The Kiss of Peace

"Let us offer each other the sign of peace", says the President, and the people go around the hall kissing each other on both cheeks! There is an obvious difference between an ordinary parochial celebration of the Eucharist and that of the neocatechumenal communities. This can be seen mainly in the arrangement of the liturgical space and in the manner by which the liturgy is carried out. Yet one thing will surely go unnoticed: that the sign of peace takes place after the prayer of the faithful and before the preparation of the gifts.


The rite's location in the neocatechumenal liturgy, which is granted as an indult by Rome, has its foundation on the words of Christ: "So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering." It connotes reconciliation and brotherly love. Another reason is that the Neocatechumenal Way seeks to remove the pretensions, social masks and hypocrisy of all the members of the community as they continue walking through the years which results in knowing one another faults and weaknesses. Consequently, misunderstandings or quarrels often arise and therefore constant and immediate reconciliation must be sought. Gradually, all community members will have learned to accept each other as they are, even in their worst. Here, real communion (koinonia) starts. This is precisely a work of the Holy Spirit and not an outcome of human efforts to keep people together.

Another surprising fact is the manner by which the peace is done: it is in the form of a kiss.

Greeting one another by means of a kiss is a normal western Mediterranean custom. However the New Testament's emphasis on its being holy meant that it was more than a greeting (Romans 16.16; 1 Corinthians 16.20b; 2 Corinthians 13.12a; 1 Thessalonians 5.26; 1 Peter 5.14a.).

In our contemporary society kissing is a sign of intimacy and deep affection for someone. It is the same also with the Christian, his love mus be deep and eternal, it must reflect that of his Master, a love in the dimension of the cross.

Universally, the forms that came to dominate were the bow and the handshake. Again, prima facie this is not an unreasonable choice: as an indication that one is unarmed, the handshake is certainly as sign of peace. Unfortunately, though, it is a better sign of the peace that comes from the city of man rather than from the city of God. Handshaking signifies a truce or deal, the kind of agreement one makes in politics and business. It is not primarily a sign of love or intimacy. Indeed, unlike the kiss and every other sacred gesture, it has undergone no modification that would mark it as distinctive from the "profane" handshakes outside the liturgy, and thus it essentially retains its wordly resonance.

Moreover, a handshake is not a kiss in any form, and hence its liturgical use marks a break not only from a previously unbroken apostolic custom but from the rich cluster of meanings that came with it. It is for these reasons that a more pugnacious commentator than I might be tempted to conclude that regrettably, the current Roman kiss of peace is neither Roman nor a kiss nor about Christian peace.