Sign of The Cross - The Truth
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ....
Recently I saw a meme in an online, anti-Catholic group that tried to say the Sign of the Cross for which Catholics are noted is secretly an upside down cross invoking the devil.
Now, those with even a smidgeon of sense are not fooled by such blatant propaganda. Indeed, I will call it plain ignorance of the truth. But those who loathe the Church to that degree, they have convinced themselves that Catholics worship the devil.
Recently I saw a meme in an online, anti-Catholic group that tried to say the Sign of the Cross for which Catholics are noted is secretly an upside down cross invoking the devil.
Now, those with even a smidgeon of sense are not fooled by such blatant propaganda. Indeed, I will call it plain ignorance of the truth. But those who loathe the Church to that degree, they have convinced themselves that Catholics worship the devil.
In response, Catholics of the Latin Rite often leap to respond that it is a St. Peters cross, aka, a Petrine cross. According to unverified
historical accounts, St. Peter was crucified on an inverted cross,
because he claimed he was unworthy to share the same cross as
Christ.
But the sign of the cross is not a Petrine cross, either. In fact,
Orthodox Catholics still make the sign of the cross by extending
the lower vertical all the way to thier abdomen.
In reality, the sign of the cross is not an upside down cross at all
– it is just a cross. There is no hidden meaning to it.
And you may be surprised to know that, like most everything
the Church does, it has deep roots in Scripture - as we shall see.
Unfortunately, the common notion from movies and popular
culture is that Satanists use an upside down cross... which is also
not true!
So it seems that the majority of people get it wrong, no matter
who they are.
Prompted by that Facebook post, I wondered how such
mental rubbish still gets around in our supposedly enlightened age.
... but that is for another time.
However, thanks to that post, I also decided to look into what the
Sign of the Cross really is. What I found was both factual,
enlightening and spiritually fulfilling. If you want to know
the truth, too, keep reading.
✠✠✠
Priest: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
The sign of the cross is probably familiar to all, but it is far more than a routine posture to open or close a prayer. It is itself a powerful, non-denominational prayer designed to pour out divine protection and grace. No one says it is exclusively for Catholics, either.
And yet, today, many treat it as mere habit or toss it aside altogether. For those non-Catholics reading this, you might ask why such a potent Christian prayer and gesture as we shall discover, one that originates in Scripture itself,...you may ask why you've been taught to reject it out of hand.
By contrast, the early Christians relied on this gesture constantly. Tertullian (c. A.D. 160–225) noted that believers marked their foreheads with the cross in all daily movements—from putting on shoes to sitting down to rest....
"In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross."
St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 347–407) exhorted the faithful to treat the sign as an "impregnable fortress" and spiritual armor against temptation and evil, reminding them of Christ's victory over death and sin...
"Never leave your house without making the sign of the cross.
It will be to you a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress.
Neither man nor demon will dare to attack you, seeing you covered with such powerful armor.
Let this sign teach you that you are a soldier, ready to combat against the demons, and ready to fight for the crown of justice. Are you ignorant of what the cross has done?
It has vanquished death, destroyed sin, emptied hell, deathroned Satan, and restored the universe.
Would you then doubt its power?"
The Sign of the Cross = The Sign of Ezekiel
There are two principal aspects of the sign of the cross:
1. The actual tracing of the cross over our bodies
2. The words we pray while doing this.
First, then, let us consider the sign itself.
Tracing the cross over our bodies has deep roots in Sacred Scripture. Yes, - it is formed from Scripture, and is not some random ritual. In fact, it is prefigured in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.
In that book, a mysterious mark on the forehead was used as a sign of divine protection, to mark the righteous from the wicked.
Depending on the translation you refer to, this mark is called an "x," a "cross," a "mark," or more correctly, the Hebrew letter, 'tav'. In ancient Paleo-Hebrew, tav was written as two intersecting lines (+ or X) — a literal shape early Christians explicitly followed.
In Ezekiel 9, God orders a cross-shaped mark—the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav (+)—placed on the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem to shield them from judgment:
"4 ... and God said to him, ‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who grieve and lament over all the loathsome practices in it.’
