The Sign of the Cross and the Greeting
Rev. Charles Strebler • September 23, 2025
The first action of the assembled community once the priest reaches the chair is the Sign of the Cross. Note that this is not the first action of the Mass nor is it the “start” of the Mass. The Mass begins with the opening chant and procession, though it can be argued that it begins when the community assembles.
The Sign of the Cross is one of the oldest of the Church’s prayers and probably the first prayer many of us learned. We often see the little ones making the sign like their parents, even if they don’t have the foggiest idea as to what words go with the gesture.
Signing ourselves with the Cross expresses many things. It can be a reminder of Baptism—especially when we do it with Holy Water; it can remind us that we are to take up the Cross each day and follow Jesus. It is an appropriate gesture near the start of the Mass because it reminds us of the Cross, the Sacrifice of Jesus that we are celebrating in the Mass. It also is done, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The recognition of God as a Trinity, Three Persons, One God, is the central and most distinctive doctrine of Christian Faith.
Bishop Barron in his series on the Mass spoke of the Cross as the brand on Christians, like a brand on cattle that claims us as belonging to Christ. I noted that the more common meaning these days is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. The Cross is our brand; we advertise Christ and our Faith every time we make it. This is the free advertising we get each time a slugger steps up to the plate and makes the sign of the Cross.
The Sign of the Cross sets the Trinitarian template for the prayers of the Mass and the Mass itself. The Mass, like all Christian prayer, if offered to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. More on this when we get to the opening prayer.
Next comes the Greeting. The priest greets the people with one of the following:
- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
- Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- The Lord be with you.
For what it’s worth, from the time I was ordained I have always used, “The Lord be with you.” For one, it was always easy to remember and also, since the same thing is said at the end of Mass, it appeals to my sense of symmetry. (If I owned a burial ground, there would have to be a burial on the left side each time there was a burial on the right, and vise-versa; I would call it a “symmetery.”)
This greeting is not a hope or desire, it a statement of fact. God is with the gathered assembly.
The people respond, “And with your spirit.” This is not the usual greeting exchanged by people when they meet each other. It shouldn’t be. It has a particular context in worship and prayer. It is not a personal address to the priest as his own person; it is an address to the priesthood of Jesus Christ that he has from ordination that is being acknowledged and called out so he will preside at the liturgy taking place. That is why, “And with your Spirit,” is a better translation than, “And also with you,” that was used. The latter seemed to be a personal greeting to the person who is a priest, and led to the risible response of, “Thank you,” from the priest. The old words made the language so pedestrian that a pedestrian response just seemed appropriate.
“ The priest is not and must not be a civil servant of the Church. Above all the priest is a man who lives for the spirit for God. This being the case the Seminary is the place where he learns 'to be with Him.’”—Pope St. John Paul II Dear Parishioners: Next Sunday, we celebrate Priesthood Sunday. As has been the custom here at Holy Spirit, we will be inviting a seminarian to speak at our Masses. We welcome Brent Feorene . Brent is a student at Borromeo Seminary, the college-level seminary of the Diocese of Cleveland with St. Mary Seminary being the graduate-level seminary. Brent is from our neighboring parish, St. Ladislas in Westlake. Last year he was one of the first seminarians to experience the propaedeutic year, a year of prayer that includes a casual walk though Spain as the Propadudes (as they have come to be known) walked the Camino de Santiago, a 550-mile pilgrimage. As challenging as that is, the road to the priesthood is no less challenging. The seminary is not just about education like most college and universities. What makes it different is the seminary is about formation. Pope St. John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis identified four “pillars” of seminary formation: Intellectual Formation : Coming to know the mysteries of the Faith so as the be effective in ministry, especially in preaching. Spiritual Formation : Preparing a man for a deeper relationship with Jesus and to enter into the life of the Trinity as to live a life of sacrificial love. Human Formation : Growing in integrity, maturity, empathy, and other human virtues. Pastoral Formation : Forming men to be ordained leaders in the Church. This is ultimately the integration of all the pillars of formation. The process can take almost a decade of formation. (I, myself, spent nine years in the seminary from starting as a Borromeo freshman forty years ago [1985] to ordination thirty-one years ago [1994]. Please pray for our seminarians as they travel the long, at times not easy, but at other times joyful and fun, path to the priesthood. You can see this school year’s Cleveland Seminarians on the boards in the narthex. We also have some smaller versions of the posters and holy cards that you can take to remind to pray for these men.
