The Trinity can be shown through the sign of the Cross

Jun 26, 2014

IPOH (Herald Malaysia): Our belief in our heavenly Father, the Son and Holy Spirit as one God can be most openly demonstrated when we make the sign of the Cross at the start of our prayers.

St Michael’s Church parish priest Fr Stephen Liew said this in his homily during Trinity Sunday, while explaining how we understand the Most Blessed Trinity. Stressing that our Catholic faith is unique , he said that the Most Blessed Trinity is not a mathematical formula.

Rather, it is a mystery for us to believe, and it will never be made known unless God reveals it to us.

The Blessed Trinity is the embodiment of God’s true nature. “There is one God, but a trinity of persons, and today, to help us understand a bit more, we look to the Sign of the Cross,” he said.

One of the most common prayer forms known and taught to Catholics, the sign of the cross, is used at the beginning and end of prayers.

Some of the more devout use the sign of the cross before starting any work.

Essentially, it is a statement of our faith, that we believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, he said.

Hence, not only is it a sign of redemption, but it also stresses our deep faith in the Trinitarian God.

He added that the early Christians signed themselves when in trouble. The sign of the cross itself is rich in symbolism.

“We are saying God the Father sent his only Son to be born of human flesh, then died for us, and rose to be with his Father in heaven. “There is also a reason why we sign the cross in the way we do.

“We begin the Sign of the Cross with the right hand, (representing Christ now ascended to the Father and seated beside Him) and touch our forehead (expressing our faith in the Father, our Creator and source of all things).

“Then we touch our lower chest (representing Jesus Christ incarnated in the flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary), our left shoulder (in our common understanding the left symbolizes negativity, darkness and death) to our right shoulder (the right symbolizes positiveness, truth, light and life),” he said.

In effect, by this simple action, we are saying that through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are led from darkness to light, and in God we are brought from death to life.

It is the transition through death and resurrection, from misery to glory and from hell to heaven, he said.

When we make the sign of the cross with this in mind, it is a summary of the “I Believe” or Creed we say every Sunday, but only in a shorter form.

Once we understand this, we will be like Moses who fell to his knees to worship God who gave us his only Son.

In St Paul’s words, we will be in fellowship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That is why we always end our prayer with the words, “through Jesus Christ our Lord” as it is a statement of our faith and also a reiteration of why we make the Sign of the Cross with such devoutness, he added.

After communion, Fr Liew asked all fathers to come forward to the altar to be prayed over and blessed, in conjunction with Fathers’ Day.