Sign of peace removed at Mass

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phil3 said:
Who knows maybe some good can come from this Virus.
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You’d be thrilled at my parish:

(1) No sign of peace
(2) No greeters at the door.
(3) Communion distributed by clergy only
(4) No post-Mass coffee and donuts
 
Coffee and donuts, nothing really. Mass is over. Greeters? I am going to Mass not to Walmart.
 
Everyone should be temporarily authorized to wear a Cappa Magna… and the rule is you can’t get closer to someone than the end of their cape.
 
The priest saying, “let us offer each other a sign of peace’ and then the congregation either shaking hands, bowing, saying peace be with you etc. is optional.

The thing is, we do not need to be saying this; we should already be (having had a penitential rite, having said the Creed together, having listened to the Eucharistic Prayers and the Consecration, having given the Great Amen, and having prayed the Our Father, in which we ask to be forgiven as we forgive others, and having had the priest pray that we be delivered from every evil and granted the peace which Jesus gave, “Peace I give to you”, and being about to pray the Lamb of God and to receive the Eucharist (or make a spiritual communion) and then to go forth when the Mass has ended.

It isn’t that something has been ‘taken away from you’. An optional sign of peace among the community at one given Mass has, for pastoral reasons for that particular community at that Mass, been deemed to be more of a potential risk for sickness than a help to the community.

If you could look at it that way, if you could think, “I can silently wish all the peace I usually do here, I can if I choose after Mass make whatever contact with a person I would normally make here’, then I think you’d be more soothed. Again, the priest/bishop/ Church did not ‘take something from you’. This is an optional part of Mass and so if it is offered, it is the pastoral choice of the bishop/priest; if not offered, it is exactly the same thing. . .a pastoral choice.

Now if the priest hadn’t said a creed (or offered baptismal promises etc) at a Sunday Mass, that’s different. The creed isn’t ‘optional’ at Sunday Mass; either it or an approved substitute like a renewal of the baptismal promises as is often done in the Easter season, are required in the GIRM. If the priest deliberately does not do this, the Mass is still valid but the suppression of the creed etc. is illicit.

Omitting the sign of peace is both valid and licit. Do not worry.
 
We can smile and wave to nearby attendees at the Novus Ordo Mass.
The traditional Latin Masses that I sometimes attend never even had the sign of peace.
So we don’t have to feel guilty about not shaking hands.
 
1cthlctrth said:
We can smile and wave to nearby attendees at the Novus Ordo Mass.
The traditional Latin Masses that I sometimes attend never even had the sign of peace.
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I almost expected to read “no one smiles at the TLM, anyway”… 😮

😊 #CoverDuckAndRun …
 
Well since in my area we have no Mass at all until further notice, it isn’t an issue.
 
DeSales111 said:
There is certainly nothing wrong with saying “Peace be with you.” It’s the physical contact that is not needed. And the roots of it was not to shake hands with everyone, it is right there in Scripture, to make peace with the individuals that had differences with one another.
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Well if that’s the case, you — an introvert — should be making the sign of peace to every extrovert near you who loves the sign of peace while refraining from making the sign of peace to your fellow introverts who do not enjoy doing it.

🙂

Honestly, one of problems of how the sign of peace is done at a number of parishes is that is only supposed to be given to those immediately near you, not everyone seating the pews near you according to the rubrics of the GIRM. People definitely shouldn’t be leaving their pews to give the sign of people to others halfway across the church nor should the priest or altar servers leave the sanctuary to give the sign of peace to members of the assembly. Again all this is specified in the General Instructions of the Roman Missal.
 
phil3 said:
Coffee and donuts, nothing really. Mass is over. Greeters? I am going to Mass not to Walmart.
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Indeed you are. You’re going to a communal prayer service, the Holy Mass, where you are joining your fellow members of the mystical body of Christ to celebrate the Holy Mass in union with each other. There’s nothing wrong with your fellow members of the mystical body of Christ welcoming you to Mass.

Contrast this to shopping at Walmart, where everyone is on an independent mission of shopping for the goods they seek to purchase.

Besides many churches had greeters before Walmart was even a twinkle in Sam Walton’s eye.
 
In my country, almost all of us would give a quick nod at the people around us and say ‘peace’. Takes like 5 seconds maximum.

Never really thought much about it.

Until I come on here and find out that the rest of you guys were shaking hands or hugging! That can seem pretty distracting. I learn something new everyday here.
 
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Lea101 said:
In my country, almost all of us would give a quick nod at the people around us and say ‘peace’. Takes like 5 seconds maximum.

Never really thought much about it.

Until I come on here and find out that the rest of you guys were shaking hands or hugging! That can seem pretty distracting. I learn something new everyday here.
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That’s the way it should be done (quickly and just with the people immediately around you) as it is specified in the GIRM.
 
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