On the Sign of the Cross
THERE is nothing which can more effectually assist you to recollect the presence of God, and remind you of the duty of consecrating all that you say or do to his honour and glory, than the frequent and devout use of the sign of the Cross. This sacred sign has always been used by the Church to signify, that all graces and spiritual assistance are derived from the cross and passion of Jesus Christ. When accompanied with corresponding sentiments, it is an excellent form of prayer, a fervent act of faith, of hope, and of charity, beside being a public and solemn profession of our belief in those mysteries of our religion, which we must all believe and profess in order to be saved; namely, the Unity and Trinity of God, the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of our Saviour.
The sign of the Cross should always be dear to you as the sign of a Christian, the badge of a Christian, and the glory of a Christian — as the distinctive mark of Christ’s true followers, — as a memorial of the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, and of your own deliverance from eternal death by and through those sufferings. To merit, by an application of this saving sign, the fruits of that Cross and Passion, which it represents, you should accustom yourself to make it devoutly, frequently, and openly. You should make it devoutly, that is, with gratitude for the blessings which you enjoy through that Passion, and with sincere sorrow for your sins. Remember that a precipitate, disrespectful, as it were half method of signing yourself with the sign of the Cross, is in reality to dishonour it, and to liken yourself to those