5 I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and strike. Not one glance of pity; show no mercy;
6 old men, young men, girls, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the old men who were in the Temple...."
- Ez 9: 4-6, Jerusalem Bible, 1966
Just as the Passover blood protected Israel in Egypt, and the seal marks the saints in Revelation (Rv 7:3), tracing the cross does two vital things:
- Separates faithful Christians from the world: It rejects the secular obsession with wealth, pleasure, and power, aligning us instead with Christ’s sacrificial love.
- Invokes divine protection: It acts as a shield against evil and a source of strength during trials. St. Cyril of Jerusalem called it both a "badge of the faithful" and a "terror to the devils...."
"Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow and on all occasions; over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink; in our comings and in our goings; before sleep; on lying down and rising up; when we are on our way, and when we are still.
It is a powerful safeguard... for it is a grace from God, a badge of the faithful and terror to the devils.... For when they see the Cross, they are reminded of the Crucified; they fear Him who has, 'smashed the heads of the dragons.'"
The Power of God's Name
The spoken words when making the sign of the cross are equally rooted in Scripture. Throughout Genesis, the patriarchs of God's people called upon the Lord's name to consecrate altars and invoke His presence. To call on the name of the Lord denotes the highest worship and is often associated with prayer and sacrifice. For example....
Adam's son Seth and his descendants are described as calling on the name of the Lord (Gn 4:26).
The great patriarch Abraham calls on the name of the Lord when he is erecting altars to God and consecrating the land prom-ised to him (Gn 12:8; 13:4; see 21:33).
His son Isaac calls on the Lord's name when he builds an altar at Beersheba (Gn 26:25).
In Scripture, and in the cultures from which it arose, a name is more that conventional way to refer to someone. A name mysteriously represents the essence of a person and carries the power of that person.
Therefore, to call upon God's name is to invoke his presence and his power. This is why the ancient Israelites frequently called upon the name of the Lord, not only to praise him (Ps 148:13) and thank him (Ps 80:18; 105:1), but also to seek his help in their lives (Ps 54:1; 124:8).
But it doesn't stop there. In the New Testament, Jesus' name is revealed to be on par with the holiness and power of God's name.
St. Paul describes it as "the name which is above every name" (Phil 2:9).
He says this name has power to bring all things into subjection to Christ: "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:10-11).
Other New Testament books make this point, too.
In Jesus' name, the sick can be healed (Mk 16:17-18; Acts 3:6), sinners find mercy (Lk 24:47; Acts 10:43) and demons can be expelled (Lk 10:17).
Jesus himself teaches that he responds to all who call on his name: "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do"
(Jn 14:13; see also 15:16; 16:23, 26-27).
Moreover, his followers who gather in his name will receive the blessing of his presence among them: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20).
This is what we do at the start of every Mass when we make the sign of the cross: we gather in the name of God and His Holy Son. We invoke their presence among us as we confidently bring our needs and petitions before him.
Making the Sign Reverently
You'll also notice that in the sign of the cross, we do not focus on the Son alone. We call upon the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, echoing Jesus' great commission to the apostles: "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" (Mt 28:19).
These same words were spoken at our baptism, when our souls were first filled with the divine life of the Holy Trinity. Repeating these words at the start of every Mass acknowledges the profound fact that we are approaching Almighty God in the liturgy, not because of our own merit, but by virtue of the supernatural life God graciously bestowed on us at our baptism.
We are not there in our own name, but in the name of the Triune God who dwells within us. In the sign of the cross, we pray that our whole lives may be lived in ever greater harmony with God - that all that we do, we may do in his name.
Do It Reverently
For these reasons, we should make every sign of the cross with careful attention and reverence. Given all that it means, we should avoid signing ourselves in a hurried, sloppy way.
Romano Guardini once described it this way:
"When we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross, not a quick, cramped gesture that gives no notion of its meaning.
Make a large unhurried sign, from forehead to abdomen, from shoulder to shoulder, consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates and sanctifies us....
So make a large cross. Take time to think about what you are doing. Let it take in your whole being - body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing... and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God."
