The Sign of the Cross

I've been struck recently just how much and how deep the symbolism is when making the sign of the cross. The subject came up when I was talking to my friend, Rebecca, who has asked me to be her sponsor in the Catholic faith. I had heard somewhere that no one is really sure exactly when making the sign of the cross began. Setting aside the when, as I began to reflect on the meaning, some flood gate opened and all of these popped into my head. The deeper symbolism, beyond affirming a Trinitarian God, is what I want to write down here. 

• We can look at it as a statement of faith, affirming our belief that God is 3 persons with one Divine nature.
• When we make the sign of the cross entering the church and bless ourselves with holy water, we recall our baptism and the promises we made to God.
• The sign of the cross reaffirms Salvation history beginning with the Father, the Creator, the Son, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier.
• Are we not also reminded of God's revelation and how we are called to spread the Gospel? The vertical reminds us that God sent His only begotten Son, the Eternal Word, to show us the Way. The horizontal motion, the Holy Spirit, reminds us that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to sanctify us and spread the Good News of salvation from East to West.
• St. Paul exhorts us to preach Christ, and Him crucified. His sacrifice is the source and summit of our faith, made present at Mass. It is Christ who hangs at the center of the vertical and horizontal beams of the cross. When we make the sign of the cross, it is we who are at the center of the cross, reminding us that we too are called to sacrifice.
• As members of the body of Christ, we also offer ourselves to the Father at every Mass.
• As Christ's body hangs at the center of the cross, we are reminded that, through baptism, we become members of Jesus' mystical body, the church, with Jesus as the head.
• The vertical motion reminds us of the Holy sacrifice of the Mass while the horizontal motion reminds of the communal nature of the church, which is the body of Christ.
• It reminds us we are made in the image and likeness of God - the Son, eternally begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit, the eternal expression of their Love. We are called to imitate that community of love in the sacrament of marriage where the expression of conjugal love between a man and woman is a child.

The sign of the cross isn't just a gesture to splash some holy water around us! Nor is it something to be done hurriedly, sloppily and without thought. This incredibly simple gesture reveals the nature of God, the nature of our Faith and the nature of our Mission! It is Divinely inspired. Let's treat it that way.