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LennyUSA
Guest
When praying to saints would you do the sign or the cross after 
? Why or why not.
? Why or why not.
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Zsofia_A
Guest
I do…for me it is the base and start for all the prayers. Praying to saints for me means I ask the saints to pray for me to God so why wouldn’t I make the sign of the cross? 
But this is just my personal opinion
God bless
But this is just my personal opinion God bless
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LennyUSA
Guest
Ok i was just wondering. I am starting to use it in prayer. It seems to have more meaning to me.I do…for me it is the base and start for all the prayers. Praying to saints for me means I ask the saints to pray for me to God so why wouldn’t I make the sign of the cross?
God bless
Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ; but though another hide it, do thou openly seal it upon thy forehead, that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far away. Make then this sign at eating and drinking, at sitting, at lying down, at rising up, at speaking, at walking: in a word, at every act.
St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, A.D. 315 - 386.
St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, A.D. 315 - 386.
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LennyUSA
Guest
pretty
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TrueLight
Guest
This is an awesome quote. Although I have to admit I am not comfortable making the sign of the cross when I bless the food while eating at a restaurant or cafeteria. I feel like I am showing off.
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LennyUSA
Guest
Haha yeh, I guess it would have to be what the person is comfortable in.
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MarkThompson
Guest
For what it’s worth, when you say grace, you are not actually blessing the food itself in the same way a priest could. You are asking God’s blessing for the food. So it would be incorrect to make the sign of the cross over the food, but correct to make it on yourself in the standard way, since you are praying to God and not really “saying a blessing.”
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WingsOfEagles
Guest
I always do when I’m asking a Saint to pray for me. For me, it helps me remember that I don’t pray to the Saint, I pray to God and simply as the Saint to pray for me.
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RC1947
Guest
If one considers the words of the Sign of the Cross it all makes sense. We thus offer all prayers and actions in the name of God in the Blessed Trinity. What someone else thinks of you if you make the Sign of the Cross in public is his problem; you know you are not showing off. Being uncomfortable can be a little penetential, but you might edify any number of people by showing your Faith. I remember once blessing myself before saying grace in a restaurant and got a remarkably hateful look from a man in another booth. So, yes, there are those who won’t like you for it, but they are few. Every time I remember that man I pray he saves his soul. Such hatred needs prayers.
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jdc209
Guest
I think that making the sign of the cross before and after saying grace at a restaurant or cafeteria is a great form of evangelization. It just shows people that demonstrating one’s faith and reverence shouldn’t be something to be avoided or ashamed of. Live your Catholic faith and pretty soon, people will too.
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bubbly1
Guest
I completely agree, I always use the sign of the cross. It is a sign of the Catholic faith, which I, personally am proud to be a member of.I do…for me it is the base and start for all the prayers. Praying to saints for me means I ask the saints to pray for me to God so why wouldn’t I make the sign of the cross?
God bless
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Glennonite
Guest
Yes, yes; nicely put.
jdc209 said:
**I think that making the sign of the cross before and after saying grace at a restaurant or cafeteria is a great form of evangelization. It just shows people that demonstrating one’s faith and reverence shouldn’t be something to be avoided or ashamed of. Live your Catholic faith and pretty soon, people will too. **
Exactly. I think most people might feel more relaxed knowing that they are sharing an eating environment with a person of good-will and faith. They may even give God a quick “thank you” in their own way as well.
“Never let yourslf be blamed for the good you failed to do.” Start the ball rolling.
Glennonite
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LennyUSA
Guest
so I am new to the Catholic faith. WHy do you do the sign of the crossbefore and after praying to God?
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jdc209
Guest
I was taught to pray like this because I feel that it reminds you who you are directing your prayers to. When you begin and end prayers, you always do it in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
I have an old thread that goes deeper on the meaning and teachings of the sign of the cross: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=356640
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Alexander_Roman
Guest
In the Eastern Catholic (Byzantine) Churches one could bless food or anything as a layperson, distinct from the blessing that only a priest or bishop could give.
We cross ourselves, as you know, with three fingers. But if we wanted to bless something else, with or without holy water, then we would extend the three fingers outwardly, while raising the index finger as a kind of “pointer.”
Parents will bless their children in this way and I was blessed this way by my parents as I kneeled before them to receive their blessing on my wedding day.
Alex
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Alexander_Roman
Guest
In the Ontario Legislature, we have the Lord’s Prayer as part of the beginning exercises (still). I’ve noticed that Catholic members of provincial parliament will cross themselves openly at the conclusion of the prayer.
It’s a great way to “show off” one’s faith!
A friend of mine, a convert to Orthodoxy from Anglicanism, would cross literally everything, including his food. I realized myself that I don’t cross myself enough in the spirit of Tertullian when he first wrote that early Christians wore their foreheads out by making the Sign of the Cross so incessantly.
But we should always take care to make the Sign of the Cross SLOWLY and reverentially.
Alex
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