# The Sign of the Cross

#### Introduction

Watch a six-minute video from Rocko's Music Factory: "[The Sign of the Cross](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JggW-FLYP6Q)".

#### Activity 1

Read through Part 8 of [St. Patrick's Breastplate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Breastplate):   
Crìosda leam / Christ with me  
Crìosda romham / Christ before me  
Crìosda na mo dhèidh / Christ behind me  
Crìosda annam / Christ within me  
Crìosda fodham / Christ beneath me  
Crìosda tharam / Christ above me  
Crìosda air deas orm / Christ at my right  
Crìosda air tuath orm / Christ at my left

Then, taking an icon of Christ, act it out: move the icon in front of, behind, to the left to the right, et cetera, as you read out the poem. For "Christ within me", do not swallow the icon; hold it between arms and chest, or bend over around it.

#### Activity 2

Practice making the sign of the cross. Make sure to imagine it as two lines across your body, rather than four points.

Discuss and practice the hand shape: three fingers for the Trinity and two pointing down for Christ's two natures. Really, making the sign of the cross is like a mini version of Patrick's Verse 8.

#### Lunch Snack

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#### Activity 3

Make a Sign of the Cross pop-stick necklace, with numbers to remind you which order to make the points in. Wear it on your chest like a pectoral cross - or like St. Patrick's breast-plate.

[![image.png](https://wiki.srp.life/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/scaled-1680-/pcdOXgog35n7ePKi-image.png)](https://wiki.srp.life/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/pcdOXgog35n7ePKi-image.png)

#### Activity 4

Learn to sing "Dia air mo chulaibh" to the tune of "Be thou my vision".

[![image.png](https://wiki.srp.life/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/scaled-1680-/5d1WQYrYCLxfrRwv-image.png)](https://wiki.srp.life/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/5d1WQYrYCLxfrRwv-image.png)