Making the Sign of the Cross – Even at McDonald’s

Do you bless your meal in public? I remember working at a Catholic Summer Camp once. After a day of fun, we were driving back to the camp for the night. We stopped to eat at a McDonald’s, and we made sure to say the blessing of the meal beforehand. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at us. The boys loved it. They wanted to bear testimony to their faith in a public place. This small gesture, the sign of the Cross, becomes a public proclamation of faith. But why is it so powerful?

Sign of the Cross

How do you make the sign of the Cross? It is such a wonderful gesture rooted in Scripture and powerful in its effects. Jesus challenges us not to be afraid.

Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom (Lk. 12:32).

But how do we turn away from fear when there are so many reasons to be afraid? To just ignore the reasons would lead us into madness. We need something to sustain us in the moments of fear, such as the sign of the Cross. We do not eliminate fear by ignoring it but by building up our courage. Jesus gives a clue in one of the following verses from the same passage.

Gird your loins and light your lamps, and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding (Lk. 12:35-36).

The sign of the Cross is a powerful act that helps us to get into a mindset of preparation. We draw our right hand to our forehead, to our chest, and then both our shoulders. Then, we make a gesture that covers our entire body. Finally, we accompany this with powerful words indicating our belief in the Trinity.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Company while Suffering

Why do we suffer in this world? Why do we even suffer more sometimes because of our Christian faith? We have to remember that we are not made for this world, but for communion with God and with others. One of the problems of modern society is that things have become too easy. When we wallow in comfort, we forget that we need God. This leads to our betrayal of him. This is nothing new.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see the story of Israel turning away from God and getting into trouble. Times of crisis call them back to fidelity to the Lord. It is the same story in our own lives. We get comfortable and turn our backs on God.

Making the sign of the Cross is a reminder to us that we belong to God. We often fall for the lie that we are self-sufficient. We think that we control our own lives and futures. This is, however, always a lie. We need God tremendously and have to remember how much we depend on him.

From Ancient Times

One of the Eastern Fathers of the Church, St. Basil, exhorted Christians to the sign of the Cross already in his treatise De Spiritu Sancto during the fourth century. All these years later, we can still grow deeper in our understanding of the mystery contained in this powerful gesture and prayer.

We can recall the words from the prophet Ezekiel, when he received a vision of the new Jerusalem. We often think of the sign of the Beast from the Book of Revelation, but the sign on the forehead in Ezekiel has a different meaning.

Pass through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark an X on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the abominations practiced within it (Ez. 9:4).

This is much more like the Passover event from the book of Exodus. Rather than marking the doorposts with blood from the Lamb, the angel marks the people with the X. In Hebrew, this was the “tau” and at the time of Ezekiel was written much like a “t.” From our Christian perspective, we can see that he was marking them with the sign of the Cross. Every time we make this gesture, we are anointing ourselves as belonging to God and asking for his protection.

That night was known beforehand to our ancestors, so that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage (Wis. 18:6).

Shaking off Comfort

God calls us to shake off our excessive comfort and to gird our loins in speaking up for the Gospel. We can do this at times in such simple expressions as blessing our food in public. We can stand up for the Church or for Christ in conversations with friends and colleagues. By doing this, we continue a long tradition of believers who have had to suffer to express their faith. Do you bless your meal in public? Do you pray proudly the sign of the Cross? Maybe today is the day to start.

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