5 THINGS you DIDN’T know about the SIGN OF THE CROSS
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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
Transcript
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker:The sign of the cross is one of the most underrated prayers in our Catholic
Speaker:culture. You have no idea how powerful it is and how many spiritual benefits it
Speaker:can bring to us if we know to do it properly and we know to take all the
Speaker:fruit that we can from it. Today we have with us Reverend Father David Ritchie
Speaker:and Brother Morgan who are going to be telling us about five
Speaker:incredible facts, five incredible secrets about the sign of the cross which is
Speaker:going to make a lot of difference to our spiritual lives. So Father, let's get
Speaker:right into it. What is the first amazing fact about the sign of the cross that
Speaker:you're going to be talking to us about? Obviously the sign of the cross is a
Speaker:prayer but a powerful part of the prayer is the gesture and many times the
Speaker:gesture is a prayer in itself. Attitudes, external attitudes can be prayers too.
Speaker:Therefore closing our eyes in some circumstances if we don't want to see
Speaker:something which is inconvenient is a prayer. It's a battle prayer because
Speaker:we're rejecting internally something that we didn't want to see but of course
Speaker:our main gesture in which we proclaim our faith in God the Father, Son and
Speaker:Holy Spirit is the gesture of the sign using the sign of the cross. But Father
Speaker:if, let me see if I got it right, if somebody does a gesture let's say I am
Speaker:somewhere I make the sign of the cross without praying it, without saying the
Speaker:words would it be still a prayer? That's exactly it. Okay. Well gesture is
Speaker:actually a type of language. One of the ways we communicate with people
Speaker:are by using words but gestures it's also a language in itself. So of
Speaker:course you're actually symbolizing something, you're doing
Speaker:something that has a meaning behind it. So you're transmitting something with
Speaker:that gesture. So of course it's just like saying the prayer if you
Speaker:make the gesture. But of course if you do both the gesture and the words
Speaker:it's more complete, it's more full, your intention is more complete. But in
Speaker:many circumstances we just make the gesture and we don't say the words but
Speaker:that's already honoring the Holy Trinity. Father let me put an objection which
Speaker:some people might have. God is pure spirit. God doesn't have a body. If I'm
Speaker:talking to you who's a human being with a body I make a gesture, I use words. For
Speaker:God I could just sit by myself and without saying it aloud or making a
Speaker:gesture, interior take and just say in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It's just
Speaker:as good for God. What difference does it make doing it, God sees my heart. That's
Speaker:true. In some circumstances your intention, therefore your intention might
Speaker:be more important than your gesture because someone can make a gesture using
Speaker:the sign of the cross and have no intention of praising God. Could do it out of
Speaker:mockery I guess. We could do it out of mockery or out of something which is
Speaker:routine or something that they're imitating another person they didn't
Speaker:even know what that means, the meaning of that gesture. But of course our
Speaker:intentions are important but God wants that our intentions also be externalized
Speaker:and that's why the prayer is complete. That's why in many circumstances we make
Speaker:the sign of the cross not only when for instance in Nomen Patris, in the name of
Speaker:the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit but in other prayers like the
Speaker:Magnificat when in the convents, in the monasteries, when you begin the
Speaker:Magnificat or the Benedictus or Nunc Demetis, also you begin with the sign of
Speaker:the cross. That's true, we don't say the words in Nomen Patris, we're singing
Speaker:something else but the right gesture to… The words but the gesture. I think the way
Speaker:the gesture is made is very, very important and you can really tell the
Speaker:sincerity of the person's intention by the way he makes the sign of the cross.
Speaker:If he is thinking about something else he's gonna make like a very like sloppy
Speaker:sign of the cross but if he's really come penetrated on what he's doing that
Speaker:he's thinking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit then he's
Speaker:gonna make a nice solemn sign of the cross, a big sign of the cross. Nowadays
Speaker:sometimes you see like a little like and you don't know if it's a sign of the
Speaker:cross or what exactly it is. You see they come, they put the head of a finger on
Speaker:the head and they come and just do one finger on either side. You've seen this?
Speaker:They do like three out of the four parts. You say, well what are they trying to say,
Speaker:what are they telling us with that? Are they being sincere or not?
Speaker:That might be a prayer but that's a very sloppy prayer.
Speaker:Quite a sloppy prayer.
Speaker:This is what you just said now, Morgan. It reminds me of Donna Lucilia.
