The Mass begins with the Sign of the Cross — "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" — and a greeting. Here's what each means, where they come from, and how the Sign of the Cross is properly made.
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.
Why do we begin Mass with the Sign of the Cross? It professes the Trinity and the Cross at once and marks us as belonging to Christ — the "Trinitarian gateway" to the whole Mass.
Where does "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" come from? Jesus' command to baptize in that name (Matthew 28:19).
What does "and with your spirit" mean? The people's response to the priest's greeting, which itself echoes St. Paul's greetings to the churches (e.g., 2 Corinthians 13:14).
How should the Sign of the Cross be made? From forehead to breast and shoulder to shoulder; Pope Innocent III notes the three fingers signify the three Persons of the Trinity.
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It is a great service to provide the excellent Mass Reading Explained by Dr. Brant Pitre. I like the feature to download the transcript of the video which is very helpful. However, there are some rooms for improvement as followed:
1. The media player's controls are spotty. Very often, the Closed Caption button is not available. Therefore, I could not enable the subtitle.
2. It will be very helpful if the videos can be searched or sorted by the calendar date, and not just the "Number of Sunday in Ordinary Time".
3. It will be nice if you have an app (for both iOS and MacOS) to launch it, such that I do not have to open a web browser and type in the URL address manually every time. I talked to your support folks on this and I was informed that an app is coming soon. Please make sure it supports both iOS and MacOS.
Thank you very much for your hard work.
Yours in Christ
simon
The only thing I'd prefer is to have a search options within the readings/explanations. For example, like youtube, except now that I purchased the service, I'd like to have Sunday explanations for Purgatory or Predestination. It would really help when I'm debating Calvinists because I could resource back to Pitre.
It is a great service to provide the excellent Mass Reading Explained by Dr. Brant Pitre. I like the feature to download the transcript of the video which is very helpful. However, there are some rooms for improvement as followed:
1. The media player's controls are spotty. Very often, the Closed Caption button is not available. Therefore, I could not enable the subtitle.
2. It will be very helpful if the videos can be searched or sorted by the calendar date, and not just the "Number of Sunday in Ordinary Time".
3. It will be nice if you have an app (for both iOS and MacOS) to launch it, such that I do not have to open a web browser and type in the URL address manually every time. I talked to your support folks on this and I was informed that an app is coming soon. Please make sure it supports both iOS and MacOS.
Thank you very much for your hard work.
Yours in Christ
simon
The only thing I'd prefer is to have a search options within the readings/explanations. For example, like youtube, except now that I purchased the service, I'd like to have Sunday explanations for Purgatory or Predestination. It would really help when I'm debating Calvinists because I could resource back to Pitre.
