The Catholic Sign of the Cross and Greeting at Mass: Meaning and Biblical Roots

Every Mass opens with two ancient acts: the Sign of the Cross and the greeting — what Fr. Josef Jungmann called the "Trinitarian gateway to the whole Mass." In this session of The Mass Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre shows how making the Sign of the Cross "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" unites two mysteries at once — the Holy Trinity and the Cross of Christ — and traces it to Jesus' command to baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) and to the ancient mark (taw) placed on the foreheads of the faithful (Ezekiel 9). He then unfolds the priest's greeting — "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all," drawn word-for-word from St. Paul (2 Corinthians 13:14) — and the response, "And with your spirit." Along the way he draws on St. Basil, who lists signing with the cross among the apostolic traditions; St. Augustine, who links the mark on our foreheads to the blood on the Passover doorposts; Pope Innocent III on making the sign with three fingers for the Trinity; and Pope Francis, who urges parents to teach children to make it well.

Key passages & sources examined: the baptismal command (Matthew 28:19); the taw mark on the forehead (Ezekiel 9:4); St. Paul's Trinitarian greeting (2 Corinthians 13:14); St. Basil on the sign of the cross as apostolic tradition; St. Augustine on the Passover mark on the doorposts; and Innocent III and Pope Francis on how the sign is made.