Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: Sign of Peace
ROME, JULY 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Our column on the sign of peace (July 11) brings to mind a question from a priest in the Marshall Islands regarding this sign at funeral Masses.
He writes: "There was a time in the past that in funeral Masses, the 'Exchange of Peace' (before the Lamb of God) is omitted. The reason for it is that the exchange of peace is a joyful expression of greeting one another but somehow discordant in the time of death, the loss of someone so dear to the family."
This rule no longer applies, indeed as quoted in the earlier column, the U.S. adaptations of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal specifically cite funerals as being among the rare occasions when the priest is permitted to leave the sanctuary for the exchange of peace.
I believe that the omission at funerals may have stemmed from reducing the rite to a mere joyful exchange of greetings and forgetting that it is the peace of Christ, flowing from the holy sacrifice upon the altar and the source of our mutual peace and charity.
If understood in this way, not only will the rite of peace be habitually carried out with proper moderation, but its inclusion at funerals adds a note of spiritual solidarity and comfort that pales mere human sentiments.
Our column on the sign of peace (July 11) brings to mind a question from a priest in the Marshall Islands regarding this sign at funeral Masses.
He writes: "There was a time in the past that in funeral Masses, the 'Exchange of Peace' (before the Lamb of God) is omitted. The reason for it is that the exchange of peace is a joyful expression of greeting one another but somehow discordant in the time of death, the loss of someone so dear to the family."
This rule no longer applies, indeed as quoted in the earlier column, the U.S. adaptations of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal specifically cite funerals as being among the rare occasions when the priest is permitted to leave the sanctuary for the exchange of peace.
I believe that the omission at funerals may have stemmed from reducing the rite to a mere joyful exchange of greetings and forgetting that it is the peace of Christ, flowing from the holy sacrifice upon the altar and the source of our mutual peace and charity.
If understood in this way, not only will the rite of peace be habitually carried out with proper moderation, but its inclusion at funerals adds a note of spiritual solidarity and comfort that pales mere human sentiments.
posted by Chipi Buenafe at
9:11 AM
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