Sign Language to the Sign of the Cross

Many who know me, and know my past history, will know that up to the age of 6 years old I was non-verbal. I communicated to others through sign language, Australian Signed English to be exact. The hard thing was that I could hear people talk to me, and I so wanted to respond using my voice, however couldn’t.

In early primary school I began to speak, however my voice was not clear at all, and I was more mumbling rather than saying words. At the end of the school day, my Mum would pick me up and I would do my very best to tell her what happened in my day. Mum would make attempts to understand what I was saying and respond accordingly. Despite her genuine attempts, I knew she wasn’t understanding what I was trying to tell her. This gave me a lot of impatience and anger, and in the end, my mum would have to call my kindergarten teacher to ask her what happened in my day.

Because I was still very young, all the sign language that I learnt and used was very basic and was focused only on fundamental needs and wants.  

Verbal or non-verbal, we all have ways to communicate through signs and gestures. Common gestures include waving to say hello and goodbye, or to get someone’s attention, asking someone to be quiet by putting your finger on your lips. There’s also the “come here” cue, where you can usually predict the tone of the approaching conversation by the way the person makes the gesture.

Faith is no exception to this, especially in Catholicism. I believe it is usually easy to tell a Catholic as they make the sign of the cross before meals, general prayers or before doing something difficult. For many, they may see the sign of the cross and genuflecting in a church as some subconscious gesture. Although, similarly, to sign language, gestures in the Catholic faith are very much a part of how we communicate to our Lord, and each other. The sign of the cross is calling to the Trinity to come and be on our side. Genuflecting or bowing in front of our Lord in the Tabernacle brings to our heart and mind, who it is that we truly worship and praise.

God knows our heart and mind, even if we don’t have the words. These gestures that we do in faith assist us to feel in the presence of the Lord. Like sign language, these gestures speak for themselves. When making the sign of the cross you don’t have to say anything verbally, you say what you say in your heart. I personally love the beautiful signs that we make in the Catholic church to sure our reverence and love to our Lord, especially when we genuflect, we are one to one with our Lord, and I believe that what makes our faith comes alive.