Topic: Catholic practices

Date originally posted: February 8, 2002

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: B. Egan

Dates emended: February 25, 2002

Moderators who did the emending: P. Leach

Question:  Why do we make the Sign of the Cross at the beginning of Mass?  And then at the end?  And I think after I receive Communion?  What's it mean?  I was just wondering.  Thanks. 

Answer: 

The Catholic Church is known for its ritual actions.  Those of us who were raised Catholic may find ourselves doing actions when practicing our faith that we realize we do - and perhaps have always done - without questioning their meaning or origin.  We do them - well - because that's what Catholics do! 

Your question regarding the Catholic practice of beginning and ending Mass with the Sign of the Cross actually has a rather simple answer.  When Catholic Christians pray, we find it helpful to focus their minds and hearts in that moment.  The Sign of the Cross is an important way that we have to acknowledge the presence of our triune God (God in three persons) and to ask God to hear our prayers.  We make the Sign of the Cross at the beginning and end of each prayer time.  Sometimes that prayer time might last only a few minutes (the length of time it takes to utter a single prayer).  However prayer time can also last an extended period of time (like Mass).  While the Mass incorporates a series of prayers, it is itself one single prayer action.  Therefore, rather than repeating the Sign of the Cross multiple times throughout the Mass, we tend to begin and end Mass with it.  Because as Catholics we are so devoted to the Trinity, most people are in the habit of making the Sign of the Cross a third time during the Sacred Liturgy.  While this practice is certainly not ‘mandatory,’ many faithful Catholics make the Sign of the Cross as they enter the Communion Procession, deliberately and slowly as a means of acknowledging the unspeakably great gift we receive in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.   

Personal devotional practices are, certainly, ‘ok’ in Catholicism – in fact, they are often encouraged in so far as they support the teaching of the Church.  But generally making the Sign of the Cross three times – as a reminder of the Three Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity – is sufficient and good in the context of an individual Eucharistic celebration.   

Practically speaking, that means that we don’t really need to make the Sign of the Cross at other times during the Mass – for example, it’s not really necessary during the Penitential Rite at the beginning of the Liturgy or after receiving the Host and again after receiving the Cup.   

The Sign of the Cross is not limited to the opening and closing of prayers, however.  Many people perform the Sign of the Cross when they are in the presence of something holy.  You have probably witnessed people making the Sign of the Cross when they pass before a Tabernacle which contains the reserved Consecrated Host.  Some people cross themselves when they stand at a gravesite.  And as you mentioned, a great many people make the Sign of the Cross after receiving the Eucharist.  This ritualistic action is based on personal preference rather than a Church mandate.  Most people who cross themselves at Communion do so because they were raised in a family and/or church community that adopted the practice.  Others do not follow that practice because they were not taught to do so.  I, as one who does not follow this practice, find it interesting to watch people during Communion to see how many people sign themselves.  Although the practice is permitted, it is not essential to make the Sign of the Cross after receiving the Eucharist. 

Catholics, like all Christians, believe most firmly that the divine Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, assumed flesh and lived among us as a man: Jesus Christ.  This doctrine of the Incarnation – the ‘en-flesh-ment’ of God – leads us to recognize that what we do with our bodies is important and sacred.  So, when we make the Sign of the Cross, we are reminding ourselves in an easy way of the profound goodness of our God Who chose to become one like us in all things but sin.  We mark on our bodies the Sign of the Lord’s Cross as a way of remembering that Jesus allowed His body to be nailed to the Cross for our redemption.  While our action of making the Sign of the Cross is utterly painless, this simple series of movements carries with it the weight of God’s love marking our bodies as temples of the Spirit. 

Next time you do it: think about it! 

Thanks for your question!