- Roman Guardini, Sacred Signs (St. Louis: Pio Decimo Press, 1955), p. 14.
✠✠✠
historical accounts, St. Peter was crucified on an inverted cross,
because he claimed he was unworthy to share the same cross as
Christ.
But the sign of the cross is not a Petrine cross, either. In fact,
Orthodox Catholics still make the sign of the cross by extending
the lower vertical all the way to thier abdomen.
In reality, the sign of the cross is not an upside down cross at all
– it is just a cross. There is no hidden meaning to it.
And you may be surprised to know that, like most everything
the Church does, it has deep roots in Scripture - as we shall see.
Unfortunately, the common notion from movies and popular
culture is that Satanists use an upside down cross... which is also
not true!
So it seems that the majority of people get it wrong, no matter
who they are.
Prompted by that Facebook post, I wondered how such
mental rubbish still gets around in our supposedly enlightened age.
... but that is for another time.
However, thanks to that post, I also decided to look into what the
Sign of the Cross really is. What I found was both factual,
enlightening and spiritually fulfilling. If you want to know
the truth, too, keep reading.
✠✠✠
Priest: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
The sign of the cross is probably familiar to all, but it is far more than a routine posture to open or close a prayer. It is itself a powerful, non-denominational prayer designed to pour out divine protection and grace. No one says it is exclusively for Catholics, either.
And yet, today, many treat it as mere habit or toss it aside altogether. For those non-Catholics reading this, you might ask why such a potent Christian prayer and gesture as we shall discover, one that originates in Scripture itself,...you may ask why you've been taught to reject it out of hand.
By contrast, the early Christians relied on this gesture constantly. Tertullian (c. A.D. 160–225) noted that believers marked their foreheads with the cross in all daily movements—from putting on shoes to sitting down to rest....
"In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross."
St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 347–407) exhorted the faithful to treat the sign as an "impregnable fortress" and spiritual armor against temptation and evil, reminding them of Christ's victory over death and sin...
"Never leave your house without making the sign of the cross.
It will be to you a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress.
Neither man nor demon will dare to attack you, seeing you covered with such powerful armor.
Let this sign teach you that you are a soldier, ready to combat against the demons, and ready to fight for the crown of justice. Are you ignorant of what the cross has done?
It has vanquished death, destroyed sin, emptied hell, deathroned Satan, and restored the universe.
Would you then doubt its power?"
The Sign of the Cross = The Sign of Ezekiel
There are two principal aspects of the sign of the cross:
1. The actual tracing of the cross over our bodies
2. The words we pray while doing this.
First, then, let us consider the sign itself.
Tracing the cross over our bodies has deep roots in Sacred Scripture. Yes, - it is formed from Scripture, and is not some random ritual. In fact, it is prefigured in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.
In that book, a mysterious mark on the forehead was used as a sign of divine protection, to mark the righteous from the wicked.
Depending on the translation you refer to, this mark is called an "x," a "cross," a "mark," or more correctly, the Hebrew letter, 'tav'. In ancient Paleo-Hebrew, tav was written as two intersecting lines (+ or X) — a literal shape early Christians explicitly followed.
In Ezekiel 9, God orders a cross-shaped mark—the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav (+)—placed on the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem to shield them from judgment:
"4 ... and God said to him, ‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who grieve and lament over all the loathsome practices in it.’
5 I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and strike. Not one glance of pity; show no mercy;
6 old men, young men, girls, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the old men who were in the Temple...."
- Ez 9: 4-6, Jerusalem Bible, 1966
Just as the Passover blood protected Israel in Egypt, and the seal marks the saints in Revelation (Rv 7:3), tracing the cross does two vital things:
- Separates faithful Christians from the world: It rejects the secular obsession with wealth, pleasure, and power, aligning us instead with Christ’s sacrificial love.
- Invokes divine protection: It acts as a shield against evil and a source of strength during trials. St. Cyril of Jerusalem called it both a "badge of the faithful" and a "terror to the devils...."
"Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow and on all occasions; over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink; in our comings and in our goings; before sleep; on lying down and rising up; when we are on our way, and when we are still.
