The holy Gospels tell us how, on the first Good Friday, the rocks in the foundations of Mount Calvary were divided - they were violently torn apart – the moment that Jesus Christ died. This was one of the many extraordinary signs in nature that day which testified that no ordinary man had just been murdered. God Himself had given His life for His Creation. His Divine love for His creatures - made in His Own image and likeness - caused Him to give Himself for them so completely that it resulted in this incomprehensible event - the Death of God. But as God is a God of Love, He is also a God of Truth, and He would not allow this supreme act of His Divine Love to remain unknown and unproclaimed.

A learned English professor, who despite his learning was unfortunately an atheist, would not believe any truth of religion without ‘scientific’ proof. As is all too often the case, this same man, while demanding that his own narrow thoughts be blindly respected and obeyed by his students, he would not subject himself to any higher authority. He would not follow any teaching of the Catholic Church. He demanded that everything could only be ‘proven’ by a completely natural and scientific explanation. Otherwise – it just did not exist. Miracles therefore, in his opinion, were impossible. Effectively, religion could only be ‘followed’ as long as faith was not required.

But as is so often the case… those who shut their hearts to the existence of the extraordinary (which proves the existence of God, Who performs the extraordinary) … fail to recognize the presence of the extraordinary in every aspect of their life. So many ‘ordinary’ actions of our everyday lives are, in reality, filled with the most amazing complexity. True science is itself one of the clearest proofs of God’s existence.

But God is so loving, that in addition to these ‘ordinary’ and ‘everyday’ miracles which we often experience without even noticing… He gives us extraordinary proofs of His existence, His power, and His Love.

And so it happened that this professor was once making a tour of Palestine and, hearing of the wonder of the divided rocks of Calvary, decided to go and see the famous cracks himself. He was certain that the whole affair was a completely natural occurrence, and that it had merely been exaggerated by ‘pious believers’. The learned Englishman was quite sure though that, after one good look at the giant split, he would be able to personally ridicule such a foolish ‘proof’ of the existence of God.

Arriving at Calvary, he made straight way for the summit. There were the rocks, with their ‘cracks’. But when the professor stared down into the gaping crevices between the rocks, his ‘scientific’ mind was challenged with an unexplainable sight. The breaks caused by the earthquake of the very first Good Friday did not follow the natural flow of the terrain or rock. A natural earthquake would split the rock and soil where it was weakest, along its ‘seam’ so to speak. But these breaks were unnatural. The rocks were rent in the most oblique directions - with jagged splits harshly cutting through it in sideways, slanted and crooked angles.

The man was stunned. He could not believe it… yet he had to. It was right there in front of him! Completely baffled and humbled, the professor no longer denied it – he could not. So deep was his conviction and conversion, that he himself was afterwards quoted as saying:

"I begin to believe in Christ. I have made a profound study of mathematics and physics, and I see clearly that these rents (splits) are the result of no ordinary earthquake, and I thank God for having brought me here to contemplate this monument of His power, and this lasting proof of Christ’s Divinity."

God has given us many unquestionable proofs of His Love for us. If we keep our hearts open, begging Him for the grace to not harden our hearts, we will see and recognize God’s Love for us everywhere - in the extraordinary and miraculous, and in the simple and personal way that His Love touches us every day.

Let us let God’s Love for each of us - starting with the sacrifice of His Beloved Son’s death on Calvary - penetrate into our hearts as that seed in the parable… That, with His grace and Mary’s aid, we may yield forth fruit one hundred fold.