To Such As These: The Sign of the Cross

I write these “To Such As These” posts every now and then to explain some aspect of the Catholic faith to children. I try to use simple language so you can just read it directly to them instead of having to put it into your own words! The category name is inspired by Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

Today, I’m going to be exploring the Sign of the Cross, with a little help from Bert Ghezzi’s book, Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer.

If you have any topics you’d like me to cover in this category, pop them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list!

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You’ve probably said the prayer countless times: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. But where does this prayer come from? What does it mean? And why do we use it so much?

Many, many hundreds of years ago, St Basil the Great said that the sign of the cross is a prayer that has been used since the time of the apostles. Christians would make a cross on the foreheads of people being baptised.

It has developed some variations since then: just think of how we are still crossed on the forehead at baptism and confirmation, we get crosses of ash on Ash Wednesday, we use our own thumbs to cross our foreheads, lips, and chests before the Gospel is read at Mass, and we can make a bigger sign of the cross from our head to our chest and from shoulder to shoulder when we say other prayers!

There are even different ways to hold your hand when making the sign of the cross, and these symbolise different things. Some people use an open hand, which is a sign of blessing (that’s where we get the term “bless yourself”), with the five fingers symbolising the five wounds Christ got on the cross. Ohers use just two fingers to symbolise that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, and others use their thumb, index, and middle fingers together to symbolise the Holy Trinity, with their ring finger and pinkie resting on the palm, again recalling that Jesus is both God and man.

No matter the variation, it’s something that has managed to stay with the followers of Jesus for over 2000 years, which means it must be pretty important! And the reason why it is so important, is because without question, there is an incredible strength behind this seemingly simple prayer.

The Church tells us that this is a sacramental, which means that it is something that helps us to be open to God’s graces and is a reminder of one of the sacraments, in this case, baptism. The cross is a symbol that can be used to represent the death and resurrection of Jesus, and our baptism also represents our dying and rising again with Him.

The sign of the cross is so special that a very clever man named Bert Ghezzi wrote a whole book all about it! While he was writing the book, he found six things that the sign the cross can mean:

1. A way to say that we believe in God
2. A reminder of our baptism and something strengthens the graces we received at our baptism (a sacramental!)
3. A sign that we are a part of God’s family
4. A way to accept our suffering and unite it with Jesus’ suffering and death
5. A form of protection against the devil
6. A way to call on God’s power to help us say no to any invitations to sin

If we look at all the things this prayer can mean, it’s no wonder that we would have so many opportunities to use it. Anytime we want to call on God, like inviting Him to be with us as we pray, or asking for His help, or reminding ourselves that we are children of God or to remember the good things God has done for us, we can say this little prayer.

So, the next time you make the sign of the cross, remember that even though it may be simple, it holds a whole lot of power! And because it holds a whole lot of power, it’s something we need to treat with whole a lot of respect – make sure no one would be confused of whether you’re making the prayer or shooing away a fly!

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Talking points

• Which of the meanings of the Sign of the Cross stands out to you the most? Why?
• Think back to the last time you made the Sign of the Cross – why did you do it? What did you have in mind as you were doing it?

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Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!