What is the Cross?

Dear Friends,

Suppose that the TV game show Jeopardy! had a Final Jeopardy! category titled

2025 New York Times Headlines

And suppose the clue, the Jeopardy answer, was

A hot accessory, at the intersection of faith and culture.

What is the winning question?

What is the cross?

In April 2025 a New York Times writer explored the multiple meanings that the cross symbol can hold. The September 14 Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is an apt time to reflect on the cross, its multiple meanings, and the meaning of the cross for you and for your neighbors in 2025.

This blog post consists of a series of possible answers to that question. As you read them, ask yourself what the cross means to you. Open yourself to the meanings the symbol may hold for Christians, for believers of other faiths, for historians, for artists, for the angry, for the faith-filled. Ask yourself the Final Jeopardy! question: What is the cross?

• A cover decoration on a well-worn prayer book
• A jeweled museum exhibition piece
• A First Communion gift
• A family heirloom on a dining room wall
• A logo for an international relief organization
• A Roman instrument of torture and execution
• A prehistoric symbol on a cave wall
• A gold necklace worn by a government spokesperson
• A roadside commemoration of a traffic death
• A fiery sign of KKK racial hatred
• A terrifying reminder of first people’s extinction
• A bedazzled decoration on a denim jacket
• A logo on a communion vessel
• A comforting symbol of Jesus’s death and rising

Reflecting with you,
Susan Schantz SSJ