The Way We Pray

So today in this little column we’re starting a little series of articles about the holy sacrifice of the Mass. As you might have heard, some of the language we use in our Eucharistic celebration is going to change very soon, the First Sunday of Advent to be exact. So what better time to think about what we do in our Eucharistic liturgy? So let’s start at the very beginning… but oh so much more than just a beginning.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

This is the prayerful blessing we employ to start our Liturgy, and with this phrase all together we make a physical sign, a ritual action that marks who we are, who we belong to, and who we’re hoping to be with forever. With this combining sign of thoughts, words and action we both show and speak of the God we’re about to worship. By making the Sign of the Cross we bind up and strengthen ourselves for pure worship, with the realization of God’s protection, grace, mercy, deliverance, and holiness.

Now this is what we’ve always said and done as Church. Making the Sign of the Cross has ancient origins with a continuous history even to our day. The Sign of the Cross also takes what we do together as a common liturgical sign and transforms it into a prayer of personal devotion as we dip into Holy Water, or begin a rosary, or have a spontaneous need, recalling God’s protection or blessing, or as we prepare to run a race or start a boxing match. The Sign of the Cross blesses all aspects of our lives… and that starts with liturgy – baptismal, Eucharistic, and ultimately heavenly.

So consider how writer Romano Guardini invites us to contemplate our practice in this book Sacred Signs:

“When we cross ourselves, let it be with a real sign of the cross. Instead of a small cramped gesture that gives no notion of its meaning, let us make a large unhurried sign… consciously feeling how it includes the whole of us, our thoughts, our attitudes, our body and soul, every part of us at once, how it consecrates and sanctifies us…”

Finally, put into practice one of my favorite images from Tertullian, writing from 2nd Century North Africa:

“We Christians wear out our foreheads with the sign of the cross”.

I can think of no better way to wear out our foreheads, or our minds and our hearts than with a Sign of God’s love for us.