I Don’t Like Making The Sign of the Cross

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LuvGodandFortnite

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I like to just get right into the prayer. I pray all day long in my head. Sometimes I pray out loud. Maybe I’m too lazy to make the sign of the cross. It just doesn’t seem necessary to me. Is that ok?
 
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I’d actually like to know if we are “required” to cross ourselves during personal prayer, and if so when. I always assumed we should do it at the beginning and end of prayer, but it feels more natural to do one or the other, beginning or end.

And yeah I pray all day too… just small invocations and other one sentence prayers, but also the Saint Michael prayer.
 
You don’t have to, except where it’s called for in liturgy and certain devotions. Of course, you realize the Sign of the Cross is prayer in itself - both the words and the actions. I often pray short spontaneous prayers without it; I often do the Sign alone, with no other prayer. It’s a shorthand God and I understand.
 
You’re not required to make the sign of the cross.
However, it is a visible sign of being a Catholic and an affirmation of our faith.
Given that it takes 30 seconds or less to do, my opinion is that if one is too “lazy” to take that time for God at least a couple of times a day, there are significant issues with that person’s faith and practice.
 
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LuvGodandFortnite said:
I like to just get right into the prayer. I pray all day long in my head. Sometimes I pray out loud. Maybe I’m too lazy to make the sign of the cross. It just doesn’t seem necessary to me. Is that ok?
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The sign of the Cross is a sacramental and prepares you to receive grace. (CCC 1668) So not insignificant. St John Vianney said a genuinely made Sign of the Cross “makes all hell tremble”.

If you grew up Protestant you may have been taught that it was a superstition to bless yourself.
 
As to the Sign of the Cross, consider the following, from the world’s greatest living theologian:
The Sign of the Cross

The most basic Christian gesture in prayer is and always will be the sign of the cross. It is a way of confessing Christ crucified with one’s very body … To seal oneself with the sign of the cross is a visible and public Yes to him who suffered for us; to him who in the body has made God’s love visible, even to the utmost; to the God who reigns not by destruction but by the humility of suffering and love, which is stronger than all the power of the world and wiser than all the calculating intelligence of men. The sign of the cross is a confession of faith: I believe in him who suffered for me and rose again; in him who has transformed the sign of shame into a sign of hope and of the love of God that is present with us. The confession of faith is a confession of hope: I believe in him who in his weakness is the Almighty; in him who can and will save me even in apparent absence and impotence. By signing ourselves with the cross, we place ourselves under the protection of the cross, hold it in front of us like a shield that will guard us in all the distress of daily life and give us the courage to go on. We accept it as a signpost that we follow … The cross shows us the road of life — the imitation of Christ. . .Whenever we make the sign of the cross, we accept our Baptism anew; Christ from the cross draws us, so to speak, to himself. . .We make the sign of the cross on ourselves and thus enter the power of the blessing of Jesus Christ. We make the sign over people to whom we wish a blessing … Through the cross, we can become sources of blessing for one another.

Pope Benedict XVI
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I also make the sign of the cross when I pray as well, I also pray through out my day both when I’m on the clock at work I ask for Jesus and my patron saint to help me through out my day I carry a one decade rosary with me at work and I rub the beads during times I feel a little bit overwhelmed like I did today it’s a st. Teresa the little flower chaplet but I don’t make the sign of the cross while I’m at work i guess it’s because I’m not used to being around my coworkers that much and don’t know them that well. I didn’t think to make the sign of the cross at lunch today but yeah I make the sign of the cross almost daily.
 
Whatever you do or don’t, do out of big Love, no matter how small it is
 
It takes 30 seconds or less?? Its more like less than 5 seconds from what I do XD
 
Its important and vital to us as Christians in general. Remembrance of what he did on the cross. Do we not have crucifixes in the church, rosaries, and our houses? In a similar way, we make the sign of the cross to let the Lord know that we have not forgotten what he has done for us and that we pray UNCEASINGLY to our Saviour

I dont mean to be a drag, but if one cant offer up 5 seconds to Jesus to make the sign of the cross then yeah that is very lazy. May not be mandatory in all cases to do so, but come on get serious. And I say that with all due to respect, we all love Jesus. Spontaneous short prayer I understand, were busy, but even then its like 5 seconds of powerful awesomeness.
 
I just timed myself. SOTC takes 2 seconds.

The SOTC is an ancient prayer, a sort of “secret handshake” for persecuted Christians in the early Church.

Have told this story here before, but, will mention it again. With family and friends for dinner at a crazy busy popular buffett restaurant. We were mostly parents of young kids, trying to keep them from chaos, but we paused to pray before our meal, making the SOTC.

A little while later, one of the staff approached us and said “Are you Catholic?” and she made the SOTC. Ends up, she was not fluent in English, had been in the country for a few months, and did not know where to find the Catholic Mass.

Think of the hundreds, thousands, of people who had passed through that restaurant in the months she was working, not once had see seen anyone make the SOTC. That one simple action from our table helped her find the Parish, get to the Sacraments.

From then on, I will always make the SOTC when I pray. You never know what power is in that 2 second gesture.
 
Maybe do it in the morning to start your day, during the 3o’clock hour and again before you go to sleep. You don’t have to do it every time you utter a prayer but it is a good practice to do at least a few times a day. It’s part of our Catholic heritage and we wouldn’t want to lose it.
 
LuvGodandFortnite said:
I like to just get right into the prayer. I pray all day long in my head. Sometimes I pray out loud. Maybe I’m too lazy to make the sign of the cross. It just doesn’t seem necessary to me. Is that ok?
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a/ It is your choice
b/ At some point you should really think about why you choose not to
c/ I do it frequently
d/ Sometimes I just trace the sign on the cross on my forehead with my thumb
 
Adamek said:
d/ Sometimes I just trace the sign on the cross on my forehead with my thumb
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Judging from multiple citations in the Fathers, this is the way it was done universally in the early centuries of the Church.

D
 
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