Making the Cross sign on your body

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RachelB said:
Hi. I am a protestant waiting to join RCIA next year. I work in a non-denom Christian bookstore with many anti-Catholics and former Catholics.

In answer to your question, most anti-Catholic protestants think that the sign of the cross is “just another Catholic susperstition”. It’s believed that Catholics think of it as a good luck charm, something that just gives luck. If a priest blesses you with the sign of the cross, protestants think that the priest believes he is giving you a superstitious kind of power, which protestants don’t believe he has authority to give. I hear a lot about how Catholicism is just a lot of extra religious trappings and superstitions.

I hope that answers your question!
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Thanks Rachel and welcome to the forums. I am excited that you are about to join RCIA class. 🙂 :blessyou:
 
RachelB said:
Hi. I am a protestant waiting to join RCIA next year. I work in a non-denom Christian bookstore with many anti-Catholics and former Catholics.

In answer to your question, most anti-Catholic protestants think that the sign of the cross is “just another Catholic susperstition”. It’s believed that Catholics think of it as a good luck charm, something that just gives luck.
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I am a Catholic, and I agree that some people use the sign of the cross in the wrong way. I have a problem with a baseball player making the sign of the cross before he bats. I know there are probably a lot of Catholic and Christian baseball players, but sport is not an appropriate place for this. It is about God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not about wanting to get a home run. I’ll make the sign of the cross when I say grace in public, but I won’t do it before I swing the bat on my softball team.
 
ALLFORHIM said:
Hi,

I dont see a problem with it either. I have done it when at a catholic church. Im not exactly sure it means by doing it but it doesnt offend me as a non-catholic christian or bother me in the least.👍
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Of course you’ve seen the phrase in the this forum already…
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

When doing the sign of the cross you are supposed to be thinking about the creed. The creed is made up of three sections, one each for (1) the Father, (2) the Son, and (3) the Holy Spirit.

So when you do the sign of the cross, you should be reflecting on the creed, on what we know of each of the persons of the blessed trinity.

michel
 
Making Sign of the Cross is the most Christian practice. Nothing is more Christian than saying,

In the Name of the Father, And of the Son, and Of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of non-Catholic Christians have an almost superstitious avoidance of many Catholic traditions without having any idea as to why! Most of it, I venture, is due to ignorance. I was raised Catholic, attended (and am attending) a non-Catholic Christian church. In the past year I have been revisiting my Catholic roots. Upon attending Mass for the first time in decades, I was particularly blessed to re-engage many of those traditions and practices I took for granted as a child/teen. The sign of the cross is a beautiful and meaningful act that reminds one, daily, of the Holy Trinity; The love of the Father via God’s merciful gift(s) of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and the abiding and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
 
Grateful soul I think you’ve got it. Its a kind of guilt by association, isn’t it? Heaven forbid we do anything that looks like Catholics, and well, at least let’s change the Our Father a little bit and add something not in the Bible (for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, Amen).

Phew. That’s far enough. 😦 Only teasing, kind of.
 
Some non-Catholics are easily offended:confused: . A good friend (Unitarian) was offended by a depiction of the Blessed Virgin on my T-shirt.

Not all Protestants shun the Sign of the Cross. I have had reason recently to visit a Lutheran and a very liberal Episcopalian church. Both pastors used the SOTC in much the same context as Catholics do in the Mass. The Episcopal congregation also made use of it, but the Lutherans didn’t. Am told that some branches of Lutheranism use it more than others.
 
Do you guys make the sign of the cross when you pray in public, such as in a restaurant? Is this common practice for most Catholics?
 
BrownR said:
Do you guys make the sign of the cross when you pray in public, such as in a restaurant? Is this common practice for most Catholics?
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I don’t know about most, but certainly it is practiced by many (my family included).
 
BrownR said:
Do you guys make the sign of the cross when you pray in public, such as in a restaurant? Is this common practice for most Catholics?
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Yah, I am not sure about most of Catholics, but I’ve seen friends including myself making the Cross before eating together at a restaurant. A little act of faith might bring attention to those around us.

