Do you think we should shake hands after praying the Our Father at Mass?

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our parish does a greeting prior to mass and then sign of peace. . Isn’t a greeting a sign of peace?
 
bben15 said:
No, because of two reasons: 1) The Sign of Peace can get chaotic, as there are people shouting, mothers kissing their children, and conversations.
  1. The Sign of Peace is a Novus Ordo innovation. Before the Novus Ordo, the Sign of Peace was strictly for the celebrants, and was only done at High Mass. I would support returning to the practice of the Sign of Peace only among the celebrants.
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I would amen that times 100. I am so tired of watching everyone kissing and hugging. I also don’t care to shake hands. I have tried to find ways to avoid it, but it’s very hard to do. It seems a lot of people see it as an “intermission” during Mass. They talk about meetings, schedules, and walk all over the church. It’s ridiculous.
 
tlenseigne said:
our parish does a greeting prior to mass and then sign of peace. . Isn’t a greeting a sign of peace?
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I have never had anyone greet me by saying “May the peace of Christ be with you”. The sign of peace is not a greeting.
 
Irishgal49 said:
I would amen that times 100. I am so tired of watching everyone kissing and hugging. I also don’t care to shake hands. I have tried to find ways to avoid it, but it’s very hard to do. It seems a lot of people see it as an “intermission” during Mass. They talk about meetings, schedules, and walk all over the church. It’s ridiculous.
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Where in the world does this happen??? I’ve been in Catholic Churches all over the US and I’ve never seen it done other than shake hands with the people near you. Meetings? Schedules? Walking all over the church? Who has time for such things during a short time?

My vote would change - I thought you were asking if we should offer the sign of peace - that answer is YES. Hold hands during Our Father - my answer is no. Most everyone around me does though. I don’t care - I don’t because I want to focus on the prayer and if I’m holding a hand it would be a distraction. That’s just me. 🤷
 
yellowbird said:
Where in the world does this happen??? I’ve been in Catholic Churches all over the US and I’ve never seen it done other than shake hands with the people near you. Meetings? Schedules? Walking all over the church? Who has time for such things during a short time?

My vote would change - I thought you were asking if we should offer the sign of peace - that answer is YES. Hold hands during Our Father - my answer is no. Most everyone around me does though. I don’t care - I don’t because I want to focus on the prayer and if I’m holding a hand it would be a distraction. That’s just me. 🤷
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Ditto! 👍
 
Here’s what I know based on what I’ve read.

The sign of peace was originally the kiss of peace. It also occurred prior to the offertory as being symbolic of reconciling with one another prior to making their offering (see Mt 5:23-24). By the 4th century it was moved to the current location.

The first thing to note is that it was a kiss of peace which was shared on the lips only among members of the same gender. If you remember, there was a period of time where men and women sat on the opposite side of the church. It was said that this was done to reflect how people should share a holy kiss upon greeting one another.

Later, I guess things started getting a bit out of hand with people kissing each other in this way so this brought about the peace board. The priest would kiss this board (after the Eucharist) and then it would make its way from deacons, servers, and down to the people. I believe here people would kiss the board as they approached for communion. Of course this also got out of hand as people would argue even to the point of violence as to who would get the honor of kissing it first. As if it was some sort of place of esteem to do so.

So then this changed again to where the clergy would just share a kind of kiss as a formality and that was all. It wasn’t until the Mass of Paul VI when there was a revival of this practice. Of course, they weren’t going to bring this back as a kiss of peace, that already failed miserably… and with men and women co-mingling in the pews it would just be a disaster. So the hand shake became the norm for the sign of peace.
 
GangGreen said:
Here’s what I know based on what I’ve read.

The sign of peace was originally the kiss of peace. It also occurred prior to the offertory as being symbolic of reconciling with one another prior to making their offering (see Mt 5:23-24). By the 4th century it was moved to the current location.

The first thing to note is that it was a kiss of peace which was shared on the lips only among members of the same gender. If you remember, there was a period of time where men and women sat on the opposite side of the church. It was said that this was done to reflect how people should share a holy kiss upon greeting one another.

Later, I guess things started getting a bit out of hand with people kissing each other in this way so this brought about the peace board. The priest would kiss this board (after the Eucharist) and then it would make its way from deacons, servers, and down to the people. I believe here people would kiss the board as they approached for communion. Of course this also got out of hand as people would argue even to the point of violence as to who would get the honor of kissing it first. As if it was some sort of place of esteem to do so.

So then this changed again to where the clergy would just share a kind of kiss as a formality and that was all. It wasn’t until the Mass of Paul VI when there was a revival of this practice. Of course, they weren’t going to bring this back as a kiss of peace, that already failed miserably… and with men and women co-mingling in the pews it would just be a disaster. So the hand shake became the norm for the sign of peace.
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Thanks for your research. Interesting info!
Apparently it’s still a disaster. :coffeeread:
I had to giggle.
At my parish we are invited to say hello to one another before Mass begins. That’s enough for me. 🤷
 
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