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Prayer

What is the Origin of the St. Michael Prayer?

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On Oct. 1, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a deeply disturbing mystical experience at Mass. He had just finished celebrating in his private chapel when he suddenly stood transfixed in…

On Oct. 1, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a deeply disturbing mystical experience at Mass. He had just finished celebrating in his private chapel when he suddenly stood transfixed in front of the altar. For perhaps 10 minutes he stood there as if in a trance, his face drained of color. Then he went to his office and composed a prayer to St. Michael. He told his staff the prayer should be offered throughout the Church.

He explained that he had heard two voices in the vicinity of the tabernacle. He believed they were the voices of Our Lord and of Satan. Pope Leo heard Satan boast that he could destroy the Church in 75 or 100 years, if given the opportunity. Then he heard Our Lord give Satan permission to try. (This sounds somewhat similar to what we read in Job 1.)

The prayer which Pope Leo XIII composed was 10 times the length of the version we use today. Use of the prayer was discontinued in 1964. Thirty years later, in his Regina Coeli address, Pope John Paul II revived use of the prayer. He said, “Although the prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask every one not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of the world.” The pope clearly intended that we should offer this prayer in our homes as well. The prayer, by the way, is as follows:

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

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Prayer

Want to pray the Rosary with your family? Try starting with a decade a day

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Many have heard the saying by the Servant of God Venerable Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., that “the family that prays together stays together.” The family rosary has been a staple…

Many have heard the saying by the Servant of God Venerable Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., that “the family that prays together stays together.” The family rosary has been a staple of Catholic home devotions for centuries — and for good reason. It teaches us, especially children, the basic prayers of our faith. It covers the essential moments in the life of Christ, encapsulating the Gospel story. It helps us to start to spend time with God in meditative prayer. In short, the rosary is a wonderful way to ask for God’s help and Mary’s intercession.

However, many can find it difficult to pray the rosary. Attention spans seem to be shorter, perhaps due to the multitude of screens that surround us. Commercials every few minutes, video games and smartphones all contribute to problems with concentration. For many, silence can seem unnerving when we are constantly being stimulated. Add to that the noise of younger children, and praying a family rosary especially can be challenging. So how can you, and your family, pray the rosary together?

One way to be successful is to not try to start with a full, five-decade rosary. Instead, perhaps try to pray one rosary over the course of the week. You can pray at a family altar where images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary are enthroned. Keep rosaries there for the children. Begin on Sunday with the opening prayers of the Rosary: the Sign of the Cross, the apostles creed, the Our Father, the three Hail Marys and Glory Be. Then from Monday through Friday, pray one decade a day. On Saturday, pray the concluding prayers: the Hail Holy Queen, final prayer, prayers for the pope’s intention, and the Sign of the Cross. Thus, over the course of the week, the family can pray one full Rosary while spending just a few minutes each day. Over time you can increase the number of decades prayed until you are praying the entire rosary on a daily basis.

This can easily be enhanced. Each family member can be asked for what intention they are offering the decade. You can add Scripture readings or introduce a relevant line from Scripture for each Hail Mary. You can use pictures, coloring books, spiritual meditations or music. In addition, you can add other prayers for morning or night, or other devotions such as a litany or novena. Such devotions are a treasure chest of ancient Christian prayers just waiting to be rediscovered. At a time when many are attracted by “mindfulness,” we seem to ignore the long history of Catholic meditative prayer. There is an added bonus that praying part of the Rosary gains a partial indulgence and a plenary indulgence is granted to those who pray the whole Rosary in a family group. These can be offered for the deceased members of the family.

This manageable method is a great way to learn how to pray the Rosary and to make it a regular part of your family’s spiritual life. It will teach your children how Catholics pray. And it will bring your family together, making Christ the center of your home. It will help your family to truly become a “domestic church,” where your hearts are united, with Mary, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Father James Goodwin writes from North Dakota.

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Prayer

The Liturgy of the Hours

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Many Catholics hear that priests are required to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, and assume it is a “private” prayer said only by priests and…

Many Catholics hear that priests are required to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, and assume it is a “private” prayer said only by priests and those in religious orders.

