The fact that the priest presiding at the wedding was a Jesuit shouldn’t make any difference. The ideally ought to be celebrated the same way by any priest, though quite a few do take the liberty to improvise things according to their own tastes. The ideal is that the Mass is something universal belonging to the whole church, not something belonging to the priest that he can tinker with as he sees fit. That said, I have never seen the triple-crossing done at any part of the liturgy other than right before the Gospel. Are you sure you’re remembering the sequence of events properly?
The sequence of events is
(Priest/Deacon): "The Lord be with you."
(All): "And also with you."
(P/D): "A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. {N.}"
(All): "Glory to you, O Lord."
The people then bless themselves with the gesture discussed in the posts, which basically covers all the meanings mentioned by other posters.
The Gospel reading is proclaimed, after which the priest or deacon says: "The Gospel of the Lord."
(All): "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ."
I don’t recall ever seeing a standard explanation for what precisely it means, but the general gist of the gesture is hard to miss. As one of my professors has said more than once, the measure of a good liturgical action is that its meaning will be understood without somebody needing to stop and explain it. You may need to think about it, but it isn’t something utterly incomprehensible. (Mircea Eliade, Louis Dupre, and Karl Rahner (among others) have excellent insights on the nature of the religious symbol, the implications of which I’m still trying to work out for myself a year after I took a course on Symbolic Theology.)
I think that more or less handles any concerns I had concerning the OP. I’d just like to make a few points about readings at Mass as just a FYI in response to a few things I’ve seen here and there in the post. You don’t really need to read any further if you don’t want to.
On Sundays and solemnities, there are three readings. The first is usually from the OT, but at certain times of the year (most notably during Lent and the Easter Season), readings from Revelation or the Acts of the Apostles may be proclaimed instead.
Following the first reading is the Responsorial Psalm, which is typically taken from one of the OT psalms. There are a few exceptions, however, which are more properly called canticles. The example that most readily comes to mind is, as dqa mentioned, the Benedictus or Canticle of Zechariah. Taken from Luke 1:68-79, these are the words Zechariah speaks as he holds his infant son, John the Baptist. And somewhat analagous to the Anglican Mattins service mentioned by Northern Piper, the Benedictus is sung daily as part of the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours (also called the Divine Office) as part of Lauds (Morning Prayer). The Responsorial Psalm is so named because it in some way responds to the first reading. The next time any of you are at Mass, try to see how the first reading and psalm fit together.
The second reading is always taken from one of the New Testament Epistles. The Epistle does not necessarily connect with the other readings of the day, but the epistles often do have a continuity with each other from week to week. Often, readings will come from successive passages of the same letter for several weeks.
The final scriptural reading is always from one of the Gospels, and is always proclaimed by either a priest or a deacon. hermn8r’s post handled the subject of the proclamation of the gospel quite well. I’ll just add that the Gospel and the first reading go together, so again, it’s often interesting to look for connecting themes among the readings. The readings for Sunday Masses are on a three year cycle, which is currently in year C. In each year of the cycle, the majority of the Gospel readings will come from a single evangelist, Matthew (Year A), Mark (Year B), or Luke (Year C). The Gospel of John is proclaimed most often on various holy days and solemnities.
A daily Mass only has two readings and a psalm. The first reading can either be an Epistle or an Old Testament reading. The psalm follows the reading, and then the Gospel is proclaimed immediately afterward. The readings for daily masses are on a two year cycle, which is currently in year 1.
Before Vatican II, there were two readings and a psalm, following the format which is currently used for daily masses. I believe that the same readings were used every year, but I can’t remember off hand. In addition the first chapter of John (“In the beginning was the Word,” etc.) was proclaimed at the very end of the Tridentine Mass after the dismissal, interestingly enough.
And finally, to touch on what Chronos said, there are as many as eight readings proclaimed at the Easter Vigil, which is the most important Mass of the entire year on the liturgical calendar. Many parishes only do a few of the readings, because the Vigil is an extremely long Mass already. The point of all those readings, however, is telling the story of the history of God’s relationship with mankind, from Genesis to the resurrection of Jesus. In part, this is done because new members will be initiated into the Church later in the Mass. During the Sunday Masses of the preceding weeks, the catechumens had been entrusted with different elements of our Catholic faith and heritage. The readings at the Easter Vigil are the final step of this symbolic catechesis before the catechumens become full members of the Church. Since the Gospel is good news being proclaimed, the Mass is something we should be celebrating, not suffering through.
Wow, I’ve written way more than I originally intended, and now I need to get to class. I can hope that I’ve contributed in some small way to the discussion at hand.