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melissa09
Guest
I know I should already know the answer to this question, but I truly need an answer because I am so terribly confused. When you do the Sign of the Cross with your **right **hand, which shoulder do you touch first?
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benedictgal
Guest
You touched the left shoulder first. I just did that right now to make sure.
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melissa09
Guest
does everyone do it that way? because i thought i heard someone else telling me it was the other way…but maybe not
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benedictgal
Guest
The Orthodox touch their right shoulder first, I believe.
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melissa09
Guest
o ok, but all Catholics should touch their left shoulder first? THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP, THAT CLEARS UP A LOT OF CONFUSION!!
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Schnitz
Guest
Those of us in the Latin Rite (Roman Catholics) touch our left shoulder first. But other rites may touch their right shoulder first. Like Byzantines!
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Aramis
Guest
In the Latin Rite, it’s left. In the Byzantine, it’s the right. ISTR the Armenian, Coptic, and Syriac Rites also generally do right to left.You touched the left shoulder first. I just did that right now to make sure.
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puzzleannie
Guest
in the Latin tradition, left shoulder first, other rites may do it “opposite”.
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Eucharisted
Guest
Left to right, because Jesus sits at the Father’s right-hand
Up to down, because Jesus descended to the mortal land
An odd little rhyme to help remember how to do the Sign.
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fellowChristian
Guest
Because of what the Sign indicates – the very Cross of our salvation – Satan hates it, and our using it makes demons flee. Make the Sign in times of temptation and confusion for great spiritual benefit!
The Sign of the Cross is made thus:
First choose your style:
Option A. With your right hand, touch the thumb and ring finger together, and hold your index finger and middle finger together to signify the two natures of Christ. This is the most typical Western Catholic practice.
Option B. Hold your thumb and index finger of your right hand together to signify the two natures of Christ
Option C. Hold your thumb, index finger, middle finger of your right hand together (signifying the Trinity) while tucking the ring finger and pinky finger (signifying the two natures of Christ) toward your palm. This is the typically Eastern Catholic practice.
**Option D: **Hold your right hand open with all 5 fingers – representing the 5 Wounds of Christ – together and very slightly curved, and thumb slightly tucked into palm
Then:
touch the forehead as you say (or pray mentally)
“In nomine Patris” (“In the name of the Father”)
touch the breastbone or top of the belly as you say
“et Filii” (“and of the Son”)
touch the left shoulder, then right shoulder, as you say
“et Spiritus Sancti” (“and of the Holy Ghost”).
Note that some people end the Sign by crossing the thumb over the index finger to make a cross, and then kissing the thumb as a way of “kissing the Cross.”
Note that Eastern Catholics (and Orthodox) go from right shoulder to left and end sometimes by touching their right side, above the hip, to symbolize Christ’s being pierced by the sword. The Bridgettine nuns in their Myroure of our Ladye write of the mystical reasons for the Latin practice, and how it summarizes the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Ascension:
*And then ye bless you with the sygne of the holy crosse, to chase away the fiend with all his deceytes. For, as Chrysostome sayth, wherever the fiends see the signe of the crosse, they flye away, dreading it as a staffe that they are beaten withall. And in thys blessinge ye beginne with youre hande at the hedde downwarde, and then to the lefte side and byleve that our Lord Jesu Christe came down from the head, that is from the Father into erthe by his holy Incarnation, and from the erthe into the left syde, that is hell, by his bitter Passion, and from thence into his Father’s righte syde by his glorious Ascension. (Catholic Encyclopedia) *
With the Sign, we send a visible sign to the world and follow the advice of **St. Ephrem of Syria (died A.D. 373): **
Mark all your actions with the sign of the lifegiving Cross. Do not go out from the door of your house till you have signed yourself with the Cross. Do not neglect that sign whether in eating or drinking or going to sleep, or in the home or going on a journey. There is no habit to be compared with it. Let it be a protecting wall round all your conduct, and teach it to your children that they may earnestly learn the custom
Fisheaters
fisheaters.com/sign.html
The Sign of the Cross is made thus:
First choose your style:
Option A. With your right hand, touch the thumb and ring finger together, and hold your index finger and middle finger together to signify the two natures of Christ. This is the most typical Western Catholic practice.
Option B. Hold your thumb and index finger of your right hand together to signify the two natures of Christ
Option C. Hold your thumb, index finger, middle finger of your right hand together (signifying the Trinity) while tucking the ring finger and pinky finger (signifying the two natures of Christ) toward your palm. This is the typically Eastern Catholic practice.
**Option D: **Hold your right hand open with all 5 fingers – representing the 5 Wounds of Christ – together and very slightly curved, and thumb slightly tucked into palm
Then:
touch the forehead as you say (or pray mentally)
“In nomine Patris” (“In the name of the Father”)
touch the breastbone or top of the belly as you say
“et Filii” (“and of the Son”)
touch the left shoulder, then right shoulder, as you say
“et Spiritus Sancti” (“and of the Holy Ghost”).
Note that some people end the Sign by crossing the thumb over the index finger to make a cross, and then kissing the thumb as a way of “kissing the Cross.”
Note that Eastern Catholics (and Orthodox) go from right shoulder to left and end sometimes by touching their right side, above the hip, to symbolize Christ’s being pierced by the sword. The Bridgettine nuns in their Myroure of our Ladye write of the mystical reasons for the Latin practice, and how it summarizes the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Ascension:
*And then ye bless you with the sygne of the holy crosse, to chase away the fiend with all his deceytes. For, as Chrysostome sayth, wherever the fiends see the signe of the crosse, they flye away, dreading it as a staffe that they are beaten withall. And in thys blessinge ye beginne with youre hande at the hedde downwarde, and then to the lefte side and byleve that our Lord Jesu Christe came down from the head, that is from the Father into erthe by his holy Incarnation, and from the erthe into the left syde, that is hell, by his bitter Passion, and from thence into his Father’s righte syde by his glorious Ascension. (Catholic Encyclopedia) *
With the Sign, we send a visible sign to the world and follow the advice of **St. Ephrem of Syria (died A.D. 373): **
Mark all your actions with the sign of the lifegiving Cross. Do not go out from the door of your house till you have signed yourself with the Cross. Do not neglect that sign whether in eating or drinking or going to sleep, or in the home or going on a journey. There is no habit to be compared with it. Let it be a protecting wall round all your conduct, and teach it to your children that they may earnestly learn the custom
Fisheaters
fisheaters.com/sign.html
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melissa09
Guest
thank you for all the replies!! 
it helps me a lot!!
it helps me a lot!!- Status