Although clerics and religious are obligated by Church law to say the Divine Office (see Canons 1173-1175), laymen and women are increasingly making the Liturgy of the Hours part of their spiritual growth and development by reciting morning and evening prayer. Why are these prayers important in the life of the Church?

“Seven times a day I praise you”

The Divine Office owes its remote origin to the inspiration of God’s Covenant with the Jewish people. He commanded the Aaronic priests (c. 1280 B.C.) to offer a morning and evening sacrifice (see Ex 29:38-39). During the Babylonian Exile (587-521 B.C.), when the Temple did not exist, the synagogue services of Scripture readings, psalms and hymns developed as a substitute for the bloody sacrifices of the Temple, a sacrifice of praise.

The inspiration for this development may have been sentiments in Psalms such as King David’s prayer, “Seven times a day I praise you” (Ps 119:164), and the statement that God’s law is studied by those who are righteous “day and night” (Ps 1:2).

After the people returned to Judea, and the Temple was rebuilt, the prayer services developed in Babylon for the local assemblies (synagogues) of the people were brought into Temple use as well. We know that in addition to morning and evening prayer to accompany the sacrifices there was prayer at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day.

The Acts of the Apostles notes that Christians continued to pray at these hours (see Acts 2:15; 10:3). And, although the apostles no longer shared in the Temple sacrifices — they had its fulfillment in the “breaking of the bread” (the Eucharist) — they continued to frequent the Temple at the customary hours of prayer (Acts 3:1).

Monastic and eremitical (hermit) practice, as it developed in the early Church, recognized in the psalms the perfect form of prayer and did not try to improve upon it. The practices were quite individual from monastery to monastery. At first some tried to do the entire Psalter (150 psalms) each day, but eventually that was abandoned for a weekly cycle built around certain hours of the day. With the reforms of the Second Vatican Council the traditional one-week Psalter cycle became a four-week cycle.

Among the earliest Psalter cycles of which we have a record is the division given by St. Benedict in his Rule for Monasteries (chapters 8-19) around 550, with canonical hours of lauds (morning prayer) offered at sunrise, prime (first hour of the day), terce (third hour, or midmorning), sext (sixth hour, or midday), none (ninth hour, or midafternoon), vespers (evening prayer) offered at sunset, and compline (night prayer) before going to bed. In addition, the monks arose to read and pray during the night. This Office of Matins (Readings) likewise had its divisions into nocturnes, corresponding to the beginning of each “through the nightwatches” (Ps 63:7) — that is, 9 p.m., midnight and 3 a.m.

After the Council of Trent and its reforms, the Roman Breviary became the Office of the entire Latin Church. It should be noted that religious orders have a right to their own version, though many simply use the Roman Office. These versions are typically used by members of monastic and contemplative communities, such as the Trappists and Carmelites.

The name Liturgy of the Hours was adopted in 1970 to emphasize that the purpose of prayer was to sanctify the whole day and every activity of daily life in the modern world. Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic constitution Laudis Canticum establishing the Liturgy of the Hours, wrote, “Since the Liturgy of the Hours is the means of sanctifying the day, the order of this prayer was revised so that the canonical hours could more easily relate to the chronological hours of the day in the circumstances of modern life.”

The Liturgy of the Hours is organized currently in a similar way to the earlier Divine Office, but with a number of significant changes. Lauds (morning prayer) and vespers (evening prayer) are given a clear priority, with the rest of the day structured around them. A midday prayer is suggested — shorter than morning and evening prayer. Communities of contemplatives are still required to observe all three (and others are encouraged to do so), but one may choose to use only one, with the texts that are offered. Compline (night prayer) is retained, with the change that it could now be recited after midnight (previously, it was necessary to complete the entire cycle before midnight). A major addition was the Office of Readings.

Praying With One Accord

Public and common prayer by God’s holy people is rightly considered to be among the most important duties of the entire Church. We see how from the very beginning those who were baptized “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, and to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). As one continues reading the Acts of the Apostles, frequent testimony is given to the fact that the entire Christian community prayed “with one accord” (Acts 1:14; 4:24). When the Christian faithful pray the Liturgy of the Hours, they are connected in a very real and unique way to others who are praying this form of liturgical prayer, so that indeed from the rising of the sun to its setting we proclaim the glory and honor of God.