Speaker:Donna Lucilia is the mother of Dr. Plinio who was a founder, was a co-founder of the
Speaker:Herald. Donna Lucilia was a very extremely virtuous saintly lady who
Speaker:lived in Brazil, was an extremely holy woman and at the end of her
Speaker:life she had lived a life of intense suffering with a lot of virtue but being
Speaker:faithful to the church. The last thing she did before she died was this. I mean
Speaker:she could not speak anymore and when she arrived at the moment of death she didn't
Speaker:have the courage, she could not have the force to speak. She made a huge
Speaker:sign of the cross and then passed away. She died. I mean that is a perfect death.
Speaker:A person who closes, I mean, your life with a golden key. I mean you're showing
Speaker:that my hope is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity.
Speaker:And the sign of the cross is a key. It opens the door to many paths.
Speaker:It opens the many paths. Above all, it increases our faith. The sign of the
Speaker:cross increases our faith and that's why in the 13th century in the manual of the
Speaker:lay people, lay Christians, already at that time when the gospel was proclaimed
Speaker:it was the custom that the faithful would trace a sign of the cross on the
Speaker:benches or on the wall or in some other and they would kiss it just as the
Speaker:priest would kiss the lectionary. Oh beautiful. The faithful would also trace
Speaker:a cross on the wall or on the benches and they would kiss the as a sign of
Speaker:their faith of honoring the cross. Which is actually one of the most perfect
Speaker:forms of prayer. Of course there are different types of prayer. We're talking
Speaker:about how the cross, the gesture of the cross, it can be a prayer. So there's one
Speaker:type of prayer where we petition, we ask things for God. But there are other
Speaker:types of prayer. For example, when we adore God, when we thank God, these are
Speaker:all different types of prayers. So there's many intentions that somebody
Speaker:can have when they make the sign of the cross. For example, somebody remembers a
Speaker:grace or something that God has given to them. In gratitude, they can remember that
Speaker:they received that because of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and they make
Speaker:the sign of the cross. So there's many different intentions that you can have
Speaker:when you make the sign of the cross. Or you're a prayer, you're asking for help,
Speaker:you're really tempted, you make the sign of the cross with holy water or without
Speaker:holy water and you're asking for God's help. So interiorly you can have many
Speaker:intentions and many different, there's many different forms of intentions with
Speaker:the same gesture of the sign of the cross. So it depends on what you need.
Speaker:Actually, Brother John, Brother Morgan, the sign of the cross is one of the
Speaker:sacramentals. Even when, of course, for instance, holy water is a sacramental.
Speaker:What is a sacramental? Something that prepares us to receive the sacraments
Speaker:well, prepares us for a true act of piety, using holy water, sprinkling holy water,
Speaker:making the sign of the cross with holy water is a sacramental. But just
Speaker:making the sign of the cross would be perhaps one of the principal sacramentals.
Speaker:When we make the sign of the cross, it prepares us to open our souls to grace,
Speaker:therefore to the sacraments as well. But I think one of the reasons we have
Speaker:banalized, we have lost the value so much of a gesture, of these symbolic acts, such
Speaker:as the sign of the cross, and I think our generation, our century has, so to speak,
Speaker:forgotten the true value of a symbol, of a gesture. We have become so shallow, so
Speaker:superficial that all of these things, all of these Catholic richness, we've forgotten,
Speaker:we've lost it. I mean, in the Middle Ages, I remember hearing that there was one,
Speaker:among the numerous symbols that they had, one of the very beautiful gestures was during
Speaker:the gospel, like you said, when you said they would make the sign of the cross and kiss
Speaker:it, but during when the gospel was proclaimed, all the gentlemen, all the knights in church,
Speaker:they would take out their swords from their sheets, because it was normal for a man to
Speaker:walk around armed, they would take out their swords from their sheets and hold it up during
Speaker:the whole gospel proclamation. It was a symbol of the fact that they were willing to give
Speaker:their lives, they were willing to fight, they were willing to die for their faith. Their
Speaker:faith was something very much profound. They were not Sunday Catholics. Their whole life
Speaker:was around the faith. But the whole life was full of these tiny symbols, which reinforced
Speaker:the faith above all, was the sign of the cross.
Speaker:I think it would be good to tell what exactly is a symbol. What is a symbol?
Speaker:Oh, Father?
Speaker:A symbol is…
Speaker:Everybody has an intuition of what it is, but what exactly is a symbol?
