We’ve probably all seen people at sports games or on television quickly make the Sign of the Cross as an indication they are praying and asking God for help. Sometimes the gestures are done so quickly, we could wonder if the person understands the meaning or even says the prayer. The Sign of the Cross is not just the front and back of a prayer sandwich. It must not get to be a rushed gesture without thought and true prayer. That small prayer is about the beautiful and sacred Holy Trinity, the three Persons in one God.
We use our right hand, the right way to touch upon a wonderful mystery: one God in three divine Persons. We touch the middle of our forehead, drawing our attention to where our brain, our thought-center is. We alert ourselves that we are mindfully, purposely in the presence of our loving God. We say, “In the name of the Father…”, our Father, a Creator-Father, whose name is sacred and precious and should never be taken for granted.
“And of the Son,” the true God and true Man, Jesus, whose passion, death and resurrection we will remember and celebrate in a special way in less than two weeks. And when we recite this second phrase, we touch the center of our chest wherein our heart and physical energy and function reside. We love with our heart. Our life flows and our love for Jesus flows in our very center of energy.
“And of the Holy Spirit” are the words we pray as we touch our left shoulder and then our right shoulder. This touching of the shoulders reminds us that with our arms and hands we serve the Lord as we reach out in love as the Spirit inspires us.
We pull ourselves together, as we focus on prayer and block out distractions the best way we can. “Amen” is our affirmation word that ends that short prayer. We are brought to attention. Our mind, heart and mobile body have given full attention to soaking up God’s love and wisdom. We might pray a longer prayer after that short prayer. We might just center ourselves for some quiet contemplative prayer.
We might end our prayer time with another Sign of the Cross to punctuate our desire to live God’s love and spread it around. After all, Jesus did tell us:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of
the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
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The photograph is by Annika James Kovin on Unsplash.
The gospel passage is from the New American Bible, Oxford University Press, New York, 1990.
Sharon Krause is a RENEW volunteer whose writing has appeared in several resources for small-group faith sharing. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, Connecticut. Over the years, she has served in many parish ministries.