“A genuinely made Sign of the Cross “makes all hell tremble.””
Let us begin our exploration of the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God with a short but powerful prayer, 'the Sign of the Cross'.
The gestures of the Sign of the Cross do not just point at the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ. They point through them. The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. They pierce the veil.
If we stop short and only look at the bloody wounds, we only see the guarantee of the genuineness of the message - the verification of its veracity - its certificate of authenticity. We see that we tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. We do not see the message itself.
The revelation that the Son of God made during his visit consists of two components: 1) the message itself and 2) the guarantee of the message.
In order to see the message itself, we must look through the bloody wounds not just at them.
If we look through the bloody wounds, we see more - much more. We see what God intended us to see. We see divinity in all of its glorious splendor. We see the engine that generates the sweet force that pulls us to the entrance of paradise. '
What do we see when we look through the bloody wounds?
We see that he did not stay dead and that he did not stop loving us. We see indestructibility. We see the indestructibility of the Son of God and the indestructibility of His love for us. Both the Son of God and His love for us survived the brutal baptism into which we immersed him. Life and love emerged intact and undiminished from the gauntlet of evil through which we ran the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth. We put the Son of God to the test. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. From the fact that he did not stay dead we discovered that Jesus is God. From the fact that he did not stop loving us we discovered the divinity is love. His survival revealed His omnipotence. Death itself has no power over Him and, by virtue of Him, over us. The survival of His love for us, however, revealed so much more - something greater and more powerful than omnipotence. The survival of His love for us revealed the very essence of divinity itself. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.
Therefore, let us re-learn this simple but powerful prayer --- that is all too often only perfunctorily said. Make the Sign of the Cross often. Prepare places of honor for it in your daily lives.
The Bloody Wounds in His Head
Name the Father. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the head of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.
Meditation: Jesus wears the crown because He is the King of Kings. Rank in the kingdom of God is determined by love. He holds the highest rank because He has the greatest love. He loved us before He entered the gauntlet of gruesome suffering, He loved us while passing through it, and loved us no less when He emerged.
The Bloody Wounds in His Feet
Name the Son. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the feet of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.
Meditation: The feet of God trod the earth, not above us as God, but on the same level as us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. He communicated His love for us in the unambiguous language of suffering - our native tongue. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering. All creatures who suffer understand this. Suffering is a price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the price because we are extremely dear to Him.
THE BLOODY WOUNDS IN HIS Hands
Name the Holy Spirit. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the hands of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.
Meditation: Despite all of the evil we did to Him, the arms of God still remain wide open and ready to embrace us in a great bear hug of overwhelming love if we would repent, turn ourselves around and start our climb out of the inhospitable cesspool of godlessness.
THE BLOODY WOUND IN HIS Side
Say Amen. Fold your hands together to form the point of the spear that pierced the side of Jesus. Look through the bloody wound we opened in His side as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.
Meditation: At Calvary, buckets of blood and His very life itself spilled from the wounds we opened in His body with lash, thorns, nails and spear. However, not a drop - not a drop - of His love for us spilled. His most sacred heart continued to be filled to the brim with love for us. He and His love for us had survived. This is the good news of great joy. At Bethlehem, the most Holy Trinity hand delivered to us a love note. At Calvary, they gave us a guarantee of its veracity.
You may be too busy to go to Mass or to Confession. You may not have enough time to say the Rosary. But what is your excuse for not making a meaningful Sign of the Cross?