The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Cross That Bridge When We Get There

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

Is the sign of the cross simply the intro and outro of prayer? Or, is it something more than that? Jeff Cavins discusses the importance of the sign of the cross and explains how it is, in fact, a powerful prayer. By looking through both the Old and New Testament, Jeff helps provide a deeper understanding of what it means to pray in the name of God. Snippet from the Show Through the sign of the cross, we acknowledge God's presence, affirm that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and identify ourselves as belonging to God. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 385. Cross that bridge when we get there. Welcome to the show. Good to have you. And I have been back for about a week from Paris, France, where they're getting ready for the Olympics. I, unfortunately, will not be competing this year. So if you're writing me about that, I'm just going to settle that right now. I did not make any of the Olympic teams this year.

And of course I'm bummed, of course. But we have to move on. And I have one other thing that I think athletes in the Olympics and I have in common. and that is that before a major event, they cross themselves. You'll see it with runners and pole vulters and discus throwers and shot put and boxing and basketball. You'll see it on almost every court in every venue of the Olympics. Somebody is going to cross themselves before they enter into battle. MMA fighters even cross themselves before they beat the wamp out of their opponents.

and so naturally we have to ask ourselves what in the world does the sign of the cross have to do with an MMA fighter or somebody in the Olympics or I've seen this one many times airplanes before we take off you will look around and you'll see Catholics crossing themselves to which I think sometimes others look on and think well you're superstitious or you're they you know you think this is some kind of magical thing is it let's take a look at that today, the sign of the cross, and how we use that and what does it mean? Because it's something that we certainly use a lot in our life. I mean, most of our prayers start with that and end with that. So we might as well find out a little bit about it and find out the power of that prayer. That prayer is the sign of the cross. By the way, if you do want some of my quotes today, and I do have a number of them from the Bible, well, you can get on the bandwagon, so to speak, and you can get the weekly notes by texting my name, Jeff Kaven's one word, and you can text it to the number 3-3-7-7-7. That's 3-7-7.

So, is the sign of the cross a powerful prayer in itself, or is it simply a way to begin prayers and end prayers? Kind of like doing the sign of the cross means, okay, I'm praying now, and then you do the sign of the cross at the end, that means we're done now. Well, it's not that way. It's not simply a way to begin and end prayers. It's not a good luck charm at all. It is a powerful prayer in itself. And it's one that the church has historically used. And even our Protestant brothers and sisters like Methodists use this up until not too long ago. I guess you have to check in as to why that is not used that much anymore, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with separating a little bit from Catholics, who we've always used the sign of the cross, no matter what, whether it is

before a prayer or the Latino MMA fighters who are so Catholic and so committed to the church that they bring that sign of the cross into the ring with them. And that's not what I'm here to talk about, but people do this before almost everything. So what about the sign of the cross? When did we get this sign of the cross? Well, at our baptism, if you have been baptized, the sign of the cross was traced over you. And we are infused at baptism with the life of the Holy Spirit. We receive forgiveness for our sins, to be sure. We are more knitted to the body of Christ. We have the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity infused in us. So we are born again in baptism, Peter says.

And so so much happens in baptism, and it's accompanied by this tracing of the cross over us. We do the same thing with confirmation when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with power to do the work that Jesus has called us to do. it is often accompanied by that sign of the cross so when we talk about the sign of the cross let me just jump to the end here real quick and that is this it is a prayer it is powerful and it is something that we probably should be doing more of if we want to join ourselves with jesus so there are two aspects one aspect of this uh sign of the cross is words and those words have been the same from the beginning in the name of the father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we start by calling on the name of the Lord. So when we want to talk to God and call on Him, we begin in the name of the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit. And we do the sign of the cross at the same time. In the name of the Father, your right hand is on your forehead. And then the Son, it's upon your heart. And then the Holy Spirit from left shoulder to right shoulder. that's how we say the sign of the cross we call on god let me tell you a little story that i don't know

that i've ever shared before but uh when i was i was just prior to coming back to the catholic church i was in Dayton ohio in centerville pastoring a fairly young church and independent nom-den-nom type of church and when i was really being wooed by god to return to the catholic church after all of my studies of scripture, church history, all of it. I was moving in that direction and for some reason there was this desire in me to do the sign of the cross, which we did not do as non-denominational Christians. It just wasn't even in our repertoire. It wasn't in our game plan at all. I didn't even think of doing it. And sometimes when I saw people do it on television, I thought, oh, that's like superstition.

