fashion and coolness but I have thought long and hard about it and am ready to present my reasons for it. But first I will give my idea on why many disagree with this icon that I choose to wear.

Many people are under the impression that having the protestant cross without a person hanging on it symbolizes that Christ is risen and the cross is empty. They usually argue that since it is written (i think in hebrews) that Christ died once for our sins, that he should no longer hang on the cross. Therefore, the Catholic cross with Jesus still on it is incorrect.

An argument against this, though not the reason that I wear it, is that an empty cross does not symbolize a risen Christ. Jesus was removed from the cross by soldiers when he was dead. Therefore, an empty cross only enforces a "more dead" Christ than a cross with Christ still on it as Christ is still dying when he is hanging and therefore still alive. The only symbol that christian tradition gives us of resurrection is the empty tomb. Only then is Christ risen.

Now that you see the problem with the whole "risen Christ" argument, there is really no reason to choose one over the other other than for aesthetic reasons. However, let me present to you my reasons for wearing the rosary.

As a Westerner, I have an abundance of everything. Food, clothing, shelter. All are met in my world. You see youth going on a 30 hour famine and then gorging themselves afterwards as if they had accomplished some great feat. You see people like myself whose life dilemma is over whether to buy this iPod or that one. People like myself have to be shaken and woken up from this slumber of materialism. People who wake up and think they are stressed in life when they have never had to worry about when they would eat next. People like me who say we have worries about finances when most of the world has financial worries that include not having enough money for food. People like me who think that life is all about myself and what my future holds and how i get to this future.

So why the rosary, what does it do for us?

In my personal experience, I find that when you are standing in line, waiting to buy $100 worth of useless clothes, looking down and seeing Christ on the cross just speaks worlds to me. I can almost hear him whisper, "there is more to life than this". Its like seeing him reminds you of the message and the good news that life is more than buy this and owning that. Life is more than accomplishing this and that, being this, marrying them, having X number of kids, driving this car, dying my hair a certain color.

Christ on the cross reminds me of why he died. So I could be free
of my sins and from this world

He reminds me of the life that is full. What it means to be a real human being, a full human being. And this life is not found in the useless, idiotic worries that we have in what we own and who we are defined by society which is built on foolishness.

I do feel that there is a place for the jesusless cross.
Places plauged by drought, where this is your 3rd child that is about to die of AIDS, where there is terror and you don't know how much longer you will live. Africa, the Middle East, etc

These places need to see the hope of a risen Christ. They need to look to something to remember that there is hope.

However, us in the west need to wake up and remember that there is more to life. That our worries are so shallow and empty. That we don't have any real worries. That we don't have any real needs. That we can give more than we think. That we have more than we think.

So there you go, may christ hanging on the cross remind you of why he died. May he remind me of why he died. May he remind us that there is so much more to the life he brought us than just to be free of our personal sins. May he remind us that our freedom has sent us out to love others. And may he lift up this veil that has blinded me which says that my life is lacking and there is so much I need to be fulfilled and may I see what I can give and live without to be fully human.