Catholic Sign Language

People love to talk. Well at least I love to talk! Communication is very important to us, and gives us a tangible way to interact with each other. We have plenty of different ways that we are able to talk to each other today. As one form of communication we use sign and symbols. How many of us can sign “thank you” or “I Love you” or other not so nice things by just using our hands! Each sign has a specific and important meaning behind it!

Sacramentals do just this for our relationship with God. Throughout human history, God has been giving us tangible, or physical signs that we are able to understand. Let’s be honest…we have a hard time understanding some things without seeing them. God obviously is a lot more complex than we can comprehend. The people who He appeared to in the Old Testament didn’t even actually get to see Him because His presence was too great for them to bear (besides Moses…he was a special case)! SO because God knew His people are hands-on types, He gave us the sacraments so we can grow in grace and holiness.

So then what are sacramental? They are, “sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments” (CCC 1667). Now sacramanetals are NOT the sacraments, but they are really cool tools and objects such as the rosary, icons, and the cross that assist our prayer. We are meant to venerate, or show reverence by a physical sign, sacramentals in order to seek intercession of whoever is represented by that item, to show respect for the holiness attributed to saints and to Christ himself. When you venerate a sacramental you can do something like kiss it, or touch it and make the sign of the cross. Veneration is not the same as worship! We worship God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but we don’t worship the crown of thorns or the cross Jesus died on. They are precious things because they had direct contact to someone of great holiness, but the item itself meant to be honored not worshipped.

Here’s some examples of sacramentals to give you a better idea of why they’re important and lead us closer to holiness!

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Saint Relics

The Catholic Church LOVES THE SAINTS (as do I). These were people like you and me who managed to overcome sin and get to heaven! That’s why, ever since the times of early Christians, people have venerated relics! SO what is a relic? Relics are the remains of the body, clothes, or items used by a saint that has pas

sed away. A relic has 3 classes that categorize its closeness to the saint.

First class:

This is a relic that was a physical part of a saint’s body such as their bones, blood, or hair, or something that was directly related to the events of their life like the crown of thorns Jesus wore at his crucifixion.

Second Class:

This is something the saint owned or touched; such as their clothes or even an alter cloth.

Third class:

This is an item that has been touched by a first class relic. So, if I had a rosary and I touched it to the crown of thorns or a piece of St. John the Baptist’s bone, it would be a third class relic!

These items, the first class relics especially, can only be gifted to someone. That's how special and important they are!

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Sacred Art

We’ve all seen the movies where the characters are in an art gallery staring at a painting a 5 year old could have painted as they analyze it. Well sacred art takes this to the next level. When we look at paintings such as Michael Angelo’s “Last Super”, or Rembrandt’s “Prodigal Son”, we see scenes from the Bible that the artists brought to life. The “Divine Mercy” image allows us to think more deeply about the beauty of Christ’s love and mercy for us all. Pieces of sacred art are called icons. These are symbolic images sometimes called “windows to heaven”. The iconographer (say that 5 times fast) write these images to tell God’s story! They are meant to be read. How do you do that with a picture? We put ourselves inside the scene itself and meditate on what exactly was happening. These images help us to focus our prayer on the specific moments of Jesus’ and the saints’ lives. A picture is worth a thousand words right? How about a thousand prayers!

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The Crucifix

Imagine someone has never heard of Jesus Christ, and they see the crucifix for the first time. Do you think they would be turned away or disgusted? Many Christian faiths are upset by this image of Christ because of its gruesomeness. However that is why Catholics hold the crucifix in such high regard! This was the suffering Christ went through for each and every one of us. It allows us to look at his pain and meditate on what sins of our own we committed to put him there. We venerate the crucifix to show our love for Christ. We are able to rejoice in the suffering God made into something that was beautiful. Through this sacramental, we can learn how to give God our sufferings to make them new as Christ gave his life to conquer sin.

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There are so many other sacramentals that are given to us by the Catholic Church! We use things such as the rosary, and medals to help strengthen our faith and our prayer. All of these things aim us toward God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We’re all human. We all need a little help. Sacrametals are that little extra glimpse at holiness for each of us. What’s your favorite sacramental??

About the Author

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Maria Barone

I’m just your typical Italian-American, Buffalo-born, puppy-lovin’, adventure seeking, Catholic girl that actually isn’t that typical. I’m always ready to travel the world and learn new things while staying true to myself, my roots, and my faith. If you wanna see just how crazy I am go ahead and follow me on instagram @ria21993 or on Pinterest at ria223!

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