The Sign of the Cross

[japhy]

[First] the right shoulder.
Then the left shoulder.

I have been told that its the right shoulder first in honor of the Good Thief who was on the cross to the right of Christ.

That’s a lengthy conversation to have in and of itself: which shoulder first and why! The Eastern tradition of touching the right shoulder first appears to be the “original” practice; the Western tradition of touching the left shoulder first appeared around the time of Pope Innocent III as an accident when the laity mirrored the priest when he would make the Sign while facing them. (They saw the priest touch his right side first, so they touched their left side first, as though in a mirror.)

 

[japhy]

See, you are saying ‘torso’ and ‘bottom of the chest’… and I see that as = BELLY. The diaphraghm (sp?) is, to me, belly.

Yes, belly. I was just using a more dignified word. It is around the stomach area, but certainly above the belly button.

I guess what I’ve been seeing has been more like the chest (for some) has been just below the chin… which is making of (to me) and upside down cross.

That seems a bit short.

And thank you so much for citing your source!

Full disclosure: it’s my own work.

 

[LilyM]

How is it upside down? Disproportionate, maybe, if you have broad shoulders (the horizontal ‘beam’ would be longer than the vertical), but I don’t see how it’s upside down.

The things Jack Chick comes up with . . .

It would only be upside down if you started from the heart/chest/belly, then moved your hand to your forehead, surely.

 

[Evan]

We should all know that an upside down cross is not Satanic, but Apostolic. Peter’s symbol is the upside down cross for that was how he was crucified.

 

[Bookcat]

When making the sign of the cross, is it

Forehead, chest, shoulder, shoulder

or is it

Forehead, belly, shoulder, shoulder?

Which is more correct, and why?

I ask because I was brought up actually touching my belly button when making the Sign of the Cross. There was a comedy a few years ago (Ben Stiller and Edward Norton) where the ‘priest’ was telling his ‘rabbi’ friend how to make the Sign of the Cross, and told him, ‘spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch’ (it’s funny… but it DOES help to remember)

I had a book that said that we should think of the second part of the Sign as Jesus being in the womb of the Blessed Virgin

But now, it seems that much of what I am finding says chest, as in ‘have Jesus in your heart’.

Did it change? Is this another way to do it? Does it matter?

I am most concerned because I would like to teach the children (and those new to the faith) correctly

there are various ways …

in the early Church it was made on the fore head with a + (and still is at the Gospel…and one can of course always use do it this way too personally outside formal liturgical times…i do…)

later it developed into the large form we know today…

yet it is done in different ways …east and west…

some stop at the chest.

and some make a larger form …including the Carthusians…

read The Spirit of the Liturgy by Ratzinger…very good…on meaning

 

[Bookcat]

“let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in every thing; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in goings; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are travelling, and when we are at rest”. St. Cyril of Jerusalem

 

[Bookcat]

“In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross.”

–Tertullian

 

[Bookcat]

“Making the sign of the cross – as we will do during the blessing – means saying a visible and public “yes” to the One who died and rose for us, to God who in the humility and weakness of His love is the Almightly, stronger than all the power and intelligence of the world.”

-Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus
September 11, 2005

he also talks about it when he was Cardinal in the Spirit of the Liturgy…as a renewal of baptism…as a shield…etc…go read that chapter!

 

[aspirant]

Sign of the Cross
By Fr. Romano Guardini (a Latin Catholic)

WHEN we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross. Instead of a small cramped gesture that gives no notion of its meaning, let us make a large unhurried sign, from forehead to breast, from shoulder to shoulder, consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once. How it consecrates and sanctifies us.

It does so because it is the sign of the universe and the sign of our redemption. On the cross Christ redeemed mankind. By the cross he sanctifies man to the last shred and fiber of his being. We make the sign of the cross before we pray to collect and compose ourselves and to fix our minds and hearts and wills upon God. We make it when we finish praying in order that we may hold fast the gift we have received from God. In temptations we sign ourselves to be strengthened; in dangers, to be protected. The cross is signed upon us in blessings in order that the fullness of God’s life may flow into the soul and fructify and sanctify us wholly.

Think of these things when you make the sign of the cross. It is the holiest of all signs. Make a large cross, taking time, thinking what you do. Let it take in your whole being --body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing-- and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole self in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God.

 

[Moscati]

Hold up… Jack Chick… that’s a LOW BLOW! (Jack Chick makes being a Christian more of a challenge…)

Rather than tossing those JCTs into the mix, look at it when you make the sign of the cross

If you do it on your chest, you get

*
*

---

*

If you do it on your BELLY, you get,

---

(Hey, that came out a bit better than I expected! )

Which again points to why I was taught BELLY… Sr. Vicky, and Sr Mary Jean said, ‘make a CROSS on your body. Look at the Crucifix on the wall, and that is what you are painting on your body’

I am looking in the CCC… and I get nothing. I went online, but I am not finding anything with Nahil Obstat stating belly or chest…

(grumble, grumble) even invoking the name of that horrible use of ink!)

Ah, Jack Chick. For what it’s worth, Jack Chick made me want to go see a Mass back when I was Protestant, just because I couldn’t believe it was as bad as he said. I wonder if he’s ever considered that he may be pushing people towards the Catholic church?

It sounds like something he would say–apologies if he wasn’t the kook in the case.

I guess I just have a short torso–when I make the sign of the cross at my chest, it comes out like this:

*

---

*

 

[aspirant]

Ah, Jack Chick… I wonder if he’s ever considered that he may be pushing people towards the Catholic church?

He was an influence on my conversion to Catholicism. As a Protestant, I spent hours debunking his materials.

If anyone took his conspiracy theories seriously, every anti-Catholic organization in the world is some kind of Vatican plot. So by his own reasoning, Chick Publications probably is too.

 

[Apryl]

We should all know that an upside down cross is not Satanic, but Apostolic. Peter’s symbol is the upside down cross for that was how he was crucified.

Funny thing: I went to Catholic School, but I never heard that until an episode of X-Files!

 

[jazzy_987]

I thought I was the only person who wondered about this…

I do both.

 

[peary1]

When making the sign of the cross, is it

Forehead, chest, shoulder, shoulder

or is it

Forehead, belly, shoulder, shoulder?

Which is more correct, and why?

I ask because I was brought up actually touching my belly button when making the Sign of the Cross. There was a comedy a few years ago (Ben Stiller and Edward Norton) where the ‘priest’ was telling his ‘rabbi’ friend how to make the Sign of the Cross, and told him, ‘spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch’ (it’s funny… but it DOES help to remember)

I had a book that said that we should think of the second part of the Sign as Jesus being in the womb of the Blessed Virgin

But now, it seems that much of what I am finding says chest, as in ‘have Jesus in your heart’.

Did it change? Is this another way to do it? Does it matter?

I am most concerned because I would like to teach the children (and those new to the faith) correctly

That depends on where you are in the world! In the West, you cross yourself beginning with the fingers on the forehead, then chest, then left shoulder, then right shoulder.

Another variation of this is done in the East: three fingers (symbolizing the Trinity) on the forehead, the chest, right shoulder and then left shoulder.

In some parts of Europe, people cross themselves several times - fingers to the forehead, to the mouth, to the chest, left shoulder, right shoulder, back up to the forehead, down to the middle of one’s body, back up to the left and right shoulders.

Just teach your kids the western style - forehead, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder. That’s the easiest.