It is a powerful safeguard... for it is a grace from God, a badge of the faithful and terror to the devils.... For when they see the Cross, they are reminded of the Crucified; they fear Him who has, 'smashed the heads of the dragons.'"
The Power of God's Name
The spoken words when making the sign of the cross are equally rooted in Scripture. Throughout Genesis, the patriarchs of God's people called upon the Lord's name to consecrate altars and invoke His presence. To call on the name of the Lord denotes the highest worship and is often associated with prayer and sacrifice. For example....
Adam's son Seth and his descendants are described as calling on the name of the Lord (Gn 4:26).
The great patriarch Abraham calls on the name of the Lord when he is erecting altars to God and consecrating the land prom-ised to him (Gn 12:8; 13:4; see 21:33).
His son Isaac calls on the Lord's name when he builds an altar at Beersheba (Gn 26:25).
In Scripture, and in the cultures from which it arose, a name is more that conventional way to refer to someone. A name mysteriously represents the essence of a person and carries the power of that person.
Therefore, to call upon God's name is to invoke his presence and his power. This is why the ancient Israelites frequently called upon the name of the Lord, not only to praise him (Ps 148:13) and thank him (Ps 80:18; 105:1), but also to seek his help in their lives (Ps 54:1; 124:8).
But it doesn't stop there. In the New Testament, Jesus' name is revealed to be on par with the holiness and power of God's name.
St. Paul describes it as "the name which is above every name" (Phil 2:9).
He says this name has power to bring all things into subjection to Christ: "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:10-11).
Other New Testament books make this point, too.
In Jesus' name, the sick can be healed (Mk 16:17-18; Acts 3:6), sinners find mercy (Lk 24:47; Acts 10:43) and demons can be expelled (Lk 10:17).
Jesus himself teaches that he responds to all who call on his name: "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do"
(Jn 14:13; see also 15:16; 16:23, 26-27).
Moreover, his followers who gather in his name will receive the blessing of his presence among them: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20).
This is what we do at the start of every Mass when we make the sign of the cross: we gather in the name of God and His Holy Son. We invoke their presence among us as we confidently bring our needs and petitions before him.
Making the Sign Reverently
You'll also notice that in the sign of the cross, we do not focus on the Son alone. We call upon the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, echoing Jesus' great commission to the apostles: "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" (Mt 28:19).
These same words were spoken at our baptism, when our souls were first filled with the divine life of the Holy Trinity. Repeating these words at the start of every Mass acknowledges the profound fact that we are approaching Almighty God in the liturgy, not because of our own merit, but by virtue of the supernatural life God graciously bestowed on us at our baptism.
We are not there in our own name, but in the name of the Triune God who dwells within us. In the sign of the cross, we pray that our whole lives may be lived in ever greater harmony with God - that all that we do, we may do in his name.
Do It Reverently
For these reasons, we should make every sign of the cross with careful attention and reverence. Given all that it means, we should avoid signing ourselves in a hurried, sloppy way.
Romano Guardini once described it this way:
"When we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross, not a quick, cramped gesture that gives no notion of its meaning.
Make a large unhurried sign, from forehead to abdomen, from shoulder to shoulder, consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates and sanctifies us....
So make a large cross. Take time to think about what you are doing. Let it take in your whole being - body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing... and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God."
- Roman Guardini, Sacred Signs (St. Louis: Pio Decimo Press, 1955), p. 14.
✠✠✠
Now you can see that the sign of the cross is both biblical, and a profound statement of faith in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. With that knowledge, there is no sound reason why you should not adopt it into your daily life.
✠✠✠
This was inspired and referenced by the book, "A Biblical Walk Through The Mass - Understanding What We Say And Do In The Liturgy," by Edward Sri,
(C) 2011. ISBN 978-1-935940-00-5
AI technology was used to as needed to support this article.
✠✠✠
This was inspired and referenced by the book, "A Biblical Walk Through The Mass - Understanding What We Say And Do In The Liturgy," by Edward Sri,
(C) 2011. ISBN 978-1-935940-00-5
AI technology was used to as needed to support this article.
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