Cross or Crucifix?

Question:

Why do Catholics use crucifixes instead of an empty cross? Don't they realize Christ is risen from the dead?

Answer

We use the crucifix for the same reason that non-Catholics may sing hymns such as, for instance, "Are You Washed in the Blood?" or "Nothing But the Blood": to commemorate the great sacrifice that our Lord made for us by dying for our sins.

Emphasizing our Lord's sacrificial love is of course an entirely natural thing for a Christian to do. Thus, we see the Apostle Paul write to the Corinthians: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Later on in that letter, while describing the institution of the Lord's Supper, he reminds us that  "For as often you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes." Furthermore, when addressing the Galatians, he emphasizes that  "before [their] eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified" (Galatians 3:1).  In other words, a Christian should frequently recall what our Lord endured to accomplish our salvation. A crucifix is simply a visual aid towards that end.*

It should go without saying, however, that remembering the great price that our Lord paid to ransom us from our sins (whether such as the Apostle Paul describes, or using a crucifix, or singing songs about the blood of Jesus, etc ) does not at all imply that we do not acknowledge His resurrection from the dead as well. After all, it was in fifteenth chapter of that very same letter to the Corinthians in which Paul so stresses the crucified Christ in which he also gives his most eloquent defense of the Resurrection. Indeed, there he states quite bluntly:

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Without the Resurrection, the Crucifixion would simply be a tragedy, and its Victim, far from demonstrating Himself to be the Victorious Son of God, would appear to merely be a deluded man, another would-be Messiah whose career was cut short by a Roman government who swiftly extinguished a perceived threat to the supremacy of Caesar. That is why it is Easter, the day of the Resurrection, that is the greatest feast on the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, and the Easter season which is celebrated for 50 days. It demonstrated Christ to be the Lord of Glory (cf. 1 Cor 2:8), who was "raised for our justification" (Rm 4:25), and from whom we receive eternal life.

But just as the Crucifixion without the Resurrection is meaningless, it is also true that there is no resurrection without the Crucifixion. There is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. We "enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15). It is important to keep his death ever in mind as well (just as the serpent in the wilderness which prefigured it was displayed before the eyes of the Israelites). A crucifix is a powerful reminder.

Incidentally, I must admit, though, I do not see how an empty cross would in any way emphasize the resurrection in some supposed contrast to the crucifix, in any case. After all, on the evening of the first Good Friday, when Christ was dead, not only was His cross already empty, but so were the crosses of the thieves crucified with him (cf. John 19:31)! An empty Cross implies nothing about a coming victory. There have been countless empty crosses throughout history, when their victims were removed from them. There is only one such person, however, who rose from the dead. While a cross is useful as a (simpler) reminder of the sacrifice Christ made when He died, you would need another symbol in order to represent His victory over the grave.

Finally, to conclude this short piece, a quote by the great English writer, G.K. Chesterton, that comes from his autobiography, provides some additional food for thought:

The sort of Evangelical who demands what he calls a Living Christ must surely find it difficult to reconcile with his religion an indifference to a Dying Christ; but anyhow one would think he would prefer it to a Dead Cross [...] If a man were ready to wreck every statue of Julius Caesar, but also ready to kiss the sword that killed him, he would be liable to be misunderstood as an ardent admirer of Caesar. If a man hated to have a portrait of Charles the First, but rubbed his hands with joy at the sight of the axe that beheaded him, he would have himself to blame if he were regarded rather as a Roundhead than a Royalist. And to permit a picture of the engine of execution, while forbidding a picture of the victim, is just as strange and sinister in the case of Christ as in that of Caesar.

NOTES
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*Of course, a bare cross can also be (and is) used by Catholics for the same reason, but for obvious reasons, a crucifix better serves as a visual reminder of his sacrifice.