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00:00 - Unveiling the Power of a Simple Gesture

05:00 - The Sign of the Cross: More Than Just a Prayer?

15:00 - Little crosses on the head

21:00 - Hidden meaning of the Cross from all eternity

25:00 - The Herald’s Cross: A Symbol of Heroic Faith?

35:00 - A Deeper Look into Human Respect and Consecration

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

The sign of the cross is one of the most underrated prayers in our Catholic

culture. You have no idea how powerful it is and how many spiritual benefits it

can bring to us if we know to do it properly and we know to take all the

fruit that we can from it. Today we have with us Reverend Father David Ritchie

and Brother Morgan who are going to be telling us about five

incredible facts, five incredible secrets about the sign of the cross which is

going to make a lot of difference to our spiritual lives. So Father, let's get

right into it. What is the first amazing fact about the sign of the cross that

you're going to be talking to us about? Obviously the sign of the cross is a

prayer but a powerful part of the prayer is the gesture and many times the

gesture is a prayer in itself. Attitudes, external attitudes can be prayers too.

Therefore closing our eyes in some circumstances if we don't want to see

something which is inconvenient is a prayer. It's a battle prayer because

we're rejecting internally something that we didn't want to see but of course

our main gesture in which we proclaim our faith in God the Father, Son and

Holy Spirit is the gesture of the sign using the sign of the cross. But Father

if, let me see if I got it right, if somebody does a gesture let's say I am

somewhere I make the sign of the cross without praying it, without saying the

words would it be still a prayer? That's exactly it. Okay. Well gesture is

actually a type of language. One of the ways we communicate with people

are by using words but gestures it's also a language in itself. So of

course you're actually symbolizing something, you're doing

something that has a meaning behind it. So you're transmitting something with

that gesture. So of course it's just like saying the prayer if you

make the gesture. But of course if you do both the gesture and the words

it's more complete, it's more full, your intention is more complete. But in

many circumstances we just make the gesture and we don't say the words but

that's already honoring the Holy Trinity. Father let me put an objection which

some people might have. God is pure spirit. God doesn't have a body. If I'm

talking to you who's a human being with a body I make a gesture, I use words. For

God I could just sit by myself and without saying it aloud or making a

gesture, interior take and just say in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It's just

as good for God. What difference does it make doing it, God sees my heart. That's

true. In some circumstances your intention, therefore your intention might

be more important than your gesture because someone can make a gesture using

the sign of the cross and have no intention of praising God. Could do it out of

mockery I guess. We could do it out of mockery or out of something which is

routine or something that they're imitating another person they didn't

even know what that means, the meaning of that gesture. But of course our

intentions are important but God wants that our intentions also be externalized

and that's why the prayer is complete. That's why in many circumstances we make

the sign of the cross not only when for instance in Nomen Patris, in the name of

the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit but in other prayers like the

Magnificat when in the convents, in the monasteries, when you begin the

Magnificat or the Benedictus or Nunc Demetis, also you begin with the sign of

the cross. That's true, we don't say the words in Nomen Patris, we're singing

something else but the right gesture to… The words but the gesture. I think the way

the gesture is made is very, very important and you can really tell the

sincerity of the person's intention by the way he makes the sign of the cross.

If he is thinking about something else he's gonna make like a very like sloppy

sign of the cross but if he's really come penetrated on what he's doing that

he's thinking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit then he's

gonna make a nice solemn sign of the cross, a big sign of the cross. Nowadays

sometimes you see like a little like and you don't know if it's a sign of the

cross or what exactly it is. You see they come, they put the head of a finger on

the head and they come and just do one finger on either side. You've seen this?

They do like three out of the four parts. You say, well what are they trying to say,

what are they telling us with that? Are they being sincere or not?

That might be a prayer but that's a very sloppy prayer.

Quite a sloppy prayer.

This is what you just said now, Morgan. It reminds me of Donna Lucilia.

Donna Lucilia is the mother of Dr. Plinio who was a founder, was a co-founder of the

Herald. Donna Lucilia was a very extremely virtuous saintly lady who

lived in Brazil, was an extremely holy woman and at the end of her

life she had lived a life of intense suffering with a lot of virtue but being

faithful to the church. The last thing she did before she died was this. I mean

she could not speak anymore and when she arrived at the moment of death she didn't

have the courage, she could not have the force to speak. She made a huge

sign of the cross and then passed away. She died. I mean that is a perfect death.

