When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

I was moved to tears when I sang "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" at the Psalm Sunday Mass this morning.This is a very familiar hymn from the Protestant days. Maybe it was the setting of the Catholic Mass - a church full of people, the palm branch in my hand, the smell of the incense, and the procession of the two priests, the seminarian, and a train of altar boys and girls all in their appropriate worship attires. Or maybe it was simply that I was overwhelmed with gratitude the love of God as represented by the cross, particularly after coming back to the Catholic Church at this point in my life.

As I listened to it again - this one sung by the Choir of Kings College at Cambridge, and read along the lyric:

(1) When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.	(3) See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
(2) Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save in the death of Christ, my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through his blood.	(4) Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

The hymn sums it up so beautifully this one truth about the cross: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." I need to look no further to find meaning and purpose than to look at the cross for the rest of my days. These words always pricked my soul deeply: "my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride"; "All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through his blood.".

These words of St. Paul's came to mine: "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."(1 Corinthians 1:18). I often ask God for power to be His witness. I'll find it in the Cross of Christ. That's why Jesus reminded us: "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27)

My understanding of the cross has changed a lot since becoming a Catholic also. Dr. David Anders explains it well: "Growing up Protestant, I learned that my sin moved God to anger and that His wrath had to be appeased by blood sacrifice. Protestants teach that God actively punishes Christ in the crucifixion, and in the descent into hell.   It is a vicarious punishment. God agrees to punish an innocent victim, treating him as if he were guilty of my offense. In exchange, I get off scot-free." This is known as Penal Substitution. Against this view Dr. Anders explains the Catholic view: "...the (Catholic) Church rejects the idea of vicarious punishment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this plain, “Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned.” (CCC 603)  Not only would such punishment be unjust, it would also express a very defective view of Christ’s divinity.  God the Son cannot be at enmity with God the Father, nor does the Father reject him. Even on the Cross, Christ never failed to be in perfect union with God the Father... In Catholic teaching, Christ’s death is a sacrifice in the sense that he offers up something of value – namely, his own human life.  It is analogous the the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. The worshiper under the Mosaic covenant gave up something of value (a heifer, a goat, a lamb, even grain) in token of thanksgiving, reparation, or satisfaction.   There was no idea that God punished the victim for the sins of the worshiper,  no imputation of sins. The offering was rather a sign of the sincerity of the penitent.  Remember the words of David, “ I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:24)".

Jesus went to the cross to model for us to offer ourselves as living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Catholic Answers has a good talk show on "Why Jesus Died on the Cross" - it is really worth listening to.


This is another beautiful rendition of the hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-mKnY2HMXg

I told my wife to include this hymn at my funeral!