been
redeemed, we now call God our Father; and Jesus, the Son of the eternal
Father, calls us His brethren. Of all this we are reminded by the
Cross, for we were redeemed through the Cross, and became children of
God and heirs of heaven. Thus the Cross is the glorious sign of our
redemption. The Holy Ghost sanctifies us by dwelling in us and making
of us His temples. What an honor for us! The sign of the Cross reminds
us of this honor.

In truth is therefore this sign a mark of the highest honor, and the
Christian's greatest glory. In this sense the Apostle wrote to the
Galatians: "But God forbid that I should glory, but in the Cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. vi, 14). This means, according to Saint
Chrysostom: "I glory only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
namely, in the faith, in grateful remembrance and contemplation of the
benefactions of the Cross, through which we were redeemed and have
received the grace to lead a devout: life and to strive for eternal
happiness. In the Cross we recognize thoroughly the enormity of our
guilt and the boundless love of God."

With what love and devotion should we, then, make the sign of the
Cross! As often as we sign ourselves with the Cross we profess our
belief in the holy Trinity, and in the merciful and blessed work of the
redemption, and express our gratitude to the holy Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. It is hard to believe that there are Christians who are
ashamed to make the sign of the Cross; and yet: there are many such
nowadays. Some act so from motives of cowardly human respect; others
because their faith is dead. But to be ashamed of the Cross means a
denial of our faith. At all times the sign of the Cross has served as a
public and solemn profession of the Christian faith. Thus did in the
days of persecution the faithful profess their belief in Christ, and
seal their profession with their blood, as the acts of the martyrs
record. When the holy Bishop Polycarp was brought before the heathen
judge, who said to him, "Deny Christ and you will be free!" Polycarp's
reply was worthy of a true Christian. "It is now over sixty years that
I have served Him, and He never did me any harm. How, then, can I deny
my beloved Master, King and Saviour?" So speaks the true Christian when
an attempt is made to make him deny his God and Redeemer. The sign of
the Cross also serves as a mark of distinction from those sects, which
centuries ago separated themselves from the