The Meaning of the Sign of the Cross

Catholics begin each prayer with the Sign of the Cross, but what does this act mean?

How to Make the Sign of the Cross

Start with your right hand on your forehead and move it to your heart or stomach. Then tap your left shoulder and move your hand to your right shoulder.

While tracing the cross, we pray:

Forehead: "In the name of the Father"
Heart: "and of the Son"
Shoulders Left to Right: "and the Holy Spirit"
"Amen."

The Meaning of the Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is a prayer all to itself. It is used as a blessing. It is, in fact, a sacramental that prepares us for grace in the sacraments and in our prayers.

The meaning of the Sign of the Cross expresses the two most important mysteries of the Christian faith:

1. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.

We trace the cross on our bodies to remember Jesus Christ's death on the cross. We also remember how Jesus called all Christians to "take up your cross daily and follow me." This cross was first given to us in our Baptisms when the cross was traced on our foreheads as a sign that we have died and risen with Jesus Christ.

2. The Holy Trinity

While we trace the cross with our hands, we say "In the name of the Father and the of Son and of the Holy Spirit."

God is a Trinity of three Persons. God is three in one. When Jesus sent out his Apostles at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, he told them to baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 18:19). We invoke the name of the Triune God when we pray.

The Origin of the Sign of the Cross

The earliest version of this practice appeared as the tracing of the cross on one's forehead much like we continue to do during the liturgy before listening to the Gospel reading. This was done during Baptisms and the Church Fathers indicate that it was a practice that has been passed down from the Apostles.

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[obanonputingbuhok]

i signed the cross everything i do, anywhere, like going home, coming home, eat, before after sleep, in the bus, in work etc, its my every very very short prayer, so that i will think God every minute of life,

[nanaamoah]

Lord guide me always to do the sign of the Cross in all my prayers, at the meals etc. Thanx for reminding us about our Catholic Doctrine.

[adraticofficial]

Thank you sir!
Been becoming more religious so videos like this really help!

[celestebenamara]

I feel that when we do the sign of the cross is also the reminder as Jesus did, to Love God with our mind, body and soul. Forehead mind, Heart body, Shoulders the whole being, the Soul.

[obanonputingbuhok]

I always sign of the cross so that i remember and in my mind my heart so i didnt make a bad.

[pawankanyakubj]

Amen
Jesus means God is Salvation. God the Father, God the Son Holy Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit are one.

[vedabartolome]

in the Name of the Father the son and the holy Spirit Amen

[witch]

Ya Allah all these years Father heart ❤heart his heart ♥️

[FDCAFOK]

The only problem with doing it that was is the cross is upside down. I now do it from the top off my chest to the stomach and then across my shoulders.

[andsoitgoes]

It took me many years to realize that my Catholic rituals were about religion more than Jesus. Most of what I was trained to do did not come from the bible, but from man. God does not care about ritual or sacraments. He provided us with instruction through His word. Anything outside of His word is created by man. Please read and reread your Gospel until you understand it. We are saved the minute we turn our lives over to Christ and live as He asks us to. Everything else, is a distraction from this. God bless everyone reading this.

[simplyjk]

In old testaments if you willing JESUS CHRIST to be crusified you must sign of the cross. if you like to nail him at cross and die you must sign of the cross.. now can you give a verse in the bible that support you

[colbos]

You reference the Holy trinity, however you point to the head for Father, to the chest for Son to the Left shoulder for Holy Spirit. Why do you then move your hand to the Right shoulder as if the Holy spirit is Split to represent 2 directions? wouldn't it be accurate to represent the trinity in triangular symbolism than with a 4 directional pointed cross? Secondly, the visual outcome of the sign comes out as an inverted cross which is diabolical in some way, as the longer side ends up from the Head section. any response to that?

[Kevin_Beach]

There is no evidence, so far as I know, about how the sign of the cross started, but but is certainly from the early Church. My own theory is that a surreptitious sign of the cross was a sign by which Christians knew each other in the times of persecution by the Romans. Nowadays, it is an overt sign to the world, and a reminder to oneself, that the cross was the gibbet on which our blessed Lord saved us.

[lesaber]

I was taught to say Holy Ghost not Holy Spirit. Is that ok?

[marklestergamayon]

Our lord Jesus Christ makes a example to do praying it’s praying without sign of the cross

[wilminiotoledo]

What about the two people crucify same as Jesus?

[Troublemmaker]

THEY'RE ALL IN ONE SO DONT SEPARATE THEM

[nooraiyyn]

I don't get it can anyone tell me pls?

[nadzach]

Like many truths, the full meaning has been lost and the making of the sign was changed. I suspect it first began with the heart. Our calling is to seek the face or presence of God. The journey was illustrated in the design of the tabernacle. Our walk passes through ever-narrowing entrances toward the Mercy Seat where, symbolically, the face of Jesus is covered by wings of cherubim. Remember how Adam lost his ability to meet with Jesus? Certainly Adam would have returned to that blessed place if it were not for the cherubim guarding the way. Today, we are still called. And praise God that in Jesus we have the grace of his love and his having died in our place for sin. He tells us that the royal commandment still stands. The Lord our God is One. He manifests himself in 3 persons and in the fearsome presence of God Almighty. We are to love him (1) with all our heart, (2) all our soul, (3) all our mind, and then...(4) all our might. As we see these gifts offered and ask, God changes us by enlightening these portions that make up our whole person. We are created in the image of God. If we were to make the sign of the cross in memory of his grace, we would begin with the heart. The soul is symbolized in scripture by the right shoulder. The mind is, of course, our forehead. The fourth blessing is on the renewed life in our blood. So we point to our belly as the place where new life begins. There is no power in symbolism, that's true. But there is great power in the thruths that those symbols teach us.

[jvlp]

I understand the DEEP spiritual message and the literal CROSS's Sign/Symbol/Mark meaning... The Crucifixion was used by the Roman Empire as their Capital Punishment (Painful and Humiliating Slow Death) for anyone who committed a crime or rebellion against the Roman Empire...

However, Christ Jesus had used and turned this CRUELITY (INHUMANE) method of punishment of the literal CROSS into a SIGN/MARK/SYMBOL of CHRISTIANITY to remind us all that whoever believes in the one who had Sacrificed Himself (Christ Jesus) to Die on the Cross for the REMISSION of the SIN of Mankind shall be eternally SAVED...

Before the Literal CROSS was the "Sign/Symbol of CRUELTY and DEATH" of the People... but after Christ's Death on the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension to Heaven... Christ Jesus used and turned the Literal CROSS into the "Sign/Symbol/Mark of LOVE and Eternal LIFE (Resurrection)" of the People...

Just like the POLE with the bronze replica/statue of a snake, created by Prophet Moses in the wilderness, whoever looks/sees the POLE will not DIE from the bites of the Snake... (ref. Numbers 21:8-9)... that is the same analogy with the SpIritual and Literal CROSS with the Replica/Statue of Christ Jesus hanging on the Cross, whoever accepted and believed in Christ Jesus by the Grace of God through FAITH will never DIE but will have Eternal Life with God in Paradise (3rd Heaven)...

In conclusion, people will KNOW the followers of Christ called CHRISTIANS (with Born again Spirit) by knowing them through their "Spiritual and Literal Sign/Symbol/Mark of the CROSS of Christ" from their Literal Forehead (thoughts/minds) and their Right Hand (physical work/deed/act of love), as well as from their Spiritual Heart and Soul (total humility and submission/obedience) ...

Glory, Praise, and Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus' name...Amen and Amen...