- Feb 5, 2002
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The director of the Chair of Theology of the Consecrated Life at San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University in Spain, Sister Carolina Blázquez Casado, OSA, explained that the rite of peace at Mass “is not a greeting or friendly gesture.”
The sister explained the meaning of the rite in a video posted by the university, which is under the Archdiocese of Madrid.
The sign of peace, which takes place between the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the Fraction (breaking) of the Host, “is a prior step to be able to approach Communion with the body of Christ in a dignified manner,” the Augustinian sister explained.
The sign of peace is exchanged in recollection of the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5:23-24, namely: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Blázquez noted that “Christians, from when they first began to celebrate the Eucharist, had these words of the Lord in their minds and hearts. And that is why the rite of peace has been present since very ancient times in the Eucharistic celebration.”
Consequently, the sign of peace is not a simple polite gesture or a gesture of human love, but rather it expresses “the sincere desire to be reconciled among ourselves, to overcome all divisions between us, to be instruments of peace, to be truly members, one of another, of the one body of Christ.”
The video posted by the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University is part of a series titled “The Eucharist. Learn More” in which several teachers from the institution explain various aspects of the sacrament.
Continued below.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
The sister explained the meaning of the rite in a video posted by the university, which is under the Archdiocese of Madrid.
The sign of peace, which takes place between the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the Fraction (breaking) of the Host, “is a prior step to be able to approach Communion with the body of Christ in a dignified manner,” the Augustinian sister explained.
The sign of peace is exchanged in recollection of the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5:23-24, namely: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Blázquez noted that “Christians, from when they first began to celebrate the Eucharist, had these words of the Lord in their minds and hearts. And that is why the rite of peace has been present since very ancient times in the Eucharistic celebration.”
Consequently, the sign of peace is not a simple polite gesture or a gesture of human love, but rather it expresses “the sincere desire to be reconciled among ourselves, to overcome all divisions between us, to be instruments of peace, to be truly members, one of another, of the one body of Christ.”
The video posted by the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University is part of a series titled “The Eucharist. Learn More” in which several teachers from the institution explain various aspects of the sacrament.
Abuses of the rite
Continued below.
Rite of peace is not just a greeting or friendly gesture, nun explains
The sign of peace is meant to express “the sincere desire to be reconciled among ourselves, to overcome all divisions between us, to be instruments of peace.”
www.catholicnewsagency.com
