Category: Prayer

6 min read

Prayer

Hearing God Speak: Using the Daily Examen

Jim Manney

January 2, 2020 11:14 am January 2, 2020

6 min read

2271 views

Comments Off

6 min read

How can we hear God? Few questions are more important to answer than this one. We want to know God and what God wants of us. We want to hear…

How can we hear God? Few questions are more important to answer than this one. We want to know God and what God wants of us. We want to hear His voice. Most basically, we want a connection with God — a daily sense of His presence and loving care.

Catholic tradition points to at least four ways that we hear God. We encounter His presence in the natural world itself, which God created and pronounced “good” (Gn 1:31). We hear God’s voice in Scripture, “the word of God.” We also hear God speaking in the teaching of the Church.

In addition, God speaks to us in our experience. He is present in our daily lives: in our relationships, our work, our decisions and accomplishments, our dreams and disappointments. The prayer strategy known as the Daily Examen is a method for hearing the voice of God in our experience.

A Saintly Habit

The great saints, mystics and masters of prayer have long taught that cultivating a habit of prayerful reflection on our daily experience is a key to spiritual growth. The Daily Examen has been practiced by Christians since ancient times as a technique of doing precisely that. The Examen involves us in prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and to discern His direction for us.

One version of the Examen is the examination of conscience, which many Catholics practice as a way to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But the Daily Examen is useful for much more than just preparing for confession. It can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience.

St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), believed that the Examen is a gift that has come to us directly from God, and that God wants it to be shared as widely as possible. One of the few rules of prayer that Ignatius made for the Jesuit order was the requirement that Jesuits practice the Examen twice daily — at noon and at the end of the day. It’s a habit that Jesuits, and many other Christians, practice to this day.

How exactly is an Examen conducted? Christians have developed various versions, but one popular version, composed of five steps, is based on the Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.

“Rummaging for God”

Father Dennis Hamm, S.J., a Scripture professor at Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., calls the Daily Examen “rummaging for God.” He likens it to “going through a drawer full of stuff, feeling around, looking for something that you are sure must be there.”

That’s an accurate description of what it’s like to pray the Daily Examen. We look back on the previous day, rummaging through the “stuff,” and finding God in it. We know He is there; we just have to look for Him.

Sometimes our prayer can become too formal and abstract. The Daily Examen helps us avoid that problem by keeping our feet on the ground. This reflective, Spirit-led review of the day grounds our prayer in concrete reality. Because we are God’s creatures living in a world that He loves and sustains, we can be assured that we can hear His voice in our lives in this world.

One final advantage to making a habit of the Daily Examen: We never run out of things to pray about.

Sometimes prayer gets dry. Sometimes we wonder what to say to God. The Examen eliminates these problems. As long as we have 24 hours to look back on, we’ll have hundreds of things to talk to God about — and to thank Him for.

How to Conduct a Daily Examen

This five-step Daily Examen is based on the one described by St. Ignatius Loyola in his “Spiritual Exercises,” perhaps the most influential book about prayer ever written.

Step 1. Become aware of God’s presence. Look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. The day may seem confusing to you — a blur, a jumble, a muddle. Ask God to bring clarity and understanding, to show you where He was at work in each situation.

Step 2. Review the day with gratitude. Gratitude is the foundation of our relationship with God. Walk through your day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights.

Focus on the day’s gifts. Look at the work you did, the people you interacted with. What did you receive from these people? What did you give them? Pay attention to small things — the food you ate, the sights you saw and other seemingly small pleasures. God is there in the details.

Step 3. Pay attention to your emotions. One of St. Ignatius’ great insights was that we can detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day.

Did you feel boredom? Elation? Resentment? Compassion? Anger? Confidence? What is God saying to you through these feelings?

In this reflection, God will most likely show you some ways that you fell short. Be sure to make note of these sins and faults. But look deeply for other implications as well.

Are you frustrated? If so, perhaps this means that God wants you consider a new direction in some area of your work.

Are you concerned about a friend? Perhaps He wants you to reach out to her in some way.

