Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, a day we set aside to recall the unity of the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, that while they are distinct as persons, together they are still one God. This is one of the great mysteries of our faith, one that has been proclaimed by theologians and saints throughout the centuries.

One of the most common customs and habits we have as Christians recalls the Trinity even if we do not always consciously realize it, making the Sign of the Cross. This is such a powerful and important sign within our faith, yet many of us do it subconsciously, almost robotically, and many more make it sloppily or half-heartedly. So why do we make the Sign of the Cross? There are many reasons for this, and I would like to highlight a few of them below:

The Sign of the Cross is a mini-Profession of Faith. When we say the words “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we invoke the Trinity, reminding ourselves of the unity of the God who saves us. As we make the motion we recall the means of our salvation, namely the Cross, that Christ died for all of us, and by doing so restored life to us in the heavenly kingdom. The Sign of the Cross reminds us who God is and what God did for us.

The Sign of the Cross is also reminder and renewal of our Baptism. When we were Baptized, the Cross was traced on our foreheads which “marks with the imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to Him and signifies the grace of the Redemption Christ won for us by His cross” (CCC 1235). Every time then, that we make the Sign of the Cross, we reaffirm that we belong to Christ. As Pope Francis proclaimed last year on Trinity Sunday, “By tracing the cross on our body, we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving His life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that H is love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us” (Angelus Address, June 4, 2023).

The Sign of the Cross is also an ancient tradition. Saint John Chrysostom taught the faithful back in the 4th century to “Never leave your house without making the sign of the cross. It will be to you a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress. Neither man nor demon will dare to attack you, seeing you covered with such powerful armor. Let this sign teach you that you are a soldier, ready to combat against the demons, and ready to fight for the crown of justice. Are you ignorant of what the cross has done? It has vanquished death, destroyed sin, emptied hell, dethroned Satan, and restored the universe. Would you then doubt its power?” As the world moves more and more towards a secular lifestyle, let us be like Saint John, and never doubt the power of the Sign of the Cross.

Have a blessed day,

Fr. Rovnak