They're just thinking the good things are going to happen because they said Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So right before I came back to the Catholic Church, I remember one night, I went outside down by where the garbage is collected down there, and I stood there. And I wanted to know what that was like, now that I'm learning more about the Catholic faith, I wanted to know what that was like to say in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and actually do it and then pray. And so I went down there and they stood and I looked to see if anybody was watching.

Isn't that funny? And I said, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit with the sign, the physical sign with that movement, the ritual, if you will, wow, something happened in my heart. And I thought this is powerful in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. it. So that's how we call on the name of the Lord. But we're not the first ones to call on the Lord in the name of the Lord. We see all throughout salvation history, we see the great leaders from the past and the great men and women of God. They called on the name of the Lord when they needed

that help, just like you should and just like I should today. Like Adam's son Seth in Genesis 426. And I'll just throw it in the notes for you. Genesis 4 26 to Seth also a son was born and he called his name Enosh at that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord and so very early on in Genesis chapter 4 verse 26 we see that men are now calling upon the name of the Lord and we'll look at in a moment why that's so important calling on the name now Abraham did the same thing in Abraham you know this this was very very, very powerful in his life. In Genesis 12-8, it says, thence he removed to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Aai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Now this is at a time when Abram is making a very serious decision about his life and it's prior to the sacrifice of Isaac but it's very very important and so we see that

he calls on the name of the Lord and the name of Lord and then Genesis 13 for Abraham journeyed to the place where he had made an altar at the first and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord again so we see these guys yeah they're giants in the faith but we we have to to observe more than just what they say but we have to observe what they're doing and that is is they are making an altar and they're making the preparations to call, not just call out to God saying, oh, God, where are you? God, help me, God, help me. But to call on the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord.

Isaac as well in Genesis 2625. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well. So this is very, very important. They call on the name in worship. They call on the name of the Lord if they're entering some kind of battle or they're not sure. They call on the name of the Lord for help in their lives. Now, quick question there.

Do you? Do you call on the name of the Lord when you're facing difficulty? You know, this is what we do. And as Catholics, I don't know if you've noticed this before. But we do this at the very beginning of the Mass. and the beginning of the Mass is this covenant, a celebration that we're entering into. And it's very special. It's out of this world, actually.

And we start with in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now I said that part of this is the words, name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But also the second part is the ritual. That is the tracing of the cross on our head, our heart, and our two arms. and we actually, if you notice, we actually enter the church on Sundays with the opportunity before us to dip our hand in holy water and then cross ourselves, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And so we actually enter church renewing what, our baptism with the cross. And it's not just, you know, a magical type of this, you know, we're going to do this and good things happen.

No, when we cross ourselves going into church by dipping our hand in the holy water, then crossing ourselves, we are renewing our baptism with the cross. And that's powerful because you received faith, hope, and charity when you were baptized. Your sins were forgiven. You become a new person in Jesus. So this idea of this ritual of crossing yourself is very powerful. and it's really foreshadowed in the Old Testament way back in Ezekiel 9. And I'll put that in the show notes for you.

Ezekiel 9, verse 4, many of the priests and the leaders had become corrupt at that time. And in chapter 8, Ezekiel is given a vision of idolatry taking place right where in the temple. And God announces that there will be judgment in Jerusalem, but there are some who are faithful in the midst of the chaos. and they will remain faithful and be protected in the time of judgment. God sends an angel through Jerusalem to find the faithful ones and mark them on the forehead with a sign. And you know what that sign is? It is the Tav, T-A-V, the T-A-V, the T-V, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which looks like a cross. It was a sign of protection and fidelity.

it looks like a cross without the top part of the cross visible. And so this became a sign of protection and fidelity, and it came from Ezekiel chapter 9. Now, the early Christians saw this sign as a foreshadowing of the cross, didn't they? The priest and the people signed themselves with the cross, acknowledging their common baptism. And when the sign of the cross has made, the grace of our baptism is renewed.