Speaker:A symbol is something which is, it's a mark, it's a physical element, could be a drawing,
Speaker:it could be a gesture…
Speaker:A picture, a statue…
Speaker:It could be a gesture, it could be a ceremony, it could be even a parade, it could be a symbol,
Speaker:for instance. A parade is the symbol of the courage of an army. We have, for instance,
Speaker:we have symbols of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Mary Immaculate. We have a lily is the
Speaker:symbol of the purity of Our Lady.
Speaker:You have the crown, you have the scepter, you have the… How many symbols of Our Lady,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Yes, many symbols. The symbol, for instance, of Saint Joseph as Patriarch of the Church,
Speaker:he has his crozier, his…
Speaker:His staff.
Speaker:His staff. And his staff was actually, it was blossomed with the lilies there.
Speaker:So we could say that a symbol is something physical that gives us an idea of a spiritual
Speaker:reality or something greater than just that physical thing in itself.
Speaker:It evokes an idea, a principle, a reality and makes a relationship. For instance, in
Speaker:stained glass windows, you see mystical rose. The mystical rose is a symbol of Our Lady.
Speaker:The rose is that flower which is the queen of flowers.
Speaker:We're constantly coming across symbols in our daily lives. You mentioned the stained
Speaker:glass, for example, that was one of the things the medieval men, they wanted to try and create
Speaker:a symbol of the uncreated light, which is God.
Speaker:Oh, that's beautiful. I've never heard that.
Speaker:So you have that light that almost becomes like exact mysterious and enters through the
Speaker:stained glass and changes full of colours. It was the closest thing they could come to
Speaker:to represent the uncreated light, which is God.
Speaker:Which is grace.
Speaker:Grace, exactly.
Speaker:I think this is something proper to mankind, that our body and soul have to go together.
Speaker:When the person is really Catholic, he makes everything of the body, the corporeal reality,
Speaker:similar to the higher things. Unfortunately, in our days, we put our soul to a second plane,
Speaker:the higher realities. And our body is oftentimes used only to sin or only for pleasure. It
Speaker:is something very precious in the eyes of God to give glory to God.
Speaker:And talking more about the cross, the symbol that we're talking about today, the cross,
Speaker:it was only with our Lord Jesus Christ being crucified that the cross took on a good connotation.
Speaker:Yeah, a good symbol.
Speaker:Before it was a symbol that was anonymous. It was the worst death that you could, that
Speaker:they came up with, the Romans, so much that the Roman citizen was exempt from dying on
Speaker:the cross. And this cross, the crucifixions before our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the things
Speaker:the Romans would do along the great highways, the Romans, they created these great highways
Speaker:and until now, some of them, some of these roads still exist. And along the highway on
Speaker:posts is where they would crucify the people.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So people going, traveling would see those being crucified. And sometimes they would
Speaker:be there days, days before dying. If they wanted to shorten the death of the person,
Speaker:they would break their bones, their knees, and then the person wouldn't be able to support
Speaker:himself anymore and he would end up dying. But many times it was a very slow, it was
Speaker:one of the worst deaths that at that time anyways, they had came up with. And one of
Speaker:the reasons why they exempted the Roman citizen, St. Paul, that's why he, one of the reasons
Speaker:why he wasn't crucified. He was a Roman citizen. He appealed to Caesar. And it was only with
Speaker:the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ being crucified that the symbol took on a good connotation.
Speaker:And nowadays we're all making the sign of the cross.
Speaker:A connotation of victory, triumph over death. That's the sign of the cross. And that's why
Speaker:Tertullian says that we should make the sign of the cross in all moments of the day. When
Speaker:we wake up, when we go to bed, in all moments. So you see, even at special moments, at his
Speaker:baptism, we ask not only the priest or the minister that is of baptism, but also the
Speaker:parents and the godparents should also make the sign of the cross on the children, on
Speaker:the babies.
Speaker:It's a Catholic tradition that before the children go to bed, the father and the mother
Speaker:would always make a sign of the cross on their forehead.
Speaker:Also, in the past, children, when they would, before leaving for school or to college, they
Speaker:would go and greet their parents and the parents would trace a sign of the cross on the forehead
Speaker:of the child. Dr. Plinio, who Brother John mentioned, Dona Lucilia, the mother of Dr.
Speaker:Plinio, he said that many times before going to school, to going to college, even at college
Speaker:age, he would approach Dona Lucilia and she would make at least 10 to 20 signs of the
Speaker:cross on his forehead. And also, one of his cousins who would go to school with him would
Speaker:be benefited by the same signs of the cross.
