From the rite of "Welcome of Inquirers"
The fourth way a person in this rite is marked is on the lips and these words are used: Receive the cross on your lips, that you may sing the praise of Christ, the joy of the church.
It is a mark that sends us out into life make all that we say into something that brings praise to our Lord. Rather than speak falsely of others, we speak well. Rather than being consumed by the gossip that contaminates relationships and makes life into a living hell for everyone, we are marked with a truth-telling and a straight forward presence that brings the Christ into the shaping of our day. Such a life as this - a life that sings the praises of Christ - demonstrates to the those around us - both in and out of the Church - the contrary way in which our Lord, Jesus, leads us in and through life. When such voices pass our lips, they bring joy to the world! Like the angels in the sky at the birth of the Christ child...joy that is ready to make something incredibly new burst alive within our world. Having said all this, I must always remind myself of the fact that I need this mark to help me keep my mouth shut until what I speak is able to go through the prayerful filter of the Holy Spirit who demands truth from us that is not mired in the hate and bitterness that can so often color what we say, when we say it, and how we say it.
Connection: When will this "joy" be heard within our speaking this day? When will this mark of the cross remake our day and in that remaking, open up to us a life we may not have entered previously? One of the most difficult parts of having our lips blessed is that we are pulled into a ministry in which we help others when their lips are too willing to spout off things that are less than filled with the joy of the Church.
We life up our voices to you, O God of Great Mercy, and we pray that our lives will become instruments of your love and mercy in all that we do and say. Turn us into parts of that grand choir whose lives praise you from now until the end of all things. Amen.
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