Religion without a Cross?
April 28, 2026
1 May
St Joseph the Worker
Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a much longer history.
In a constantly necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Comment:
“The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). The Father created all and asked humanity to continue the work of creation. We find our dignity in our work, in raising a family, in participating in the life of the Father’s creation. Joseph the Worker was able to help participate in the deepest mystery of creation. Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Saviour of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work. Thus, if you wish to be close to Christ, we again today repeat, ‘Go to Joseph’” (see Genesis 41:44). (From DRM, 2021 ed)
And how can you and I show our love and devotion to our Mother during this month that the Church dedicates to her? How can you and I love her in the way she wants to be loved and be pleased? By praising her repeatedly with the words of the Archangel Gabriel when God sent him to deliver to her His message of divine predilection. In addition, our words of petition to her to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Words of love never tire or bore the beloved especially words coming from her very own children. Following is the article on Marian Pilgrimages from St. Josemaria Institute.
May 3, 2024 by St. Josemaria
Institute
Marian Pilgrimages in the Month of May
“If
we look at the world, at the People of God, during this month of May, we will
see devotion to our Lady taking the form of many old and new customs practiced
with great love. It makes me very happy to see that this devotion is always
alive, awakening in Christians a supernatural desire to act as ‘members of
God’s household.'”
St. Josemaria Escriva
Christ is Passing By, no. 139
A Marian Pilgrimage in the Spirit of St. Josemaria Escriva
On
May 2, 1935, St. Josemaria Escriva and two friends went on a pilgrimage to the
Shrine of Our Lady of Sonsoles in Avila, Spain (shown in the picture
above). St. Josemaria desired to show an outward expression of devotion to
the Blessed Virgin Mary during the month of May, which the Church traditionally
dedicates to her.
Pilgrimage
to shrines of our Lady, especially in May, are a centuries-old tradition. On
this pilgrimage, however, St. Josemaria found the answer and saw how an
intimate pilgrimage, with one or two friends, would be a singular way to honor
Mary and to deepen one’s devotion to her. From that moment St.
Josemaria spread the devotion of the Marian pilgrimage among his spiritual
children in Opus Dei and all the faithful who desired to grow closer to her.
Saint
Josemaria wrote:
“Seeing
how so many Christians express their affection for the Virgin Mary, surely you
also feel more a part of the Church, closer to those brothers and sisters of
yours… My own experience and yours are proof of the effects of sincere devotion
to our Lady. I remember how in 1933 I went to visit a shrine in Spain, the
shrine of our Lady of Sonsoles. It wasn’t a pilgrimage in the normal sense: nothing
noisy or elaborate, just three of us. I respect and love public demonstrations
of devotion, but I must admit I prefer to offer Mary the same affection, the
same enthusiasm, in private visits or with very few people — a more intimate
sort of thing.
During
that visit to Sonsoles I was told the origin of the name of the shrine. The
statue had been hidden during the wars between Christians and Moslems in Spain,
and after a number of years it was found by shepherds. According to the story,
when they saw it they exclaimed: “What beautiful eyes; they are suns!”
[Spanish: son soles]” (Christ is Passing By, no. 139).
How to Make a Marian Pilgrimage
Today
we can follow the same details from St. Josemaria’s pilgrimage in 1935 as
we make our own Marian pilgrimages during the month of May:
1.
Use the devotional guide The May Pilgrimage: Sowing Peace & Joy in the
World to help you prepare for the
pilgrimage. [ Click to Download
PDF ]
2.
Find a local shrine or church
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
3.
Invite a couple of friends or family
members to accompany you.
4.
Keep a spirit of prayer and penance.
5.
Pray one set of the mysteries of the
rosary on the way there and another on the way back. At the shrine itself, or
before the picture or statue of Our Lady that is visited, pray the mysteries of
the rosary for that day of the week, plus the Litany of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Additionally,
it is helpful to remember to:
·
Bring a rosary
·
Bring a booklet to help you pray and
meditate on the mysteries of the rosary. For example, Praying
the Rosary with St. Josemaria Escriva.
·
Think about all the special
intentions and prayers of thanksgiving that you want to bring to Mary
·
Pray for the intentions of the Pope
and the needs of the Church
·
Pray for the intentions of those who
are with you on the pilgrimage
Early this morning I got the inspiration to plan pilgrimages
this May especially May 1 being a holiday.
I thought that I could try inviting the junior staff one by one on
different days to do a pilgrimage walking around the nearest shrine of Our Lady
or even riding a tricycle if the shrine is further away.
