Sign of the Cross: Thumb, index finger, and middle finger?

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I wonder if someone could make an argument to use the left hand, because the left hand is closer to the heart, and if you reach out to Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, your left arm is mirroring His right (and you mirror the priest in persona).

Or how about just the pinky finger for the Baby Jesus? This is fun. (But it should always be reverent).
 
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I just caught sight of another thread title having to do with ‘when does religion become superstition’ or something to that effect. I would think getting worked up over the “right” way to make the Sign of the Cross would fall into the superstition category.
 
It could be such a simple thing as in some cultures people eat with their right hand and use their left hand to clean their behinds. Anyone know there is something about right or left hand cleanliness in the OT nor NT? Early Church Fathers?

I use an open hand when making the sign of the cross on my shoulders but before the Gospel reading my thumb, index and middle fingers touch each other when making the cross on my forehead, mouth and heart.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
I just caught sight of another thread title having to do with ‘when does religion become superstition’ or something to that effect. I would think getting worked up over the “right” way to make the Sign of the Cross would fall into the superstition category.
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We might think this as Latin Catholics because we do not have a required or prescribed finger position for the Sign of the Cross, so we’re free to use a variety of positions including the one used by the OP and the four fingers one used by the altar boy in the posted diagram. The OP’s friend is being ridiculous as there is no prohibition on how the OP is making the Sign of the Cross and as others have noted, Hispanic Latin Catholics often do it the way he does.

However, the Russian Orthodox Church had a schism which concerned, among other things, finger position for the Sign of the Cross. They considered the finger position to be reflective of dogma. There is even a painting of an elderly lady doing the old school finger position as she is arrested. (A real person, she was later starved to death in prison.)

 
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That’s the way I do it, too, but without the kiss. Maybe you could eliminate the kiss when she is around.

I recently sat next to one of our parishioners that I wasn’t real familiar with, an older guy. He crossed himself every minute or so during Mass. When I became Catholic, I was told that you really can’t cross yourself too often, and you can’t splash around too much holy water. Still, I think maybe it’s possible to do things to excess, when others start wondering about it and commenting on it.
 
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Shasta-Rose said:
Maybe you could eliminate the kiss when she is around.
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The OP is under no obligation to change how he does the Sign of the Cross to make somebody else who has a hangup about it feel more comfortable. It’s wrong of her to hassle him about it. There is no indication he is being excessive about it, especially since his method is currently widely used.
 
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Neithan said:
I think the only real “requirement” is to use the right hand, and not the left, right? Otherwise…
  1. You can use just your index finger in a pointing gesture to symbolize the unity of God.
  2. Index and middle finger held together to symbolize the two natures of Christ in one holy Person.
  3. Index, middle finger and thumb (as you do) to symbolize the Holy Trinity.
  4. Four fingers held open for the Trinity plus our Blessed Mother; or, alternatively, the Four Evangelists.
  5. An open hand for the Five Holy Wounds of Jesus on the cross.
  • It’s Byzantine style to touch your right shoulder first and then your left, mirroring the motion of the blessing, three times, one after the other; it’s Roman to go left-to-right in the same movement as the blessing, once only. Sometimes I do it twice… let’s say, for the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
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It is NOT REQUIRED to use your right hand.
There are no requirements at all.
 
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Just trying to come to a little accommodation to keep peace. But, yes, I know that you are totally right.
 
jim1130 said:
Thank you. I am very bothered by this because I felt I had to defend myself and then when she called today and said she went online and found a “liturgical site” that stated the thumb, index finger, and middle finger has been out of style for centuries I continued to feel more defensive.
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Orthodox two fingers together extended is Old Believers and three fingers together extended is after Nikon reforms.

Peter of Damascus (12th Century) instructs with two extended fingers.
Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus (Syria) (393-457 AD) instructs with three extended fingers.

See Catholic Encylopedia
It appears on the whole probable that the general introduction of our present larger cross (from brow to breast and from shoulder to shoulder) was an indirect result of the Monophysite controversy. The use of the thumb alone or the single forefinger, which so long as only a small cross was traced upon the forehead was almost inevitable, seems to have given way for symbolic reasons to the use of two fingers (the forefinger and middle finger, or thumb and forefinger) as typifying the two natures and two wills in Jesus Christ. But if two fingers were to be employed, the large cross, in which forehead, breast, etc. were merely touched, suggested itself as the only natural gesture. Indeed some large movement of the sort was required to make it perceptible that a man was using two fingers rather than one. At a somewhat later date, throughout the greater part of the East, three fingers, or rather the thumb and two fingers were displayed, while the ring and little finger were folded back upon the palm. These two were held to symbolize the two natures or wills in Christ, while the extended three denoted the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. At the same time these fingers were so held as to indicate the common abbreviation I X C (Iesous Christos Soter), the forefinger representing the I, the middle finger crossed with the thumb standing for the X and the bent middle finger serving to suggest the C. In Armenia, however, the sign of the cross made with two fingers is still retained to the present day. Much of this symbolism passed to the West, though at a later date.
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Thurston, H. (1912). Sign of the Cross. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13785a.htm
 
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I use 3. All the time. Even when greeting people in passing (I don’t do the sign of the cross in those cases).
 
How often is this even coming up in front of her children? Do you always eat meals together and say grace? Attend Mass together?

Her hangup about this is, frankly, ridiculous. I’m assuming you’re not teaching her children to make the sign of the cross in a way that contradicts her. If you’re just minding your own business, so should she.
 
jim1130 said:
that my way is the wrong way.
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To me that’s akin to saying “you’re loving God the wrong way”. Can my children possibly love me the “wrong” way? Personally I use my whole hand, just touching the tip of the middle finger at each corner. I stand to be corrected. 🙂
 
I am not trying to change anything or instruct them differently. I must admit I was annoyed at being “corrected” and then receiving a followup telephone call stating that a Google search indicated that the three fingers I use is out of fashion/out of style. I would never ever try to instruct them away from what their mother has explained.
 
Then the one who is out of line is your friend. There is nothing wrong with the way you are making the sign of the cross – and she’s being quite petty in criticizing a gesture that is supposed to be calling the Trinity to mind.
 
Thank you. I have thought to “keep the peace,” but I did not feel I was doing it incorrectly. By no means am I trying to be overly pious or sanctimonious, but I was taken aback by the challenge, chastisement, and correction especially from another Catholic. I do not want the kids ot be confused so I did explain to them to do it as mommy taught. Again, thank you. Jim
 
As a child I would always finish with a fourth touch to my abdomen; in my mind, that fourth touch for Amen completed the Cross and made it symmetrical.

Then I was told the Amen should be done with the hands touching each other as if in prayer.

Now I touch the three points with loose fingertips. I’ve seen priests use the two-finger-thumb version.
 
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Thank you.I felt similarly. Not only being chastised at the table, but then receiving a telephone call in which she said she had done a Google search and a “liturgical site” wrote that the three fingers is out of fashion and out of style. I did check out New Advent and other Catholic sites and none made such a reference. I may be overly sensitive about this, but it has upset me. Again, thank you.
 
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