“I put my hand in my pocket; I found my Rosary there. I
wished to make the Sign of the Cross; I could not lift my hand to my
forehead – it fell back on me. The vision made the Sign of the Cross. My
hand then began to tremble; I tried to do it again and I could.”
Bernadette adds in another account: “as soon as I was able to make
the Sign of the Cross the great fright left me. I knelt down and said
the Rosary.”
These are the words of St. Bernadette when she recounted her experiences
of the first apparition of ‘the Lady’ in the grotto at Lourdes and they
are one of the reasons why ‘making the sign of the cross’ will feature
as the main theme for our pilgrimage. To help you think more about this
theme and the importance of the sign of the Cross please find
information below. There are also various links of where to find further
information and reading on the theme.
The following text can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking
here.
The sign of the cross was particularly important in the life of
Bernadette. From the beginning of the 18 apparitions Our Lady taught her
to make the sign of the Cross. From then on, her great love of Jesus was
enlightened, nourished and directed by it. From her first encounter with
Our Lady the life of Bernadette became joined to Jesus in the mystery of
the cross.
FOUR GUIDES FOR PILGRIMS IN 2010:
1. MAKING THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
At the Grotto, even before speaking with Bernadette and saying her name,
Mary taught her to make the sign of the cross, to make it well and to
make it often. Everyone who saw Bernadette make the sign of the cross
understood the importance of that simple action for her.
When she became a nun, Bernadette was asked by one of her sisters, “What
must one do to be sure to go to heaven?” Without hesitating, Bernadette
answered, “Make the sign of the cross well. That in itself is already a
great deal.”
A few moments before her death, Bernadette called on her remaining
strength and made her last sign of the cross. The she died. It was with
the sign of the cross that she entered eternity.
The first stage of our pilgrimage is going to consist in making the sign
of the cross well, doing it in the way that Bernadette learned to make
it with the Virgin Mary.
WHAT CAN I DO?
As you enter the sanctuary by St. Michael’s Gate, stop in front of the
Breton Cross and make the sign of the cross, slowly and in a recollected
manner. Then do the same thing in front of the Grotto, and in front of
all the other places of celebration. At the beginning and the end of
each prayer, recollect yourself and say in your heart who God is for
you. Then make the sign of the cross saying “In the Name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
2. WHAT IS THE SIGN OF THE CROSS?
There is nothing romantic about the cross. The cross represents what is
most negative in human experience: violence, suffering and death. It is
on this cross that God chose to manifest His love for us. Not only did
Jesus Christ take on the worst of human suffering and the most
ignominious of deaths, but He, the Son of God, made of it the meeting
place of God and mankind. For it is in the reality of the cross that we
become children of God.
For us as for Bernadette, the sign of the cross is the sign of what we
are. By making this sign, we acknowledge our misery, our suffering, our
sinfulness, our human condition. But at the same time the cross is a
proclamation of the Love of God manifested through the life-long
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Making the sign of the cross “in the Name of the Father, the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit,” we show that we are loved by God, and by his Love, we
are called to see beyond our suffering and embrace love.
WHAT CAN I DO?
At Lourdes, the three actions of the pilgrimage are first, to enter the
Grotto and touch and venerate the rock. Then, pilgrims go to the
fountains (or the baths) to drink and to wash. Finally, at the evening
procession, each person carries and holds aloft a candle when the
Lourdes hymn is sung. These three actions are human gestures, but for
Christians, rock, water, and light are related to Christ Jesus, for He
is the Rock, He gives the Water of Life, and He is the Light of the
World. To perform these actions can lead us to prayer, prayer which
becomes a meeting with Jesus, who makes us pass from our reality to His
own.
Since these actions immerse us in the Easter mystery, we can, before
performing them, make slowly, reverently, and with all our heart, the
sign of the cross, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit.” In this way, we say to Jesus, to ourselves, and to
others, what the actions of our pilgrimage mean for us.
3. RECOGNISING THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
Our world is marked by a rejection of God. Because of sin no one escapes
weakness or suffering in one form or another. We are called to constant
conversion. In situations where there is simultaneous sinfulness and
conversion, misery and solidarity, suffering and charity, death and the
presence of the Saviour of the world, there is found the sign of the
cross.
The spirit of the relationship that exists between someone who is ill
and someone who cares for them reveals the great mystery of the cross.
In that relationship, characterized by a mutual gift of self-giving, in
a reciprocal welcome of one another, is made present the mystery of the
cross and its sign.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Each one of us recognises more easily our own cross. Being exposed to
charitable deeds at Lourdes is going to change the behaviour of each one
of us in our relationships. This change will show itself first in small
deeds: letting others pass in front of us, to serve another before
serving ourselves, helping another to succeed in the actions of daily
life, in short giving preference to others before thinking of ourselves.
Each one of these attitudes, each one of these actions, presents us with
occasions to experience, in small ways, that of which the cross is the
sign.
4. MAKING THE SIGN OF THE CROSS VISIBLE
When we make the sign of the cross, “in the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” we sum up the whole of our faith –
expressing who God is, who we are and how God unites us.
Making the sign of the cross visible does not consist in performing it
many times over, but rather it is in the fact that the gesture is never
separated from the invocation of the Trinity which accompanies it, which
gives it its meaning, which makes it effective.
WHAT CAN I DO?
To make the sign of the cross visible is related first, to our decision
to give God his rightful place in our lives, and second, to our desire
to love. Let us strive to live lives of complete Christian love.
Let us dare each day to be inventive, imaginative and creative. Then
living “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit,” our thoughts, our words and our actions will make visible the
sign of the cross.
“Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not
boastful or conceited; it is never rude and never seeks its own
advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does
not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always
ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever
comes” (1 Cor 13, 4-8).
Adapted from Frs. Regis-Marie de la Teyssonnière and Horacio Brito.
With thanks to Dom Finn of the Middlesbrough Diocesan Pilgrimage.
For further information visit:
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http://www.lourdes-magazine.com/article.php3?id_article=711&lang=en
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http://www.lourdes-magazine.com/article.php3?id_article=707&lang=en
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