The challenge is on you and me this coming month. I am sure we will not allow the heat to impede us who want to show our love for our mother and from praying for the intentions of the members of our family, relatives, friends and the whole world clamors for peace in the hearts and minds of each one.
If we cannot go out to a shrine of Our Lady let us be assured that praying the Holy Rosary in our homes is as good when we do it freely and joyfully out of love for our Lady. To top it all whatever good deed you and I do benefits us personally making us more and more perfect children of God and of our Lady; better persons.
Plan out your month of May with family, relatives and friends and be happy bringing others to Our Lady, to Jesus and St. Joseph. Following now let us continue with the first word of Christ on the Cross (From The Cries of Jesus from the Cross, A Fulton J. Sheen’s Anthology).
A Word to the Humanists
There are millions of souls in this great country of ours who have no religion whatsoever. Their attitudes vary from an earnest yearning for religion to an intense hatred of it. It is quite possible that all of them could be reduced to seven distinct categories.
Our Lord spoke seven times from the Cross — and these are called His seven last words. But those who were on Calvary’s Hill that afternoon addressed seven words to Him on the Cross, thus revealing the seven different impacts the Cross makes on souls.
The Seven Words that Our Lord spoke from the Cross were not specific answers to specific challenges, but they do reveal lessons applicable to the challenge.
The first of seven possible attitudes toward the Cross is that of humanism, for the first group to challenge the Cross was the humanists. The term humanist is here understood in the modern philosophical sense and embraces all those who want a religion without a Cross. They believe that man is naturally good, that progress is inevitable through science, and that human reason by its own effort is able to restore peace to the world and to consciences.
Humanists regard all suggestions about faith, grace, and the supernatural order as impractical and unnecessary. They want an education of self-expression, a God without justice, a morality without religion, a Christ without a Cross, a Christianity without sacrifice, a kingdom of God without redemption.
The humanists of our day had their prototypes on Calvary on Good Friday. They were those whom Sacred Scripture calls the “passersby” — a significant term indeed, for it suggests those who never remain long enough with religion to know anything about it, those who think themselves wise because they have had a passing acquaintance with Christ.
It is they who speak the first word to the Cross: “Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it; save thy own self: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross” (Matt. 27:40).
Our Lord is no sooner on the Cross than they ask Him to come down. “Come down from your belief in divinity! Come down from your teaching of hell! Come down from your belief that what God hath joined together no man may put asunder! Come down from your belief that Christ will preserve Peter from the gates of hell even to the consummation of the world! Come down from your belief in infallibility! Come down, and we will believe!”
And while the mob jeers, there comes from the Cross the answer: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They said: “If thou be the Son of God.” Humanists are certain only of humanity, not of divinity.
But He spoke of God: “Father.” They said: “Come down.” They judged power by deliverance from pain. He said: “Forgive.” He judged power by deliverance from sin. They boasted of their knowledge and superior wisdom, and He reminded them that all their wisdom was ignorance: “They know not what they do.”
Religion, the humanists insist, must be love! And who speaks more of brotherhood than humanists? But they want love without a Cross. And that, Our Blessed Lord seems to imply, is impossible, for how shall love forgive without first satisfying justice? Shall love mean, “to let the sinner go on sinning” or shall it mean “to make the sinner sinless”?
A religion without a Cross! That is the essence of humanism. What we want to do here is not to prove the humanists wrong, but to try to make them understand the meaning of the Cross and how much it symbolizes the love to God. I speak directly to them.
Humanists: you have humanized God, and thus you have dehumanized man. By denying that man is supernatural, you have not left him even natural. For every man wants to be more than he is.
You have tried to make all men brothers, but have you not forgotten that men cannot be brothers unless they have a common Father, and God cannot be a Father unless He has a Son — to whom we all are patterned as brothers?
Swine are content. But you humanists are not content with humanity, wherein, like monsters of the deep, man preys on man!
You want humanity to be humane. But if there be
no model for humaneness, how shall men be modeled?
Look to your doctrines of man: Whence came that which is best in him if it be not from the Best and Holiest?
In godless hands, man has withered like a rose without roots.
You make indeed a Republic of Kings, but you have no one to crown or anoint them.
The tragedy of your humanism is believing that dirty things are clean, that cruel are kind, that hence there is no need of a Cross: “Come down, and we will believe.” To you, all men are good. There are halos even in hell.
And so on Calvary’s Hill, you stand and ask in wisdom for a Christ without a Cross, while He answers: “Forgive!”
Do you not know that to have a world without a
Cross is in itself a cross? Do you know a mother worthy of the name who would
not, out of love, take the pain of her tender babe as her very own, because she
loves? Why, then, should not Supreme Love, in the face of evil, seek to take
the penalty that sin deserves, that the evil might be innocent again?
