Though I was raised Catholic and attended Mass regularly, I didn’t really start praying from the heart until I began having children of my own. And by praying from the heart, I mean sitting in silence with the Lord and speaking to him straight from the heart. No structured prayer. No plan per se. Just sitting in his presence and inviting him into conversation. Sharing my life with him. Thanking him. Asking him questions. Laying my worries and cares at his feet. And then leaving room for Jesus to respond.  I am certain it was God’s grace that moved me to this type of intimacy with him.
 

As Catholics, we usually begin our prayer by making the sign of the cross, perhaps often without thinking about why we are doing it. It wasn’t until I began to pray from the heart that this sign that had become routine for me finally became a devout prayer in and of itself. 

And that’s essentially what the sign of the cross is for Catholics – a prayer. 

When we make the sign of the cross, we are invoking the Holy Trinity – the very reality that makes Christians Christian. Making the sign of the cross offers us an opportunity to picture our Father in heaven, his Son our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, whom we are inviting to dwell within us. 

But it’s not just a prayer. Three things happen when we make this sign over our bodies:
 

1. We are recalling our own baptism – when we became children of God.
2. We are calling to mind the reality of the crucifixion and remembering God’s great love for us by sending his Son to die for our salvation.
3. We are marking ourselves as disciples, accepting our own crosses as we follow Jesus Christ in our daily lives.

The earliest Christians began to mark themselves with the sign of the cross beginning in the third or fourth century.

Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers who wrote in the second and third centuries, said, “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, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.”

John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, said, “When, therefore, you sign yourself, think of the purpose of the cross, and quench any anger and all other passions. Consider the price that has been paid for you.”

It’s this more intentional prayer that has the capacity to transform our hearts, beginning with the sign of the cross. The sign of the cross itself is like an anchor that keeps us grounded in this Truth – that we are children of God who are loved beyond measure and disciples of Jesus Christ the King. 
 

Jane Fawcett is a freelance writer and copy editor for Catholic businesses and organizations (jfawcettcommunications.com).