The Origins and Meaning of the Sign of the Cross: How Did It Begin?✝
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: THE CROSS
The Cross: Jewish or Pagan?
EZEKIEL 9
3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
4 And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
PERSONAL NOTE:
Una homilia que escuche sobre el texto de Lucas 20 leía:
“21 Y le preguntaron: «Maestro, sabemos que hablas y enseñas con rectitud, y que no tienes en cuenta la condición de las personas, sino que enseñas con franqueza el camino de Dios: 22 ¿Nos es lícito pagar tributo al César o no?» 23 Pero él, habiendo conocido su astucia, les dijo: 24 «Mostradme un denario. ¿De quién lleva la imagen y la inscripción?» Ellos dijeron: «Del César.» 25 El les dijo: «Pues bien, lo del César devolvédselo al César, y lo de Dios a Dios.»”
// El sacerdote explicó que cada moneda suele tener la cara o imagen del Rey.
Según Genesis 1: 27, fuimos “creados a la imagen de Dios” y por el bautismo somos hijo por adopción y propiedad de Dios y tenemos su nombre plasmado en nuestra frente y corazón. Padre Patricio, mi profe en San Damaso dijo que somos “moneda de Dios” según la expresión de San Agustin y no moneda de Cesar, le pertenecemos y a solo a Él le damos y le sirvimos con todo nuestro ser, amor, alma, corazón, fuerza, mente y espiritú.
En lo mismo, Ezekiel 9: 2 a 4 dice:
2 Y en esto vinieron, de la dirección del pórtico superior que mira al norte, seis hombres, cada cual con su azote en la mano. En medio de ellos había un hombre vestido de lino con una cartera de escriba a la cintura. Entraron y se detuvieron ante al altar de bronce. 3 La gloria del Dios de Israel se levantó de sobre los querubines sobre los cuales estaba, hacia el umbral de la Casa. Llamó entonces al hombre vestido de lino que tenía la cartera de escriba a la cintura; 4 y Yahveh le dijo: «Pasa por la ciudad, por Jerusalén, y marca una cruz en la frente de los hombres que gimen y lloran por todas las abominaciones que se cometen en medio de ella.»
Endagué este relato en la traducción interlinear hebreo-inglés que dice literalmente que el hombre con el escritorio tenía que poner “una marca” o un “TAW” en la frente de aquellas personas gimiendo: la letra TAW del alfabeto hebreo que tenía que escribir el hombre con el escritorio en la frente de las personas para que sean a salvo, no solo era la letra T que corresponde a una cruz, como señal anunciado la crucifixión y la necesidad de tener fe en el sacrificio de Nuestro Redentor, pero además significa tambien “alianza” y esa letra se escribe en hebreo con 2 caracteres תָּ֜ו, uno que es una cruz y el otro que representa un hombre varón o un clavo como él que se usa o sea para montar una tienda de campaña o un clavo para clavar a un hombre en una cruz durante un ejecución!!!! Increíble!!!
The Cross is the very mark we must bear on our foreheads to be saved!!!
The cross is the very sign of our salvation. It is not some pagan symbol that the Catholics borrowed from Babylonians or Egyptians as JWs claim.
The prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 9 reads:
“1 Then he shouted loudly for me to hear, ‘The scourges of the city are approaching, each carrying his weapon of destruction!’
2 Immediately six men advanced from the upper north gate, each holding a deadly weapon. Among them was a man dressed in linen, with a scribe’s ink-horn in his belt. They came in and halted in front of the bronze altar.
3 The glory of the God of Israel rose from above the winged creature where it had been, towards the threshold of the Temple. He called to the man dressed in linen with a scribe’s ink-horn in his belt
4 and Yahweh said to him, ‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who grieve and lament over all the loathsome practices in it.’
5 I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and strike. Not one glance of pity; show no mercy;
6 old men, young men, girls, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the old men who were in the Temple.
7 He said to them, ‘Defile the Temple; fill the courts with corpses; then go out!’ They went out and hacked their way through the city.
8 While they were hacking them down, I was left alone; I fell on my face, crying out, ‘Ah, Lord Yahweh, are you going to annihilate all that is left of Israel by venting your fury on Jerusalem?’
9 He said, ‘The guilt of the House of Israel and Judah is immense; the country is full of bloodshed, the city full of perversity, for they say, “Yahweh has abandoned the country, Yahweh cannot see.”
