As I've posted in the past, I like to follow the Rubrics set forth for participating in the celebration of the Mass. As many of you are aware, holding hands at the Our Father is an illicit gesture and not really a part of the Mass. At our parish, it seems to be the moment everyone is waiting for, however. The Sign of Peace is just that, a sign and, as our pastor explained, your feet shouldn't travel during the Sign of Peace and it is sufficient to greet the person on either side of you. If you go further afield, you are greeting people and greeting belongs outside of Mass. Again, at our parish and probably many others, it is the signal for people to dash across the aisle and happily meet up with people they have just greeted on their way into church. Often, the priest has progressed to the Lamb of God and people are still calling out greetings and flashing peace signs.
My family and close friends try to observe the Rubrics and we just turn to each other, nod and smile, and say, "Peace." If people turn their back on the altar where Jesus is now present, we don't disrespect them but nod and go back to our prayer book. If our pew mates try to grab our hands during the Our Father, we just make sure to have our hands occupied with our prayerbook. That reminds me of a time when I still had a baby in arms and the people of either side were desperate to hold hands and they both made a strong grab for my hands totalling ignoring the fact that my baby would have hit the floor if I hadn't fought for my dignity and my baby's well being!
I did have to laugh this past Sunday. There is a very active group of 'greeters' and hand holders that usually occupy the front pews. They went through their lengthy ritual of playing 'twister' as they tried to made hand contact throughout the group. The Sign of Peace and they were all over the place, wandering hither and yon to make sure no hand was left untouched. During the Lamb of God, I suddenly noticed a medicinal smell. About ten of them were passing around a bottle of hand cleaner! Hey, you either trust in the Lord that your Sign of Peace will not pass on germs or you don't.
A pastor tried to guilt me once about my refusal to hold hands at the Our Father and said that if someone offers to hold your hand, you should be Christian and not turn them down. My husband said that if someone sees that you do not want to hold hands, they should be Christian and not force their personal rubrics upon you.
It is kind of sad that the beauty of the Mass tends to get lost in people making personal decisions about how they want to celebrate it and then demanding others follow their suit.
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