A person who closes, I mean, your life with a golden key. I mean you're showing

that my hope is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity.

And the sign of the cross is a key. It opens the door to many paths.

It opens the many paths. Above all, it increases our faith. The sign of the

cross increases our faith and that's why in the 13th century in the manual of the

lay people, lay Christians, already at that time when the gospel was proclaimed

it was the custom that the faithful would trace a sign of the cross on the

benches or on the wall or in some other and they would kiss it just as the

priest would kiss the lectionary. Oh beautiful. The faithful would also trace

a cross on the wall or on the benches and they would kiss the as a sign of

their faith of honoring the cross. Which is actually one of the most perfect

forms of prayer. Of course there are different types of prayer. We're talking

about how the cross, the gesture of the cross, it can be a prayer. So there's one

type of prayer where we petition, we ask things for God. But there are other

types of prayer. For example, when we adore God, when we thank God, these are

all different types of prayers. So there's many intentions that somebody

can have when they make the sign of the cross. For example, somebody remembers a

grace or something that God has given to them. In gratitude, they can remember that

they received that because of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and they make

the sign of the cross. So there's many different intentions that you can have

when you make the sign of the cross. Or you're a prayer, you're asking for help,

you're really tempted, you make the sign of the cross with holy water or without

holy water and you're asking for God's help. So interiorly you can have many

intentions and many different, there's many different forms of intentions with

the same gesture of the sign of the cross. So it depends on what you need.

Actually, Brother John, Brother Morgan, the sign of the cross is one of the

sacramentals. Even when, of course, for instance, holy water is a sacramental.

What is a sacramental? Something that prepares us to receive the sacraments

well, prepares us for a true act of piety, using holy water, sprinkling holy water,

making the sign of the cross with holy water is a sacramental. But just

making the sign of the cross would be perhaps one of the principal sacramentals.

When we make the sign of the cross, it prepares us to open our souls to grace,

therefore to the sacraments as well. But I think one of the reasons we have

banalized, we have lost the value so much of a gesture, of these symbolic acts, such

as the sign of the cross, and I think our generation, our century has, so to speak,

forgotten the true value of a symbol, of a gesture. We have become so shallow, so

superficial that all of these things, all of these Catholic richness, we've forgotten,

we've lost it. I mean, in the Middle Ages, I remember hearing that there was one,

among the numerous symbols that they had, one of the very beautiful gestures was during

the gospel, like you said, when you said they would make the sign of the cross and kiss

it, but during when the gospel was proclaimed, all the gentlemen, all the knights in church,

they would take out their swords from their sheets, because it was normal for a man to

walk around armed, they would take out their swords from their sheets and hold it up during

the whole gospel proclamation. It was a symbol of the fact that they were willing to give

their lives, they were willing to fight, they were willing to die for their faith. Their

faith was something very much profound. They were not Sunday Catholics. Their whole life

was around the faith. But the whole life was full of these tiny symbols, which reinforced

the faith above all, was the sign of the cross.

I think it would be good to tell what exactly is a symbol. What is a symbol?

Oh, Father?

A symbol is…

Everybody has an intuition of what it is, but what exactly is a symbol?

A symbol is something which is, it's a mark, it's a physical element, could be a drawing,

it could be a gesture…

A picture, a statue…

It could be a gesture, it could be a ceremony, it could be even a parade, it could be a symbol,

for instance. A parade is the symbol of the courage of an army. We have, for instance,

we have symbols of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Mary Immaculate. We have a lily is the

symbol of the purity of Our Lady.

You have the crown, you have the scepter, you have the… How many symbols of Our Lady,

right?

Yes, many symbols. The symbol, for instance, of Saint Joseph as Patriarch of the Church,

he has his crozier, his…

His staff.

His staff. And his staff was actually, it was blossomed with the lilies there.

So we could say that a symbol is something physical that gives us an idea of a spiritual

reality or something greater than just that physical thing in itself.

It evokes an idea, a principle, a reality and makes a relationship. For instance, in

stained glass windows, you see mystical rose. The mystical rose is a symbol of Our Lady.