Then why do you say: “Come down, and we will believe”? If He came down, in whom would you believe?
Humanists, why are we at war if it be not because sin is in some human blood, and only in the shedding of just blood can there be remission of that sin?
Why not see, then, that great evils can be conquered only by a God-made-man upon a Cross? Why do you say: “Come down, and we will believe”? For if He came down, where would love be? “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
To avoid a war, when it alone can preserve justice, is not sanctity, you say, but vile surrender! Then to avoid a Cross that alone can redeem from sin is not human. It is ignorance of man’s great needs.
He that made your eye, shall He not see? He that made your ear, shall He not hear? He that made your soldiers brave enough to die, may not He Himself be a Captain dying to make wrong right?
Then why do you say: “Come down, and we will
believe”? Do you believe that you, who out of love of neighbor can sacrifice
yourself, can do that which God cannot do? Truly! You know not what you do.
Have you humanists ever seen Love stand up
against brute force and go down because it would not cease to love? If, then,
you bless the Sermon on the Mount, wherein love was preached, why do you curse
the Sermon on the Cross, where Love met hate and died? Is not Calvary
inseparable from the Mount, for love preached to evil must be crucified?
Love without power is destroyed by evil. But
Love armed with power will die rather than surrender goodness.
God must suffer, too, as man suffers. Else how can Love be love if it costs not the Lover? Did not your Goethe say: “If I were God this world of sin would break my heart”? Well, that is just what it did to Christ! It broke His Heart!
Why, then, if your love for man is sometimes met by sneer and scorn, do you say to a Christ whose God-love was crucified: “Come down, and we will believe”? In what can you believe, if Love must love without a Cross?
Not from any talisman of ancient times, but from heaven itself, has come the Cross. For there is “the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world” (Rev. 13:8). From that primal day, when the shedding of a brother’s blood cried up to the heavens, to this very hour, when the race of Abel lies slain by the jealous brethren of the race of Cain, the spilling of unjust blood cries out to heaven, until God heard, and came down as man to shed His blood, that a man might be more than a man — aye! A very child of God!
The Cross is eternal! It cannot be dug up; it cannot be taken down! It is the core of creation! It is the root of all our lesser Calvarys! Then why do you say: “Come down, and we will believe”?
It is God who gives us the Cross. And it is the
Cross that gives us God.
You want the Cross but not the crucifix. The cross you wear can be a charm, but the crucifix cannot. Somehow, when you see it, you feel involved! A statue of Buddha does not stir you. Put a crucifix on your desk for three days, and see what it does to you!
Humanists! Remember the days of the French Revolution, when a mob swept into the Tuileries; through room after room it went, destroying. Then, through a closed door, and, lo and behold a chapel! Above the tabernacle hung the crucifix. A hush fell upon the enraged mob. Someone cried: “Hats off.” Every head was bowed, then every knee was bent. Indifference was impossible. Then a humanist took the crucifix down, hung it in an adjoining house, and the wild tide of destruction rolled on! They had taken the Christ down from the Cross! Now they could proceed! Religion now was comfortable!
No wonder men want Christ to come down! They want a Cross but not a crucifix. A crucifix perils your soul. You stand unmoved before the Sphinx — but the Christ on His Cross involves you in its guilt.
Suppose the Christ upon that Cross came down as you bade! He would have forced you then to do His will; and where, then, would be your freedom? One day He will come without His Cross! Bearing it rather than being borne! But that will be to judge and strike and not to heal, as now; for then the time of healing will be past!
The human never long remains the humanist, for either beast or angel he becomes, but not just man! If you came from the beast, you cannot leave the beast behind. But if you came from God, then you can leave humanity behind and be a child of God! This is true humanism, where man finds his center in his Source.
Before ’tis too late, dear humanists, desist
your plea: “Come down, and we will believe.” But harken: “Father! Forgive.”
Forgiveness is not cheap. If He offered it without a Cross, you would not take
it. But from a nail-pierced hand, how could you refuse? That Cross is the price
God paid to buy you from your sins. Without it, there is neither sin nor God.
As you rise in the scale of nobility, do you not choose pain and trouble rather than comfort and ease? Then why not choose Him who did just that for you?
— Seven Words to the Cross
Once again I will not tire of reminding each of us of the need to talk to Our Lord about the above thoughts in our quiet moments of conversation with Him during the day and during the week. There is a lot of wisdom in the above words and elaboration on the first word of Christ on “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” You and I have been forgiven for our ignorance and yet we cannot remain ignorant forever.
I will not say more as I would like very much to publish this post today.
See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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