Speaker:And then 20 prayers, I mean, it's not a…
Speaker:20 prayers, exactly. Why do you have to repeat that so many times when you start traveling?
Speaker:Sometimes we do that. Sometimes I even made a test one time in the airplane because, of
Speaker:course, we make the sign of the cross at the beginning of when the plane starts to take
Speaker:off. We make the sign of the cross, but at one time I wanted to make a test. So I stood
Speaker:up and turned towards the majority of the people in the plane and made a big sign of
Speaker:the cross to see what would happen. And then I sat down and started looking at it. And
Speaker:some of the people in their chairs, they started making the sign of the cross too. It's interesting.
Speaker:It's contagious.
Speaker:It's beautiful. It's a symbol which we can do good and we will have to even pay account
Speaker:for all the good we could have done with the sign of the cross that we did not do in our
Speaker:life. So, Father, the first point is super clear about the gesture. What would be the
Speaker:second thing about the sign of the cross that you're going to teach us?
Speaker:I think that as Brother Morgan was saying that the sign of the cross, its origins, it
Speaker:was a curse. The cross was a curse. But our Lord dying on the cross, He made Himself,
Speaker:He took upon Himself the curse of sin, the weakness of sin, and He made that a glory.
Speaker:He made that the sign of triumph. So, that's important. When do you think that the first
Speaker:signs of the cross started to be made in Christian times?
Speaker:You know, it's an interesting question, Father, because I was actually preparing for
Speaker:this podcast and thinking about that and going through the New Testament. And even before
Speaker:our Lord was crucified, He would say to His disciples, "In order to be my disciple,
Speaker:take up your daily cross and follow me." And so, even before the cross became the symbol
Speaker:of Christianity, of our religion, our Lord was already making mention to it. But in the
Speaker:head of the disciples, they must have been, "Take up your cross and follow me," because
Speaker:they knew very well, and our Lord was referring not so much to the crucifixion, but the criminals
Speaker:had to carry their cross to the place where they were going to be crucified. And that's
Speaker:where our Lord was referring to when He said, "Take up your cross and follow me." So,
Speaker:each one of us has to take up our cross, take up the suffering that God asks from us, and
Speaker:courageously carry that. And so, I thought that was cute. Wow, our Lord, even before
Speaker:He died on the cross, He was already making reference. So, I think that this must have,
Speaker:the disciples of our Lord must have made the sign of the cross. If not, probably shortly
Speaker:after the crucifixion. And from apostolic times, the sign of the cross was already being
Speaker:used. Do we have any records for that? Do we have any proof of that? Any historical
Speaker:proof of the sign of the cross in the early church? St. Basil, we were talking about the
Speaker:early fourth century, he recommended that in baptism, that the children be marked with
Speaker:the sign of the cross. There are probably other circumstances in which the sign of the
Speaker:cross was used. I already made a reference to that. In the 13th century, in the manuals,
Speaker:he recommended that the lay people, not only the ministers, also make a sign of the cross
Speaker:on the benches or on the wall and kiss it. He mentioned turtulene as well. Now, you think
Speaker:about it, turtulene is third century. They are the beginning of the church. The earliest
Speaker:records we have of the church are from these church fathers. Exactly. So, it must have
Speaker:been something that you don't see in the catacombs. You don't see many signs of the cross. There
Speaker:are other symbols, which are the good shepherd. But that must have, when the church became
Speaker:free, most likely, then it started to expand the sign of the cross in the liturgy. It was
Speaker:actually the emperor Constantine, he had a vision of the cross. It was after this vision
Speaker:that he banned the execution by form of crucifixion. It was this emperor that banned that from
Speaker:the Roman Empire. It was from then on, because you said earlier, in the catacombs, you don't
Speaker:see so many symbols. But it was from then on, the early fort, that then they started
Speaker:using the cross as a visible… Which is something which is not being understood by, I guess,
Speaker:I assume that the Christians used it in private. It's almost as crazy as if we have some
Speaker:in our house, a painting of an electrical chair that used to kill people. It was something
Speaker:very delicate, especially, there's even the author C.S. Lewis. He says that when the cross
Speaker:started becoming depicted on the walls, in pictures and paintings, the last person who
Speaker:had actually seen a crucifixion had already passed away. So, nobody who had witnessed
Speaker:the crucifixion, because it was something so horrendous, had seen the art of a crucifixion.
