Homily Notes, 05-30-2021 - The Sign of the Cross

 05-30-21
Trinity Sunday

Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738-1739

Trinity Sunday is the great feast of God Himself.

One of the most important prayers of the Church, and one of the most neglected and forgotten, is the Sign of the Cross.

It begins and ends every prayer, but unfortunately we often make it without even thinking we go through the motions without really thinking about it.  Sometimes we're even embarrassed to do it in public. Often times we slur the words quickly when in fact the words are very important.

The prayer is essential because it expresses the most important truths of the faith.  Before a convert can be baptized, they have to study and know the faith.  They will be taught the faith for perhaps 6 months.  Yet those who convert on their deathbed do not have time for such study.  They can still be baptized and know certain truths of the faith.  Which truths are the most important?  St. Thomas Aquinas says there are 4 truths everyone needs to know to be baptized and that they are contained in the sign of the cross.

1. Belief in God; one God. We say "In the NAME of" - singular, one God.  There can be only one God because there can be only one infinite being.  There can't be multiple gods.  God is every perfection without limit; if there were 2 gods, one would have to be better than another, would have to have a perfection that the other didn't have.  Two infinitely perfect beings would be the exact same.  Remember God, to whom you are praying and offering your prayers.  The sign of the cross recalls the presence of God.

2. Belief in the Trinity: one God in three Divine Persons.  "In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" - three distinct Persons in one God.  The Athanasius Creed was written specifically to emphasize the Blessed Trinity, that Jesus is God.  It was composed against heresy.  It is one of the most important creeds (there are 3.)  Each person of the Blessed Trinity has all the perfections of God because they are all the same God.  They are not multiple gods.  They share the same nature.  It's one of the greatest mysteries of our faith.  We can never truly know or understand God.  No human can grasp God perfectly.  We can always know God better; no matter how much we know, there is always more to know. "God is Trinity because He is charity" - Marcel Lefebvre.  Love needs mutuality.  No creature can love God the way He deserves to be loved.  Only God can share His perfect love and perfectly return that love.  No man can love God perfectly.  We can never completely understand it but we can understand it to a small degree.  That's why the names: the father and son, help us to understand this sharing of the same divine nature for all eternity.  "The Word" - a word is an expression of an idea.  Jesus is the expression of the idea of the Eternal Father.  God's thought of Himself is eternal and perfect and complete; His thought of Himself does not differ from reality of who He is, and this thought is Jesus.  All things that exist, first exist in the mind of God perfectly.  Then they exist here on earth with God as their cause.  You can't have two persons in this Trinity without their being a perfect love given between them.  This perfect love between them is the person of the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost is the sanctifier that brings the love of God to earth and enables us to receive grace.  God loves Himself in and through the Trinity of persons.

3. Belief in the incarnation and redemption.  The tracing of the cross over our body reminds us that the cross was the means of our salvation.  The Cross is a reminder that Jesus suffered and died for us on the Cross.  It reminds us of what we should be willing to offer in return.  This is what Christ gave to me; what should I give in return?  It was through the Cross that grace was brought back into the world.  By the tree of the Cross, grace was brought back into the world.  We sinned and we need God to forgive us.

4. Belief that God is good; that He will reward the good and punish the evil.  We can't really think of the Cross without remembering God's justice.  It was fitting for Jesus to give His life, to die for us, that is the price of salvation, the price of our sins.  It is such a great price that it is an infinite price.  Only an infinite God can pay that price.  We must live a life of grace, worthy of God, so that the effects of the Cross can be in us.

The Sign of the Cross is an expression of these four truths.  We should remember these essential truths every time we make the Sign of the Cross.  It is a sign of our faith to the world.  Make it boldly as an example to those around us and as a reminder of these realities: one God, three Persons, incarnation, death on Cross, and He will reward us for good and punish us for sin.

Today, every day, and always, make the Sign of the Cross as attentively as you can.  Don't be embarrassed.  Make it as an act of love to God, an act of faith, and a sign of our salvation.  Through the power of the Holy Trinity, all things are possible.  Begin and end your prayers by making the Sign of the Cross well.