As they leave, the priest and the deacon venerate the altar with a kiss. The ministers reverence the tabernacle with a genuflection. The ministers leave in the order they entered with the cross, and the candle-bearers going before the deacon and priest. The custom has become that there is a Closing Song. This is not required by the Roman Missal or the GIRM. There can be a closing hymn, an instrumental piece, or even silence. I fully support that the people have been told: “The Mass is ended,” and not “The Mass is ended…but first sing this song.” Still if there is a closing hymn, please stay and sing. If you must leave right after the dismissal, so be it. Here at Holy Spirit, I have no choice but to rush (almost sprint) if I want to be able to greet people leaving Mass. With our church building, a leisurely procession would have me finding half the people gone by the time I got to the doors. Please stay around until the end of the song-- I’d love to greet you on your way out into the fields of the Lord.
After Final Blessing, the deacon (or priest if no deacon is present) gives the Dismissal. The current forms for the Dismissal are: Go forth, the Mass is ended. Or: Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord. Or: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. Or: Go in peace. The people reply: Thanks be to God. On Easter, during the Octave, including the Second Sunday of Easter and on Pentecost, there is the Dismissal with Alleluias with the priest’s/deacon’s adding the Alleluia to his part and people adding it to theirs. “Thanks Be to God” is not said because we are thankful that the Mass has (finally) ended. We are thankful that we are sent out. In the Latin Mass from the Missal of Pope Pius V, the Mass concluded, rather famously, with the words: “Ite, Missa est”. This literally translates as: “Go, it has been sent”, the “it” being the assembly. From these words the common name of the liturgical action we celebrate “Mass” is derived. This is significant. What we have done in church, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are meant to be taken out into the world. The congregation having been fed on the Scriptures and the Eucharist take the Jesus they have received in Word and Sacrament into a world longing for Him. We take Him to our homes, work places, schools; to our family, friends, coworkers, classmates; to the poor, the needy, the hurting, and the mourning. This is the point of the action of the Liturgy: we are transformed by Christ so that we can transform the world in Christ. What we do on Sunday should impact on what we do the rest of the week, how we treat others; how we do business; how we drive, everything! We have been sent! THANKS BE TO GOD!
After the peoples’ Amen, the Communion Rite concludes and we move into the Concluding Rites. The Roman Missal allows that if announcements are to be made, they are made at this point. The way we do announcements at Holy Spirit is according to the mind of the Church and her liturgy. My intention for the announcements is that they are to be used for: opportunities for worship, charity, or social gathering. There are some events that come up after the bulletin goes to press on Tuesday, so they need to be announced on Sunday. The announcements at Mass are not intended for alerting of regularly-scheduled meetings. I discovered the real need for the Mass announcements a few years back when we were in the middle of the church window replacement process. I had several active parishioners, when seeing boarded-up windows, ask, “Was there a storm or vandalism?” though the project had been announced regularly in the bulletin. So, I saw that the bulletin was not widely read. Though the goal is to have the announcements be brief and few, that we don’t always achieve that is a sign of the good things happening at Holy Spirit!
