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water
Guest
I think the idea is not about a physical hand shaking. A smile, a nod could be the same way of saying “peace be with you”. In some other country, their custom is nodding their heads.
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Genesis315
Guest
The sign of peace was a more ancient part of the Mass that over time had become restricted to the clergy. With the reforms of Paul VI it was restored. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think many Eastern liturgies have the people exchange the kiss of peace.
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Genesis315
Guest
This famous interaction between St. Monica and St. Ambrose lays down the traditional norm for how we should behave in a church with different (lawful) customs than we may be used to:
"When Monica moved from North Africa to Milan, she found religious practices new to her and also that some of her former customs, such as a Saturday fast, were not common there. She asked St. Ambrose which customs she should follow. His classic reply was: “When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself.”
americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1120
"When Monica moved from North Africa to Milan, she found religious practices new to her and also that some of her former customs, such as a Saturday fast, were not common there. She asked St. Ambrose which customs she should follow. His classic reply was: “When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself.”
americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1120
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RMD
Guest
Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, briefly addressed the ‘sign of peace’ in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis. After writing about the great value of this sign and stressing the need for it he goes on to mention that it is also sometimes exaggerated . He ends by saying, “It should be kept in mind that nothing is lost when the sign of peace is marked by a sobriety which preserves the proper spirit of the celebration, as, for example, when it is restricted to one’s immediate neighbors.”
Peace!
Peace!
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rlg94086
Guest
That’s exactly it. In some parishes, the priest leaves the sanctuary and shakes the hands of people in the front pews and then up the aisles. In those parishes, I’ve seen a festive attitude exhibited at the sign of peace. This is not what the Rubrics call for - the priest is not supposed to leave the sanctuary and the rest of us are to offer the sign “in a sober manner,” as you mentioned.Thanks for posting that Thursday. I am glad to see it is okay ,but
I did notice that it says" offer the sign of peace only to those who are nearest and in a sober manner". Well, people in our church reach all over, and there is hugging and kissing family, so it gets to be quite cozy.I guess this is something that has gotten out of hand maybe.
Blessings
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Ad_Deum
Guest
Medically speaking, shaking of hands is not sanitary especially if you don’t know the person you are shaking hands with, so I think bowing to each other will do or socialize after the Mass.
Liturgically speaking, it is a new thing invented after the reformation of the Catholic Liturgy; I think it is better if we follow the original rubrics because in a Novus Ordo Missae as I observed many people were either going around and talking or socializing that results into a social club gathering.
Pax
Laudater Jesus Christus
Instaurare omnia in Christo
Liturgically speaking, it is a new thing invented after the reformation of the Catholic Liturgy; I think it is better if we follow the original rubrics because in a Novus Ordo Missae as I observed many people were either going around and talking or socializing that results into a social club gathering.
Pax
Laudater Jesus Christus
Instaurare omnia in Christo
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Thursday1
Guest
You may bow if you wish. I believe many shake hands because that is part of the common culture. I’m sure a kiss of peace is much more common in Europe and the Middle East. I’d be willing to bet more East Asians bow to each other.
I hope it does stay, though there is one change I would like to make. In some of the Eastern Rites that have a kiss of Peace, it is exchanged among any priests present first, then from priest to deacon, then deacon to subdeacon, then the faithful are asked to exchange the sign of peace. I think this fits much better into the the Mass than what we have now.
Yours in Christ,
Thursday
P.S.
Forgot to add this: It wasn’t invented after the reformation, it has always been part of Catholic worship. It fell out of use in the Latin Rite (except at a High Mass, among the Clergy), but it was continued in the East.
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ASimpleSinner
Guest
This last point is true!
Where I was able to attend Mass today it was easy enough and understood that nodding to the person the next pew over in a simple prayerful gesture of peace upon their soul and yours in kind sufficed.
You do not have to move all around and shake hands like a meet & greet.
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ASimpleSinner
Guest
Which eastern church have you seen this in?
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anniemart
Guest
I’ve read these posts looking for what many people do in my parish but have yet to come across one…Somebody please tell me that my parish is not the only that offers the sign of peace to someone a distance away…with the forefinger and middle finger. (Like it was done in the 70’s.) 
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Ignatius
Guest
No, it’s not part of the Mass.
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Newbie2
Guest
We occasionally have someone give the “Peace sign” to another maybe a couple of rows away. We’ll do it within the choir when we physically can’t reach the other person, and are usually very discreet with the sign.
Maybe it’s me or my parish, but I don’t see a problem with our priest coming down and offering a handshake or hug or other sign of peace to those in the first or second row, as long as it doesn’t impose on the flow of the mass.
He’s part of our parish community too…why shouldn’t he share in our mutual exchange of peace with a physical handshake or hug?
I don’t want to imply that the rubrics should be ignored, but our priest does this all the time, the bishops know it and apparently don’t have a problem with it.
It’s right for our parish, and I’m sure many others, while other parishes it wouldn’t work. I admit that I sort of bristle at the suggestion that we should all do **everything ** exactly the same way in every parish, in some sort of lockstep.
