Why do sign of the cross

It is a powerful prayer, a sacramental of the Church. Scripture, the Church Fathers and saints, and Catholic teaching offer six perspectives on the Sign of the Cross that reveal why making it opens us to life-transforming graces.

Once we grasp them, we can make the gesture with more faith and experience its great blessings. The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith in God as He has revealed himself. Touching our forehead, breast and shoulders and in some cultures, our lips as well , we declare our belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are announcing our faith in what God has done — the creation of all things, the redemption of humanity from sin and death, and the establishment of the Church, which offers new life to all.

But there is much, much more. First-century Christians began making the Sign of the Cross as a reminder and renewal of what happened to them when they were baptized. It still works the same way for us. When we sign ourselves we are declaring that in baptism we died sacramentally with Christ on the cross and rose to a new life with Him see Rom and Gal We are asking the Lord to renew in us those baptismal graces.

We are also acknowledging that baptism joined us to the Body of Christ and equipped us for our role of collaborating with the Lord in His work of rescuing all people from sin and death. At baptism the Lord claimed us as His own by marking us with the Sign of the Cross.

Now, when we sign ourselves, we are affirming our loyalty to Him. By tracing the cross on our bodies, we are denying that we belong to ourselves and declaring that we belong to Him alone see Lk The Church Fathers used the same word for the Sign of the Cross that the ancient world employed to indicate ownership.

So when we mark our bodies with the sign, we are embracing whatever pain comes as a consequence of our faith in Christ. Making the sign is our taking up the cross and following Him Lk At the same time, however, it comforts us with the realization that Jesus, who endured the Crucifixion for us, now joins us in our suffering and supports us. Now, the multifaceted significance of the sign of the cross has been investigated and explained by Bert Ghezzi, author of "Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer" Loyola Press.

He told ZENIT how the sign came about, what six meanings it has and why making it reverently can enhance one's life in Christ. Ghezzi: The sign of the cross is a very ancient practice and prayer. We don't have any indication of it in Scripture, but St. Basil in the fourth century said that we learned the sign from the time of the apostles and that it was administered in baptisms.

Some scholars interpret St. Paul's saying that he bears the marks of Christ on his body, in Galatians , as his referring to the sign of the cross. In the book, I note that the sign originates close to Jesus' time and goes back to the ancient Church.

Christians received it in baptism; the celebrant signed them and claimed them for Christ. Ghezzi: I speculate that when adult Christians were baptized, they made the sign of the cross that claimed them for Christ on their forehead proudly. Tertullian said that Christians at all times should mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross. I can imagine that Christians would make a little sign of the cross with their thumb and forefinger on their foreheads, to remind themselves that they were living a life for Christ.

Ghezzi: The sign means a lot of things. In the book, I describe six meanings, with and without words. The sign of the cross is: a confession of faith; a renewal of baptism; a mark of discipleship; an acceptance of suffering; a defense against the devil; and a victory over self-indulgence. When you make the sign, you are professing a mini version of the creed — you are professing your belief in the Father, and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.

When you say the words and pray in someone's name you are declaring their presence and coming into their presence — that's how a name is used in Scripture. As a sacramental, it's a renewal of the sacrament of baptism; when you make it you say again, in effect, "I died with Christ and rose to new life.

The sign links you to the body of Christ, and when you make it you remember your joining to the body with Christ as the head. The sign of the cross is a mark of discipleship. Jesus says in Luke , "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Self-denial is not just giving up little things; to be a disciple you are under Christ's leadership and you don't belong to yourself.

By doing the sign of the cross, you're saying to the Lord, "I want to obey you; I belong to you. You direct all my decisions. The answer is both simple and profound. The combination of the words and the action are a creed —a statement of belief. We mark ourselves as Christians through the Sign of the Cross.

And yet, because we make the Sign of the Cross so often, we may be tempted to rush through it, to say the words without listening to them, to ignore the profound symbolism of tracing the shape of the Cross—the instrument of Christ's death and our salvation—on our own bodies. A creed is not simply a statement of belief—it is a vow to defend that belief, even if it means following Our Lord and Savior to our own cross. Roman Catholics aren't the only Christians who make the Sign of the Cross.

All Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox do as well, along with many high-church Anglicans and Lutherans and a smattering of other Mainline Protestants. Because the Sign of the Cross is a creed that all Christians can assent to, it shouldn't be thought of as just a "Catholic thing.

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