The last act of the priest at the Mass (if there is not a deacon) is the Final Blessing. The Final Blessing can take three forms. All three forms begin with the exchange, Priest: “The Lord be with you.” People: “And with your spirit.” In the simple blessing the priest says: “May almighty God bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The priest makes a sign of the cross over the people as he invokes the Trinity. A bishop makes the cross three times. The people reply: “Amen.” For the Prayer over the People and the Solemn Blessing, the deacon, or in his absence, the priest, says after the initial exchange: “Bow down for the Blessing,” and all bow their heads. In the Prayer over the People, the priest says one prayer, to which the people respond: “Amen.” You will notice that the Sundays and Weekdays of Lent have a prescribed Prayer over the People. The use is optional, but my approach is that if there is something optional that is specific for the day, I use it. The Solemn Blessing has three invocations, each followed by the congregation’s “Amen.” The Roman Missal provides Solemn Blessing for many major feasts (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, etc.); for liturgical seasons (Advent, Easter time, Ordinary Time etc.); and for some saint’s feasts (Mary, Peter and Paul, other Apostles, All Saints). The Prayer over the People and the Solemn Blessing conclude with the priest saying as he makes the sign of the cross over the people: May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, come down on you and remain with you forever. To which the people respond: “Amen.” There is also a special form of the Solemn Blessing that is used only by a bishop. It is more of a dialog with the people: Bishop: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” People: “Now and for ever.” Bishop: “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” People: “Who made heaven and earth.” Bishop: “May almighty God bless you, (making the Sign of the Cross over the people three times) the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” People: “Amen.”
After Final Blessing, the deacon (or priest if no deacon is present) gives the Dismissal. The current forms for the Dismissal are: Go forth, the Mass is ended. Or: Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord. Or: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. Or: Go in peace. The people reply: Thanks be to God. On Easter, during the Octave, including the Second Sunday of Easter and on Pentecost, there is the Dismissal with Alleluias with the priest’s/deacon’s part and with the people’s part. Note: this is not that we are thankful that the Mass has (finally) ended. We are thankful that we are sent out. In the Latin Mass from the Missal of Pope Pius V, the Mass concluded, rather famously, with the words: “Ite, Missa est”. This literally translates as: “Go, it has been sent”, the “it” being the assembly. From these words the common name of the liturgical action we celebrate “Mass” is derived. This is significant. What we have done in church, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are meant to be taken out into the world. The congregation having been fed on the Scriptures and the Eucharist take the Jesus they have received in Word and Sacrament into a world longing for Him. We take Him to our homes, work places, schools; to our family, friends, coworkers, classmates; to the poor, the needy, the hurting, and the mourning. This is the point of the action of the Liturgy: we are transformed by Christ so that we can transform the world in Christ. What we do on Sunday should impact what we do the rest of the week, how we treat others; how we do business; how we drive, everything! We have been sent! THANKS BE TO GOD! As they leave, the priest and the deacon venerate the altar with a kiss. The ministers reverence the tabernacle with a genuflection. The ministers leave in the order they entered with the thurifer, cross, and the candle-bearers going before the deacon and priest. The custom has become that there is a Closing Song. This is not required by the Roman Missal or the GIRM. There can be a closing hymn, an instrumental piece, or even silence. I fully support that the people have been told: “The Mass is ended,” and not “The Mass is ended…but first sing this song.” Still if there is a closing hymn, please stay and sing. If you must leave right after the dismissal, so be it. One music director accused me of leaving quickly when I didn’t like the closing song. To quote Sideshow Bob, “Guilty, as charged.” Here at Holy Spirit, I have no choice but to rush (almost sprint) if I want to be able to greet people leaving Mass. With our church building, a leisurely procession would have me finding half the people gone by the time I got to the doors. Please stay around until the end of the song-- I’d love to greet you on your way out into the fields of the Lord.
The Communion Rite ends with the Prayer After Communion (AKA “The Closing Prayer”). The priest-celebrant introduces the prayer with the invitation: Let us pray. If there has not been a period of silence before the prayer, then there should be a period of silence after “Let us pray.” This is different from the Collect at the start of Mass, where a moment of silence to bring our prayers to the Mass, is prescribed. The Prayer After Communion sums up the activity of the Communion Rite in a single prayer, as can be seen in the prayer for the First Sunday of Lent: Renewed now with heavenly bread, by which faith is nourished, hope increased, and charity strengthened, we pray, O Lord, that we may learn to hunger for Christ, the true and living Bread, and strive to live by every word which proceeds from Your mouth. Through Christ our Lord. And the prayer for the Second Sunday of Lent says: As we receive these glorious mysteries, we make thanksgiving to You, O Lord, for allowing us while still on earth to be partakers even now of the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord. We see the prayers call to mind the effect that the Eucharist has in our lives. To the prayer, the people respond: Amen.