Prayer is classically defined as lifting our hearts and minds to God. When the Liturgy of the Hours is celebrated, the people of God are not only united with the Church in prayer, they are praying words blessed by Him that reflect the full spectrum of our human experience and that call for the sanctification and healing of our world.

Derek Abrajano writes from Chicago. 

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Prayer

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in the Time of COVID-19

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First Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony in the Garden It’s instinctive for us to recoil from times of uncertainty, suffering and pain. And it’s natural for us, as a byproduct of…

First Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony in the Garden

It’s instinctive for us to recoil from times of uncertainty, suffering and pain. And it’s natural for us, as a byproduct of our first parents’ act of disobedience at Eden, to always want control. The challenge for us, when faced with trials, is to open our hearts and minds to acceptance of God’s providential care. The struggles Christ faced in the Garden of Gethsemane — fear, anxiety, helplessness, etc. — have been experienced by us all. Currently, the challenges we face in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic are many: temporary separation from the sacraments and distance from our friends and family, unemployment and new financial burdens, even sickness and death. In their face, we might not be able to pray as we ought, we might feel alone, and our thinking can be clouded by temptations to doubt and the pressure of the circumstances. This is what Christ faced the night before everything — his friends, his family, his clothes, even his life — was stripped away from him. But his example compels us to trust that even the crosses that we carry in life have purpose. Let us embrace God’s will above all else by echoing the words of Jesus: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42).

Second Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the Pillar

God’s own son took the punishment that rightly belonged to us. The beatings and blows that he endured were accepted willingly, out of love for each of us. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, “By his wounds we were healed” (53:5). Objectively speaking, Jesus’s scourging was an injustice beyond comparison.

In our own lives, we face difficulties and sufferings. Often do not give much consideration beyond their meaning beyond injustice. That means we can be tempted to grow angry, embittered and jaded. How do we process it all without giving into depression and despair? The key is to join our sufferings to those of Christ.

When imitating Christ’s sacrifice, accepting our sufferings in accord with God’s will and making of them a offering, our sufferings can be transformed as offerings of love. Rather than occasions for self-pity, transforming our suffering in Christ becomes a means to participate in his work of salvation.

In the end, the only way to make sense of life’s sufferings — especially important to remember now amid so much sorrow — is by understanding it all through the transformative love of Christ’s passion. We wonder: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why has this virus attacked the world so viciously? Why must we suffer? Let’s ask God for the grace to see through the pain, take each step forward in faith, and embrace what He has given us, confident in the hope that “does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5).

Third Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning with Thorns

Christ’s crown was a sign of contradiction; the crown he received was not the crown he deserved. Both acclaimed and denounced as King of the Jews, he received the crown of one whose kingdom was “not of this world.” Those who follow Christ rightfully crown him by inviting him to reign over our hearts. This means we follow “the way, the truth and the life.”

In bearing a crown of thorns, Christ the King raises the dignity of humanity, he gives new meaning to life in this “vale of tears.” He opens our hearts to all who suffer and gives meaning and purpose to all our own suffering. That can be difficult to understand, especially when so many are suffering from the outbreak of a deadly virus or from anxiety, from separation from family and community and from the inability to receive the sacraments. But Christ reigns when we invite him to enter our hearts, when in imitation of him we conform ourselves according to God’s will, and when we imitate his unbounded charity. As citizens of Christ’s kingdom, supported by his grace, may we dare to live by his example: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Carries the Cross

Along the road to Calvary, while carrying the cross burdened with the sins of the world, Jesus encountered the goodness of friends and strangers. These models of charity console Jesus’ heart during his final agony and give him an opportunity to rest his weary body. Those who helped Christ or encountered him on the way to Calvary did so knowing they could face harm themselves. But they put their lives on the line to help Jesus carry his cross, wipe his bloodied and sweaty face, or give him a glance or word of love to alleviate his pain.