Speaker:Ah, okay. So, it was really only the early 4th century that they started painting it
Speaker:on walls. But from what I understood, Father, the sign of the cross is much older, isn't
Speaker:it? Yes, because St. Basil not only refers to
Speaker:his own witness, but he says that the apostles taught in baptism to trace the sign of the
Speaker:cross. Oh, really? So, then you see?
Speaker:Yeah. So, it was…
Speaker:Apostolic times, it was already being… Already from the apostolic times. Maybe not
Speaker:the sign of the cross as we know it now, but at least some little traces of the cross,
Speaker:the sign of the cross, as the symbol of redemption. Oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker:The fruits of redemption, the mark of redemption. So, Father, what else do you have to tell
Speaker:us about the sign of the cross? A very interesting aspect of the sign of
Speaker:the cross is its symbolism. When you have a vertical beam and you have a horizontal
Speaker:beam, the vertical beam represents the love towards God, and the horizontal beam represents
Speaker:the love of neighbor. Wow. God spreading his love.
Speaker:Exactly. So, the love of neighbor is placed, is sustained on the love of God. You always
Speaker:have to have both together. If you took one of those beams off, you would have something
Speaker:incomplete and because you're lacking that which is the center, the love of God, love
Speaker:of neighbor. Oh, I've never heard of this. I mean, the
Speaker:basic precepts of Christianity, of religion, love of God and love of neighbor are… And
Speaker:the funny thing, exactly, I mean, if you love your neighbor, you will never love your neighbor
Speaker:truly. If you don't have love of God, I mean, that'll fall.
Speaker:It will fall. Collapse. So, that's another very beautiful… Besides another aspect,
Speaker:which is the exorcistic aspect. Of course, we know that it was always a custom to die
Speaker:with a cross in one's hand on… Therefore, those who are near death, they place a candle
Speaker:or a cross in their hands. But the devil is frightened with the sign of the cross. Very,
Speaker:very frightened. I forget the exact episode, but it was one of the saints, nuns, religious
Speaker:who had an apparition and she told her spiritual director that the Sacred Heart of Jesus was
Speaker:appearing to her. And the spiritual director said to the nun, "Listen, you sure that's
Speaker:the Sacred Heart of Jesus?" "Yes, he's telling me beautiful things." Well, next
Speaker:time when the apparition shows up, look at the statue, look at the… Not the statue,
Speaker:no. The apparition. Look at the apparition from head to feet. If there's something
Speaker:strange that you find from head to feet, take your cross and show your cross to the apparition.
Speaker:And so, she went and next time the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared and she had her cross
Speaker:in her hand and she started looking at the head, analyzing everything to the feet. When
Speaker:it came down to the feet, the feet were goat's feet. Right away, she pulled up the cross
Speaker:and presented the cross to the apparition and it disappeared. It popped at that moment.
Speaker:The devil can't bear the cross. I mean, his whole defeat, everything wrong which went
Speaker:in his life is always around the cross. All his defeats, all his shame, all his…
Speaker:Exactly. He was defeated on the cross. The same love that we have for the cross,
Speaker:the devil has hatred. It's exorcistic. That's why it's necessary.
Speaker:It's necessary to have on your cross, we should also have not only the cross, but also
Speaker:the corpus. And what of course, the cross without the corpus already has an exorcistic
Speaker:effect. So, that's another aspect of the cross, being exorcistic, making the devil
Speaker:flee.
Speaker:Father, I think one of the… there are so many wonderful things about our vocation,
Speaker:but one of the most beautiful things that we have is wearing this habit and we have
Speaker:this privilege, we have this joy of having a cross from… at least the biggest cross
Speaker:that I know of that somebody wears. I have not seen anybody who wears a bigger cross
Speaker:than us and that is something very… which makes us all happy, quite joyful of having
Speaker:this cross covering our whole body, which is exorcistic, which protects us, which is
Speaker:apostolic. When people see us with this cross, just by seeing the cross, we do good to others.
Speaker:But I'm sure that many of those who are watching us right now don't know the symbolism,
Speaker:the meaning of the cross that we heralds carry. Why is it so different? We have a cross which
Speaker:is red, white and golden. Can you tell us about our cross?
Speaker:The symbolism of the cross that the heralds of the gospel bear, originally it has a similarity
Speaker:to the cross of Saint James, but the cross of Saint James is a little bit shorter and
Speaker:it's all red and Dr. Plinio in consonance, in agreement with Monseigneur Germont, they
Speaker:stylized the cross specifically for our habit. And of course, the white represents the purity
Speaker:of the Virgin, therefore the integrity, that which is most according to righteousness.
