Mass Talks 18: The Rite of Peace through Agnus Dei

In the prayer following the Our Father of the Mass, the word ‘peace’ is subtly introduced: “Deliver us, O Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day.” This single word becomes thematic for a subsection of the Mass commonly known as the Rite of Peace. The question that naturally arises is ‘why does the Mass have a rite of peace?’

You may remember that Jesus once said that if, when bringing your gift to the altar, you remember that your brother has anything against you, you should first be reconciled with your brother before making your offering (cf. Mt. 5:23-24). The Church therefore found it fitting to make some sign holy Mass is being celebrated to indicate that Christians have no enmity with one another but rather demonstrate the commandment of Jesus that they do love one another as He loved them (cf. Jn. 15:12). The logic and rightness / of this insertion / of a rite of peace into the Mass cannot be doubted.

There’s a prayer in the Mass wholly taken up with this theme of peace. It’s a petition to Jesus Himself for His own gift of peace, something He bequeathed to His apostles on Holy Thursday night (cf. Jn 14:27). It is interesting to note here the change of address. Almost all the prayers of the Mass speak to God the Father. Here there is a shift, as the priest begins to speak to Christ now present before him in the Holy Eucharist. But this prayer asks not only for the peace of the assembled congregation; it begs peace for the whole Church so that it may persevere in unity. The Church thinks large, beyond local concerns only. It is on account of this bigger picture that the prayer asks Jesus for peace, not because we deserve it, “regard not our sins,” it says, but because of “the faith of the Church!” We should not be so foolish as to presume that our Lord would be pleased bestow peace on account of our own desserts, but that He might be pleased to grant it on account of the merits of all the Church: the faithful on earth and, even more, on account of the proved goodness of the saints in heaven.

Peace, as this prayer indicates, is not merely the absence of conflict or disagreement, but is a gift of God that comes from Christ and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is a peace that is at once external and internal, the happy result of a soul that’s in a state of grace. Once again, you can see the appropriateness of this prayer in the moments just before the distribution of Holy Communion: one must be at peace with God to receive it by being free from mortal sin.

The priest then turns to the people and–note this– he gives them a sign of peace by extending his hands, saying, “The peace of the Lord be ever with you.” The people give him their peace in turn by making the response: “And with your spirit” (in the literal translation). Thus, the sign of peace has been made between priest and people.

Now, at this point in the old solemn high Mass there was given what was called The Pax, that is, a very formal, stylized gesture wherein the priest placed his hands on the shoulders of the deacon and then subdeacon and, inclined towards them, said, “peace be with you” to which the other answered, “and with your spirit.” At one time the people also did the same until then 13th century when the Pope ordered it to be discontinued on account of a decline of morals. In its place, a an image of Jesus crucified was passed among the church for all to kiss. When the Missal was reformulated after Vatican Council II, someone thought to reintroduce the sign of peace among the people. Thus was inserted this directive in the Missal: “if it is opportune, the deacon or priest may add, ‘Extend to yourselves the peace.’” We want to have a word about this.

The so-called ‘kiss of peace’ has roots in the NT (cf. Rm. 16:16). In the Church of long ago, and in cultural soil very different from ours, this gesture was certainly both meaningful and natural. In our modern American way, the kiss is a sign generally reserved for more intimate settings than public worship. In some other cultures the kiss is a more common sign of friendship, publicly given. What has become customary in our country in the rather cold, prim and proper handshake for this gesture at Mass falls momentously short of expressing the true significance of this gesture and may in fact miss the point entirely; the same might be said for the more ostentatious and somewhat mawkish ‘hug.’ What the congregation is asked to do–and this is a beautiful thing–is to wish each other the peace which is of Christ. This was not meant to become what is has nearly always come to be, namely, a sudden eruption of chaos into the otherwise orderly assembly of worshipers who ought to stand wholly riveted on the divine presence before them in the most Holy Eucharist. The sign of peace, as it is currently positioned and practiced, has been, according to my estimation, among the most significant factors to have eroded the sacredness, silence and indeed the practice of adoration that was once common in all Catholic churches. How ironic that at the very moment when the Lord is invoked to grant peace there results such disturbance and Eucharistic distraction among the people and that, as a further consequence, our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is ignored, or worse, treated sacrilegiously. I am reluctantly led to recall the infamous kiss of Judas Iscariot.

The sign of peace, given among the people, is, by the clear indication given in the priest’s Missal, optional, not obligatory. We at this parish have always taken this option and have omitted it, not because we want to remain liturgically old-fashioned, not be cause we are anti-social, but because the loss in reverence far outweighs whatever other gain there might accrue from it. There has been discussion and debate among liturgists and among bishops concerning this sign: whether another sign should be adopted (bowing to each other, or a moment of silence, for example) and whether it might be more fittingly placed at the beginning of Mass, or (according to our Lord’s admonition) before the offertory, or even at the end of Mass. The abuse of this sign both in the manner of giving it and in the inordinate amount of time spent on it has generated much of controversy. One can yet hope that a more decorous and reverent manner will be found for it or that it will be omitted entirely. It seems to me a thing better in theory than in practice.

The final word on the rite of peace is the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. Like the Kyrie and the Prayer of the Faithful, it is another of the Mass’ litanies. The final phrase, “grant us peace,” links it to the preceding prayers for peace, but is otherwise another invocation for that spiritual cleansing necessary for the reception of Holy Communion. Jesus again is the subject here, referring to Him by the strange title, ‘Lamb.’ It is a term closely associated with the sacrifices of the Old Testament and it indicates once again that Mass is a renewal of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Saint John the Baptist coined this title for our Lord: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (cf. Jn. 1:29). The context there was the scene of baptism. We should not miss the point here: one must be clean from mortal sin to receive Communion. This purification comes through the sacrifice of Christ the Lamb which is applied to us in baptism and in confession.

While the Lamb of God is being sung or said, the priest breaks the Host over the chalice, a symbolic gesture indicating the death of our Lord, the very thing which we commemorate when we celebrate the Mass.