The rose is that flower which is the queen of flowers.

We're constantly coming across symbols in our daily lives. You mentioned the stained

glass, for example, that was one of the things the medieval men, they wanted to try and create

a symbol of the uncreated light, which is God.

Oh, that's beautiful. I've never heard that.

So you have that light that almost becomes like exact mysterious and enters through the

stained glass and changes full of colours. It was the closest thing they could come to

to represent the uncreated light, which is God.

Which is grace.

Grace, exactly.

I think this is something proper to mankind, that our body and soul have to go together.

When the person is really Catholic, he makes everything of the body, the corporeal reality,

similar to the higher things. Unfortunately, in our days, we put our soul to a second plane,

the higher realities. And our body is oftentimes used only to sin or only for pleasure. It

is something very precious in the eyes of God to give glory to God.

And talking more about the cross, the symbol that we're talking about today, the cross,

it was only with our Lord Jesus Christ being crucified that the cross took on a good connotation.

Yeah, a good symbol.

Before it was a symbol that was anonymous. It was the worst death that you could, that

they came up with, the Romans, so much that the Roman citizen was exempt from dying on

the cross. And this cross, the crucifixions before our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the things

the Romans would do along the great highways, the Romans, they created these great highways

and until now, some of them, some of these roads still exist. And along the highway on

posts is where they would crucify the people.

Wow.

So people going, traveling would see those being crucified. And sometimes they would

be there days, days before dying. If they wanted to shorten the death of the person,

they would break their bones, their knees, and then the person wouldn't be able to support

himself anymore and he would end up dying. But many times it was a very slow, it was

one of the worst deaths that at that time anyways, they had came up with. And one of

the reasons why they exempted the Roman citizen, St. Paul, that's why he, one of the reasons

why he wasn't crucified. He was a Roman citizen. He appealed to Caesar. And it was only with

the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ being crucified that the symbol took on a good connotation.

And nowadays we're all making the sign of the cross.

A connotation of victory, triumph over death. That's the sign of the cross. And that's why

Tertullian says that we should make the sign of the cross in all moments of the day. When

we wake up, when we go to bed, in all moments. So you see, even at special moments, at his

baptism, we ask not only the priest or the minister that is of baptism, but also the

parents and the godparents should also make the sign of the cross on the children, on

the babies.

It's a Catholic tradition that before the children go to bed, the father and the mother

would always make a sign of the cross on their forehead.

Also, in the past, children, when they would, before leaving for school or to college, they

would go and greet their parents and the parents would trace a sign of the cross on the forehead

of the child. Dr. Plinio, who Brother John mentioned, Dona Lucilia, the mother of Dr.

Plinio, he said that many times before going to school, to going to college, even at college

age, he would approach Dona Lucilia and she would make at least 10 to 20 signs of the

cross on his forehead. And also, one of his cousins who would go to school with him would

be benefited by the same signs of the cross.

And then 20 prayers, I mean, it's not a…

20 prayers, exactly. Why do you have to repeat that so many times when you start traveling?

Sometimes we do that. Sometimes I even made a test one time in the airplane because, of

course, we make the sign of the cross at the beginning of when the plane starts to take

off. We make the sign of the cross, but at one time I wanted to make a test. So I stood

up and turned towards the majority of the people in the plane and made a big sign of

the cross to see what would happen. And then I sat down and started looking at it. And

some of the people in their chairs, they started making the sign of the cross too. It's interesting.

It's contagious.

It's beautiful. It's a symbol which we can do good and we will have to even pay account

for all the good we could have done with the sign of the cross that we did not do in our

life. So, Father, the first point is super clear about the gesture. What would be the

second thing about the sign of the cross that you're going to teach us?

I think that as Brother Morgan was saying that the sign of the cross, its origins, it

was a curse. The cross was a curse. But our Lord dying on the cross, He made Himself,

He took upon Himself the curse of sin, the weakness of sin, and He made that a glory.

He made that the sign of triumph. So, that's important. When do you think that the first

signs of the cross started to be made in Christian times?

