In nomine Patri...

When I was a protestant I used to make the sign of the cross. It was my 'ward against evil'. Whenever I heard something that I hoped would never happen to me, I made the sign. Sort of silly.

But also sort of truthful. The Sign of the Cross could be used as a ward against evil. It has started the prayers of the Catholic faithful for several hundred years, so Satan has got to be aggrevated by it (to say the least).

I try and remind my CCD kids to never make The Sign in a hurry. Do not flap your hands towards you face, stomach, and general shoulders area. It makes you look like you're brushing away a fly. Consider your movements and words.

Touch the head; your mind, your brain. This is our tool of meditation and contemplation. Our focuser. Love the Lord your God with all your mind. May the gospel always be in our minds.

Touch your heart; your soul and center. Love for Christ and His children should pour out of us at all times. This moment of the prayer (for the Sign of the Cross is first and foremost always a prayer) is a request. We ask for an increase in love. Faith, Hope, and Love remain but the greatest of these is Love.

Touch your shoulders; where the brunt of your work falls. We are all called to carry our Cross. To shoulder the burdens of life, not only so that we can reach tomorrow, but so that we may offer them up with a joyful heart to Our Lord Christ in Heaven, for the salvation of souls.

By making the sign in front of us we place Christ ahead of us on our paths, asking Him to go before us and guide us.

The whole prayer is a miniature catechism, incorporating belief in the Holy Trinity, in the dignity of mankind, the necessity of brotherly love and care, and the willingness to do our part and work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Yet this action, being as it is one of the first things a Catholic learns, genereally, so often becomes a quick habit that it is never seriously considered and meditated upon.

I was once told that the Sign of the Cross should be like breathing. You just do it, and you just know when you ought to do it. It flows from a Catholic, as easy as holding a pencil. If this is not done in an absentminded way, why, devotion to the Sign of the Cross may procure a soul enough grace to die in a state fit for Heaven.