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Author Topic: The Sign of the Cross:  (Read 1949 times)

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Offline Stephen Francis

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The Sign of the Cross:
« on: November 02, 2011, 09:54:27 AM »
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    • The Sign of the Cross is the most frequently-used Sacramental in the Church.

    It is VERY simple to make the Sign according to the tradition of the Roman Rite.

    Begin (of course) with your thumb and first two fingers of your right hand joined (as though you were pinching some salt for a recipe).

    Touch the fingers to your forehead as you say, "In the Name of the Father...".

    Touch your chest BELOW your ribcage (somewhere just above your navel) as you say, "...and of the Son...".

    Touch first your LEFT shoulder, then your RIGHT, as you say "...and of the Holy Ghost, Amen".
    (This is approximate; there is no need to associate each movement with one word or syllable.)

    Now, then: WHAT is so difficult about that? SO many people do the most ridiculous things! I've seen people trace a Cross UPSIDE DOWN, because they start at their forehead and then barely touch their chest below their CHIN, and then move on. Draw it on a piece of paper, and you'll see what I mean. The distance from the shoulders to the point you touch on your chest/abdomen should be LONGER than the distance from your forehead to your shoulders.

    I've seen other people just sort of flap their fingers in a general, vague shape, not even bothering to trace a proper Cross.

    Is this being overly scrupulous? I think not. I think we need to imbue every action, especially Sacramental ones, with reverence and dignity.

    I know it's such a relatively small thing that there will certainly be people who will 'tut-tut' me and tell me I'm being legalistic or too strict. I accept that in advance, but I insist at the same time that we are NOT facing the crisis in the Church because of one or two HUGE things that happened suddenly, but because of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of LITTLE, seemingly insignificant things that happened over years and years.

    We simply weren't 'minding the store', as the old saying goes, and now, what seems to be a wholesale rejection of the Faith by so many is really nothing more than what millions have been CONDITIONED to accept, because no one was really paying attention decades ago.

    Seriously... I HATE the Novus Ordo religion and all it stands for, but the vast majority of people claiming to be Catholic in the NO today are just blindly following the stupid, shallow habits of their parents and grandparents, many of whom were RIGHT THERE in the pews as these revolutionary, heretical seeds were being sown.

    Please, friends... such a small thing, but imbued with graces for us because it brands us with the mark of Our Lord.

    Make the holy Sign of the Cross CORRECTLY, with reverence and love for the One Whose Cross it is.

    St. Simon of Cyrene, pray for us.

    Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

    Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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    Offline s2srea

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #1 on: November 02, 2011, 11:41:46 AM »
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    • No, you're not  being overly scrupulous. For me, what is a little frustrating watching someone do a 'speedy' Sign of the Cross. As if they don't want to show they're doing the Sign of the Cross, so they do the hand movement as quickly as possible.
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    Offline Roman Catholic

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #2 on: November 02, 2011, 08:32:57 PM »
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    • After the apparations of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes, St. Bernadette always made the sign of Cross in a majestic manner. Reportedly the way she did it was unforgettable and incomparable.

    Here is what one historian, Fr. McNamara, wrote:

    Bernadette was noted for the wonderful way she made the sign of the cross. One observer at the grotto later wrote, "If the sign of the cross is made in heaven, it can only be made in this manner." Everybody marveled at the way she crossed herself-slowly, reverently, "with majesty." "It is important to make it well," she told one of her fellow novices in the convent. The sisters respected the way she blessed herself, because they knew who had taught her. It was Our Lady herself, during the Lourdes apparitions.
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    Offline ServusSpiritusSancti

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #3 on: November 02, 2011, 08:50:21 PM »
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    • Quote from: s2srea
    No, you're not  being overly scrupulous. For me, what is a little frustrating watching someone do a 'speedy' Sign of the Cross. As if they don't want to show they're doing the Sign of the Cross, so they do the hand movement as quickly as possible.