Step 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that God thinks is particularly important. It may involve a feeling, positive or negative. It may be a significant encounter with another person or a vivid moment of pleasure or peace. Or it may be something that seems rather insignificant.

Look at it. Pray about it. Allow the prayer that it provokes to arise spontaneously from your heart, whether it’s intercession, praise, repentance or whatever.

Step 5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges. Pay attention to the feelings that surface as you survey what’s coming up.

Are you doubtful? Cheerful? Apprehensive? Full of delighted anticipation? Allow these feelings to turn into prayer.

Seek God’s guidance. Ask Him for help and understanding. Pray for hope.

St. Ignatius encouraged people to talk to Jesus like a friend. End the Daily Examen with a conversation with Jesus.

Ask forgiveness for your sins. Ask for His protection and help. Ask for His wisdom, too, about the questions you have and the problems you face.

Do all this in the spirit of gratitude. Your life is a gift, and it is adorned with gifts from God.

Conclude with the Our Father.

Jim Manney writes from Michigan.

Comments Off

3 min read

Prayer

What Is A Chaplet?

Father Francis Hoffman

December 27, 2019 7:51 am December 27, 2019

3 min read

4592 views

Comments Off

3 min read

A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could…

A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could be prayed on a plane, in a train, on a bike or a hike. It could even be sung with or without musical accompaniment, in Latin, Greek or in the vernacular. There are different types of chaplets, and the two most common are the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Typically, prayer beads (rosaries, chaplet bracelets) of different forms (wood, glass, metal, cloth, rope, nylon, even sea shells!) are used by the faithful to keep track of where they are in the prayer. Often these sacramental items are blessed and people carry them in their pocket or hang them off the rearview mirror over the dashboard in their car.

Rosaries and chaplet bracelets — if they are blessed — should be treated with care, even if they are not technically considered sacred. Sometimes people kiss their beads when they pull them out or put them back in their pocket, purse or pouch. Some rosaries even become galleries of saints over time as their owners attach medals of their favorite saints between each decade.

Children tend to be very fond of rosary beads and chaplet bracelets, and often receive them as gifts for their baptism, first Communion or confirmation. However, they are not toys, and children who use rosary beads as handcuffs on their little brothers should be corrected, gently but clearly.

A chaplet is a vocal prayer and can be prayed as a petition, or in adoration, or for motives of thanksgiving, or in reparation for personal sins or the sins of the nation. Typically, a chaplet follows a set sequence of prayers and then repeats those sequences, commonly known as “decades” of ten or seven repetitions. Typically, there are three, five, seven or nine “decades,” and again the most common is the Rosary, which consists of five decades of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and the Glory Be.

By nature a chaplet is based on repetition, but if the person prays it with attention and devotion it does not have to be repetitious. Repetition does not suggest lack of originality, any more than Beethoven’s Fifth — which states, repeats, inverts and varies the theme — is considered to be repetitious or unoriginal.

Sometimes you hear people criticize devotions such as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet for being simplistic and boring because the prayers are very common and repeated frequently. But there is nothing boring about a rose in full bloom, even though every petal in the blossom is just like the next.

Down through the ages popes have recommended that the faithful pray the Rosary — every day if possible. That’s what St. John Paul II did, as well as Mother Teresa and Padre Pio.

Since a Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet is a personal devotional, it can always be accommodated to fit the need and the circumstances of the situation. Many have discovered that, while the Rosary is made up of simple prayers — the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be — these prayers are very powerful. After all, the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) was given to us by Jesus Christ himself; the Hail Mary by an archangel, St. Elizabeth and the Church; and the Glory Be is rooted in the Old Testament angelic praises from the Book of Daniel. It would be difficult to improve on those prayers!

Comments Off

1 min read

Prayer

Do Non-Christians Pray Through Christ?

Father Ray Ryland

December 12, 2019 7:54 am December 12, 2019

1 min read

1673 views

Comments Off

1 min read

Paul’s Letter to the Romans assures us that God has left no one without some knowledge of himself. “For what can be known about God is evident to them, because…

Paul’s Letter to the Romans assures us that God has left no one without some knowledge of himself. “For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (1:19-20).