You know, it's an interesting question, Father, because I was actually preparing for

this podcast and thinking about that and going through the New Testament. And even before

our Lord was crucified, He would say to His disciples, "In order to be my disciple,

take up your daily cross and follow me." And so, even before the cross became the symbol

of Christianity, of our religion, our Lord was already making mention to it. But in the

head of the disciples, they must have been, "Take up your cross and follow me," because

they knew very well, and our Lord was referring not so much to the crucifixion, but the criminals

had to carry their cross to the place where they were going to be crucified. And that's

where our Lord was referring to when He said, "Take up your cross and follow me." So,

each one of us has to take up our cross, take up the suffering that God asks from us, and

courageously carry that. And so, I thought that was cute. Wow, our Lord, even before

He died on the cross, He was already making reference. So, I think that this must have,

the disciples of our Lord must have made the sign of the cross. If not, probably shortly

after the crucifixion. And from apostolic times, the sign of the cross was already being

used. Do we have any records for that? Do we have any proof of that? Any historical

proof of the sign of the cross in the early church? St. Basil, we were talking about the

early fourth century, he recommended that in baptism, that the children be marked with

the sign of the cross. There are probably other circumstances in which the sign of the

cross was used. I already made a reference to that. In the 13th century, in the manuals,

he recommended that the lay people, not only the ministers, also make a sign of the cross

on the benches or on the wall and kiss it. He mentioned turtulene as well. Now, you think

about it, turtulene is third century. They are the beginning of the church. The earliest

records we have of the church are from these church fathers. Exactly. So, it must have

been something that you don't see in the catacombs. You don't see many signs of the cross. There

are other symbols, which are the good shepherd. But that must have, when the church became

free, most likely, then it started to expand the sign of the cross in the liturgy. It was

actually the emperor Constantine, he had a vision of the cross. It was after this vision

that he banned the execution by form of crucifixion. It was this emperor that banned that from

the Roman Empire. It was from then on, because you said earlier, in the catacombs, you don't

see so many symbols. But it was from then on, the early fort, that then they started

using the cross as a visible… Which is something which is not being understood by, I guess,

I assume that the Christians used it in private. It's almost as crazy as if we have some

in our house, a painting of an electrical chair that used to kill people. It was something

very delicate, especially, there's even the author C.S. Lewis. He says that when the cross

started becoming depicted on the walls, in pictures and paintings, the last person who

had actually seen a crucifixion had already passed away. So, nobody who had witnessed

the crucifixion, because it was something so horrendous, had seen the art of a crucifixion.

Ah, okay. So, it was really only the early 4th century that they started painting it

on walls. But from what I understood, Father, the sign of the cross is much older, isn't

it? Yes, because St. Basil not only refers to

his own witness, but he says that the apostles taught in baptism to trace the sign of the

cross. Oh, really? So, then you see?

Yeah. So, it was…

Apostolic times, it was already being… Already from the apostolic times. Maybe not

the sign of the cross as we know it now, but at least some little traces of the cross,

the sign of the cross, as the symbol of redemption. Oh, that's beautiful.

The fruits of redemption, the mark of redemption. So, Father, what else do you have to tell

us about the sign of the cross? A very interesting aspect of the sign of

the cross is its symbolism. When you have a vertical beam and you have a horizontal

beam, the vertical beam represents the love towards God, and the horizontal beam represents

the love of neighbor. Wow. God spreading his love.

Exactly. So, the love of neighbor is placed, is sustained on the love of God. You always

have to have both together. If you took one of those beams off, you would have something

incomplete and because you're lacking that which is the center, the love of God, love

of neighbor. Oh, I've never heard of this. I mean, the

basic precepts of Christianity, of religion, love of God and love of neighbor are… And

the funny thing, exactly, I mean, if you love your neighbor, you will never love your neighbor

truly. If you don't have love of God, I mean, that'll fall.

It will fall. Collapse. So, that's another very beautiful… Besides another aspect,

which is the exorcistic aspect. Of course, we know that it was always a custom to die

with a cross in one's hand on… Therefore, those who are near death, they place a candle

or a cross in their hands. But the devil is frightened with the sign of the cross. Very,

very frightened. I forget the exact episode, but it was one of the saints, nuns, religious

who had an apparition and she told her spiritual director that the Sacred Heart of Jesus was

appearing to her. And the spiritual director said to the nun, "Listen, you sure that's

the Sacred Heart of Jesus?" "Yes, he's telling me beautiful things." Well, next

time when the apparition shows up, look at the statue, look at the… Not the statue,

no. The apparition. Look at the apparition from head to feet. If there's something

strange that you find from head to feet, take your cross and show your cross to the apparition.