    Yes, people who do this are obviously ashamed of their Catholic Faith. Or atleast, that's what they imply when they cross themselves quickly like that. It should always be done with reverence, not so fast that you can hardly tell they did it.
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    Offline Sigismund

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #4 on: November 02, 2011, 10:13:45 PM »
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    • I have never heard that there was any particular right way to position one's fingers in the Latin rite.
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    Offline Stephen Francis

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #5 on: November 03, 2011, 09:55:05 AM »
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    • Quote from: Theodoret (393–457)
    This is how to bless someone with your hand and make the sign of the cross over them. Hold three fingers, as equals, together, to represent the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These are not three gods, but one God in Trinity. The names are separate, but the divinity one. The Father was never incarnate; the Son incarnate, but not created; the Holy Ghost neither incarnate nor created, but issued from the Godhead: three in a single divinity. Divinity is one force and has one honor. They receive on obeisance from all creation, both angels and people. Thus the decree for these three fingers. You should hold the other two fingers slightly bent, not completely straight. This is because these represent the dual nature of Christ, divine and human. God in His divinity, and human in His incarnation, yet perfect in both. The upper finger represents divinity, and the lower humanity; this way salvation goes from the higher finger to the lower. So is the bending of the fingers interpreted, for the worship of Heaven comes down for our salvation. This is how you must cross yourselves and give a blessing, as the holy fathers have commanded.


    Quote from: Pope Innocent III
    The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. ... This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth, and from the Jєωs (right) He passed to the Gentiles (left). Others, however, make the sign of the cross from the left to the right, because from misery (left) we must cross over to glory (right), just as Christ crossed over from death to life, and from Hades to Paradise. [Some priests] do it this way so that they and the people will be signing themselves in the same way. You can easily verify this — picture the priest facing the people for the blessing — when we make the sign of the cross over the people, it is from left to right...


    I suppose it's really just a matter of custom, rather than an established rubric or a Law of the Church, but I think I also remember seeing it in the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism (the one for elementary-school-age children) as using three fingers as well. I may be mistaken.

    Either way, two or three fingers, left/right or right/left, the point, as was made by St. Bernadette, is that the Sign should be made REVERENTLY, GRACEFULLY and with the INTENT of marking oneself with the Holy Cross of Our Lord.

    The Sign should not be made carelessly, nor secretively. If one is confident enough in their beliefs to MAKE the Sign upon themselves, one should be confident enough to make it WELL.

    St. Bernadette of Lourdes, pray for us.

    Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

    Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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    Offline Pyrrhos

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #6 on: November 03, 2011, 10:12:43 AM »
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    • All the rubricists say its the whole right hand, fingers held together and extended.

    Of course, those not serving in the choir are not strictly bound to any rubrics, but it would be the most correct.  
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    Offline Stephen Francis

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #7 on: November 03, 2011, 02:44:23 PM »
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    • I honestly wouldn't care if people used their upturned right THUMB if they were doing so reverently and with the proper humility of soul.

    It's just another reason why the Conciliar organization has to excuse false ecuмenism and religious syncretism in their so-called 'saints'. It's because it's so rare to find anyone these days willing to humble themselves and really take on the mortification of their flesh. Anyone who does so is considered superlatively spiritual, even if their beliefs and associations are demonstrably non-Catholic, as in the case of Agnes 'Teresa' of Calcutta.

    Our Lord's first Words in preaching to the public were not 'act spiritual' or 'follow the customs of your generation', but rather "DO PENANCE, for the Kingdom of God is at hand."

    I await with great and joyful anticipation the day when Roman Catholics will once again be vilified and spoken evil of by the common people because their penances and their quests for personal sanctification put the secular world to shame, as they once did.

    St. Simon of Cyrene, pray for us, and teach us to carry whatever Cross is placed upon us, whether it seems to others that we deserve it or not.

    Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

    Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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    Offline veritasaxios

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #8 on: January 07, 2012, 10:11:10 AM »
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    • Good morning,

    As has been noted, there has been more than one way that Roman Catholics make the sign of the cross in terms of fingers, etc.  And, the Eastern Catholics, as well as the Orthodox, have a clear manner in which to make the sign of the cross.

    That being said, however, it seems to me that the important thing is to make the sign of the cross clearly and reverently.  It is not a race to see how quickly it can be made.  Nor is it something to be hidden.

    Have a Blessed day!
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    Offline Darcy

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #9 on: January 07, 2012, 06:39:07 PM »
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    • In the presence of nonCatholics in public I make a brief sign of the cross to alert them to the fact that I am Catholic and I am praying. I try to make the sign of the Cross everytime I go out in public, in front of others.
    This is likely a form of pride or vanity on my part.
    Some cultures when using the pinch of salt posture, I notice will kiss their fingers at the end.
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    Offline ServusSpiritusSancti

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    The Sign of the Cross:
    « Reply #10 on: January 07, 2012, 08:58:50 PM »
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    • Quote from: Darcy
    This is likely a form of pride or vanity on my part.


    I don't think there's anything prideful about showing that you accept and practice the Faith that was started by Jesus Christ.
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