Yes, of course, rubrics/standards have to be followed, but there has to be room for local expression in our celebration of the mass. If mass gets too “stodgy”…well, that’s another issue…I won’t go there. It’s just nice to see some little variations from parish to parish, provided there are no abuses, of course.
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Maybe it’s me or my parish, but I don’t see a problem with our priest coming down and offering a handshake or hug or other sign of peace to those in the first or second row, as long as it doesn’t impose on the flow of the mass.
He’s part of our parish community too…why shouldn’t he share in our mutual exchange of peace with a physical handshake or hug?
I don’t want to imply that the rubrics should be ignored, but our priest does this all the time, the bishops know it and apparently don’t have a problem with it.
It’s right for our parish, and I’m sure many others, while other parishes it wouldn’t work. I admit that I sort of bristle at the suggestion that we should all do **everything ** exactly the same way in every parish, in some sort of lockstep.
Yes, of course, rubrics/standards have to be followed, but there has to be room for local expression in our celebration of the mass. If mass gets too “stodgy”…well, that’s another issue…I won’t go there. It’s just nice to see some little variations from parish to parish, provided there are no abuses, of course.
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rlg94086
Guest
You are contradicting yourself. You think your priest should follow the rubrics, but you don’t think he should have to follow the rubrics that say he should not leave the sanctuary.
dioceseofgallup.org/bishop/liturgy/GIRM/liturgydirectives.htm
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captaincoog
Guest
Don’t forget, that at this part of the Mass, the Victim is on the Altar, offering Himself to the Father for the sins of the world, no less than He did on Calvary 2000 years ago.
Would it be appropriate to go around giving peace signs and hugs, handshakes and waves if you were there?
Well, we *are *there, at the foot of the cross, every time we go to Mass. Shake hands before Mass, or afterward. Wouldn’t a simple bow to the person either side of you be sufficient for a sign of peace?
Once we get the external expressions of the Faith back on track, the interior ones will surely follow. We are made of body and soul, and we use both to worship God. It is the teaching of the Church that the external signs are necessary to cultivate a deeper interior devotion.
2 cents in the money box…
Would it be appropriate to go around giving peace signs and hugs, handshakes and waves if you were there?
Well, we *are *there, at the foot of the cross, every time we go to Mass. Shake hands before Mass, or afterward. Wouldn’t a simple bow to the person either side of you be sufficient for a sign of peace?
Once we get the external expressions of the Faith back on track, the interior ones will surely follow. We are made of body and soul, and we use both to worship God. It is the teaching of the Church that the external signs are necessary to cultivate a deeper interior devotion.
2 cents in the money box…
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anniemart
Guest
Sincere offer for another of your $.02
perhaps we can set up a payment plan? 
so then I should stop giving the 70’s peace sign?
We have one priest of 3 that does this…he holds up both palms and then makes this peace sign to everyone.
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captaincoog
Guest
Thanks, that gave me a chuckle!Sincere offer for another of your $.02
so then I should stop giving the 70’s peace sign?
I guess it all comes form having a deeper understanding of what Holy Mass is about, rather than me or anyone else saying we should or should not do this or that.
Once I began to understand that the Mass was one and the same sacrifice as Calvary, on the first Good Friday 2000 years ago, I was dumbfounded. I was not taught that in Catholic School in the 70’s and 80’s. I now go to Mass with far more fear and trembling than I did before having a fuller understanding thanks be to God. I absolutely love and adore the Mass.
When I see a particular Altar server in my parish giving the peace sign from the sanctuary to the whole congregation with a huge beaming smile, I cringe and get quite cross. My good wife has to remind me that the altar server probably doesn’t know what the Mass really is. If they did, they would probably not do something like that, I hope.
Mass is serious and solemn. After Mass, Catholics are as good or better at socialising than anyone else, and I think this would be the appropriate place for joviality, having just made our peace with God through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
There’s 2 more cents…
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abirdrrl
Guest
Weird, holding hands during the Our Father is frowned upon in the Catholic charismatic community, at least in the charismatic communities I’ve seen in the Detroit area, and Steubenville.
I always thought it just came from Protestants and AA.
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abirdrrl
Guest
We’re at the Resurrection at the Mass as well…
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RMD
Guest
He certainly mentions it in his book, " The Spirit of the Liturgy". In reference to the missal used in Zaire (the Congo), which is the
Roman rite with the addition of certain elements of the Christian East. The then Cardinal Ratzinger said," In line with what is said in Matthew 5:23-25, the sign of peace is exchanged, not before Communion, but before the Presentation of the Gifts, which would be desirable for the whole of the Roman rite, insofar as the sign of peace is something we want to retain.
Peace!
Roman rite with the addition of certain elements of the Christian East. The then Cardinal Ratzinger said," In line with what is said in Matthew 5:23-25, the sign of peace is exchanged, not before Communion, but before the Presentation of the Gifts, which would be desirable for the whole of the Roman rite, insofar as the sign of peace is something we want to retain.
Peace!
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