Though all non-Christian religions contain error, they also have elements of God’s truth. Wherever God reveals His truth to any degree, He always reveals through His Son. “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Mt 11:27).

Whenever a non-Christian prays to God, whatever of truth he knows and whatever of true love for God he reveals, that person is in fact praying through the Jesus Christ he does not know. Whatever of God’s truth is in that person’s mind and attitude must be pleasing to God.

The Church teaches that persons who truly love and serve God as best they can know Him can be saved. But they are saved by the truth they profess, not the error which their religions have imparted to them.

That truth comes to them through God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore the Church has to proclaim that, ultimately, no one can be saved except through Jesus Christ.

Comments Off

6 min read

Prayer

Does God Hear Me?

Mary DeTurris Poust

December 11, 2019 2:12 pm December 11, 2019

6 min read

1460 views

Comments Off

6 min read

We live in a world of instant gratification. If we have a question, we send out a text or an email and receive a response within minutes, sometimes seconds. If…

We live in a world of instant gratification. If we have a question, we send out a text or an email and receive a response within minutes, sometimes seconds. If we want something, anything, we stop in a store or hop online and it’s in our hands or at our doorstep almost immediately. It’s no wonder, then, that when we send up prayers to God, our urgent requests for things we need or want (or want to avoid), we expect a quick, clear answer, preferably made-to-order.

So we pray, and then sit back and wait. And wait, and wait, and wonder, “Why doesn’t God hear me?” Or, if He does hear me, why won’t He answer? In truth, it’s not that God doesn’t hear us, but that we don’t hear — or know how to hear — Him. We expect flashes of light, voices from above, or, at the very least, a plain-and-simple answer so obvious that there’s no way to misinterpret or miss it. But, as Elijah learned as he looked for God in the strong wind, in the earthquake and in the fire, sometimes we will find the answer to our prayer in the most unexpected places.

“After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave” (1 Kgs 19:12-13). So it was in the tiny whisper that Elijah finally heard God. Do we quiet our hearts and minds and bodies long enough to hear the whisper of God? Perhaps God is answering our prayers but in the busyness of our lives and the noise of the world around us the message simply can’t get through. We will never know if God is hearing us (and responding to us) unless we make time for silent prayer, not prayers of petition or even prayers of thanksgiving, but a receptive kind of silent, contemplative prayer where we simply sit and wait for God.

When God Seems Close

Most of us have experienced, at one time or another, a moment when God seemed incredibly close. Perhaps we sensed His presence in the voice of a friend who just happened to call when we most needed a listening ear, or maybe it was in the disappointment of a job we didn’t get that eventually led us to the job that seemed tailor-made for us. Sometimes it may be as simple as looking out at the ocean or sunset and feeling a deep God-centered peace that reminds us that life is going along exactly according to plan — maybe not our plan, but God’s plan.

How can we nurture those kinds of God moments in our lives? Through silent prayer, as Pope Benedict XVI suggested, as have many saints and holy men and women before him. If we take even a few minutes out of our busy days to sit in silence with God — not asking or talking, but waiting — we can begin to cultivate a receptive attitude that will allow us to recognize that whisper of the Spirit amid the storms and earthquakes of daily life.

Of course, if we find a way to listen truly for God, we may not always like what we hear, which leads to the next part of our question: Why doesn’t God answer my prayers the way I want them to be answered?

Demanding a Response

God is not like an ATM machine. We don’t punch in our prayer request and put out our hands waiting for the exact response. We go to God and pray that someone recovers from an illness or returns from the brink of some disaster. When just the opposite happens, it can certainly feel as though God is not really listening or, if He is, not really interested in what’s best for us. But that’s because we approach God from our humanness. We cannot begin to imagine how God works, what God has planned for us, and why certain requests don’t seem to be answered or heard.

