Why do Catholics Make the Sign of the Cross?

As social beings, we often use signs and symbols to communicate with each other. For example, a simple hand shake can imply trust, friendship, and gratitude. Additionally, the "thumbs up" can convey both sarcasm and/or approval. Even sports like Baseball, Rugby, and Football use symbols that convey strategies and suggestions. However, symbols and gestures are also important for our relationship with God.

You see, God speaks to us through what we can see, touch, taste, and hear. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the thirteenth century, “grace builds on nature.” That is, the action and presence of God often has a very practical way of communicating to and blessing us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God” who makes us holy, and we, in turn, offer worship and praise to God through our actions and gestures (“Catechism,” art. #1148).

The Sign of the Cross as we know it today is both a symbol and a form of prayer that has been used as early as the seventh century. Through it we bless God, adore him, and ask for his assistance. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that the Sign of the Cross should be made frequently and reverently by beginning each day, each prayer, and each activity “with the Sign of the Cross: ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen’” (art. #2157).

As Baptized persons, we have been marked with the “imprint of Christ,” who has redeemed us by his suffering and death (art. #1235). We are called to be holy, and his cross gives us the grace--the strength--to overcome the many temptations we face. The grace won for us by Christ’s cross enables us to be what we are called to be: saints. We are called to transform the world; we are called to “set the world ablaze with Christ’s love” (St. Catherine of Sienna), and the Sign of the Cross reminds us of this.

That is why we make the Sign of the Cross: it reminds of our Redemption, our Sanctification, and our Mission as baptized Christians. When we make the Sign of the Cross we are reminded of Christ’s death and resurrection; we pray that he would continue to strengthen us against temptation; and we proclaim with our gestures the healing power of God’s love. The Sign of the Cross is a means through which God chooses to speak to us, and through which we choose to speak to others about our Catholic faith.