In the face of the current pandemic, healthcare professionals across the globe are doing the same in service to their sick brothers and sisters. Great are the sacrifices they make. Long is the list of selfless doctors, nurses and medical personnel exhausted from long working hours, often separated from those closest to them for fear of spreading infection, and risking infection themselves. And long is the list of many others making sacrifices to help keep safe the vulnerable in our midst. May the Blessed Mother, St. Simon of Cyrene, St. Veronica and the women of Jerusalem intercede for them!

Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus dies on the Cross

Those who suffer in extreme from the novel coronavirus, who have difficulty taking even one breath, can identify with the Crucified Christ as he hung on the cross. The weight of one’s body pressed against the lungs is what ultimately brought death for most crucifixion victims (and gave to us the origin of the word “excruciating”). No one wants to contract this virus, and so its victims can identify with the sinless Christ killed for our transgressions. As we hear in the first epistle of Peter: “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (2:24).

From the Cross, Christ shouted in misery, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). Those words resonate with the faithful as we face the coronavirus pandemic and its many effects. Given the serious contagion and associated risk of death, bishops throughout many countries have suspended the public celebration of the Mass. As the faithful are left without the consolation of the sacraments at this moment of crisis, so many hunger and thirst to receive Christ sacramentally in the Eucharist. Many of the dying, especially the victims of the pandemic, find themselves without the ability to unburden their souls of sin by confession to a priest or receive the anointing of the sick, even at the time of death. As Jesus, in his final moments, welcomed the Good Thief into heaven, so we beg the Lord, in his never-ending mercy, to usher these souls into paradise.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter@HeinleinMichael.

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Why Do We Pray Before Meals?

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What’s your favorite food? Fried chicken? A juicy steak? Scrambled eggs? Not infrequently, Americans gather around a bountiful table of meat, potatoes, vegetables and desserts. And many of them do…

What’s your favorite food? Fried chicken? A juicy steak? Scrambled eggs?

Not infrequently, Americans gather around a bountiful table of meat, potatoes, vegetables and desserts. And many of them do so with prayer and expressions of gratitude for gifts received.

While we might take such a moment of prayer for granted, do you ever think of eating as a time of worship? Maybe you should.

Most of us learned to pray before meals a long time ago. Parents teach their small children to pray before meals and, sometimes, even after meals. Such prayer before meals is sometimes called “grace,” as in, “Let’s say grace,” coming from the Latin word gratia, meaning “thanks.”

Ancient Tradition

Why do we pray over our meals? Because we, as a community of believers, learned it a long time ago.

The custom of praying over a meal is ancient in our faith tradition. Even before Jesus — who prayed over the gifts of the Last Supper and over the gifts at the multiplication of the loaves and fish — ancient Jews prayed over their meals.

They did so in gratitude both for the food and for the land which the Lord had given them.

In Deuteronomy 8:10, we see the ancient order given to prayer at meals attributed to Moses: “But when you have eaten and are satisfied, you must bless the Lord, your God, for the good land he has given you.” Modern Jews call this the Birkat HaMazon (“blessing on nourishment”).

Following this tradition, as well as the custom of Jesus’ own meal prayers, early Christians offered prayer over their own meals. Several early Church Fathers cited the need to pray before meals, both in thanksgiving and as part of the natural desire to worship God. For example, Tertullian, who lived and wrote in the early third century, noted in his treatise “On Prayer” that “it becomes believers not to take food … before interposing a prayer; for the refreshments and nourishments of the spirit are to be held prior to those of the flesh, and things heavenly prior to things earthly” (Chapter 25).

Thanks from a Pope

Our familiar meal prayer today — “Bless us, O Lord” — dates back to the Gelasian Sacramentary, named for Pope Gelasius, who led the Church at the end of the fifth century, but who did not write this liturgical book.

Nonetheless, the book dates back to at least the eighth century and from it we have the roots of this prayer.

Short though it is, our blessing prayer contains three of the four following main types of prayer: gratitude, supplication, praise and contrition. We can break the meal prayer down into these specific prayer parts:

Supplication: “Bless us, O Lord”

Gratitude: “and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty,”

Praise: “through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

That’s a lot of prayer, handled in just a few words. The Dictionary of the Liturgy describes a good meal prayer as something that “usually includes a request for His blessing on the food and the group present, together with gratitude to the Lord for His gifts and an expression of our total dependence upon Him even for food and drink…. In this fashion, the mealtime … becomes an act of worship.”

