Today, at Robbie's baptism, I showed Mark how to daub his fingers in holy water and make the sign of the cross on his forehead, abdomen, and both shoulders.
"Why do I do this? Mark asked.
"Because it makes God happy," I replied.
"Why does God want my shirt to get wet?" he responded.
I had no answer. Add that to the other slew of theological dilemmas.
I love Mark's questions but the next time you instruct him on making the sign of the cross, correct yourself and tell him it's over the chest (heart) and not the abdomen.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, you are correct (and how shocking for me to admit that to a Lutheran!).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I find that touching the abdomen instead of the heart makes a better cross.
But still we're stuck wondering why God takes pleasure in a wet shirt.
Mark is the original ad fontes. The scriptures do not suggest that wet shirts, tunics, togas, or anything delights the Lord: so why do so?
Actually, I am a life long Catholic. (My wife and children are Lutheran though. I attend both churches although the Lutheran church sees me more regularly.) Having been indoctrinated from an early age in the teachings of the Catholic church, to the point of being an alter boy and learning the Mass in Latin, I will probably never really leave the Catholic church. In the Lutheran church, where the sign of the cross generally is not made by members of the congregation during services, I still find myself wanting to make it out of a reflex reaction at certain points of the service that are similar to that of the Catholic church. I guess you can take the boy out of the church but you can't take the religion out of the boy. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
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