Christianity's Shortest Prayer

Christianity’s Shortest Prayer

Baseball Batters do it as they enter the batter’s box. Wide Receivers do it after catching a football pass. Old-time movie actors did it when they found the body in a murder mystery. Making the sign of the Cross is Christianity’s oldest and most frequent prayer. It dates back to at least a comment written by the Christian apologist Tertullian, who lived in Carthage in North Africa in the 2nd & 3rd Centuries.

The Sign of the Cross is a Christian gesture that is a profession of Faith in God and is an abbreviated version of the Apostles Creed. It is a common gesture made by Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Eastern Rite Christians. To a lesser extent, Protestants from the Luthern, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian use it occasionally.

The Sign of the Cross is a sacramental for Catholics. That means that it is a gesture that is a sacred sign that helps us recall the Sacraments. The Sign of the Cross especially helps us remember our Baptism. It is the first liturgical gesture in the celebration of Baptism when the parents and god-parents of the child when the celebrant asks them to mark it with the Sign of the Cross at the doors of the church. Many Protestant denominations also include it in their baptismal rites. St. John Chrysostom wrote that making the Sign of the Cross needs to be done with some reflection because each time we do it, we are offering ourselves as a victim pleasing to God.  

Different Christian denominations sometimes make the Sign of the Cross differently. The most significant divide is between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. Orthodox make the Sign of the Cross, holding the thumb, index, and middle fingers together with the ring and small finger pointing in. The three fingers together represent the three persons of the Holy Trinity, while the two pointing in are reminders of the divine and human natures of Jesus. The Orthodox also bless themselves from right to left. This way is the more ancient form of the gesture.

Catholics typically make the gesture with all five fingers outstretched to represent the five wounds of Jesus. We then touch the forehead, representing heaven. The chest symbolically represents the earth, while the shoulders represent strength and power. Spanish and Latin American Catholics can be observed often making the Sign of the Cross with the index and middle fingers and then kissing the thumb. Catholics typically cross themselves from left to right.

The Orthodox typically make the Sign of the Cross more often in their liturgy. If you attend their Divine Liturgy, you will witness them signing themselves at random times, depending on the preference of the worshipper. While Catholics begin and end the Mass with the Sign of the Cross, we also make it with our thumb on the forehead and lips as the gospel proclamation begins. Most Catholics also begin and end prayers or times of prayer using the Sign of the Cross.  

Since making the Sign of the Cross is familiar to Christians, we tend to get sloppy. Remembering that it is both a prayer and a witness to faith is appropriate. St. John Chrysostom suggested that we use the Sign of the Cross as a gesture to show we offer ourselves as a victim pleasing to God.

Make the Sign of the Cross often. It reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, our call to be willing to sacrifice for God and others, and as a great source of support from Jesus in our times of temptation and as a weapon against evil.

Thanks for Supporting CECH

Fr. Sullivan completed his annual personal walk-a-thon for the Chatham Ecumenical Council for the Homeless on Tuesday, August 20. He has raised a little over $4,000 from the walk to date. CHEC is our local inter-denominational group that supports the prevention of homelessness here in Chatham. It is well-known how expensive and scarce housing is in Chatham and throughout the Cape. Holy Redeemer made a significant contribution to help relieve the affordable housing situation here in Chatham a couple of years ago when we sold the Town of Chatham for its assessed value a surplus parcel of land in S. Chatham, across from Our Lady of Grace Chapel. Plans for a housing development on the land are progressing but, of course, face the usual NIMBYism or Not In My Backyard bullying from opponents. As a parish, we can’t let these opponents block a much-needed project to secure the future of our community.

Annual Collection News

The 2024 Holy Redeemer Annual Collection began in August and continues until September 30. Next to our weekly Budget Collection, the Annual Collection is the parish’s largest fundraiser. It gives all resident and seasonal parishioners an opportunity to make a substantial gift to the parish to help during our quieter off-season months.  