And when our prayers feel unheard or unanswered, we can begin to feel abandoned by or cut off from God. We’re certainly not alone in that feeling. Some of the greatest saints in the history of our faith experienced the “dark night of the soul,” a term coined by St. John of the Cross. More recently, Blessed Mother Teresa’s letters revealed a decades-long dry spell where she felt separated from God.

“As for myself, Father — I have nothing to say — for the darkness is so dark, the pain is so painful. Sometimes the grip of pain is so great — that I can hear my own voice call out — My God, help me.… It is so painful to be lonely for God,” Mother Teresa wrote (“Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,” Image).

Faith in the Darkness

Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who edited two volumes of Mother Teresa’s writings, says that the saintly woman of Calcutta can teach us how to remain faithful despite our feelings of spiritual darkness.

“It does tell us something about what the nature of love is. We hear St. Thomas Aquinas saying, love is in the will. Mother Teresa really embodied that teaching,” he explained. “In our contemporary thinking so much depends on feelings — in love, in friendship, in marriage. In that, if the feeling is gone, then we think we don’t love anymore; we give up. But I think one of the secondary things that Mother Teresa teaches is something of what the nature of love is and fidelity to it.”

In other words, we have to remain constant in our faith, in our prayer life, in our knowledge that God is hearing us, listening to us and answering us in His own time. We cannot hope to understand God on human terms, but we can continually put ourselves before Him, knowing that God longs for us even more than we long for Him. And so we pray, and we wait, and we listen for that still small voice of the Spirit.

Mary DeTurris Poust is the author of “Walking Together: Discovering the Catholic Tradition of Spiritual Friendship” (Ave Maria Press, 2010). Visit her personal blog at www.notstrictlyspiritual.blogspot.com.

Comments Off

5 min read

Prayer

The Liturgy of the Hours

Derek Abrajano

December 11, 2019 1:40 pm December 11, 2019

5 min read

1698 views

Comments Off

5 min read

Many Catholics hear that priests are required to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, and assume it is a “private” prayer said only by priests and…

Many Catholics hear that priests are required to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, and assume it is a “private” prayer said only by priests and those in religious orders.

Although clerics and religious are obligated by Church law to say the Divine Office (see Canons 1173-1175), laymen and women are increasingly making the Liturgy of the Hours part of their spiritual growth and development by reciting morning and evening prayer. Why are these prayers important in the life of the Church?

“Seven times a day I praise you”

The Divine Office owes its remote origin to the inspiration of God’s Covenant with the Jewish people. He commanded the Aaronic priests (c. 1280 B.C.) to offer a morning and evening sacrifice (see Ex 29:38-39). During the Babylonian Exile (587-521 B.C.), when the Temple did not exist, the synagogue services of Scripture readings, psalms and hymns developed as a substitute for the bloody sacrifices of the Temple, a sacrifice of praise.

The inspiration for this development may have been sentiments in Psalms such as King David’s prayer, “Seven times a day I praise you” (Ps 119:164), and the statement that God’s law is studied by those who are righteous “day and night” (Ps 1:2).

After the people returned to Judea, and the Temple was rebuilt, the prayer services developed in Babylon for the local assemblies (synagogues) of the people were brought into Temple use as well. We know that in addition to morning and evening prayer to accompany the sacrifices there was prayer at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day.

The Acts of the Apostles notes that Christians continued to pray at these hours (see Acts 2:15; 10:3). And, although the apostles no longer shared in the Temple sacrifices — they had its fulfillment in the “breaking of the bread” (the Eucharist) — they continued to frequent the Temple at the customary hours of prayer (Acts 3:1).

Monastic and eremitical (hermit) practice, as it developed in the early Church, recognized in the psalms the perfect form of prayer and did not try to improve upon it. The practices were quite individual from monastery to monastery. At first some tried to do the entire Psalter (150 psalms) each day, but eventually that was abandoned for a weekly cycle built around certain hours of the day. With the reforms of the Second Vatican Council the traditional one-week Psalter cycle became a four-week cycle.

