Sign of Peace / Covid-19

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Steeevyo

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I sincerely hope that one positive outcome of this global health crisis will be for the Church Leadership to remove the ‘Sign of Peace’ from liturgy. It has always been forced and artificial. It never fit within the natural flow of Mass. There were always serious health concerns especially in winter season. I already know that I will never shake hands during mass ever again as a result of what we currently experience.
I am also pretty certain that the majority of Catholics would not miss it for one second. I could of course be wrong.
My take has always been to reach out to your fellow man before and especially after Mass instead of going through some forced and motion during what is supposed to be a collective spiritual moment.
 
The sign of peace has ancient roots in Christian liturgy and is referenced in Scripture. Here in Vancouver, where we have a huge Asian community, bowing, rather than handshaking, has been a norm in many parishes for a long time. Long before the pandemic I had adopted bowing over handshaking.
 
I doubt very much it will be removed permanently, and in fact some priests are still doing it despite the bishop’s mandate not to. Of course, since the Masses are not supposed to be public anyway, there’s not much harm given that there is (or should be) no congregation present to be giving the sign to each other.

I also think that with what’s currently going on in the world, whether the Sign of Peace returns is the least of our worries right now. I personally will be happy to just go to a Mass again and receive the Eucharist, I don’t much care if the Mass contains a Sign of Peace or not.

I already stopped shaking hands months ago and just wave to people with an upraised hand. One problem with Sign of Peace is we have a diverse community including Asians and others who are not really into handshakes.
 
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Three cheers, my friend. I try to remain in an attitude of prayer during the sign of peace so people will leave me alone. I wouldn’t miss it for a second.
 
Thanks for the information. Can you fill me in if it was practiced in the pre Vatican II versions of Mass?
 
catholic03 said:
Do you trust the Church, and the rubrics or would you rather create your own?
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The rubrics actually say the sign of peace is not required. A priest could have chosen to omit it for the past 5 years and not be creating their own rubrics.
 
Usige said:
The rubrics actually say the sign of peace is not required. A priest could have chosen to omit it for the past 5 years and not be creating their own rubrics.
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But the rubrics do allow it. And we must respect that, even if it is not compulsory.

I do not recall ever attending a Mass without the sign of peace.
 
I don’t think we need to be “cute” about it; the reference was to Scripture and the Early Church.

As noted in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the bishops of the world wanted some things which had been lost over the centuries to be brought back to the Mass, and some things that were added over time, to be removed. The vote was 2,147 for the document; 4 against.
 
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catholic03 said:
I do not recall ever attending a Mass without the sign of peace.
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I did attend Mass several times at the monastery where I took a number of personal retreats over the years. There was no sign of peace there, but this was the only place where I have noticed its absence.
 
At one point it was part of the liturgy but fell into disuse centuries ago. I believe the EF (pre-VII) Mass still retains the sign of peace among the clergy in some contexts, but I don’t know the details off hand.
 
If it does change, I hope it doesn’t after this pandemic. I have always thought the attempt to use crises, (never let a good one go to waster) rather cheap and inappropriate.
 
I will confess something wrong. I am loving the “social-distancing” all around. I dislike “the sign of peace” and also “stand and greet those around you”. I am (was anyway) there for the mass, not to be social and meet people. The sign of peace has been taken from “reconciling with others you have issue before mass” and turned into a free for all.
If the sign of peace is removed just as it has been allowed, I rejoice, and give thanks.
Dominus vobiscum
 
I don’t particularly like it, but, at the same time, I don’t see it being permanently removed. Maybe we can express it differently.
 
catholic03 said:
But the rubrics do allow it. And we must respect that, even if it is not compulsory.

I do not recall ever attending a Mass without the sign of peace.
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About 85% of masses I’ve attended in the past 3 or 4 years have omitted the sign of peace as my pastor does not use it during weekday masses.

My point was it was wrong to accusing someone of “not trusting the Church” and wanting to creating their own rubrics when the rubrics already allow the sign of peace to be omitted. Rather it would be creating new rubrics to insist on the sign of peace and not trusting the Church to say that it’s wrong to omit it for whatever reason or whatever amount of time.
 
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There was not an ounce of cuteness in my question. I really wanted to know.
 
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