“I recommend that, please, teach your children to make the Sign of the Cross well,” Pope Francis said during a general audience series on the Mass.
“Have you seen how kids make the Sign of the Cross? They don’t know how to do it. They make some kind of movement that resembles a drawing (the Holy Father imitated the movement). Mom, Dad, teach your children to make the Sign of the Cross well!"
As well, he urged the faithful to make sure to arrive to Mass on time.
“It is not a good habit to check your watch, say, ‘I’m on time,’ and arrive after the sermon and ‘fulfill the obligation.’” Instead, the Pope said, we should be aware of the value of the Mass, instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.
“It’s good to not arrive at the last minute, so as to prepare the heart for this rite, for this celebration of the community,” he said.
The Holy Father has previously spoken about the importance of Sunday Mass, defending Sunday as a day for rest, so as to dedicate time to God and to the family. In a previous catechesis, he also chided the faithful who use cell phones during Mass, recalling, “It’s not a show!”
The general audience series gave him the chance to explain how the Mass is “one single act composed of two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.”
“The priest who is presiding makes the Sign of the Cross over his chest, and together with him, all those present make it. This sign reminds us that every liturgical act is made in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
He further explained how the priest's greeting, ‘The Lord be with you,’ and the people's response, ‘and with your spirit' is a dialogue to "manifest the mystery of the Church gathered together, which confesses the same faith and desire to be united with the Lord.”
The Pope noted how the priest invites the faithful to make the penitential act, “which is not just to think of the sins we’ve committed, but to confess that we are sinners before God and before our brothers and sisters, so that we can rise up to a new life with Christ.”
“All of us are sinners,” the Pope said, then added jokingly, “Well maybe one or another of you isn’t a sinner. If someone here isn’t a sinner, please raise your hand. … No one raised his hand! So then your faith is fine,” he said.
This means, he explained, that we shouldn't think only of our sins, but more fundamentally, it is “an invitation to confess yourself a sinner before God and your brothers and sinners, with humility and sincerity, like the publican in the temple.”
