Today is Sunday, the Day of the Lord. While all days of the week belong to the Lord, Sunday is the special day that God has given us to rest from work and focus our minds on matters of the heart and faith.
Sunday is a day for us to come together as a family and community to give praise and thanks to God, who created us and provides for our needs. Most especially for us Christians, Sunday—the day when Jesus rose from the dead—is the day to boldly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He has the words of eternal life; He is the Bread of Life. In Him, we find hope; in Him, we live!
This Sunday, I’d like to remind you of the significance of making the Sign of the Cross every time we pray and celebrate any liturgy. The Sign of the Cross is a symbol of our fundamental belief in God’s eternal love for us. Each time a Catholic makes the Sign of the Cross, it serves as a reminder that God is a communion of love. As Pope Francis once said, speaking to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, he invited the people to make the Sign of the Cross together and remarked,
“God is love. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He gave His life for us, so we make the Sign of the Cross. By tracing the cross on our bodies, we remind ourselves of how much God loved us, to the point of giving His life for us; and we affirm that His love envelops us completely—from top to bottom, from left to right—like an embrace that never abandons us.”
The tradition of making the Sign of the Cross dates back to early Christian times. St. Basil (329–379) wrote that the Apostles “taught us to mark with the sign of the cross those who put their hope in the Lord.”
I hope that you also blessed yourselves with holy water as you entered the church from our baptismal font or the other fonts. This old tradition reminds us of the gift of our Baptism. We receive new life in Christ through these holy waters, and we are refreshed in that life as we touch those few drops of holy water upon ourselves.
We are blessed that our Catholic faith is rich with traditions and symbols, especially when we celebrate Mass. My hope is that we become more informed and educated about them so that we can practice and celebrate our faith more meaningfully. Then, like the beloved disciple in this Sunday’s Gospel, we can say to one another as we encounter the Risen Christ in Word and Sacrament, “It is the Lord!”
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California