That covers supplications, gratitude and praise (as in worship). But wait? Where is the “dependence” part of our “Bless us, O Lord”?

That comes in the act of praying itself. By taking time, before eating, to ask God’s blessing, we show that we know how much we need His care — not only to bring us the food, but to let it nourish us and bring us health and well-being.

Meals Parallel Mass

Our simple meal prayer, said in a homelike setting, follows the pattern of our worship in church at Mass: prayers of praise, supplication and gratitude; expressions of faithful dependence upon God; the desire to do better as we are strengthened by the sacred meal. Then, fed and nourished, we are sent out from the church building to bring the worship of God into everyday life.

Meal prayer is one way to do this: It keeps us linked to the never-ending daily prayer of the Church and reminds us of the sacred meal that Jesus left for us, to be shared in community, until He comes again.

Most of all, prayer at meals puts us in God’s presence on a regular basis. By praying at meals we daily remind ourselves our proper place in the plan of creation: we are stewards of God and disciples of Christ.

The U.S. bishops, in their 1992 pastoral on stewardship (“Stewardship A Disciple’s Response”), said: “Jesus’ disciples and Christian stewards recognize God as the origin of life, giver of freedom and source of all things. We are grateful for the gifts we have received and are eager to use them to show our love for God and one another.”

Offering prayer at daily meals shows gratitude and an eager response to God’s love as it is poured out on us and on all those with whom we share “our bounty through Christ our Lord” — including scrambled eggs and turkey dinners.

Patricia Kasten is associate editor at The Compass, the newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.

Prayers Before Meals in the Early Church

Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name’s sake; You gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us You didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant.
— Didache, first century

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
— 1 Corinthians 10:31

Before taking nourishment it is fitting to praise the Creator of all things, and it is fitting also to sing His praises when we take as nourishment the things created by Him.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Pedagogue, II.4

Our repasts are in nothing vile or immodest. We do not recline until we have prayed to God. In like manner prayer concludes the feast.
— Tertullian, Apol., xxxi

We give Thee thanks, our Father, for the Resurrection which Thou hast manifested to us through Jesus, Thy Son; and even as this bread which is here on this table was formerly scattered abroad and has been made compact and one, so may Thy Church be reunited from the ends of the earth for Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the power and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
— Attributed to St. Athanasius, from a fourth-century formula

The merciful and compassionate Lord has given nourishment to those who fear Him. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and forever and throughout the ages. Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is above all things, we give Thee thanks and praise Thee because Thou hast deigned to give us a portion of Thy goods and nourishment for our body. We pray and beseech Thee to give us in like manner heavenly nourishment. Make us fear and reverence Thy law and Thy terrible and glorious name, and grant that we may never disobey Thy precepts. Write in our hearts Thy law and Thy justice. Sanctify our mind, our soul and our body through Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with Thee belongs glory, dominion, honor and adoration for ever and ever. Amen.
— Attributed to St. Athanasius, from a fourth-century formula

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Six Reasons Why We Make the Sign of the Cross

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Catholics often make the Sign of the Cross casually, just as a nice gesture for beginning and ending their prayers. But when we learn to take this act seriously, signing…

Catholics often make the Sign of the Cross casually, just as a nice gesture for beginning and ending their prayers. But when we learn to take this act seriously, signing ourselves frequently with faith and reverence, remarkable results can take place. We find ourselves doing measurably better in our Christian life: praying with more passion, resisting our bad inclinations more effectively, and relating to others more kindly.

The Sign of the Cross, after all, is not merely a pious gesture. It is a powerful prayer, a sacramental of the Church.

Scripture, the Church Fathers and saints, and Catholic teaching offer six perspectives on the Sign of the Cross that reveal why making it opens us to life-transforming graces. Once we grasp them, we can make the gesture with more faith and experience its great blessings.

Six Reasons to Make the Sign

1. A mini-creed.

The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith in God as He has revealed himself. It serves as an abbreviated form of the Apostles’ Creed.

