joasia wrote:On the other hand, the sign of the Cross made properly with faith and reverence, terrifies the demons, calms sinful passions, and calls down divine grace.
That's in my prayer book too (exact wording), but I was just focusing on the negative aspect which supports the fact that the Cross should be made correctly.
The positive aspects are extremely important. My husband and I live about 1/5 mile from the Angeles National Forest, so we hear a lot of strange noises from mountain lions, bears, skunks, possums, raccoons, bob cats, coyotes, and even the imported red fox. Once we were awakened in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of a cougar growling dangerously close to our bathroom window.
Whenever I am terrified because of a sudden strange noise, I make the Sign of the Cross, and it is definitely calming. Now when that cougar growled, I clutched the blanket, quickly realized that I was in the bedroom and that the cougar was outside, and then I made the Sign of the Cross. Even though I was not standing up, Christ our God knew that my heart was in the right place. Very soon, I drifted back to sleep safely in the arms of the Lord.