{"id":68210,"date":"2025-10-02T08:11:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=68210"},"modified":"2025-10-02T08:11:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:11:32","slug":"why-say-peace-when-there-is-no-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/why-say-peace-when-there-is-no-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Say &#8220;Peace&#8221; when there is no Peace?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>By Katharine E. Harmon, October 2, 2025<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve grown throughout my years as a \u201cliturgist.\u201d&nbsp; Once a fearsome, judgmental creature, I have mellowed significantly in my responses to liturgical snafus.&nbsp; If the music is decently paced and well-intended, fine.&nbsp; I\u2019ll deal with the electric piano.&nbsp; The homily didn\u2019t include a reference to <em>The Gospel according to Peanuts<\/em> (no offense, Snoopy).&nbsp; It\u2019ll be okay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have bigger fish to fry\u2014two of them, in fact, that come in sizes small and medium, who enjoy bringing a stuffed cat and stuffed colossal squid (yes, they really exist) to Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my magnanimous wisdom, however, I am experiencing a new\u2014and somewhat major\u2014lacuna:&nbsp; I simply cannot stand the sign of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sign of peace.&nbsp; What\u2019s a sign?&nbsp; A handshake?&nbsp; A hug?&nbsp; A wave?&nbsp; A peace sign?&nbsp; A nod?&nbsp; Worse still, to whom do I give said \u201csign\u201d?&nbsp; The entire congregation?&nbsp; Very rarely.&nbsp; The people around me?&nbsp; Maybe.&nbsp; My family?&nbsp; Probably, unless the colossal squid is too distracting.&nbsp; To no one?&nbsp; A definite possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why am I so upset about the sign of peace?&nbsp; Let me count the ways.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I understand the historical and theological-ritual significance of a sign of peace.&nbsp; The kiss of peace.&nbsp; The profound community of the early Christians.&nbsp; The Church restored this sign of peace as an expression of unity among the gathered assembly around the Lord\u2019s table, following numerous restorations of ritual gestures, words, and acclamations which invite the participation of the lay faithful.&nbsp; I\u2019m all for active participation in the source and summit of the Christian life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the sign of peace\u2026is hardly, if ever, an actual expression of Christian unity, in my experience.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it because I have come from a cultural context where we are conditioned to <em>not <\/em>touch anyone?\u00a0 And certainly not strangers?\u00a0 Touch is a violation of space, it\u2019s invasive, and can be riddled with wrong intentions or perceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it because I\u2019m a born-again germaphobe?\u00a0 I have personally struggled with physical aspects of the Mass since Covid.\u00a0 I used to balk when I witnessed people feverishly hand-sanitizing after the sign of peace.\u00a0 Now I wouldn\u2019t be without my squid\u2014I mean squirt\u2014of hand sanitizer for myself and my family.\u00a0\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just Covid\u2014it\u2019s any cold, norovirus, flu, or infestation.\u00a0 I don\u2019t trust the poor, foible-filled humans about me to <em>not<\/em> transmit their germs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But perhaps the deepest problem I have with the sign of peace\u2014is that it rarely functions as a sign of peace.\u00a0 I have perpetually witnessed it as a sign of exclusion.\u00a0 Of who <em>doesn\u2019t <\/em>belong.\u00a0 Of who <em>doesn\u2019t <\/em>belong to <em>me<\/em>.\u00a0 This is particularly painful when one attends liturgy alone\u2014and everyone around you turns to someone <em>else<\/em> instead.\u00a0 It is also painful when people <em>purposely <\/em>choose not to give a sign of peace\u2014to another who is somehow different from or estranged from ourselves.\u00a0 Maybe I have done the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I certainly do see cheery families and friends exchanging hugs and pats and waves when I go to a parish Mass.&nbsp; And maybe they do really feel united with those gathered there.&nbsp; But I fail to see how greeting one\u2019s family does anything radically Christian.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peace belongs to the stranger\u2014the migrant\u2014the worried\u2014the lonely\u2014the outsider\u2014the broken.\u00a0 Peace belongs inside our walls and far beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If symbols should speak, this one needs some new vocabulary.&nbsp; Or maybe we should go without it altogether: the sign of \u201cpeace\u201d may best be expressed by silence, by singing, or words recited together.&nbsp; Maybe we should pray for peace in our world instead, as Pope Leo XIV has asked, instead of performing \u201cpeace\u201d with the three or four people we assumedly love already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeace, peace,\u201d they say, but there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you say?\u00a0 Do you say \u201cpeace\u201d?\u00a0 Or would you rather learn more about the relationship of the the colossal squid and the cat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that\u2019s a sign of a peaceable kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KATHARINE E. HARMON &#8212; If symbols should speak, this one needs some new vocabulary.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":68212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,17,2864],"tags":[4029,2412],"class_list":["post-68210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mass","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-ritual_studies","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-sign-of-peace"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Say &quot;Peace&quot; when there is no Peace? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/why-say-peace-when-there-is-no-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Say &quot;Peace&quot; when there is no Peace? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KATHARINE E. 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