Touching our forehead, breast and shoulders (and in some cultures, our lips as well), we declare our belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are announcing our faith in what God has done — the creation of all things, the redemption of humanity from sin and death, and the establishment of the Church, which offers new life to all. When we sign ourselves we are making ourselves aware of God’s presence and opening ourselves to His action in our lives.

That much alone would be enough to transform us spiritually, wouldn’t it? But there is much, much more.

2. A renewal of baptism.

First-century Christians began making the Sign of the Cross as a reminder and renewal of what happened to them when they were baptized. It still works the same way for us.

When we sign ourselves we are declaring that in baptism we died sacramentally with Christ on the cross and rose to a new life with Him (see Rom 6:3-4 and Gal 2:20). We are asking the Lord to renew in us those baptismal graces.

We are also acknowledging that baptism joined us to the Body of Christ and equipped us for our role of collaborating with the Lord in His work of rescuing all people from sin and death.

3. A mark of discipleship.

At baptism the Lord claimed us as His own by marking us with the Sign of the Cross. Now, when we sign ourselves, we are affirming our loyalty to Him. By tracing the cross on our bodies, we are denying that we belong to ourselves and declaring that we belong to Him alone (see Lk 9:23).

The Church Fathers used the same word for the Sign of the Cross that the ancient world employed to indicate ownership. The same word named a shepherd’s brand on his sheep, a general’s tattoo on his soldiers, a householder’s mark on his servants, and the Lord’s mark on His disciples.

Signing ourselves recognizes that we are Christ’s sheep and can count on His care; His soldiers, commissioned to work with Him in advancing His kingdom on earth; and His servants, dedicated to doing whatever He tells us.

4. An acceptance of suffering.

Jesus promised us that suffering would be a normal part of a disciple’s life (see Lk 9:23-24). So when we mark our bodies with the sign, we are embracing whatever pain comes as a consequence of our faith in Christ. Making the sign is our taking up the cross and following Him (Lk 9:23).

At the same time, however, it comforts us with the realization that Jesus, who endured the Crucifixion for us, now joins us in our suffering and supports us.

Signing ourselves also announces another significant truth: with St. Paul, we are celebrating that our afflictions as members of the body of Christ contribute to the Lord’s saving work of perfecting the Church in holiness (see Col 1:24).

5. A two-edged move against the devil.

When the devil watched Jesus die on the cross, he mistakenly believed he had won a great victory. Instead, the Lord surprised him with an ignominious defeat (see 1 Cor 2:8). From the first Easter morning through the present, the Sign of the Cross makes the devil cower and flee.

On one level, then, making the sign is a defensive move, declaring our inviolability to the devil’s influence. But, more importantly, the sign is also an offensive weapon, helping us reclaim with Christ all that Satan lost at the cross. It announces our cooperation with Jesus in the indomitable advance of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness.

6. A victory over the flesh.

In the New Testament, the word fleshsums up all the evil inclinations of our old nature that persist in us even after we die with Christ in baptism (see Gal 5:16-22). Making the Sign of the Cross expresses our decision to crucify these desires of the flesh and to live by the Spirit.

Like tossing off a dirty shirt or blouse, making the sign indicates our stripping ourselves of our evil inclinations and clothing ourselves with the behaviors of Christ (see Col 3:5-15).

The Church Fathers taught that the Sign of the Cross diffused the force of powerful temptations such as anger and lust. So, no matter how strongly we are tempted, we can use the Sign of the Cross to activate our freedom in Christ and conquer even our besetting sins.

Apply These Truths Now

Right now, you can imprint in your heart these six truths about the Sign of the Cross by making it six times, each time applying one of the perspectives.

First, sign yourself professing your faith in God.

Second, mark yourself remembering that you died with Christ in baptism.

Third, make the sign to declare that you belong to Christ as His disciple and will obey Him.

Fourth, sign yourself to embrace whatever suffering comes and to celebrate your suffering with Christ for the Church.

Fifth, make the Sign of the Cross as a defense against the devil and as an offensive advance of God’s kingdom against him.

Finally, make the sign to crucify your flesh and to put on Christ and His behaviors.

Go through these six signings often in your morning prayer — and watch the grace flow through this ancient sacramental in the days to come.

Bert Ghezzi is the author of numerous books, most recently “The Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer” (Loyola, 2006).

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