The Sign of the Cross

Let us begin, as always, with the sign of the Cross.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When we make the Sign of the Cross, each of our gestures points to his bloody wounds. First, we point to the bloody wounds on his head, then to the bloody wounds on his feet, then to each of his hands and last we steeple our fingers to form the tip of the spear that pierced his side.

When we point to the bloody wounds on his head, we remember God the Father whose head conceived the plan to compose a love note to us in heaven, to deliver it to us on earth at Bethlehem, to publish a ironclad guarantee of its genuineness in the conversation that took place between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, and to propagate it from then and there to us here and now whenever a priest says a Mass. The conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is the most apocalyptic conversation that we have ever had with our God.  We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive is the proof of the power of Jesus. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant than power. It is the proof that our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. Divinity is also love. Our God is our almighty lover. 

When we point to the bloody wounds on his feet, we think of God the Son whose feet executed the plan. What genre of literature is the Word of God? The Word of God is a Love Note! Our God is our almighty lover. 

When we point to the bloody wounds on each of his hands, we remember God the Holy Spirit whose hands hold up the truths that emerged from the Son's mortal sacrifice so they are never forgotten (John 14:26). Our God is our almighty lover. 

When we steeple our hands to form the tip of the spear that pierced his side, we recall the blood and water that gushed forth like the fountain of truth to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. Jesus was the treasure chest. The Crucifixion was the key. The Resurrection was the treasure. The treasure of Christianity is a high fidelity representation of the reality of God.  When we turned the key in the treasure chest, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and Jesus stepped through the rent in the veil to reveal the nature of God to us (Matthew 27:51). Our God is our almighty lover. 

His bloody wounds are the mouth of God. God preaches the good news of great joy to us through his bloody wounds.  "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). By his bloody wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5) (1 Peter 2:24). Witness the truth by watching the traffic through his bloody wounds. Buckets of blood poured from the wounds that our evil opened in his body.  His very life itself was carried through his wounds and out of his body on a cataract of blood. Yet, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through the wounds out of his body. His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us.

Can I get an 'Amen'?

Can I get an ' alleluia'?