After Communion has concluded, there follows the oddly-named, Purification . This is the cleansing of the vessels (the chalice, communion cups, ciboria, patens) used at Mass. This involves collecting particles of the Blessed Sacrament together, adding water to the vessels so to rinse the Precious Blood. The water, now mixed with the Precious Blood and Blessed Sacrament fragments, is consumed. While consuming, the priest, deacon, or installed acolyte says: What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what has been given to us in time may be our healing for eternity. The Purification should take place right after communion or it may be done in the sacristy right after Mass. Note that the Church askes that the Purification be done by a priest, deacon, or installed acolyte—a lay ministry in the Church, a person installed into this ministry for service at the altar (the installed Acolyte is a combination of altar server and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and the first choice after the priest and deacon to distribute Communion; because of this, I call the Acolyte, “the ordinary Extra Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion.” I call the Purification “oddly-named” because it seems strange that the cleaning of vessels that once held Jesus in the Eucharist are to be made more “pure.” But that’s what we call it. After Communion there is to be a time of silence, or there is the option that a psalm, canticle of praise, or another hymn may be sung. I have most often experienced that the Magnificat, the song of praise of Mary in Luke 1: 46-55, is sung at this time.
A person may receive on the tongue or in the hand--the Church expresses no preference for one or the other. If receiving in the hand, recall the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, When you approach, take care not to do so with your hand stretched out and your fingers open or apart, but rather place your left hand as a throne beneath your right, as befits one who is about to receive the King. This should remind us of whom we are receiving and not do it in a casual or unthinking manner. If our hands are a notepad, inked with reminders—the stains of work being something very different—we ought to receive on the tongue. If something prevents us from presenting both hands to make a throne and reverently receive, perhaps we receive on the tongue. The communicant can approach one of the Communion ministers who has the cup. The dialog is like that when receiving the host. The minister says, “The Blood of Christ.” The communicant responds, “Amen.” The cup is given to the communicant, who takes a sip (not a drink), then hands it back to the Communion minister, who wipes the chalice lip with a purificator and then hands it on to the next communicant. We receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in even a particle of the Host or a drop of the Precious Blood. It is not absolutely necessary to receive the Host and cup, but it is a fuller sign of our doing what Jesus asked, when He said, after giving the disciples the bread and the wine, “Do this in memory of Me.” The ideal is that we receive the Host and cup at each Mass, but we are not deprived of a part of Jesus if we do not. It is possible for someone to receive the Precious Blood and not the Host. Intinction is when the Host is dipped into the Precious Blood and then given to the communicant. This was the way I received my First Communion in 1974. Intinction is still a valid way of receiving Communion in the Church. It fell into disuse when the practice of Communion in the hand became widespread. This manner of receiving, by its nature, demands reception on the tongue. Self-intinction is never permitted by those who are not priests. (If you see a priest doing it, he’s probably got a cold or something of the sort.) A communicant cannot take a Host and proceeded to the cup and dip the Host into the cup. This goes against the take-bless-break-give nature of the Eucharist. It replaces the “give” with a “take.”