Speaker:And the red represents not only the sacred heart of Jesus, the willing of giving one's
Speaker:blood on the cross, his heart was pierced and the last drops of blood came forth for
Speaker:redemption, but also the disposition of soul to give everything that is necessary to defend
Speaker:the faith until the last drop of blood. So, defending the faith until the last drop of
Speaker:blood or all of our efforts to defend the purity of our faith is the red. And the golden
Speaker:thread represents the nobility, therefore the brilliance of the cause, the nobility
Speaker:of the cause of God that we serve. So, you see the union between the white, the red and
Speaker:the gold.
Speaker:The cross, which was just blood, now it's a symbol of honor, a symbol of glory, like
Speaker:you said.
Speaker:A symbol of glory. It's by the cross that you arrive to glory. Through the cross you
Speaker:arrive to the light.
Speaker:There's that saying which Dr. Plinio liked very much. He used to say that those who look
Speaker:for Christ without his cross, find the cross without Christ.
Speaker:Never heard that before.
Speaker:You never heard that before?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:He used to say that in Portuguese.
Speaker:Exactly because not only to receive the benefits of being Christian, of being Catholic and
Speaker:the peace of mind and soul that is obtained to have, there's no greater benefit that
Speaker:comes from the cross than peace of mind, tranquility of conscience.
Speaker:Because those who go through effort, give their blood in order to maintain the commandments,
Speaker:end up being peaceful, being peaceful, certain that they're doing the will of God. And that
Speaker:brings a lot of peace of soul.
Speaker:So Father, what other wonderful fact do you have to tell us about the cross?
Speaker:Just to recap, what have you told us about the first point about the cross?
Speaker:The gestures.
Speaker:The gestures, the importance of gestures. You taught us about the history of the cross,
Speaker:its exorcistic aspect and then what else?
Speaker:Another aspect is how it gives us strength to practice heroic deeds. For instance, to
Speaker:make the sign of the cross in certain places, in certain public areas, could be a tremendous
Speaker:act of heroism.
Speaker:Heroism.
Speaker:It's something so simple, but you need to almost be a hero to be able to do it because
Speaker:nowadays it's so rare for people to make the sign of the cross, for example, in a restaurant.
Speaker:So you mentioned you did it on a plane. And it's something that is very meritorious.
Speaker:I'm sure there are many people in this world, I'm 100% certain, who would be willing to
Speaker:go on a pilgrimage and walk 50 kilometers to a shrine, as long as nobody knows about
Speaker:it, or they're among other Catholics, but they don't have the strength to go to a public
Speaker:place where there are non-Christians and make the sinful sign of the cross. Because it gives
Speaker:much more glory to God. The fact that you are recognized yourself as a Christian is
Speaker:more difficult and more meritorious than fasting on bread and water, for instance, in today's
Speaker:world it is.
Speaker:Recently, we were visiting a firefighter school. And here in Brazil, the firefighter school,
Speaker:it's actually part of the military here in Brazil. That's how it's organized. So at this
Speaker:firefighter school, they're training 900 firefighters or something. It's a six month
Speaker:or one year course, depending on what they want to do, how far they want to go. And at
Speaker:the end of the visit, we saw, and so we saw how they work the fire hose and how they do
Speaker:this and what you do when there's smoke and how smoke is so terrible. And actually when,
Speaker:I don't know if you know, but when smoke gets to around 600 degrees, I think we're
Speaker:talking, we're talking Celsius, of course, 600 degrees, that is when it can actually
Speaker:explode. It becomes combustion. So that's, so in, before it explodes, the smoke will
Speaker:actually start emitting sparks. And so that's when the firefighters, that's one of the
Speaker:signs they have that know that the house or the building is too hot and they need to
Speaker:evacuate immediately. They're not allowed to stay. There's ways to try and control that.
Speaker:Before it reaches over there.
Speaker:Before it reaches over there. And something interesting, of course, is that we're kind
Speaker:of going a little away from our conversation about the cross, but actually there's ways,
Speaker:you can't just throw a bunch of water on the smoke because what happens is the water
Speaker:becomes vapor and it becomes even hotter.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So there's certain techniques that the firemen have to learn just to spare a little
Speaker:bit of water to cool it down, but without creating a lot of vapor.
Speaker:So it's all, it was very interesting.
Speaker:We had a very good visit that we went with a group of, a group of the heralds went
Speaker:there.
Speaker:And at the end of the visit, this man, he must've been in his, his sixties.
Speaker:He was a, he was a police officer.
