In Ephesians 3 Paul prays that we would experience life as rooted and grounded in love. As an aid to this, he points to the cross, praying we would know the height, depth, breadth and length of the love we are to be rooted and grounded in. His four words “height, depth, breadth and length” pointed to the literal cross–its two cross-beams pointing in these four directions.
These four words also pointed to the symbolism of the cross. The word “length” stood for the duration of Jesus’ cruciform love. The word “depth” referred to the way in which his love reached even the darkest and deepest moments of our lives. The word “breadth” highlighted the way in which this love of Jesus extended to different racial and ethnic groups like Jews and Gentiles. And the word “height” pointed to the heavenly union made possible by this cruciform love of Jesus. For Paul, understanding the cross was a key to living life rooted and grounded in love.
One spiritual practice may be especially beneficial in helping us to keep the cross before us during the day and thus to experiencing our daily life, even a Covid-19 life, as rooted and grounded in love: making the sign of the cross.
Now, admittedly, the physical act of making the sign of the cross has been misused and even abused. It has been practiced in ways that might be called superstitious or even magical. And it has been used in ways that could be called hypocritical. Nonetheless, it is a practice that can be very formative.
The practice of the sign of the cross may go back to the third century when there are accounts of Christians using a thumb or index finger to trace a small cross on the forehead. Making the larger sign grew in prominence in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. By the ninth century, Christians in the East were making the larger gesture with the thumb and two fingers displayed, symbolizing the Trinity, and their ring finger and little finger folded in, symbolizing the divine and human natures of Jesus. The movement went from head to chest to right shoulder to left. Christians in the West moved from head to chest to left shoulder to right. The move was often accompanied silently or verbally with a brief prayer such as “In the name of Jesus” or “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” or “O God, come to my assistance.”
Bert Ghezzi, in his The Sign of the Cross, says the practice does three things. I’ve based my comments below on his list.
First, the sign of the cross is a profession. Making the sign of the cross is a profession of faith. Each time a person makes the sign of the cross they are renewing their belief in the threefold God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are reaffirming their belief that Jesus descended to earth (moving from head to chest), died on a cross for us (touching the left shoulder), and ascended to heaven after his resurrection (touching the right shoulder). Both the prayer (In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the physical movement are thus a way of affirming the God in whom we believe and the story of Jesus that shapes our lives. Practicing this sign throughout the day, or as a way to begin your day or end your day, reminds you of who God truly is and what Jesus did for you.
Second, making the sign of the cross is an invocation. The sign of the cross helps us recognize that wherever we are at the moment, we are in the presence of God. The gesture is an invocation. It is an invitation. It is an awakening. Each time we make it our eyes are opened to the truth that Father, Son and Spirit are here, in this place, with us right now.
Third, the sign of the cross is a petition. In its normal practice, it is accompanied by a prayer and may often be the beginning of a longer period of prayer. Thus, the physical act is also the initiation of a speech act. As our hands move, our lips should move. Each time we make this sign, we are reengaging in prayer to God in some way. We are, in the words of Brother Lawrence, “practicing the presence of God.”
I’ll add a fourth–making the sign of the cross is an association. In this act, we associate ourselves with the suffering. James Cone, in The Cross and the Lynching Tree, writes this:
“Unfortunately, during the course of 2,000 years of Christian history, this symbol of salvation has been detached from any reference to the ongoing suffering and oppression of human beings—those whom Ignacio Ellacuría, the Salvadoran martyr, called “the crucified peoples of history.” The cross has been transformed into a harmless, non-offensive ornament that Christians wear around their necks. Rather than reminding us of the “cost of discipleship,” it has become a form of “cheap grace,” an easy way to salvation that doesn’t force us to confront the power of Christ’s message and mission. Until we can see the cross and the lynching tree together, until we can identify Christ with a “recrucified” black body hanging from a lynching tree, there can be no genuine understanding of Christian identity in America, and no deliverance from the brutal legacy of slavery and white supremacy.”
The cross is a symbol of solidarity–Jesus’ solidarity with our suffering, and our solidarity with the suffering of others. The suffering and oppression of Jesus calls us to solidarity with the suffering and oppression of others. His crucifixion compels us to stand with those still suffering crucifixion. Making the sign of the cross, especially every time we read about or see accounts of or witness first hand the suffering and oppression of others can be a tangible way of committing ourselves to them and to overthrowing the powers causing their pain.