Among the earliest Psalter cycles of which we have a record is the division given by St. Benedict in his Rule for Monasteries (chapters 8-19) around 550, with canonical hours of lauds (morning prayer) offered at sunrise, prime (first hour of the day), terce (third hour, or midmorning), sext (sixth hour, or midday), none (ninth hour, or midafternoon), vespers (evening prayer) offered at sunset, and compline (night prayer) before going to bed. In addition, the monks arose to read and pray during the night. This Office of Matins (Readings) likewise had its divisions into nocturnes, corresponding to the beginning of each “through the nightwatches” (Ps 63:7) — that is, 9 p.m., midnight and 3 a.m.

After the Council of Trent and its reforms, the Roman Breviary became the Office of the entire Latin Church. It should be noted that religious orders have a right to their own version, though many simply use the Roman Office. These versions are typically used by members of monastic and contemplative communities, such as the Trappists and Carmelites.

The name Liturgy of the Hours was adopted in 1970 to emphasize that the purpose of prayer was to sanctify the whole day and every activity of daily life in the modern world. Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic constitution Laudis Canticum establishing the Liturgy of the Hours, wrote, “Since the Liturgy of the Hours is the means of sanctifying the day, the order of this prayer was revised so that the canonical hours could more easily relate to the chronological hours of the day in the circumstances of modern life.”

The Liturgy of the Hours is organized currently in a similar way to the earlier Divine Office, but with a number of significant changes. Lauds (morning prayer) and vespers (evening prayer) are given a clear priority, with the rest of the day structured around them. A midday prayer is suggested — shorter than morning and evening prayer. Communities of contemplatives are still required to observe all three (and others are encouraged to do so), but one may choose to use only one, with the texts that are offered. Compline (night prayer) is retained, with the change that it could now be recited after midnight (previously, it was necessary to complete the entire cycle before midnight). A major addition was the Office of Readings.

Praying With One Accord

Public and common prayer by God’s holy people is rightly considered to be among the most important duties of the entire Church. We see how from the very beginning those who were baptized “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, and to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). As one continues reading the Acts of the Apostles, frequent testimony is given to the fact that the entire Christian community prayed “with one accord” (Acts 1:14; 4:24). When the Christian faithful pray the Liturgy of the Hours, they are connected in a very real and unique way to others who are praying this form of liturgical prayer, so that indeed from the rising of the sun to its setting we proclaim the glory and honor of God.

Prayer is classically defined as lifting our hearts and minds to God. When the Liturgy of the Hours is celebrated, the people of God are not only united with the Church in prayer, they are praying words blessed by Him that reflect the full spectrum of our human experience and that call for the sanctification and healing of our world.

Derek Abrajano writes from Chicago.

Comments Off

6 min read

Prayer

Six Reasons Why We Make the Sign of the Cross

Bert Ghezzi

December 2, 2019 8:50 am December 2, 2019

6 min read

4326 views

Comments Off

6 min read

Catholics often make the Sign of the Cross casually, just as a nice gesture for beginning and ending their prayers. But when we learn to take this act seriously, signing…

Catholics often make the Sign of the Cross casually, just as a nice gesture for beginning and ending their prayers. But when we learn to take this act seriously, signing ourselves frequently with faith and reverence, remarkable results can take place. We find ourselves doing measurably better in our Christian life: praying with more passion, resisting our bad inclinations more effectively, and relating to others more kindly.

The Sign of the Cross, after all, is not merely a pious gesture. It is a powerful prayer, a sacramental of the Church.

Scripture, the Church Fathers and saints, and Catholic teaching offer six perspectives on the Sign of the Cross that reveal why making it opens us to life-transforming graces. Once we grasp them, we can make the gesture with more faith and experience its great blessings.

Six Reasons to Make the Sign

1. A mini-creed.

The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith in God as He has revealed himself. It serves as an abbreviated form of the Apostles’ Creed.

Touching our forehead, breast and shoulders (and in some cultures, our lips as well), we declare our belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are announcing our faith in what God has done — the creation of all things, the redemption of humanity from sin and death, and the establishment of the Church, which offers new life to all. When we sign ourselves we are making ourselves aware of God’s presence and opening ourselves to His action in our lives.