The parish sent an Annual Collection Letter to all registered parishioners at the beginning of August. This week, a follow-up letter will be sent to parishioners who have yet to contribute. Please save us postage by making your contribution today. You aren’t registered in the parish if you didn’t get an Annual Collection letter. Please do so on our parish website, www.holyredeemerchatham.org. Extra collection letters and pledge cards are in the pews and on the welcome desks by the entrances to the church.

Our goal for the collection is $85,000. We are making steady progress. We have received two contributions of $10,000 and many for other amounts. Proceeds over our goal will go towards several additional church renovation projects.  

Let’s Do it Again Next Year!

That was the response from the hundred or more parishioners and friends who attended last Sunday’s Parish Family Fun Fest. They enjoyed the menu of picnic food, ice cream, music by the Sentimental Journey Band, and the conversation and company of fellow parishioners. Planning for next year will begin soon.

High Season Comes to an End

The Labor Day Weekend is upon us, and we wonder where summer has gone. The high summer season comes to a close. Thank you to all our summer visitors and seasonal residents who head home. We still have many season parishioners with us throughout the fall. We wish you good health over the winter. This weekend is the last one for Our Lady of Grace Chapel Masses. The Mass Schedule at Holy Redeemer is Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday at 8 and 10 a.m.

Holy Redeemer Women’s Club Kick-off

While the summer season closes, the Holy Redeemer Women’s Club begins its. They are kicking it off with a membership drive at this weekend’s Masses. All women of the parish are welcome as members, even if you are here seasonally. The Women’s Club is a great place to share faith and friendship. Join today!

The club will begin its 2024-25 season with Mass and a Blessing of Officers at 8 a.m. Mass on September 10, 2024. The Kick-off Breakfast and organizational meeting will immediately follow the Mass.

 Homily for 21st Sunday of Ordinary TimeLadies and gentlemen, we live in a time of crisis. We hear dire statements like that so often that we become almost immune to them. News reports, politicians, and influencers make statements like that so frequently that we tend to resist them. We tune them out and ignore them.

Many of us have heard that the Chinese word for crisis is made from two characters, one for danger and the other for opportunity. A crisis offers us both of those features. It is dangerous and threatening if we don’t respond to the risks it presents. Ignoring it will only lead to a more difficult situation. It offers an opportunity if we confront it and are open to change. A crisis allows us to reflect and begin planning to challenge the problem. It will enable us to recognize new ways to deal with our concerns. Hard decisions are necessary when we face a crisis, but if we stay level-headed, we can use it to grow in understanding.

Joshua and the Israelites faced a crisis. Joshua assumed leadership of the people after Moses’ death. He had led the people across the Jordon and into the Promised Land. Joshua led them in victory over the land’s inhabitants and secured them there. Now, he recognizes that his life is nearing its end. That presents a crisis for the Israelites. Will they stay faithful to God after Joshua’s death or turn to other gods? Joshua explains the options. They can go back to worshipping the gods they encountered as slaves in Egypt, begin worshipping the gods of the new places that they are inhabiting, or worship the one true God who led them out of slavery, provided for them in the desert, and forced out the inhabitants of the land He granted them. It is a challenging decision, but Joshua proclaims his commitment and that of his household to be faithful to the one true God. 

The Catholic Church in  America faces a crisis in our understanding of the Eucharist. A few years ago, the Pew Center for the Study of Religion in America surveyed American Catholics. They found that only a little under one-third of Catholics professed a belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That presents a crisis because the Sum and Summit of our Catholic faith is the belief that Jesus Christ is completely present in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist.

Responses to the survey revealed that a majority of Catholics believe that Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is only symbolic. That is a belief more in line with those of most Protestants. Some observers contended that the wording of the questions by the Pew Center was ambiguous and confusing to many of the Catholic respondents. They argued that many more Catholics believed in the Real Presence than was reported in the poll.

