For Catholics, making the Sign of the Cross is a simple motion and profound gesture at the same time. It is a short and ancient prayer that concisely expresses essential themes and mysteries of the Christian faith.
An important sacramental, the Sign of the Cross is a practice and a prayer that goes back to the earliest days of Christianity when it was performed by the early Church Fathers and taught to the faithful to ask for God’s blessing.
Most Catholics “cross” or “bless” themselves with an open right hand, drawing a line from their forehead to their heart, and making another line from their left shoulder to their right shoulder. The Sign of the Cross may also be traced on the forehead.
Eastern Catholics make the Sign of the Cross from right to left while holding their thumb, index, and middle fingers together to represent the Trinity, and folding their ring and little fingers into their palm for the divine and human natures of Jesus.
Saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” is often included to invoke God’s authority, but appealing to the Holy Trinity is not necessary when making the Sign of the Cross.
Catholics are marked with the Sign of the Cross when they became Christian at their Baptism. It is a sign of their Catholic identity and of what being Catholic means.
Signing themselves with an image of the instrument used to torture and kill Jesus helps Catholics to live out their faith. They remember the sacrifice that He made for them while recalling his victory over the Cross for their Salvation.
Catholics can make the Sign of the Cross at any time and it exalts anything that they do. The Sign of the Cross is made before and after prayers, when entering a Catholic Church, while administering the sacraments, and throughout the Catholic Mass.
Because they are marking themselves as Christians and professing the essential mysteries of their faith, Catholics should always make the Sign of the Cross prayerfully and purposefully, and never mindlessly rush through the motions or the words.
An important and ancient prayer:
Expressing the two chief mysteries of the Catholic faith:
In all the ordinary actions of daily life:
Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.”
Revelation 7: 2-4
Using the body to pray:
Marking the body with a special sign:
The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior’s grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The Sign of the Cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2157
A really powerful prayer:
Publicly proclaiming our “Yes” to the God who loves us:
It all means something:
With the simplest gesture, which we learned as children: the Sign of the Cross. By tracing the Cross on our body, we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving his life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that his love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us. And at the same time, we commit ourselves to bear witness to God-as-love, creating communion in his name. Perhaps now, each one of us, and all together, let us make the Sign of the Cross on ourselves. Today, then, we can ask ourselves: do we bear witness to God-as-love? Or has God-as-love become in turn a concept, something we have already heard, that no longer stirs nor provokes life? If God is love, do our communities bear witness to this? Do they know how to love? Do our communities know how to love? And our family, do we know how to love in the family? Do we always leave the door open, do we know how to welcome everyone — and I emphasize, everyone — as brothers and sisters? Do we offer everyone the food of God’s forgiveness and Gospel joy? Does one breathe the air of home, or do we resemble more closely an office or a reserved place where only the elect can enter? God is love, God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and He gave his life for us. This is why we make the Sign of the Cross.
Pope Francis, Angelus Address, 4 June 2023
Making the sign properly and meaningfully:
Eastern Catholic Catholics cross themselves differently:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Focusing more on God:
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