Catholics and the sign of the cross

[Sarah]

Bro. Mike,
I was riding in the car with a friend of mine who is a very devout Catholic and everytime she passed a Catholic church she would make the sign of the cross. I was wondering why Catholics make the sign of the cross when passing a Catholic church?
I did ask her and she said something about showing a sign of a blessing because of Jesus being in the tabernacle. This didn't make sense to me and I was hoping you could enlighten me. Thanks so much!
Sarah

[Mike Miller]

Interesting question. I've asked several Catholics and former Catholics about this, and none of them seem to know the answer. They usually respond with something vague or just say that they were taught to do that, and they don't know why. I was recently reading a Catholic question and answer book, and a Catholic asked the question about making the sign of the cross when going into church. The answer was that it was a sign of reverence.

This is another indication of tradition morphing into something essentially meaningless (if someone does it without understanding why, it's meaningless for that person). In fact, it seems pretty much like a superstition. We all--Protestant or Catholic--need to know why we do what we do, or it's just empty religion.