Speaker:He was here in Brazil.
Speaker:They have the military police, they call them.
Speaker:And now he's helping give, giving the courses for the, for the firefighters because the
Speaker:two institutions are linked, the police and the firefighters.
Speaker:And at the end he said, he took off his, his police cap and he said, can we finish with
Speaker:the key of gold?
Speaker:I don't know if that expression exists in English with the golden key.
Speaker:And he said, can you all say a prayer for, for our work and for our place and everything?
Speaker:And so he wanted us to say a prayer, but most people would not ask for such a thing.
Speaker:I mean, you have to have a truly Catholic spirit, Catholic soul.
Speaker:You can't have human respect, um, to simply ask somebody to pray or to pray in public.
Speaker:It's not something that, that is easy.
Speaker:It's something that you have to be a hero.
Speaker:Yes, but to ask for those who are religious to do it, it's much easier.
Speaker:Much easier.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Would he have the same courage to do that in a public area?
Speaker:I remember one of the-
Speaker:That's a very good point.
Speaker:There was one of the employees of, uh, one of the houses of the Heralds and he wasn't
Speaker:a practicing Catholic, but one day because he worked in a Catholic institution, when
Speaker:he was celebrating Christmas and there were many relatives and family members at the celebration,
Speaker:but no religious symbols were being used.
Speaker:Our Lord Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus was not being even recalled except very secondarily
Speaker:and maybe in little stature, a little nativity scene.
Speaker:And then at a certain moment, he said, when it was about midnight and everyone was drinking
Speaker:and eating, he said, "Listen, I want to right now invite you all to say a Hail Mary in the
Speaker:name of the Father and of the Son."
Speaker:And everyone was so surprised that he made it the sign of the cross in that atmosphere.
Speaker:And he was like a torpedo that was wedged in the midst of that, the merry, it wasn't
Speaker:merry Christmas because Christ was not present, but it was a merry around something which
Speaker:is totally social feast.
Speaker:And he brought back the true meaning and that was somewhat heroic at that moment.
Speaker:And at these moments to make the sign of the cross, Brother Morgan mentioned a word earlier,
Speaker:I think that'll come as a novelty to some people, human respect.
Speaker:Can you explain exactly what this is, Brother Morgan?
Speaker:What exactly is human respect?
Speaker:In two words, human respect is when we worry more about what other people are going to
Speaker:think of us rather than worrying about what God is going to think of us.
Speaker:So for example, instead of I have to do something difficult, I know that I should make the sign
Speaker:of the cross before eating.
Speaker:I know that that is what God wants from me, that that's what God expects from me.
Speaker:But because of those who are around me looking at me to see if I'm going to make that sign
Speaker:of the cross, I don't do it.
Speaker:So I'm more worried about what those who are watching and what they're going to think
Speaker:rather than what God's going to think.
Speaker:But what's most important is what God thinks, not what others think.
Speaker:But this is not something easy.
Speaker:Monsignor João, he talks about the instincts of conservation and the instincts of sociability.
Speaker:He says that our instinct of sociability is stronger than our instinct of conservation.
Speaker:And he gives the example that many people, because of human respect, because of being
Speaker:so worried about what others are going to think of them, would rather go to war to face
Speaker:death than be ridiculed as a coward, as not...
Speaker:And that happens at war time.
Speaker:People who go to war, in spite of being cowards, they're much more afraid of laughter.
Speaker:Than facing death, that instinct of conservation, which says I can't die.
Speaker:The thing is that you have to take into consideration that one of the hardest things on earth is
Speaker:to be different than the mainstream.
Speaker:It's very hard to be different from that which surrounds you.
Speaker:It may be one of the most difficult things, no?
Speaker:And that's what our Lord came to do, to change everything.
Speaker:And that's why when he changed the sign of a curse into a sign of victory, he was changing
Speaker:the mentality, the way of thinking of those people.
Speaker:And that's why the sign of the cross is the sign of a change of mentality, of way of thinking.
Speaker:And therefore, it's the cross that saves, that leads us to victory, to salvation.
Speaker:Father, unfortunately, our time is nearly up.
Speaker:It'd be wonderful to continue our conversation, but I think you still have one more point to
Speaker:tell us about the sign of the cross, don't you?
Speaker:Well, I think it's always very healthy to take advantage in conversations, is what the
Speaker:fruits we can benefit from the sign of the cross, and even make an examination of conscience.
Speaker:And some saints say that we have to be very coherent, to use the sign of the cross coherently.