Regardless, the bishops of our country recognized that a crisis existed and set about addressing it. They developed a Eucharistic Revival to confront the situation and restore the proper belief in the Real Presence. It began two years ago and reached a high point earlier this summer with the first Eucharistic Congress held in our country in over eighty years. Over 50,000 Catholics attended the congress held in Indianapolis.

The plan for the revival has one more year to go. It is for a Year of Mission. During the coming year, faithful Catholics are encouraged to continue to grow in our understanding of the Eucharist and share that knowledge with other Catholics and our neighbors. The crisis of understanding the Eucharist seems to be waning. Recent surveys show encouraging signs of a clearer understanding of the Eucharist, especially among Catholics who attend weekly Mass.

A local sign of progress is the response to a Day of the Eucharist sponsored by the Diocese of Fall River scheduled for next weekend. Early last week, I received notice registration for the day was closed because all seats were reserved. Several parishioners are going, and I expect a full report when they return.

The Gospel passages over the last few weeks have allowed us to review Jesus’ teachings on His real Presence in the Eucharist. Most of this year, we have read from Mark’s Gospel, but over the last five weeks,  the Gospel has been an excerpt from Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel According to John.

This Discourse began with the story of how Jesus, with just two fish and five barley loaves,  miraculously fed the 5000 followers. The people were so impressed they wanted to make Jesus King. In the people’s understanding, feeding the people was an essential role of the King, so Jesus qualified. When they meet Jesus again across the sea, they ask for more bread. Jesus tells them he will feed them with bread from heaven that is more life-giving than the manna God sent their ancestors in the desert. This bread will be his flesh for the life of the world.

Last week, the crowds asked Jesus to explain more about this bread. Jesus doesn’t back down from his statement that for the disciples to receive the gift of Everlasting Life, they must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. Rather than explain his statement away as only meaning this symbolically, Jesus doubles down with the statement that the Eucharist is to be His Real Presence.

That causes a crisis among Jesus’ followers. It sounds repulsive to them. It seems like cannibalism. Today, we hear how many couldn’t believe what Jesus said, so they started drifting away. They began to go back home to their farms and businesses. They gave up on Jesus because they refused to believe what they heard. Only Jesus’ inner circle of Peter and the Apostles professed their belief because they knew Jesus to speak the words of eternal life.

How will you face this crisis today? Will you see it as dangerous or as an opportunity? Will you feel Jesus’ proclamation of His Real Presence in the Eucharist as an opportunity for grace and the gift of eternal life or as too much for you to believe? Will it cause you to walk away from faith?

We all hear the statistics claiming fewer Americans profess a religious faith. Membership in all Christian denominations is declining. I don’t believe it is because of an intellectual resistance to believe in Jesus. When I converse with people who say they aren’t religious, it isn’t because of a lack of belief but because of a deterioration in their relationship with God.

Peter and the others stayed by Jesus’ side even when he spoke such challenging truths as his teaching on the Eucharist because they had a close relationship with him. They trusted him and followed because they were loyal to him. This loyalty grew out of the loving relationship they had built up with Jesus.

If we have a relationship with Jesus when we have a crisis of faith, we will not perceive it as a danger but as an opportunity to grow in our humanity. Build your relationship with Jesus through daily prayer. If you aren’t a person of prayer, start today. Set aside as little as ten minutes at a quiet time of day in a calm spot. Take a deep breath and invite Jesus to come to you. Plan to listen to Jesus and not to talk to him. Invite your heart to be open to what Jesus has to tell you. Don’t become disheartened if, at first, God seems to be silent. God is preparing you to hear his quiet promptings. Add a little more time each day as the days and weeks progress. Consider joining one of our small faith-sharing groups. It is helpful and fun to grow in a relationship with Jesus in the company of friends.

Grow your relationship with God by ensuring you are present at the Eucharist at least every weekend. Jesus wants to feed you with grace. He wants to transform you into a disciple who is an instrument of his presence in our world. Today, ask yourself how you will face your next crisis. Will you dread the dangers it presents or grasp the opportunity for it to transform you into God’s instrument of peace and love?