It's renewed. you get the strength, you get that love, you get that faith, you get that, that charity that you need at that moment. You become aware of it. And so through the sign of the cross, we acknowledge God's presence. We affirm that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and identify ourselves as completely and totally belonging to God. Now, we're going to take a break. When I come back here, we're going to talk about the name of God and the name of Jesus when we pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. I'm my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know about an exciting announcement that could revolutionize the way you listen

to the Bible in the air and the Catechism in the air. Ascension has released a new Bible and Catechism app called the Ascension app. No, here's what you get. In this app, you get the entire text of the Great Adventure Bible. Just incredible. You also get the entire text of the catechism of the Catholic Church, as long with the Catechism in your podcast, the Bible in your podcast, and transcripts for each episode. If you're like, I'm tired of listening to that guy. I just want to read it. There's complete transcripts from each and every episode. One thing that makes this app incredibly unique is that it includes special features that make connections between the Bible and the catechism so crystal clear through color-coded

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simple, just go to the app store and search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. Welcome back. Talking about crossing that bridge when we get there, you know, that is a phrase. Let me just start the second part of today's show by explaining that. Maybe you've never heard it before, but it is a metaphor, if you will. It's a saying that I know there's problems ahead. I know that there are bridges that have to be crossed. I know that obstacles will stand in my way. What are you going to do about it, Jeff?

Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. That's where we get that. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. And so the idea here is that when you get to that bridge of uncertainty, of a battle ahead of you, obstacles in your way, difficult times coming down the pike, what do you do? You cross yourself. You cross yourself when the bridges come.

You cross yourself. You call upon the power of God. Now the catechism says, and I'll put it in the show notes, in paragraph 786, finally the people of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercises his kingship by drawing all men to himself through his death and resurrection. Christ, king, and lord of the universe made himself the servant of all, for he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. For the Christian to reign is to serve him, particularly when serving the poor and the

suffering in whom the church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder. The people of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ. and the sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them as priests so that apart from the particular service of our ministry all spiritual and rational Christians

are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's priestly office. And so when we cross ourselves, we are sharing in Jesus' priestly office. We are sharing with him in his kingly rule. So the cross definitely protects us in battle and identifies us as totally and utterly belonging to him. That's what the sign of the cross means

in the midst of your difficulties. That is very, very powerful. Now, when we talk about the name, of God. We are talking about something that was well known in antiquity. In the times of the Bible, both the old and new to an extent, to know the name of your God meant, meant something very, very important to that particular group, that country, that it, you know, the parisites and so forth, Jebiozites, all of them.

In antiquity, to know the name of your God, in your city. Like, for example, Abraham was from Er of the Caldez. They worshiped the moon god. And that was over in modern day Iraq. So to know the name of your God meant that you had access to your God. That's what it meant. And that's why, you know, people can say, what's the big fuss about the name? Well, the name is important because the name is the password, if you will, to get into that account, that heavenly account of God, to talk to God, access to. God. We all know what that's like to not be able to have access to Amazon to buy those 34 items that you want today. I'm kidding. But we know what it is to not have that password

and to have to get a new password and then the sort of that mini thrill that comes with, it's working. I'm in. That's great. Well, to know the name of a God gave you access to that God. So the name mysteriously represents the essence of the person and carries the power of that person. Therefore, to call in the name of God is to invoke his presence and power. So you can see the power of this as, for example, if you are facing a college exam and you need the presence and the power of God, not to put you over the top so that you can be called the winner, but to help you to remember and call to the present all that you have prepared. We don't just not prepare for tests and say, I did the sign of the cross, how come I got a D minus?

Well, you got a D minus, not because you did the sign of the cross, but because you didn't study or prepare at all. That is not a good thing. That is called presumption. Presumption is a sin when we think we're going to get the benefits of God in his name simply because we called on him. but the truth is we have not truly communed with him or spent that intimate time with him. We just thought we could do the sign of the cross and everything would be hunky-dory. So listen to Psalm 91, verse 14, in light of this, okay? It says this, Psalm 91, which is a classic one when we talk about dealing with the enemies in our life.

It says, because he cleaves to me in love, this is God talking, because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. See that? That is such a good example of what I'm talking about here. And that is to know the name of God gives you access to that God. Now in antiquity, most of the people did not know if they were worshipping, you know, false gods. And they had a temple to Aphrodite or, you know, some of the other gods Zeus and so forth. They worship that God. but they did not have access to the secret name of God. Now, the priests usually did, and that was the power of the priesthood, not the Catholic. I'm talking about these false religions out there. So throughout salvation history, listen to this, God reveals himself through what we could call construct names, aspects of his person, like light reflecting off of a fine diamond. We see aspects of God's character in various situations.

