The Sign of the Cross and Greeting at Mass by Fr. Joseph Evinger
In continuation of the series on the Mass, this week I will speak about the Sign of the Cross and the greeting.
The Sign of the Cross which we receive from Jesus himself is essential to living out the Catholic faith. At the end of Matthew’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to go out and baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” When you and I were baptized these were the words that were spoken as water was poured over our heads or we were submerged in water. Therefore, to remind us of this great mystery Catholics begin prayer with these words to remind us that we are baptized Christians called to live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. Since the Mass is the prayer of all prayers we begin the great mystery of the Mass to remind us that we are baptized into the Blessed Trinity. We sign ourselves with the cross of Christ that we may be reminded of his cruel suffering and death for our sins and so as to embrace the cross within our own lives.
You may have noticed that the first greeting that the priest speaks to the people is not “Good Morning” or “Good Evening.” Rather it is “The Lord be with You”. This phrase or variants thereof appear in multiple places in the Bible (cf. 2 Tim 4:22; 2 Thess. 3:16). This imperative phrase is spoken that everyone present might allow the Lord to enter his or her life in a new way or for the first time. The people then respond “And with your spirit” which reminds the priest that he too must allow God to enter his very spirit so that he may lead the people closer to God. These first phrases at the beginning of Holy Mass ought to lift our hearts and minds to God so that we may enter more fully into the sacred mysteries.