10 Then, I too shall neither give one glance of pity nor show any mercy. I shall repay them for what they have done.’
11 The man dressed in linen with the scribe’s ink-horn in his belt then came back and made his report, ‘I have carried out your orders.’ “ – (External link)
The cross was the symbol of Jesus’ crucifixion. It redeemed us from sin and death and the cross becomes the mark of our salvation. Historically, there is ample evidence that Jesus died on a cross and not on a single pole as JWs claim. Do your research. Don’t get caught up in some empty debate resulting from a couple of dissident marginalized critics and remote historical exceptions. Also study the Shoud of Turin. Jesus died on a cross. SEE SECTIONS ON “THE CROSS” AND “THE SHROUD OF TURIN“.
In Ezekiel chapter 9 verses 3 to 4, the prophet talks about a man clothed with linen who had the writer”s ink-horn in his belt and he had to go in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and put mark, a sign, upon the foreheads of the men who sighed and mourned for all the abominations that were done in the midst of the city and anyone who did not have the mark would be killed .
In the original Hebrew text, the word for “mark” is TAW and in the Hebrew alphabet this letter is the letter T. In the ancient Hebrew language which is slightly different from modern Hebrew, it wasn’t just the letter t. The letter TAW that the scribe with the ink-horn had to write on the forehead of people for them to be saved was actually a cross: the horizontal bar was lower. It was a cross, as a sign announcing the crucifixion and the need to have faith in the sacrifice of our Redemptor Jesus Christ!! Furthermore, it also means “alliance or pact”!!!
Also this letter TAW in Hebrew is written with two characters תָּ֜ו. The first one is a cross and the second character actually represents a man, a male human being or it can also represent a nail, as a nail used to set up a tent or a nail to nail a man on a cross during an execution!!
That is the mark that is to be written on the forehead of every person that is to be saved!! This discovery for me was amazing!!!
Also the cross, the shape of the cross as in 2 perpendicular lines crossing each other is actually the foundation of the universe: theologians talk about the “cosmic cross”. If we analyze the world, the universe, most solid trusctures are actually based upon some form in the shape of a cross, every house, every door post, is actually built using two perpendicular beams or boards or planks or wooden pieces that will actually make the structure stronger… any piece of furniture, a bed, a chair, a cabinet, a cupboard, a fence, all of those are actually built with elements forming crosses because it’s actually the most solid shape or form in the universe.
Light, stars, the sun, all shine with rays whose light is reflected in the form of a cross. Everything in the universe is based on a cross and therefore it is absolutely ludicrous to say, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim, that the Catholics adopted the cross from some Egyptian or Babylonian pagan teaching or practice. The cross existed way before any civilization. It existed when God created the universe. Pagans didn’t invent the cross. The Catholic cross doesn’t come from pagan god nor civilization. God had purposed the cross to be the foundation of our salvation itself: it is the principle of the “cosmic cross”.
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: GOD WILL PROTECT THE ONES MARKED BY THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
REVELATION” THE SIGN OF PROTECTION IS THE MARK OF THE CROSS
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Cross
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/jehovahs-witnesses-and-the-cross
Cross or Torture Stake?
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/cross-or-torture-stake-0
STAT CRUX
How to Understand the Cross
We shouldn’t get enamored of some theory to ‘explain’ the cross. There’s a better way to ‘get it.’
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/how-to-understand-the-cross
The Cross is the Axis on which the Cosmos turns
Over the course of Christianity’s first thousand years, the crucifixion of Jesus went from a subject that could be preached but not shown, to the inspiration for marvelous public artworks.
READhttps://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/03/29/cosmic-crucifixions/
MUST READ: Christ’s cross is the ‘why’ of the whole cosmos
In “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week”, Pope Benedict XVI explains that God’s covenant relationship with his chosen people in both the Old and New Testaments is not an add-on, a divine afterthought—or, as it’s more often understood, a fix for something that had gone wrong. Rather, Benedict writes, God’s covenantal bond with his people—the Jewish people and the people of the church—is the very reason why God “created” in the first place:
“According to rabbinic theology, the idea of the covenant—the idea of establishing a holy people to be an interlocutor for God in union with him—is prior to the idea of the creation of the world and supplies its inner motive. The cosmos was created, not that there be manifold things in heaven and earth, but that there be space for the ‘covenant,’ for the loving ‘yes’ between God and his human respondent.”
‘All Creatures of Our God and King!’: Catholics and the Cosmic Covenant
The Christian Code
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-christian-code
Cross and Crucifix
Examination of the archaeology of the cross; the true cross; liturgical uses; and as objects of devotion
https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/cross-and-crucifix-the
Wait, why is there an Egyptian ankh in a Catholic church? It is a Coptic symbol… not a Roman Catholic symbol
https://aleteia.org/2017/07/07/wait-why-is-there-an-egyptian-ankh-in-a-catholic-church
Statues of Limitations
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/statues-of-limitations