So I'm not going to go through them all, but I'll just give you a taste of this, but we could do a whole show on it. For example, Genesis 2214, God saves Isaac from being sacrificed by his father, Abraham. And God reveals himself there in Genesis 2214 as Yahweh, Yere. See the construct? Yahweh, and then some aspect of Yahweh, which is Yere, which means provider to provide. So what he learns there in the sparing of Isaac is God will provide. Now, that is 4,000 to say, I don't know, 3,600 BC, somewhere in there. You know, people argue about exact dates and so forth.

In Exodus 1526, and I'll put these in the notes for you. I know you can't write them all down while you're doing your Pilates. So you have in Exodus 1526, Yahweh, Rafah. The Lord is my healer. Then you have in Exodus 17, Yahweh Nisi, my banner at Refidim, where Moses' hands are raised and the enemy is being defeated during that time where his hands are raised like a banner.

Judges 6, Yahweh Shalom, that's Judges 624. Gideon is the receiver of this. That is Yahweh Shalom. You probably know what that means. God is my peace. Psalm 23-1, Yahweh Ra'a, My shepherd, he's my shepherd. Jeremiah 236, Yahweh Sidkenu, is a righteousness.

In Ezekiel 4835, Yahweh Shama, the Lord is present. The Lord is present. Now let me ask you this. In light of the things that you might be facing in your life today, would you like access to God your provider? Duh, right? Would you like access to God your healer? Would you like access to God your banner?

the one who fights for you. How about God, your peace, or your shepherd, or your righteousness, or how many could use, the Lord is present to me right now? So you see that when you say in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, you are calling on the name that is above every single name, and that is the name of Jesus. That's the name of Jesus. Scripture tells us that there is a name given above all names. And then one day every knee will bow, every tongue confess that God is.

Jesus is Lord. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. But the people who know it now and believe it now act on it now. How? By saying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit right away, you have access to him being your provider, healer, the one who fights for you, your peace. the shepherd, his righteousness, his presence in the midst of all that you're going through. So we learn in the New Testament that we indeed have access to the name of God, in the name of Jesus.

And that name is above every name. Philippians 2.9 talks about this. I'll put that in the notes for you too. So in Jesus' name, sick are healed. In Jesus' name, sinners find mercy. And in Jesus' name, demonic powers are dealt with in swiftly. So Jesus tells us that he responds to all who call on his name. He said this in John 1413, John 15, 16, John 16, 23, in verses 26 through 27.

Whatever you ask in my name, I will do. Now, that doesn't mean that you can just make up something and say, I want you to do this in the name of Jesus. that's not what we're talking about but whatever you ask in my name and whatever that is that you're asking for has to also be in line with his name and everything that he stands for in the kingdom and he will do it that's why we pray in the name of jesus for the salvation of relatives sons and daughters cousins and so forth that is very very powerful it also says in matthew 1820 where two or three gather in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Now, that's right in line with Yahweh Shama.

The Lord is present in Ezekiel 4835. So when we gather together in his name, he says, I'm there with you. So we should make the sign carefully, right? Make it carefully and thoughtfully. Great opportunity to teach our children. Do it slowly. Do it big. in the name of the Father, very purposeful, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Don't get lazy. You know what I mean by lazy? That's just like you put your hands up to your heart and kind of flip them back and forth a couple times, you know, and the Father's always fair. And that's how we started. No, no, we are entering into that rare, that rare atmosphere of being able to call on God's name in the midst of our circumstances on earth, truly a miracle. So you're calling on the Lord to be with you, fight with you, and comfort you in all that you are going through. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? So I encourage you this week. Make it a point. You know, really think this through

and make it a point that you are going to call upon the name of the Lord first thing in the morning. And that's what I do every morning. For I even get out of bed, I say, Lord Jesus, good morning. And I'm looking forward to going on this adventure with you today, and I cross myself. And that cross is a prayer. Everything we've been talking about on the show is associated with that. It's associated with those words and that ritual that we call it. And ritual is good. Don't let anybody ever tell you that ritual is stale and old and nothing happens.

Oh, I'll tell you what. Ritual is a wonderful gift that keeps us. on target in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit lord i lift up my friends to you today and i ask you to be with them and and ask you lord to be present in the midst of their difficulties and may they trust in your name pray in your name and call on you in your name even in the midst of the the most difficult of circumstances we pray this in jesus name amen name of the father and the son and the holy spirit god bless you have a great week Thank you.