And so, she went and next time the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared and she had her cross

in her hand and she started looking at the head, analyzing everything to the feet. When

it came down to the feet, the feet were goat's feet. Right away, she pulled up the cross

and presented the cross to the apparition and it disappeared. It popped at that moment.

The devil can't bear the cross. I mean, his whole defeat, everything wrong which went

in his life is always around the cross. All his defeats, all his shame, all his…

Exactly. He was defeated on the cross. The same love that we have for the cross,

the devil has hatred. It's exorcistic. That's why it's necessary.

It's necessary to have on your cross, we should also have not only the cross, but also

the corpus. And what of course, the cross without the corpus already has an exorcistic

effect. So, that's another aspect of the cross, being exorcistic, making the devil

flee.

Father, I think one of the… there are so many wonderful things about our vocation,

but one of the most beautiful things that we have is wearing this habit and we have

this privilege, we have this joy of having a cross from… at least the biggest cross

that I know of that somebody wears. I have not seen anybody who wears a bigger cross

than us and that is something very… which makes us all happy, quite joyful of having

this cross covering our whole body, which is exorcistic, which protects us, which is

apostolic. When people see us with this cross, just by seeing the cross, we do good to others.

But I'm sure that many of those who are watching us right now don't know the symbolism,

the meaning of the cross that we heralds carry. Why is it so different? We have a cross which

is red, white and golden. Can you tell us about our cross?

The symbolism of the cross that the heralds of the gospel bear, originally it has a similarity

to the cross of Saint James, but the cross of Saint James is a little bit shorter and

it's all red and Dr. Plinio in consonance, in agreement with Monseigneur Germont, they

stylized the cross specifically for our habit. And of course, the white represents the purity

of the Virgin, therefore the integrity, that which is most according to righteousness.

And the red represents not only the sacred heart of Jesus, the willing of giving one's

blood on the cross, his heart was pierced and the last drops of blood came forth for

redemption, but also the disposition of soul to give everything that is necessary to defend

the faith until the last drop of blood. So, defending the faith until the last drop of

blood or all of our efforts to defend the purity of our faith is the red. And the golden

thread represents the nobility, therefore the brilliance of the cause, the nobility

of the cause of God that we serve. So, you see the union between the white, the red and

the gold.

The cross, which was just blood, now it's a symbol of honor, a symbol of glory, like

you said.

A symbol of glory. It's by the cross that you arrive to glory. Through the cross you

arrive to the light.

There's that saying which Dr. Plinio liked very much. He used to say that those who look

for Christ without his cross, find the cross without Christ.

Never heard that before.

You never heard that before?

No.

He used to say that in Portuguese.

Exactly because not only to receive the benefits of being Christian, of being Catholic and

the peace of mind and soul that is obtained to have, there's no greater benefit that

comes from the cross than peace of mind, tranquility of conscience.

Because those who go through effort, give their blood in order to maintain the commandments,

end up being peaceful, being peaceful, certain that they're doing the will of God. And that

brings a lot of peace of soul.

So Father, what other wonderful fact do you have to tell us about the cross?

Just to recap, what have you told us about the first point about the cross?

The gestures.

The gestures, the importance of gestures. You taught us about the history of the cross,

its exorcistic aspect and then what else?

Another aspect is how it gives us strength to practice heroic deeds. For instance, to

make the sign of the cross in certain places, in certain public areas, could be a tremendous

act of heroism.

Heroism.

It's something so simple, but you need to almost be a hero to be able to do it because

nowadays it's so rare for people to make the sign of the cross, for example, in a restaurant.

So you mentioned you did it on a plane. And it's something that is very meritorious.

I'm sure there are many people in this world, I'm 100% certain, who would be willing to

go on a pilgrimage and walk 50 kilometers to a shrine, as long as nobody knows about

it, or they're among other Catholics, but they don't have the strength to go to a public

place where there are non-Christians and make the sinful sign of the cross. Because it gives

much more glory to God. The fact that you are recognized yourself as a Christian is

more difficult and more meritorious than fasting on bread and water, for instance, in today's

world it is.

