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Question 14: Why do we make the sign of the cross?
Answer: Nicephorus writes that St. John the Evangelist blessed himself with the sign of the cross before dying. St. Paul used this same sign to restore sight to a blind man. Many even affirm that Our Lord Himself taught this sign to the apostles and that he used it to bless them on the day of his Ascension. “The sign of the cross,” says St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of St. John, “is the trophy raised against the power of the prince of this world; when he sees it, he is afraid; when he even hears of it, he is filled with terror.” Tertullian in the second century says, “At every fresh step and change of place, whenever we come in or go out…we impress upon our forehead the sign of the Cross.”
Our Lord's death sanctified (made holy) the symbol of the cross. The cross went from being regarded as an instrument of shame, to the symbol of Jesus' triumph and victory over sin and death and a sign of our faith in Him. That is why we make the sign of the cross.
If done with reverence and thought, the sign of the cross is a protection from the powers of Satan and a reminder of the power of our Faith. "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, proclaims for all to see, our belief in the Trinity and the Unity of God in three persons. The touching of the forehead is to show that the Son proceeds from the Father, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son is signified by touching the heart and the two shoulders; while the form of the cross reminds us of our redemption by Jesus' sacrifice the cross. Make the sign of the cross devoutly. It is one of the greatest sacramentals of the Church.
The cross is signed upon the forehead, lips and heart when the Gospel is read, to show that we must avoid sin in thought, word or deed, and professes our faith in these three ways.
