Sign of the cross before grace at school

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Fludgecow101

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I have no problem saying grace in public areas like restaurants but lately I have at school. I go to a baptist highschool and i have no problem admitting i’m catholic to others or in front of class, or explaining our beliefs, but before I eat at lunch, I’ve stopped doing the sign of the cross before praying. i guess the reason being is that I hear people saying stuff like oh catholics and their whole sign of the cross thing. I’d like to overcome this fear so to kind of start off, what would be a good explanation of why we catholics do the sign of the cross before we pray and why it’s important? thanks
 
Simply say that all things ultimately lead to God, who is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit–prayer included.
 
Heheh, I did that with a couple of Protestant friends who wanted to say grace before eating at a restaurant to see how they would react. They giggled a little, haha. They thought the “Bless us, O Lord” prayer was “cute”.

Would’ve been a hoot if I went,

*In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

"In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.*
 
JPUSC said:
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Would’ve been a hoot if I went,

*In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

"In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.*
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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
continue doing it, for yourself, not for them, and if they make comments look surprised and say “I thought Baptists believed in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you don’t?”
 
Simply explain that Catholics make the sign of the cross to publicly declare ourselves as believers in Christ. In addition to the earlier Biblical citations my favorite is from Galations: Particularly I like the New Ignatius (RSV 2CE) Bible translation because it uses the word “Foolish” which for any “Bible” Christian is a VERY strong word.
Galation 3:1
“Oh foolish Galations! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”
 
puzzleannie said:
continue doing it, for yourself, not for them, and if they make comments look surprised and say “I thought Baptists believed in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you don’t?”
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I like that!
BTW my son attended a formerly Catholic college which still has a Catholic name, a strong Catholic presence on campus (including a Brother in residence in the mens’ dorms) and daily Mass, and was told “You’re the only student I’ve ever seen making the sign of the Cross and saying grace in the cafeteria.”
 
You might want to point out to your friends that Baptists in Russia make the Sign of the Cross all the time: in Orthodox style, no less (three fingers, and from right to left).
 
I always do and say the sign of the cross wherever I pray. It is just a habit. I do however get some dirty looks from my non Catholic aunt and uncle. I would say do what is comfortable for you.
 
JPUSC said:
Heheh, I did that with a couple of Protestant friends who wanted to say grace before eating at a restaurant to see how they would react. They giggled a little, haha. They thought the “Bless us, O Lord” prayer was “cute”.

Would’ve been a hoot if I went,

*In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

"In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.*
Click to expand...
I am still working on my Latin. I would have loved to do the prayer in Latin. I already new In nomine Patris et Fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
 
All of this discussion just makes me that much more angry and frustrated when I am in Catholic settings, and people do NOT make the sign of the cross, before or after they pray (why?), and sometimes, those who make the sign of the cross as if they are hiding it.😦

I was taught that the sign was from the head, to the belly button, and then the left and right shoulders. Now, I see kids being taught to go from the head, to the breast plate, to the shoulders.:confused:

What’s up with that?:confused: :confused:

And I say grace before I eat anything. I had someone I was eating with ask me, when I got seconds, why I blessed my food again. ‘That food wasn’t on my plate when I blessed the last plate!’.:rolleyes:

All this because I used to date the son of an Evangelical minister. He noticed I had said grace after I started eating (I wasn’t going to, but saw him do it, so I went back to do it). "How do you know that first spoonful isn’t the one to kill you?:eek:

And since then, I say grace before ALL meals, and most snacks! (Sometimes, I forget, but I will say it even after I’ve started)🙂
 
Apryl said:
All of this discussion just makes me that much more angry and frustrated when I am in Catholic settings, and people do NOT make the sign of the cross, before or after they pray (why?), and sometimes, those who make the sign of the cross as if they are hiding it.😦

I was taught that the sign was from the head, to the belly button, and then the left and right shoulders. Now, I see kids being taught to go from the head, to the breast plate, to the shoulders.:confused:

What’s up with that?:confused: :confused:
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I guess I don’t see the difference if you are seated. No one can see where your hand goes, once it goes down. I am just happy to see some one praying before a meal. I don’t understand criticizing how someone makes the sign of the cross. 🤷

On that note, my son always prays before lunch at school, sign of the cross and all. We home school.😛
 
I was taught that the sign was from the head, to the belly button, and then the left and right shoulders. Now, I see kids being taught to go from the head, to the breast plate, to the shoulders.
A friend of mine just got a book about the ceremonies and rubrics for the Priest of the Tridentine mass, and it specifically says that the hand is to touch the BREASTBONE, not abdomen.
 
JPUSC said:
Heheh, I did that with a couple of Protestant friends who wanted to say grace before eating at a restaurant to see how they would react. They giggled a little, haha. They thought the “Bless us, O Lord” prayer was “cute”.

Would’ve been a hoot if I went,

*In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

"In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.*
Click to expand...
If you were sitting with charismatic Protestants of any denomination, they might think you were just praying in tongues (in your prayer language).

And if you were sitting with members of a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, they might think you were praying in the language that you use on the mission field.

Just a few thoughts, and I hope that my raising these points does not cause hurt. My intention is to be kind and helpful, not castigating.

Back when I was Protestant, I hated it when pastors used their prayers as an opportunity to do more preaching. After all, a prayer is supposed to be communication between humans and God. If you truly pray in Latin all the time and feel that this brings you closer to the Lord, then definitely pray in Latin. But if you are praying in Latin in front of your Protestant friends as a way of showing off, or belittling them, or with any feeling of sinful pride, I would say, don’t. It would be better to pray a humble prayer in your native language, and allow your humility and love for the Lord and gratefulness to Him for your food to be a convicting witness to your friends. There is no greater witness than a Christian who decreases so that Jesus can increase.

Your friends will be touched by that kind of witness more so than by the recitation of a memorized prayer. Most Protestants do not, as a rule, use any memorized prayer, and feel negatively about such prayers, so you will not impress them with a foreign language. Like I said at the beginning of this post, they can hear prayers in foreign languages in a charismatic setting or at a missionary conference.
 
um…it was a JOKE (the Latin part, that is) 🤷

and they asked me to say grace, so I did it the way I knew how…memorized!
 
Luke65 said:
Well, you could tell them that Martin Luther told his followers to do the sign of the cross. You could also tell them: “We preach Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) And here are a couple short articles to give you more on the history of it:
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Yep, this is my answer too! Praying for you!
 
That would have NOT made me stop making the sign of the cross.
Fludgecow101 said:
I have no problem saying grace in public areas like restaurants but lately I have at school. I go to a baptist highschool and i have no problem admitting i’m catholic to others or in front of class, or explaining our beliefs, but before I eat at lunch, I’ve stopped doing the sign of the cross before praying. i guess the reason being is that I hear people saying stuff like oh catholics and their whole sign of the cross thing. I’d like to overcome this fear so to kind of start off, what would be a good explanation of why we catholics do the sign of the cross before we pray and why it’s important? thanks
Click to expand...
 
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