Recently, we were visiting a firefighter school. And here in Brazil, the firefighter school,

it's actually part of the military here in Brazil. That's how it's organized. So at this

firefighter school, they're training 900 firefighters or something. It's a six month

or one year course, depending on what they want to do, how far they want to go. And at

the end of the visit, we saw, and so we saw how they work the fire hose and how they do

this and what you do when there's smoke and how smoke is so terrible. And actually when,

I don't know if you know, but when smoke gets to around 600 degrees, I think we're

talking, we're talking Celsius, of course, 600 degrees, that is when it can actually

explode. It becomes combustion. So that's, so in, before it explodes, the smoke will

actually start emitting sparks. And so that's when the firefighters, that's one of the

signs they have that know that the house or the building is too hot and they need to

evacuate immediately. They're not allowed to stay. There's ways to try and control that.

Before it reaches over there.

Before it reaches over there. And something interesting, of course, is that we're kind

of going a little away from our conversation about the cross, but actually there's ways,

you can't just throw a bunch of water on the smoke because what happens is the water

becomes vapor and it becomes even hotter.

Wow.

So there's certain techniques that the firemen have to learn just to spare a little

bit of water to cool it down, but without creating a lot of vapor.

So it's all, it was very interesting.

We had a very good visit that we went with a group of, a group of the heralds went

there.

And at the end of the visit, this man, he must've been in his, his sixties.

He was a, he was a police officer.

He was here in Brazil.

They have the military police, they call them.

And now he's helping give, giving the courses for the, for the firefighters because the

two institutions are linked, the police and the firefighters.

And at the end he said, he took off his, his police cap and he said, can we finish with

the key of gold?

I don't know if that expression exists in English with the golden key.

And he said, can you all say a prayer for, for our work and for our place and everything?

And so he wanted us to say a prayer, but most people would not ask for such a thing.

I mean, you have to have a truly Catholic spirit, Catholic soul.

You can't have human respect, um, to simply ask somebody to pray or to pray in public.

It's not something that, that is easy.

It's something that you have to be a hero.

Yes, but to ask for those who are religious to do it, it's much easier.

Much easier.

Yeah.

Would he have the same courage to do that in a public area?

I remember one of the-

That's a very good point.

There was one of the employees of, uh, one of the houses of the Heralds and he wasn't

a practicing Catholic, but one day because he worked in a Catholic institution, when

he was celebrating Christmas and there were many relatives and family members at the celebration,

but no religious symbols were being used.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus was not being even recalled except very secondarily

and maybe in little stature, a little nativity scene.

And then at a certain moment, he said, when it was about midnight and everyone was drinking

and eating, he said, "Listen, I want to right now invite you all to say a Hail Mary in the

name of the Father and of the Son."

And everyone was so surprised that he made it the sign of the cross in that atmosphere.

And he was like a torpedo that was wedged in the midst of that, the merry, it wasn't

merry Christmas because Christ was not present, but it was a merry around something which

is totally social feast.

And he brought back the true meaning and that was somewhat heroic at that moment.

And at these moments to make the sign of the cross, Brother Morgan mentioned a word earlier,

I think that'll come as a novelty to some people, human respect.

Can you explain exactly what this is, Brother Morgan?

What exactly is human respect?

In two words, human respect is when we worry more about what other people are going to

think of us rather than worrying about what God is going to think of us.

So for example, instead of I have to do something difficult, I know that I should make the sign

of the cross before eating.

I know that that is what God wants from me, that that's what God expects from me.

But because of those who are around me looking at me to see if I'm going to make that sign

of the cross, I don't do it.

So I'm more worried about what those who are watching and what they're going to think

rather than what God's going to think.

But what's most important is what God thinks, not what others think.

But this is not something easy.

Monsignor João, he talks about the instincts of conservation and the instincts of sociability.

He says that our instinct of sociability is stronger than our instinct of conservation.

And he gives the example that many people, because of human respect, because of being

so worried about what others are going to think of them, would rather go to war to face

death than be ridiculed as a coward, as not...

And that happens at war time.

People who go to war, in spite of being cowards, they're much more afraid of laughter.

Than facing death, that instinct of conservation, which says I can't die.

The thing is that you have to take into consideration that one of the hardest things on earth is

to be different than the mainstream.

