Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The sign of the Cross

The Sign of The Cross

Hello everyone and welcome to the Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and
exposed. I’m Michael Voris.
It’s both amazing and wonderful how we humans can pack so much meaning into such
simple signs and symbols.
And for Catholics .. the symbolism is so rich .. it’s almost dizzying .. and yet so simple
that most of the time we simply overlook the depth of our signs.
For example .. take the sign of the cross. We even CALL it a s-i-g-n because we know it
points to a reality that the sign .. the symbol cannot contain in itself.
This simple gesture encapsulates ALL of salvation history. And yet we Catholics do this
with rarely giving a thought to the almost indescribable truth and reality behind it.
Consider this for a moment. When we both trace the sign of the sign of the cross on our
bodies and call on the Blessed Trinity .. we physically .. with body and speech sum up the
essential Eternal Truth .. that Almighty God is a relationship between three Divine
Persons .. Father Son and Spirit.
At the heart of God is a community and that we are called into HIS internal life .. his
internal Eternal life through the action of the Second Person on the cross.
When Our Blessed Lord says .. No one comes to the Father except through me .. He
ALSO means no one comes to Him except through the cross. Matthew’s gospel records
this explicit truth of Jesus ..“take up your cross and follow Me.”
Follow Him where? Well .. to Calvary and death certainly .. but after that .. INTO the
relationship of love .. of total self-giving and total outpouring that IS God. When John
tells us that God IS Love .. he is speaking of this relationship between Father Son and Spirit.
And it is from this relationship .. this Divine nuclear power plant .. that the Second
Person descends to us .. clothes Himself in our flesh .. our nature .. our humanity and then
return to the Father and Spirit with Humanity in tow. From all Eternity .. Father Son and Spirit always knew that this would be the case .. that
in the fullness of time God would descend into His creation .. associate Himself so
closely with the material world .. mingle the Divine with the created SO intimately .. to
such an overwhelming degree that there could never be a GREATER means of manifesting His love.
This is why the Eucharist .. the Blessed Sacrament .. is necessary. Yes NECESSARY.
Without it .. God’s physical love for his creatures would have been circumscribed ..
limited in time to the hills and dusty trails of Palestine 2000 years ago. The people of
that time and place had access to His Divine Presence manifest in His human body, and so do we.
It would have been unfair .. unjust for the infinitely loving God to withhold the fullness
of Himself AFTER his self-revelation from everyone who happened to be born AFTER
He walked the earth.
This is why in the sacrifice of the Mass .. we Catholics call this THE MYSTERY OF
FAITH .. and why AT mass we gin and end with the symbol .. the sign of the cross.
We know that there is a mysterious and deep relationship between the cross and the
Eucharist and the Holy Trinity. It is Christ’s body in the Eucharist and Christ’s body that
was on the cross .. wonderfully and inextricably intertwined with His Divinity which
brings in the Father and the Son in one Time-shattering saving and redemptive action ..
desired by the Holy Trinity from all Eternity.
And to think .. we Catholics not only get to be the recipients and participators in this act ..
but we wrap it all up in a sign so simple that it is accessible to a mere child.
Truly .. with no doubt in our minds .. to BE Catholic is to be signed .. in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Never let ANYONE .. EVER take anything .. not one iota of the faith from you .. either
through their lack of preaching and teaching or more frontal attacks and assaults.
GOD Love you .. I’m Michael Voris.