The Communion Procession begins. I hold that the procession is only for those receiving Communion. I, of course, recognize that parents will have to bring their young children with them. But if you are not Catholic, a Catholic in a state of Mortal Sin, in a manifestly sinful situation, or have not kept the 1-hour fast before receiving Communion, it is best to remain in the pew. The custom in some places is that if you don’t receive Eucharist, you come forward for a blessing. My understanding is that Communion time is for Communion, there is a time for blessing later in the Mass. While the Church has not spoken definitively on this practice, it has not permitted the liturgical books and canon and liturgical law prohibits anyone from introducing new elements on their own. A letter (Protocol No. 930/08/L) dated November 22, 2008, sent in response to a private question and signed by Father Anthony Ward, SM, Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, that discouraged this practice. As a private reply, the Congregation’s reply does not have the force of law but is a guide for understanding the mind of the Church. Let me be clear, if you have children who would like to receive a blessing, I am always willing to do that outside of Mass—just ask! I very much discourage the crossing of the hands over the chest as a sign that one is not receiving communion. This is problematic because that gesture is the gesture used by Eastern Christians—Catholic and Orthodox—to show that they are receiving communion. (I once saw an Eastern Catholic priest insist on giving someone communion who approached this way!) Those in the Communion procession approach the priest, deacon, or EMOHC for communion, the communicant makes a bow, is presented with the Host and the words, “The Body of Christ.” The communicant responds, “Amen.” This is the dialog the Church asks. In some parishes, it is a custom to say the person’s name, “Susan, the Body of Christ.” This is not appropriate. This time is not about the personal relationship of the communicant and the distributor of Holy Communion. I have heard people respond, “I believe.” instead of “Amen.” It strikes me that this makes it seem that the reality of Jesus in the Eucharist is about that person believing it is; however, the presence of Christ is a fact. “Amen” acknowledges the fact. After receiving Communion, the congregation returns to their seats. When they get there, they remain standing as per the instruction of Bishop Perez of March 15, 2019: The faithful remain standing during the distribution and reception of Holy Communion for the singing of the Communion Hymn. This remains the particular law of the Diocese of Cleveland. As such, it does not end when Bishop Perez is no longer the Bishop of Cleveland, any more than laws would cease when a president or governor changes. Note: if someone due to health or injury cannot remain standing, of course that person may sit. If your personal piety so requires you to kneel immediately after receiving Communion, despite the Bishop’s legislation, no one will stop you from doing so. Standing the laity continue to sing the Communion Chant, an action great facilitated by standing. Again, the Mass is communal prayer, not “me-and-God-time.” Some time for private prayer is provided later in the Mass, as the directive of Bishop Perez instructs there should be a: period of sacred silence...after the distribution of Holy Communion. This period of sacred silence should begin as soon as the distribution of Holy Communion has been completed, the faithful may sit or kneel. The beginning of this period is ambiguous here at Holy Spirit. The congregation is invited to kneel or to sit “after the last person has received Communion.” The giving of Communion to the choir makes this time hard to determine. It does seem the custom has developed of waiting until the Tabernacle door is closed before going to a kneeling or seated posture. Given the way that Communion is distributed at Holy Spirit, the reposition in the tabernacle is very close to the time of the last person receiving, I see no reason to fight the custom but make it clear that you are able to change from the standing posture when Communion has ended. I must address that we are to return to our pews after Communion, we do not go to our cars! Like many parishes, there are some people at Holy Spirit who leave immediately after Communion. The Mass has not ended! It can be questioned if those leaving early have fulfilled their obligation to attend Mass. I point out that people do not leave movies before they end—Marvel has even taught us to stay until the end of the credits; this is after a 2- or 3-hour movie. Masses here are usually under an hour. Is it too much to ask to give God a full hour; to schedule all of an hour on Sunday for Church (and be willing to give more on the few occasions when Mass lasts more than an hour)? It is especially disheartening to see parents taking their children out of Mass early. What is this teaching? What gets priority over God? If there is a real emergency, that is understandable. Leaving Mass early should be the rare occurrence, certainly not every week. I had someone tell me that they were leaving the noon Mass early to get to work. This is when one should plan to attend an earlier Mass or the evening Mass at St. Joseph or another parish. Sunday Mass should be a priority and not something we squeeze in as best we can. Please, stay until the end of Mass. The congregation is the less—and not just in number—not having present those who leave early.
