Family Spirituality

Families can get more out of Mass

At Home with our Faith offered a series of 10 short articles on how your family can get more out of the Mass. We walked through the chronology of the Mass, from preparation and gathering through the final blessing and sending forth. Each month for ten issues we suggested ways that you and your family can better appreciate how the Mass can deepen and enrich our life together. What follows are the ten installments.

An outbreak of peace

Some Catholics objected when the handshake of peace was reintroduced into the Mass, thinking that it took away from the solemnity of the rites. I disagree. Here’s a story that helps tell why.

I was feeling pretty mellow one Sunday morning at Mass. You might even say I was tempted to smugness. I felt good about my faith. I even felt a bit holy. I was looking forward to the handshake of peace in order to share that good feeling with those around me, many of whom have become friends and important people in my life.

But then I turned around. In the pew behind me was a guy I’d had a heated argument with a few months back. His son was in my daughter’s class and a situation arose and we had words. Angry words.

And now I was staring at him, the smile frozen on my face. My smugness evaporated. My mellow feeling fled. I knew two things: I didn’t want to shake this man’s hand, and there was no way I could go to Communion if I didn’t. I was also pretty sure what Jesus would want me to do.

We looked at one another, and we both reached out. Solemnly, we wished one another God’s peace. Deep down I knew I wanted him to enjoy the Peace of Christ, partly because I knew that I would not experience it if I were holding it back from him. I believe he felt the same. It seemed a holy moment.

This simple rite may seem frivolous, but it’s packed with meaning and purpose. First, it’s a way of training the pathways of the mind, heart, and soul to see our essential unity rather than that which divides us. There’s so much rage and anger and wrath abounding in the land that we can use every bit of peace-sharing we can muster.

And at the very heart of our faith are reasons calling us to look around us at Mass rather than only inward or upward.

Here’s an image to illustrate my point. The cross has a vertical bar, representing the connection between heaven and earth, me and God. But there is also a horizontal bar representing the connection from one person to another Both are necessary for our salvation. As we prepare to move toward closer union with the transcendental God we also need to be sure there are no obstacles to embracing God in our fellow worshipers. After all, one of the gifts God gives us in life is community. This simple act can be a prod to forming and expressing our connectivity in a time of too much disconnectedness.

Besides, it’s good for kids to connect with adults, older people, teenagers, and other kids they don’t know. It’s a great way for them to feel they have a welcome place in the community. It’s a way to bind our children to our parish, our faith, a way of life that follows Christ’s footsteps.

Explain to your children: When we exchange a sign of peace, we’re not just saying hello. We’re wishing our neighbors the happiness that comes from Jesus’ love. In fact, we’re not just wishing it for them–our greeting becomes an expression of that peace itself. We become channels of that peace to one another.

As you get ready to receive Communion, what better way to prepare than to realize the communion we can experience in our life through the gift of Christ’s peace among us. TJM