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Á¦¸ñ ½ÊÀÚ¼ºÈ£ÀÇ ÀǹÌ/The sign of the Cross - õÁÖ¼º»ïÃàÀÏ(2014-06-15)
ÀÛ¼ºÀÚ °ü¸®ÀÚ ÀÛ¼ºÀÏ 2014-10-10

 


½ÊÀÚ¼ºÈ£ÀÇ ÀÇ¹Ì - ÃµÁÖ¼º»ïÃàÀÏ(2014-06-15)

 

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´Ù´Ï¿¤  Å¥Ãò (¼ººñ¿À10¼¼È¸ ¾Æ½Ã¾Æ °ü±¸Àå)


The sign of the Cross - Feast of the Most Holy Trinity


In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost . Amen.


My Dear Brethren,
 A few years ago, a French university professor was looking for the true religion.  She went to different churches in order to listen to the different kinds of sermons, to see what the different preachers were saying.  She eventually went to our church in Paris near the Cathedral Notre Dame, the church of St Nicholas du Chardonnet, which is very famous, and there she was puzzled by something she did not see anywhere else: before and after the sermons, the priest always made the sign of the Cross. The sermon was ¡®framed¡¯ between two signs of the cross. At first she was puzzled, but then the more she listened to the sermons, Sunday after Sunday, because she started to like this church, the divine light came in, she understood: the sign of the Cross is the sign of salvation, is the sign of the true religion.  And she became Catholic.


Today, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is the feast of the most Holy Trinity, One God in Three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Whenever we make the sign of the Cross we recall this mystery, which is the beginning, the middle and the end of our Holy Religion.   Only Catholics make the sign of the Cross. Protestants don¡¯t do it. Jews, and Buddhists, don¡¯t do it. Orthodox make it differently, they make it backward, from the right shoulder to the left.  Wherever you go, when you see someone making the sign of the Cross, you know he is Catholic.  In a plane, in sport – like your famous ice skater who won the gold medal at the Olympics –, in a restaurant.  The sign of the Cross is the clear sign of Catholics.  We should really love to make this sign whenever there is a good reason to do it.


We make the sign of the Cross before and after our prayers, before and after our meals even in public, many people make it when they start a trip in the car, even a short trip, to ask God¡¯s protection during the trip. We often see that also in the plane.  When we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night. When we are afraid, or when we are in danger.  When we are tempted to sin, as we say in the liturgy: ¡°By the Sign of the Cross, deliver us O Lord from our enemies.¡±


The sign of the cross is a sacramental, it gives actual graces.  St Thomas Aquinas teaches that when we are in the state of grace and we make the sign of the cross with faith and devotion, our venial sins are washed away, all our venial sins, as long as we are not attached to them.  You see, when you enter the chapel, you make the sign of the cross with Holy Water, it is like a mini baptism.  We should do it as we arrive in the chapel, but we should not make is as we leave, because when we leave, we are already purified.


When the priest starts the Holy Mass, he makes the sign of the Cross, asking God¡¯s help for this most important act which will bring so many graces to the world. The Holy Mass ends with the blessing with the sign of the Cross.  In the Holy Mass there are about 33 signs of the Cross, of course I speak here of the traditional mass, because in the new mass, they have removed almost all of them, in the new mass there are about only 3 crosses left. Each one of these crosses comes at a special moment of the mass and has a special meaning.  For example at the beginning of the Holy Gospel, we make a cross on our forehead, our mouth and our heart, to signify that, through the power of the Holy Cross, we pray that our mind be enlightened by the Holy Gospel, that our lips be cleansed, like those of the prophet Isaiah, and that our heart be inflamed like the heart of the disciples of Emmaus.


During the Canon of the mass, there are groups of crosses, sometimes three, sometimes five.  The groups of five usually signify that we offer the Holy Mass through the Five Precious Wounds of Jesus on the Cross.  Remember St Paul says in the epistle to the Hebrews (ch.7, v. 25) that Our Lord is ¡°always making intercession for us¡± in Heaven, that means that He is always showing His Five Wounds to His Father for us.


The sign of the Cross gives strength, it is undeniable.  You have to read the lives of the martyrs of all the centuries to see that.  They made crosses on the walls of the prison cells, to remind themselves that they had to unite their sufferings to those of Our Blessed Lord.  We find similar examples in the stories of Catholics who were imprisoned in concentration camps. This is a great and wonderful mystery.  Also when you are in pain, or when you are in hospital, the cross brings the blessings of God. 


One of our Swiss priests, Fr. Henry La Praz, died in 1993 after being a priest for about 7 years, and after more than 130 operations. He spent about 1000 days in 10 different hospitals of Switzerland.  One time, when another priest visited him in the intensive care when he was truly nailed to his hospital bed by so many tubes, he explained that he was suffering so much that he could not even concentrate for the space of one Ave Maria.  The only thing that gave him comfort and strength was to make a little sign of the cross with his thumb on his finger.


My Dear Faithful, let us love this sign of the Cross, let us love to make it, and to make it well, not in a disrespectful way, almost ashamed of making it.  Let us make of it an act of Charity reminding ourselves that it signifies the God of love who created us and who died for us on that saving Cross.


In Lourdes, in 1858, the first time Our Lady appeared, as St Bernadette pulled out her rosary from her pocket and was about to make a quick sign of the cross, Our Lady stopped her, and made the sign of the cross slowly, teaching the young peasant shepherdess how to make it properly. Ever after St Bernadette always imitated Our Lady. Let us think of that when we make our signs of the Cross: slowly, well, with a great love, thinking of Our Blessed Lady, the Immaculate Conception.


In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.


Fr. Daniel Couture