Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 117.  Wed  8-14-91 14:01
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Marylee Dante
 Subject: Sign of the Cross

³ Father, I have heard that the original meaning of the Sign of the Cross
³ was to pray for Christ's Blood, which was shed on that Cross, to cover and
³ cleanse us.  Have you heard of this?
 
Dear Marylee,
 
The sign of the Cross, says the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion,
volume O-Z, page 3298, was "originally an act of private devotion....
It was already in common use among Christians at the end of the 2nd
century."  Later "it came to be widely employed in the liturgy."  As
for its uses and meaning, "it may be a confession of faith, or a sign
that someone or something is sealed or consecrated to Christ, or a
gesture of blessing, or an exorcism, or the beginning and conclusion
of something done to the honor of God."
 
As it originated as an act of private devotion, undoubtedly the
individual Christian felt free to make it mean what he chose.  For
example, if a person was impressed by St. Paul's statement:  "We
proclaim Christ Crucified" (1 Cor. 1:23), he might use his personal
sign of the Cross as his personal proclamation of his own belief in
Christ.  Dipping the fingertips into holy water and making with them
the sign of the Cross could be a reminder of one's own baptism and a
prayer of gratitude to God for one's Christian calling.
 
St. Ephrem of Syria (died A.D. 373) wrote:  "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."
 
                                 Sincerely in Christ,
                                 Father Mateo