Patrick just wrote a post about the “Sign of Peace” at the National Catholic Register. Go check it out and then come back.
It just reminded me of the worst sign of peace moment I’ve had. I was at Mass with my family and my mother was there but in between us was like 4 or 5 children. (I can’t remember if the two year old was born then or not)
So I lean over a few children to kiss my mother for the sign of peace but she doesn’t see me and she’s shaking my children’s hands who at that age saw the sign of peace as something akin to the 7th Inning Stretch. (Dude, they were two or three years old!)
But the point is that I had kiss on my mind when my Mom dissed me. Then, I turned my head and there was a woman in the pew in front of me leaning over to shake my hand. And I…kissed her.
Well, her eyes bugged. I realized what I’d done as I was pulling away and just stared at her. My mom looked at me rather oddly.
The rest of the Mass was kind of awkward as you might imagine.
I still see that woman at Mass quite often. She doesn’t sit anywhere near us.
So go check out Pat’s piece at the Register. Share your own sign of peace horror stories in the combox over there.