Speaker:When we say, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," then
Speaker:afterwards we're in a social gathering in which we deny or we behave as though we don't
Speaker:know our Lord.
Speaker:We don't know God.
Speaker:We don't know the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:The Holy Spirit is not easy to know.
Speaker:He's the great unknown.
Speaker:But in any case, that we don't at least be coherent with our signs of the cross, how
Speaker:do we make the sign of the cross?
Speaker:And then afterwards, someone says, "Are you going to, I don't know, we're coming up to
Speaker:elections, but are you going to vote for someone who never makes the sign of the cross?"
Speaker:That's a good sign to know if you should vote for someone or not.
Speaker:Do they make the sign of the cross?
Speaker:Are they coherent with the principles of their faith, with the values of their faith?
Speaker:But we should make an examination of conscience.
Speaker:When do we use the sign of the cross?
Speaker:Do we only use the sign of the cross when we're in our bedrooms?
Speaker:And do we actually, when we make the sign of the cross, does that symbol take us up
Speaker:to being faithful to the promises of our baptism?
Speaker:That would be a point in which, of course, we could open that examination of conscience
Speaker:to other aspects.
Speaker:But for instance, when we go to a hospital and there's going to be a procedure which
Speaker:is against our faith, or if someone wants that you take a medicine which you know which
Speaker:is against life, what, can you make the sign of the cross honestly afterwards?
Speaker:In the name of the Father.
Speaker:Am I a person who's acting in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit?
Speaker:Well, that is...
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Are you living in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity?
Speaker:So that's something...
Speaker:In that sense, what you're saying is the sign of the cross is actually an occasion for us
Speaker:to make an examination of conscience to see if we're living according to the gospel.
Speaker:To meditate.
Speaker:In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:To meditate, exactly.
Speaker:If we live out the gospel principles.
Speaker:So I think that is one of the great benefits of making the sign of the cross constantly.
Speaker:We'll receive strength in order to be coherent in living out the gospel, living out the promises
Speaker:of our baptism.
Speaker:You know what I think even more, Father?
Speaker:I think it's actually worse for somebody to make the sign of the cross than to live an
Speaker:unholy life because that can actually scandalize a lot of people.
Speaker:People who make the sign of the cross and then they do things that aren't according
Speaker:to the Ten Commandments.
Speaker:Other people see that, see that they're making the sign of the cross and they start to admire
Speaker:something that they shouldn't admire.
Speaker:Because, "Oh, well, he's making the sign of the cross.
Speaker:He's Catholic.
Speaker:He can do that.
Speaker:So that means I can as well."
Speaker:I think that's something very...
Speaker:That's bad as well.
Speaker:They can...
Speaker:Then if he's a man who made the sign of the cross doing that, then the Catholics are
Speaker:worthless because see how evil can come, can go to either way, the shock, the scandal that
Speaker:you cause.
Speaker:I agree totally.
Speaker:I totally agree.
Speaker:The importance of being in virtue of integrity.
Speaker:The virtue of righteousness, of integrity, of coherence.
Speaker:Yes, Father.
Speaker:If you permit me before we end our conversation, our podcast, I'd like to invite all those
Speaker:who are watching us now.
Speaker:Everything that we spoke about was interesting, I'm sure, but also things which prick our
Speaker:conscience, things which demand from us a change of our life so that we can do well
Speaker:and holy in a holy way the sign of the cross.
Speaker:And the best way for any one of us to change our lives, to go to our Jesus Christ, to be
Speaker:faithful to our cross is to ask our Lady's help, which is why I would like to invite
Speaker:all those who are watching us now to do your consecration to Jesus through the hands of
Speaker:Mary.
Speaker:There'll be a link in the description for those who would like to find out more.
Speaker:It's something life-changing, which actually helps us live our cross as we should, thereby
Speaker:we receive graces.
Speaker:There'll be more details in the description, in the link in the description.
Speaker:Please take a look at that.
Speaker:Now we'll bestow the blessing on all of those who are hearing us, making the sign of the
Speaker:cross, everyone's going to make the sign of the cross with this blessing, but asking that
Speaker:our Lady who stood and always stands at the foot of our cross, that she helps us to carry
Speaker:our cross, that she give you tremendous benefits with these reflections.
Speaker:The Lord be with you.
Speaker:And with your spirit.
Speaker:And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit come
Speaker:upon you and remain with you forever.
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:Thank you, Father.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Salve Maria.
Speaker:Salve Maria.
Speaker:(whooshing)
