The Sign of the Cross

Every time we pray, we make the sign of the Cross. Catholics have been making the sign of the cross since the time of the apostles. In the year 250, Tertullian described the Sign of the Cross when he said, “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we make our foreheads with the Sign of the Cross.”

So what are we really doing when we make that sign? We’re expressing our faith in the Trinity and our faith that the trinity was revealed by Jesus on His Cross.

We touch our head and we say, “In the name of the Father.” Because He is the first person of the Trinity and our Creator. Then we touch our hearts and we say, “and of the Son.” This reminds us that God the Son proceeds from the Father and came down from heaven to our Blessed Mother. Then we touch our shoulders, moving from left to right as we say, “and of the Holy Spirit.” We do this because God the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; and in His love, the Spirit fills us, body and soul, with the life of God.

Now, another way to think about the Trinity is the way that St. John described it in one of his letters. He said very simply, “God is love.”

Remember, all of us are created in the image of God. That means that you and me-all of us-are created in the image of the most Holy Trinity. We are all created in the image of God who is love.

The Trinity is the meaning of our lives and our Vincentian vocation. Jesus said that if we love Him and keep His commandments, that God will come-the Trinity-to make His home within us. St. Paul used to say, we are the temples of the living God. That’s the truth, God is dwelling in each of us by His grace! In our Vincentian vocation, we are called to share our Lord with our neighbors in need.

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel which is referred to as the Great Commission, Jesus entrusts to each of us the command to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus is telling us to go and live our faith by our actions in our homes, schools, workplaces, communities and in our service to our neighbors in need. Jesus calls each of us to live a life of holiness. Pope Francis reminded us that we are called to share God’s love by bringing Christ’s message of hope to the world. Everyone has a deep, spiritual need to know God, and this search for truth can only be satisfied in and through Jesus Christ as the life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of Vincentian service.

Today’s feast day of the most Blessed Trinity is a beautiful reminder that we can talk to God as our loving Father. We can walk with Jesus our brother and that we can live by the light and the gifts of their spirit of love.

Let us ask the Lord for the grace not to hesitate when the Spirit calls us to take a step forward to holiness. Let us ask for the apostolic courage to share the Gospel with others. Jesus always dwells within us. We do not need to only open our hearts to Jesus who stands and knocks at the door of our hearts, rather, Jesus is always with us and thus, we need to allow Jesus to come from our hearts in our call to holiness and by our service to others.