The Sign of Peace can be hell for introverts. Professionally I am an extrovert. Privately I am an introvert. I of course do not mind shaking hands with members of my family. Complete strangers are another matter. (Covid fortunately banished that in my diocese.) The New Mass too often makes us the focus rather than God.
Thought for the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
All people from Adam and Eve until the end of time are in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pay attention and reverence all people in the Sacred Heart of Jesus instead of turning one’s back to Jesus on the altar.
Benedict XVI tried to have the kiss pf peace moved to before Consecration so as to not offend Jesus. It failed.
September 8 is Blessed Virgin Mary’s birthday since Mary was Immaculately conceived on December 8. Celebrate and have cake and ice cream.
The Masses on EWTN dispense with it completely. The Maronite Liturgy does this only with one’s hands held together as if in prayer. There is no handshake or waving. It does not exist in the Tridentine Mass or the Divine Liturgy. Best to do away with it altogether
Not hell, just vaguely embarrassing.
I’m with you, Donald. Our former parish had a real choir loft and I sometimes considered sitting up there just to avoid the whole cringe-inducing process.
I can only assume Art that you are not an introvert!
We used to have a refrigerator magnet which said, “The more people I meet, the more I like my cat”. I can still make it through the Sign of Peace. I’ve had to stand in the back the last two years due to arthritis. The ushers leave me alone. The guy next to me is a veteran who can stand but mostly gets about by wheelchair.
I have spots like this in two churches nearby, and I try to arrive at least a half-hour before Mass, but I still have to sit elsewhere nearly half the time.
My maternal great-great grandfather, an immigrant from Ireland, used to take my Mom to Mass when she was a little girl back in the thirties. They stood in the back because he regarded pews as a Protestant innovation. They knelt on the stone floor. He was in his eighties at the time. A much tougher man than me.
While it’s certainly not my favorite thing about the TLM, the lack of a congregational Sign of Peace is wonderful and a definite bonus. I think that the slight bow made during the 10 seconds of incensing at a High Mass is more than sufficient.
Whenever I’m at a NO I will stand with my hands folded behind my back and nod to anyone directly to my left or right, and anyone directly in front of me who happens to turn around.
After Covid I have found it rare people shake hands. Just a nod and smile. I find it distracting that it’s right after the Our Father and just before Communion. So if someone directly infront of you or next to decides to not acknowledge you with a smile or nod, it naturally is distracting and plays with your mind (for a good 10 seconds) just before you are about to go up and receive Our Lord. It breaks the reverence and build up to the Eucharist.
The masses presided over by Opus Dei priests usually don’t do it. Yes the Maronites “pass” the peace along the rows. I kinda like that. It feels equal and traditional all at once.
I would love that one solitary pew. I would probably reserve – maybe pay sponsorship rights on it for a year.
Ever since COVID, about 95% of the time at the Masses I go to people just wave at one another at the Sign of Peace, and reserve the handshaking for their immediate family or whoever actually accompanied them. I don’t particularly care one way or the other about the Sign of Peace, it doesn’t bother me to do it and it doesn’t bother me not to do it, and I don’t find it especially “distracting”. Must be something wrong with me and I guess I’m not a real Catholic if I’m not constantly offended by every aspect of the NO Mass….
My Bride loves the sign of peace Elaine because she is a gregarious person and has never met a stranger. I respect that, although I thought it was a dumb idea to put a meet and greet immediately after the Pater Noster and prior to the reception of Communion.