It's very hard to be different from that which surrounds you.

It may be one of the most difficult things, no?

And that's what our Lord came to do, to change everything.

And that's why when he changed the sign of a curse into a sign of victory, he was changing

the mentality, the way of thinking of those people.

And that's why the sign of the cross is the sign of a change of mentality, of way of thinking.

And therefore, it's the cross that saves, that leads us to victory, to salvation.

Father, unfortunately, our time is nearly up.

It'd be wonderful to continue our conversation, but I think you still have one more point to

tell us about the sign of the cross, don't you?

Well, I think it's always very healthy to take advantage in conversations, is what the

fruits we can benefit from the sign of the cross, and even make an examination of conscience.

And some saints say that we have to be very coherent, to use the sign of the cross coherently.

When we say, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," then

afterwards we're in a social gathering in which we deny or we behave as though we don't

know our Lord.

We don't know God.

We don't know the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not easy to know.

He's the great unknown.

But in any case, that we don't at least be coherent with our signs of the cross, how

do we make the sign of the cross?

And then afterwards, someone says, "Are you going to, I don't know, we're coming up to

elections, but are you going to vote for someone who never makes the sign of the cross?"

That's a good sign to know if you should vote for someone or not.

Do they make the sign of the cross?

Are they coherent with the principles of their faith, with the values of their faith?

But we should make an examination of conscience.

When do we use the sign of the cross?

Do we only use the sign of the cross when we're in our bedrooms?

And do we actually, when we make the sign of the cross, does that symbol take us up

to being faithful to the promises of our baptism?

That would be a point in which, of course, we could open that examination of conscience

to other aspects.

But for instance, when we go to a hospital and there's going to be a procedure which

is against our faith, or if someone wants that you take a medicine which you know which

is against life, what, can you make the sign of the cross honestly afterwards?

In the name of the Father.

Am I a person who's acting in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit?

Well, that is...

Exactly.

Are you living in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity?

So that's something...

In that sense, what you're saying is the sign of the cross is actually an occasion for us

to make an examination of conscience to see if we're living according to the gospel.

To meditate.

In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

To meditate, exactly.

If we live out the gospel principles.

So I think that is one of the great benefits of making the sign of the cross constantly.

We'll receive strength in order to be coherent in living out the gospel, living out the promises

of our baptism.

You know what I think even more, Father?

I think it's actually worse for somebody to make the sign of the cross than to live an

unholy life because that can actually scandalize a lot of people.

People who make the sign of the cross and then they do things that aren't according

to the Ten Commandments.

Other people see that, see that they're making the sign of the cross and they start to admire

something that they shouldn't admire.

Because, "Oh, well, he's making the sign of the cross.

He's Catholic.

He can do that.

So that means I can as well."

I think that's something very...

That's bad as well.

They can...

Then if he's a man who made the sign of the cross doing that, then the Catholics are

worthless because see how evil can come, can go to either way, the shock, the scandal that

you cause.

I agree totally.

I totally agree.

The importance of being in virtue of integrity.

The virtue of righteousness, of integrity, of coherence.

Yes, Father.

If you permit me before we end our conversation, our podcast, I'd like to invite all those

who are watching us now.

Everything that we spoke about was interesting, I'm sure, but also things which prick our

conscience, things which demand from us a change of our life so that we can do well

and holy in a holy way the sign of the cross.

And the best way for any one of us to change our lives, to go to our Jesus Christ, to be

faithful to our cross is to ask our Lady's help, which is why I would like to invite

all those who are watching us now to do your consecration to Jesus through the hands of

Mary.

There'll be a link in the description for those who would like to find out more.

It's something life-changing, which actually helps us live our cross as we should, thereby

we receive graces.

There'll be more details in the description, in the link in the description.

Please take a look at that.

Now we'll bestow the blessing on all of those who are hearing us, making the sign of the

cross, everyone's going to make the sign of the cross with this blessing, but asking that

our Lady who stood and always stands at the foot of our cross, that she helps us to carry

our cross, that she give you tremendous benefits with these reflections.

The Lord be with you.

And with your spirit.

And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit come

upon you and remain with you forever.

Amen.

Thank you, Father.

Thank you.

Salve Maria.

Salve Maria.

(whooshing)