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10/31/26 Kissing Peace Goodbye · Omnia Christus

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What we need to talk about today is what's called the Rite of Peace,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: which occurs directly after the Hour of Father.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's this little section in which the priest offers the peace of God
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: to everyone, everyone offers the peace of God to one another.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: In ancient times, that was the kiss of peace.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's very clear in the New Testament.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's a number of places where that is, and it was literally a kiss of peace.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: In some cultures, that's still normal.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in Italy and you go all the way down to Sicily,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: you're going to get all kinds of stuff.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: For myself, as a Northern European, that's something that's distressing.
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  SPEAKER_00: But for certain cultures, it's not.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: For certain cultures, that's normal.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was the way it was in the early church.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, it did tend to lead to problems or confusion.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or different things.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: So like, okay, well,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: we're going to have all the men sit on one side and all the women sit on
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  SPEAKER_00: the other side to avoid any of those complications,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: you know, and so go along a little bit with that.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, okay, no, it's, this is still weird.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to have this.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Kissing bread, this little like peace bread with a piece.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually a piece of wood.
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  SPEAKER_00: They call it peace bread, but it was a piece of wood that had Jesus' face on it.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we'll pass that around.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone can kiss that.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then people are fighting over who gets to kiss it first.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the church is like, this is why we can't have nice things.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Fine, no more kissing.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just eliminated that whole thing completely.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just the priests and the deacons who would give peace to one another.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, done with that.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in our reform of the liturgy,
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  SPEAKER_00: they wanted to add that back in,
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  SPEAKER_00: like it's a beautiful rite,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is an ancient rite in the church, so let's add that back in.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the church does,
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  SPEAKER_00: it adds it back in and we have the sign of peace,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: right, that we do, that we give to one another.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But why do we have the sign of peace and why is it added right where it is right
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: before we celebrate the Eucharist?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because we are symbolizing the peace that we're meant to have
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: with one another before we receive Christ in the Eucharist.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember in the scriptures when it says,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you come to the altar to give your gift
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  SPEAKER_00: and you realize your brother has something against you,
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  SPEAKER_00: which just means that like there's something wrong between you and your brother.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Go and be reconciled to your brother, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Be at peace before you come to offer your gift in the Old Testament or
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  SPEAKER_00: to receive Christ in the Eucharist, right?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: To symbolize that greatest unity possible in our life.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, before you do that, be at peace with one another, right?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And for us in the Mass,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: we kind of just, you know, sort of wave to our friends around us or something.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Usually we sit with people who we like for the most part.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: but the point of this gesture is to really be at peace with everyone in my life.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So rather than just waving to people who I like,
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I should really think about who are those people in my life who I am not at peace
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  SPEAKER_00: with,
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  SPEAKER_00: who I do not want to offer peace to,
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  SPEAKER_00: who I'm holding resentment against,
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  SPEAKER_00: who have done things to me that I haven't been able to let go of.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what we should be thinking about during that sign of peace.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because I need to be at peace with them.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I need to let that go.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: I need to embrace the union that Christ seeks, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: His way of being.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where he says,
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  SPEAKER_00: even to those who are crucifying him,
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  SPEAKER_00: he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
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  SPEAKER_00: He prays for those who are persecuting him, who are crucifying him.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone is crucifying us, although it might feel like that sometimes.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: At that moment of the sign of peace, yes, offer peace to those around you.
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  SPEAKER_00: But more importantly,
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  SPEAKER_00: in your heart,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: think about those who God is calling you to be at peace with and seek or
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: at least pray for the grace to be at peace with them as well.