That much alone would be enough to transform us spiritually, wouldn’t it? But there is much, much more.

2. A renewal of baptism.

First-century Christians began making the Sign of the Cross as a reminder and renewal of what happened to them when they were baptized. It still works the same way for us.

When we sign ourselves we are declaring that in baptism we died sacramentally with Christ on the cross and rose to a new life with Him (see Rom 6:3-4 and Gal 2:20). We are asking the Lord to renew in us those baptismal graces.

We are also acknowledging that baptism joined us to the Body of Christ and equipped us for our role of collaborating with the Lord in His work of rescuing all people from sin and death.

3. A mark of discipleship.

At baptism the Lord claimed us as His own by marking us with the Sign of the Cross. Now, when we sign ourselves, we are affirming our loyalty to Him. By tracing the cross on our bodies, we are denying that we belong to ourselves and declaring that we belong to Him alone (see Lk 9:23).

The Church Fathers used the same word for the Sign of the Cross that the ancient world employed to indicate ownership. The same word named a shepherd’s brand on his sheep, a general’s tattoo on his soldiers, a householder’s mark on his servants, and the Lord’s mark on His disciples.

Signing ourselves recognizes that we are Christ’s sheep and can count on His care; His soldiers, commissioned to work with Him in advancing His kingdom on earth; and His servants, dedicated to doing whatever He tells us.

4. An acceptance of suffering.

Jesus promised us that suffering would be a normal part of a disciple’s life (see Lk 9:23-24). So when we mark our bodies with the sign, we are embracing whatever pain comes as a consequence of our faith in Christ. Making the sign is our taking up the cross and following Him (Lk 9:23).

At the same time, however, it comforts us with the realization that Jesus, who endured the Crucifixion for us, now joins us in our suffering and supports us.

Signing ourselves also announces another significant truth: with St. Paul, we are celebrating that our afflictions as members of the body of Christ contribute to the Lord’s saving work of perfecting the Church in holiness (see Col 1:24).

5. A two-edged move against the devil.

When the devil watched Jesus die on the cross, he mistakenly believed he had won a great victory. Instead, the Lord surprised him with an ignominious defeat (see 1 Cor 2:8). From the first Easter morning through the present, the Sign of the Cross makes the devil cower and flee.

On one level, then, making the sign is a defensive move, declaring our inviolability to the devil’s influence. But, more importantly, the sign is also an offensive weapon, helping us reclaim with Christ all that Satan lost at the cross. It announces our cooperation with Jesus in the indomitable advance of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness.

6. A victory over the flesh.

In the New Testament, the word fleshsums up all the evil inclinations of our old nature that persist in us even after we die with Christ in baptism (see Gal 5:16-22). Making the Sign of the Cross expresses our decision to crucify these desires of the flesh and to live by the Spirit.

Like tossing off a dirty shirt or blouse, making the sign indicates our stripping ourselves of our evil inclinations and clothing ourselves with the behaviors of Christ (see Col 3:5-15).

The Church Fathers taught that the Sign of the Cross diffused the force of powerful temptations such as anger and lust. So, no matter how strongly we are tempted, we can use the Sign of the Cross to activate our freedom in Christ and conquer even our besetting sins.

Apply These Truths Now

Right now, you can imprint in your heart these six truths about the Sign of the Cross by making it six times, each time applying one of the perspectives.

First, sign yourself professing your faith in God.

Second, mark yourself remembering that you died with Christ in baptism.

Third, make the sign to declare that you belong to Christ as His disciple and will obey Him.

Fourth, sign yourself to embrace whatever suffering comes and to celebrate your suffering with Christ for the Church.

Fifth, make the Sign of the Cross as a defense against the devil and as an offensive advance of God’s kingdom against him.

Finally, make the sign to crucify your flesh and to put on Christ and His behaviors.

Go through these six signings often in your morning prayer — and watch the grace flow through this ancient sacramental in the days to come.

Bert Ghezzi is the author of numerous books, most recently “The Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer” (Loyola, 2006).

Comments Off