Scriptures to meditate upon as you make the Sign of the Cross

Here are some Scripture verses to think about as you make the Sign of the Cross. (Not that I have anything against "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", but there are other verses we can meditate upon as we cross ourselves.)

"He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:38; cf. Luke 14:27)

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24; cf. Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23)

As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross. (Matt. 27:32; cf. Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26)

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)

"I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." (Acts 2:36)

We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rom. 6:6)

The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)

We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. 1:23-24)

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2)

He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. (2 Cor. 13:4)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24)

Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal. 6:14)

For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. (Eph. 2:14-16)

Being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:8)

In him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col. 1:19-20)

God made [us] alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Col. 2:13-14)

Look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)

A Prophecy of the Cross

It is your will that works of your wisdom should not be without effect; therefore men trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood, and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land. For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft, and guided by your hand left to the world the seed of a new generation. For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes. (Wis. 14:5-7)

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation (Triumph) of the Cross.  It is also the second anniversary of the enacting of Summorum Pontificum, the motu proprio promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI in July of 2007 which allowed priests to celebrate the older form of the Roman Rite (now known as the "extraordinary form") without requiring special permission from their bishop to do so.

Tomorrow is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Latin: Prayers of September 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

This Sunday, what would be "just another Sunday in Ordinary Time" is a feast of the Lord! September 14th is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and it falls on a Sunday this year. It also happens to be the date on which Summorum Pontificum went into effect last year, so it is the first anniversary of Pope Benedict's motu proprio which liberated the usus antiquior, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

I will be leading an RCIA session after Mass tomorrow; the topic is "Who is Jesus?" For the opening prayer, I will use my own translation (with assistance from Fr. Z, of course) of the Collect for the Feast. Here it is as found in the 2002 Missale Romanum:

Deus,
qui Unigénitum tuum crucem subíre voluísti,
ut salvum fáceret genus humánum,
praesta, quaesumus,
ut, cuius mystérium in terra cognóvimus,
eius redemptiónis praemia in caelo cónsequi mereámur.

The ICEL translation we hear is pretty good, I must say:

God our Father, in obedience to you, your only Son accepted death on the cross for the salvation of mankind. We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth. May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven.

That translation fittingly supplements the Latin with the phrase "in obedience to you", tying in the Second Reading (Phil. 2:6-11) which mentions how Christ was obedient to the Father, even to death on a cross. It doesn't make the precise connection between the "mystery of the cross" and the "gift of redemption" which the Latin does, though. Here is my translation:

O God, Who willed that Your only-begotten Son should endure the cross, so that he might save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have come to know the mystery of the Cross on earth, may merit to attain its prize of redemption in heaven.

I like the structure of this prayer; first, take note of the phrases which are in bold. The opening clause mentions the cross and the ensuing salvation; the closing clause again mentions the cross (its mystery) and the prize of redemption. Second, note the words in red: they show the link in the Latin between the Cross and redemption. Third, note the words in green: as Christ's suffering on the Cross was earthly, and accomplishes our salvation by his offering of that sacrifice before his heavenly Father, so we come to know the mystery of the Cross on earth and only truly realize its prize of eternal salvation in heaven.

Here's the super oblata, the Prayer over the Offerings:

Haec oblátio, Dómine, quaesumus,
ab ómnibus nos purget offénsis,
quae in ara crucis totíus mundi tulit offénsam.

Here is the ICEL:

Lord, may this sacrifice once offered on the cross to take away the sins of the world now free us from our sins.

Here is my translation:

May this sacrifice, we pray, Lord, cleanse us from all sin, which on the altar of the cross took away the sins of the whole world.

I wish the ICEL translation had retained the word "altar".

And the Post-Communion prayer:

Refectióne tua sancta enutríti,
Dómine Iesu Christe, súpplices deprecámur,
ut, quos per lignum crucis vivíficae redemísti,
ad resurrectiónis glóriam perdúcas.

Here is the ICEL:

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the holy bread of life. Bring to the glory of the resurrection the people you have redeemed by the wood of the cross.

Here is my translation:

Having been nourished by your holy repast, we humbly pray, Lord Jesus Christ, that those who you redeemed by the wood of the life-giving Cross, you would lead to the glory of the resurrection.

For our closing prayer, I will use the Introit and Offertory antiphons as found in the Gradual:

Nos autem gloriari oportet, in cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi: in quo est salus, vita, et resurrectio nostra: per quem salvati et liberati sumus.

Protege, Domine, plebem tuam, per signum sanctae Crucis, ab omnibus insidiis inimicorum omnium: ut tibi gratam exhibeamus servitutem, et acceptabile tibi fiat sacrificium nostrum.

Here's the translation I'll use, borrowing somewhat from the 1962 Saint Joseph Daily Missal my mother gave me at Christmas:

It is right that we should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, our life, and our resurrection, and by whom we are saved and made free.

Lord, by the sign of the Holy Cross, protect your people from every snare of every enemy, that we may offer you worthy service and our sacrifice may be acceptable to you. Amen.

And here's a YouTube video of that Entrance Antiphon... beautiful!

How do you draw the cross?

Draw a capital I on a piece of paper. Now cross it out. Thus is the cross.

From "Reflections" (on Suffering), by Fr. Leo Clifford, O.F.M.