The Sign of the Cross

Jesus and his teachings were constantly rejected from the very beginning of Christianity until our present day. Many people, including some of those who claim to believe in him, reject certain aspects of his teachings. This was prophesied when Jesus was just 40 days old. Simeon the prophet told Mary that Jesus is destined to be “a sign that will be opposed” (Luke 2:34).

Signs represent deeper realities. To say that Jesus is a sign means that he represents something. Jesus represents God; He came down to earth to be a sign of God’s love for the world in his very person. Like the sacraments of the Church, which actually affect what they symbolize, Jesus not only represents God, but is God himself. 

The signs of our faith also have much deeper meaning that being simple outward symbols. The Sign of the Cross, for example, should not simply be a symbol because it represents what a Christian truly believes in. When someone does the Sign of the Cross it should mean that they understand that God the Son gave His life as a sacrifice to His Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, and that this mystery is made manifest to the world by the Cross of Christ. 

That Trinitarian life was first revealed to the world when Jesus was baptized. At the moment Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke. It was the first moment in history that the Trinity was revealed to the world, and it happened at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. 

The rest of the ministry of Jesus was Him obeying His Father and living in complete unity with Him by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The love of the Father and the Son is so strong that it is another person, the Holy Spirit.

The whole of the Christian life is imitating the love of the Trinity. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is not an attribute of God, it is His very essence. His essence he revealed to us in the most real way when Jesus died on the cross for our sins out of obedience to His Father. 

Making the Sign of the Cross should not be a simple routine that we do every day. When we make the Sign of the Cross, we should truly understand what the meaning of it is. The Lord wants us to remember what He did for us and what we are called to do for him in response. God’s love is endless but it requires us to also make a sacrifice of our lives like He did. Making the Sign of the Cross is a reminder of the love of God for us. 

A challenge for us can be to make the Sign of the Cross multiple times a day, never being ashamed. Starting from the morning, it should be the first thing we do. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “Demons flee from the sign of the cross when it is devoutly made.” Through the Sign of the Cross, we can share in the Trinitarian life and truly live in unity with God, being strengthened by the love He has for us.