THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
Back to the Basics
By Irene Olijnyk | Parishioner
St. Francis parishioners will share their personal accounts of how the Eucharist has impacted their spiritual journey and life. We know they are not alone. If you wish to share your story for publication in the Bulletin regarding your encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist during Mass or during Eucharistic Adoration please submit your witness to fidel@sfassisi.org. You have the choice to remain anonymous if you prefer.
Bert Ghezzi, in his book “The Sign of the Cross,” discusses the meaning of making the Sign of the Cross with insights pulled from Scripture, Church teaching, the writings of the Church Fathers, the testimony of the Saints, and his own personal experiences.
This simple familiar gesture is actually a powerful prayer. When we trace it on our body, we stir up the new life of the Spirit that we received in baptism. We affirm our identity as Christians and resist the lure of evil. We join ourselves with Christ and engage the power of the Holy Spirit to deal with daily problems. All these blessings can be ours when we make the sign of the cross with prayerful respect and intelligent understanding of what it signifies.
You can receive immeasurable blessings by making this ancient sign a gateway to a renewed experience of God. By making the Sign of the Cross:
You confess your faith in the Blessed Trinity and in basic Christian doctrines, thus opening yourself to God.
You ensure that you are praying to the God who created you, not the one you created, and you call on His name as a way of entering and praying with God’s power.
You choose to live the supernatural life you received when you died and rose with Christ at your baptism.
You hold yourself to the fact that you have died to sin and so refuse to yield to it. You acknowledge your membership in the Body of Christ and expect the Holy Spirit to flow in you afresh.
You affirm your decision to be Christ’s disciple. You deny that you belong to yourself and you declare that all you are and have belongs to the Lord. You decide to follow Him by embracing His teaching and obeying His commandments.
You accept suffering as a normal part of the Christian life, and you realize that the Lord stays with you and supports you in your suffering. You embrace hardship and pain as a way of participating in Christ’s suffering and of winning advantages for others.
You remind the devil of Christ’s victory, thus repelling him. You participate actively in Christ’s battle against the devil. You claim the inviolability from spiritual enemies that you enjoy because you belong to Christ.
You kill your self-indulgence and evil tendencies to sin. You strip off your old sinful nature and its bad behavior and clothe yourself with your new nature that the Lord is perpetually renewing in His image. You acquire Christ’s characteristics, the fruit of the Spirit.
Rekindle your relationship with God as you contemplate the nature of this ancient and simple prayer - in short, get back to the basics.
TAKE ACTION
Make the Sign of the Cross reverently, and with purpose. Teach your family about the profound significance of this beautiful and ancient gesture.