Congratulations Brown, I’ve read your profile and you are in the process of converting to Catholic. :blessyou:
 
water said:
Congratulations Brown, I’ve read your profile and you are in the process of converting to Catholic. :blessyou:
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Thanks! I’m definitely looking forward to Easter. 🙂

I live in the Southern US (Bible belt), and didn’t really have much exposure to Catholic traditions until RCIA. I’ve tackled all the main theological and doctrinal issues but it’s these smaller questions that sometimes elude me… For instance, during last RCIA class, I asked whether I was supposed to make eye contact with the Priest when he blesses me, and did I need to stay silent or say “Amen”, etc… The stuff that all you veteran Catholics probably don’t even have to think about. Ah well, I’ll get there. Take care and thanks for the encouragement.
 
BrownR said:
Thanks! I’m definitely looking forward to Easter. 🙂

I live in the Southern US (Bible belt), and didn’t really have much exposure to Catholic traditions until RCIA. I’ve tackled all the main theological and doctrinal issues but it’s these smaller questions that sometimes elude me… For instance, during last RCIA class, I asked whether I was supposed to make eye contact with the Priest when he blesses me, and did I need to stay silent or say “Amen”, etc… The stuff that all you veteran Catholics probably don’t even have to think about. Ah well, I’ll get there. Take care and thanks for the encouragement.
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You know that I’ve born as Catholic but sometimes we can take things for granted. When I came to this site, I’ve begun to think more and more about my Catholic faith and know that I’ve been blessed to be a Catholic.
Let those little questions be asked and answered. 🙂 Yup, Easter is coming and I know you are very excited about it.
 
As a protestant, I agree that some of my friends and relatives see the SOTC as superstitious, but I see it as beautiful, and have incorporated it into my prayers. I finally got up the nerve to pray the rosary and found it to be a wonderful thing, as well, despite the warnings against talking to Mary! Cant go to RICA because of persecution. I’m a former protestant minister. Hoping to someday. One step at a time.

Intercessor 55
 
Hello Intercessor 55 and welcome to the forums.

Thank you for sharing your faith in praying with the rosary and signing the Cross. Indeed, both of them are prayers and they are beautiful.

I hope you find lots of good information especially how other people have become Catholics from different Christian background as well as other religions. 🙂

I remember when I was younger, I saw my sister trying to make the Cross sign few times in a row and very slowly. I asked her why she had to repeat. She said she wanted to focus on doing that 100% …if she had a slight distraction, she would do it again. 🙂
 
All the protestant objections I’ve seen about the sign of the cross have been that it’s done to attract attention. They believe that we do it to show how ‘holy’ we are and to attract attention to the fact that we’re praying.
 
ALLFORHIM said:
Hi,

I dont see a problem with it either. I have done it when at a catholic church. Im not exactly sure it means by doing it but it doesnt offend me as a non-catholic christian or bother me in the least.👍
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For a Catholic (and Orhodox believer, who does it with three fingers and the opposite of the Catholic way) it means expressing your belief in that one Sacrifice Christ made on Calvary and is part of the Great Commission. It witnesses to others that you are a Christian and that you believe in the “name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost”.

After battles, Moslems would hold up one finger and Christians three.
 
Tietjen said:
This is just my opinion, but I think that SOME Protestants don’t like it simply because it’s Catholic. Just as SOME Protestants get irritated at the sight of a Crucifix instead of an empty Cross. It’s not the action itself they’re against. Listen carefully when next you’re in a restaurant and pray before eating. Do you hear things spoken critically against the sign of the cross or do you hear comments like, “Catholics are so strange?” Living here in the southern US, I hear the “strange” comment more often.
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Yes, that’s pretty much the only objection my teacher could come up with (other than it becoming a meaningless ritual over time - I see his point)…I have posted the story a couple times already, though. There’s not much to it…

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius:cool:
 
Alexius said:
it becoming a meaningless ritual over time - I see his point
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Meaningless to whom? When I cross myself, I don’t do it for anyone else except myself. I’ve never even considered what others thought about it. Frankly I don’t care if anyone thinks it’s meaningless or not, since it’s meaningful to me. Why would I care if you think it’s meaningful? I’m not doing it to impress you. Please ignore me!
 
When you pray the rosary - after each mystery and you say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit - are you supposed to make the sign of the cross while saying the Glory Be?
 
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