A daily gesture, simple, obvious, mechanical,for us a habit.
The apparitions of Lourdes make us understand the importance of every single gesture we make in the sign of the Cross.
In Lourdes we discover that before conversing with Bernadette and revealing her name, Our Lady taught her to make the sign of theCross.
Yes, the Immaculate made the sign of the Cross as her first gesture: Saint Bernadette said that if wecould have seen howShe did it, we would die of shame for the hasty and distracted way in which we normally make this gesture, which is the most profound and simple synthesis of all the essential contents of our Christian faith.
In it, in fact, are contained the first two mysteries of our faith and the first precept of charity. First of all, the three divine Persons who constitutethe one and only God are named and, drawing the sign of the cross, which is the place where Jesus redeemed us, we recall the second main mystery of the Christian faith, which is the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. Finally, we place our hand on our forehead (the seat of our soul), on our heart (the seat of our affections), and on our shoulders (the seat of our strength), thus recalling our duty to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength.
