-In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Eternal God,
We are Your people, the flock You shepherd, and we have found our
dwelling place with You. We glory in Your name, O Lord, and praise
You, giving You all our thanksgiving, honor, and worship.
Heavenly Father,
We know that sufferings, challenges, and trials all come at the cost
of having free will. We know that living lives of heroic virtue, with
Your help, will be what allows us to meet every challenge in our
lives.
We ask for the grace of courage to meet every challenge head on.
We ask for the grace of strength to conquer fear and doubt, and we
ask for the grace of confidence to know that our hope and trust in
You will remain forever focused on the Cross of Christ leading us to
You.
We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

-In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Making the Sign of the Cross is a simple gesture yet is a profound expression of faith for both Catholics and Orthodox Christians. As Catholics, it

s something we do when we enter a church, after we receive Communion, before meals, and every time we pray. But what exactly are we doing when we make the Sign of the Cross? Over the course of the next few weeks I will try to give some insight what we do when we make this profound Sign. 

Pray- We begin and end our prayers with the Sign of the Cross, perhaps not even realizing that the sign itself is a prayer. If prayer, as its core is "an uprising of the mind to God," as St. John Damascene put it, then the Sign of the Cross surely qualifies. As Catholic author Bert Ghezzi puts it, " No empty gesture, the sign of the cross is a potent prayer that engages the Holy Spirit as the divine advocate and agent of our successful Christian Living." " Wow!

Opens ourselves to grace- As a sacramental, the Sign of the Cross prepares us to receive God's blessing and disposes us to cooperate with His grace. 

Sanctifies the Day-  As an act repeated throughout the key moments of each day, the Sign of the Cross sanctifies our day. "At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon our forehead the sign." wrote Tertullian known in  Church history as the father of Latin theology and the defender of Christianity from heresy both within and outside the Church.  

Commit the whole self to Christ- In moving our hands from our foreheads to our hearts and then both shoulders, we are asking God's blessing for our mind, our passions, our very bodies. In other words, the Sign of  the Cross commits us, body and soul, mind and heart, to Christ. Russian Orthodox theologian Romano Guardini has said, " Let it take in you whole being-body, soul mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not doing and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God."

More to come. In fact there are some 21 things we do when we make the Sign of the Cross. 

God Bless 

Deacon Loris

'

SIN—Repentance
What I personally believe limits God in what He can do in my personal
life.
By our actions during Mass and Confession are we just sleep walking
through them thinking that God will understand? Do we have a
formula/process we follow and think that’s good enough?
Jesus, in Scripture, warns against spiritual indifference and complacency
(both sins) [Jn 1:9-12, Rev 3:15-17] These are, in fact, the most
dangerous problem(s) Catholics face today. Jesus wants total life-giving
love—NOT token prayers at night.
There is no limit to God’s mercy. God NEVER rejects us because of our
sins. God, who is offended by every sin, can forgive ALL sins. God’s
mercy is His love bending over our misery to relieve it, redeem it, and
raise it up to itself. Love (God) doesn’t do the bare minimum. He goes
all the way. Following Christ is more than stopping short of mortal sin.
Christ gave everything He had in love. What do we give Him? In fact, if
we’re not growing closer, we’re falling away!
That being said…we need to start with repentance.
The first sermon of Christ was about repentance. “Repent, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.” [Mt 4:17] The first sermon of Peter was about
repentance. [Acts 10:43] The first sermon of Paul was about repentance.
[Acts 13:38-39] and the last sermon of Jesus, before the Ascension, was
the same as the first. [Lk 24:45-48]
The prophets tell us [Isaiah chapters 1,3,10 for example] that there are 3
steps to conversion/transformation of our lives in Christ. First is
repentance. Our contrition (sorrow for sin with a willingness to refrain
from further sin), regardless of being perfect (our love for God and choice
not to offend Him) or imperfect (fear of God’s punishment) are both
graces from God. When we accept these graces, we resolve to not sin
again. [CCC 1431, 1452, 1453]
“When one has perfect sorrow for sin, the whole world becomes a
distasteful burden.” Thomas a’Kempis, The Imitation of Christ.

Second is judgment/penance. Penance has taken many forms throughout
Judeo-Christian history. In the Old Testament, sacrifices of millions of
animals could never forgive sin. It demonstrated an awareness on the
part of the sinner of sins committed. Once a year, every year people
atoned for their sins but once a year, every year they were reminded of
their sins. They would not be freed from their sins. Jesus died once for
ALL our sins through all space and time. Our penance should express our
gratitude for the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ to forgive us of all we’ve
ever done.
Penance is not performed publicly, as in the past, but may consist of
prayer, an offering, works of mercy, sacrifices, and above all, patient
acceptance of the cross we bear. [CCC 1460]
Last is restoration/consolation. We are restored to the family of God.
We are consoled when we realize that we are mortal. We will die. Will
we worry more about who gets our stuff or whether we will live eternally
with our loving God? In the forgiveness of our sins, we are assured a
heavenly home. This is the cause for our joy!
Let us pray.
Eternal Father,
We thank You for placing in our hearts Your Holy Spirit who directs our
hearts and minds to You. We ask, this day, for the grace of true
repentance, the grace to accept our penance, and the grace of
consolation and restoration of our relationship with You, our loving
Father. We pray that we may never grow weary in serving You and that
we may joyously persevere to the end. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Resources:
The Great Adventure Bible RSV, 2 nd Catholic Edition, Ascension Press
The Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC]
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a’Kempis
Life of Christ by Ven. Fulton J. Sheen
Coming Soon by Dr. Michael Barber

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