I am a practicing Catholic who usually attends the Novus Ordo on Sunday. While there is nothing wrong with the Novus Ordo itself, it is often celebrated sloppily. There are a variety of different ways to offer the Sacrifice irreverently, and often the irreverence is on the part of the people. Perhaps the most prevalent irreverence occurs during the sign of peace. An ancient tradition dating to Biblical times (John 14:27), in 2023 years it has been reduced to happy hour. Nowadays, many people use this time to chat, engage in PDA, turn around and shake hands with the people in the pew behind oneself, et cetera, et cetera. This often carries into the next solemn prayer, the Agnus Dei, and the constant chatter makes it hard to hear the priest.
Now the sign of peace, properly demonstrated, looks like this:
However, most people are unaware of this, so a simple handshake (only with those on your left and right, without losing focus on the altar) will do.
Notice that the peace comes from the altar. The celebrant gives the sign of peace to the concelebrant (or the deacon or the master of ceremonies), who in turn passes the sign of peace to the next highest ranking server, and so on. Now this peace does not mean merely the absence of war; this peace is order and tranquility, the opposite of chaos. It is NOT to be confused with "hippie peace", often demonstrated by the "peace sign". The common peace sign is of demonic origin. In fact, the logo is based off the cross of Satan, which it closely resembles. The finger gesture was originally used in the 1960's by hippies (new age thinkers who preached a doctrine of complete and total licentiousness, in opposition to the Gospel) who gave it to others who they were signaling as allies. If a hippie gave you the peace sign, it meant, "Chilax, dude. I won't give you any trouble. I'm a commie too." Back then we were waging an unpopular war with what was soon to be Communist Vietnam, and the hippies took their side. That said, no Christian should EVER give anyone that gesture.
This gesture is commonly used at Mass by those Catholics who don't know what the gesture implies. This is simply the devil infiltrating what he hates and fears the most - the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Every Mass, Christ's ultimate victory over Satan is re-presented (not represented; it is literal), something that he simply cannot stand. Thus, he finds any way he can to attack God's children. With this in mind, let us pray the Mass fervently and reverently and never use the blasphemous peace sign again.
" Back then we were waging an unpopular war with what was soon to be Communist Vietnam, and the hippies took their side."
Um, no. The anti-war movement was saying that we shouldn't send our sons to die in Asia for a questionable cause. Not pro-commie. Hippies were usually not Marxists.
There's a lot I could say on this but I'd have to marshal together my facts.
I was trying to explain the origin of the gesture, sometimes seen during the Sign of Peace at Mass. I wasn't trying to write an article about hippies but if I sounded too broad about the war you can help me revise that paragraph.
if parental controls are getting over-eager for you I'll quote a few relevant passages (the article is from the German patent office)
"What inspired the sign?
Holtom circulated various versions of what inspired him to create the sign: On the one hand, the symbol is said to have arisen from a combination of the representation of the letters "N" and "D" (for "Nuclear Disarmament") from the international flag semaphore (ironically, this system has a military origin and was mainly used in the navy). On the other hand, according to Holtom, it represents a stylized person with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards helplessly and resignedly in the face of the nuclear threat. Holtom's sketches are now kept by Bradford University in the Commonweal Collection."
"The fact that Holtom did not allow his design to be registered favoured the emergence of wild theories about the origin of the symbol. In certain circles, for example, it is repeatedly claimed that the peace sign is actually the Germanic "death rune". In reality, however, this connotation dates back to the Nazi era: at that time, the historical Elhaz or Algiz rune (ᛉ) was reinterpreted as a "life rune". In the National Socialist era, it was then regarded as the "death rune" in inverted or fallen form (ᛦ) ; both variants were used, among other things, on gravestones of SS members to indicate the dates of birth and death. However, this has nothing to do with the various traditional historical rune alphabets: The meaning of ᛦ as "death rune" was only invented by esotericists at the beginning of the 20th century."
according to Brittanica:
"It is said that Holtom originally considered using a Christian cross but disliked its association with the Crusades and ultimately chose something he considered to be more universal."
whether you agree or not with that reasoning (I don't particularly) I think that shows it is not ANTI-Christian
"You’ve probably flashed a peace sign before, using your index and middle fingers to make a “V.” Though it’s called a sign, similar to gestures used in sign language, this one is not the actual gesture for “peace” in American Sign Language.
Instead, it originated as a way to show “V” for “Victory” during World War II. Later, President Richard M. Nixon famously used it also to mean “victory.” Though Nixon was a pro-war president in the 1960s and ’70s, anti-war activists at the same time co-opted the “V” sign to identify themselves as peace-seekers"
(I just realized that the peace symbol is not the same as the peace sign so my first reply to you is actually not about what you were talking about - but as they're both signs of the hippie movement it might still be worthwhile)
I heard from one reliable source that the finger gesture was used by hippies to mock the traditional priestly vestments by turning them upside down, and by another source that the symbol was based off the cross of Satan. Even if it turns out that they're wrong (which I doubt; one of them is a priest), then you'd probably still agree with me that giving the gesture during the Sign of Peace is still an inappropriate thing to do during Mass.
" Back then we were waging an unpopular war with what was soon to be Communist Vietnam, and the hippies took their side."
ReplyDeleteUm, no. The anti-war movement was saying that we shouldn't send our sons to die in Asia for a questionable cause. Not pro-commie. Hippies were usually not Marxists.
There's a lot I could say on this but I'd have to marshal together my facts.
I was trying to explain the origin of the gesture, sometimes seen during the Sign of Peace at Mass. I wasn't trying to write an article about hippies but if I sounded too broad about the war you can help me revise that paragraph.
DeleteActually, the hippie movement was shut down with force in Russia.
ReplyDeletebtw, the peace sign is NOT demonic.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/background/peacesign/index.html#:~:text=His%20creator%20is%20the%20British,known%20as%20the%20CND%20symbol.
if parental controls are getting over-eager for you I'll quote a few relevant passages (the article is from the German patent office)
"What inspired the sign?
Holtom circulated various versions of what inspired him to create the sign: On the one hand, the symbol is said to have arisen from a combination of the representation of the letters "N" and "D" (for "Nuclear Disarmament") from the international flag semaphore (ironically, this system has a military origin and was mainly used in the navy). On the other hand, according to Holtom, it represents a stylized person with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards helplessly and resignedly in the face of the nuclear threat. Holtom's sketches are now kept by Bradford University in the Commonweal Collection."
"The fact that Holtom did not allow his design to be registered favoured the emergence of wild theories about the origin of the symbol. In certain circles, for example, it is repeatedly claimed that the peace sign is actually the Germanic "death rune". In reality, however, this connotation dates back to the Nazi era: at that time, the historical Elhaz or Algiz rune (ᛉ) was reinterpreted as a "life rune". In the National Socialist era, it was then regarded as the "death rune" in inverted or fallen form (ᛦ) ; both variants were used, among other things, on gravestones of SS members to indicate the dates of birth and death. However, this has nothing to do with the various traditional historical rune alphabets: The meaning of ᛦ as "death rune" was only invented by esotericists at the beginning of the 20th century."
according to Brittanica:
"It is said that Holtom originally considered using a Christian cross but disliked its association with the Crusades and ultimately chose something he considered to be more universal."
whether you agree or not with that reasoning (I don't particularly) I think that shows it is not ANTI-Christian
"You’ve probably flashed a peace sign before, using your index and middle fingers to make a “V.” Though it’s called a sign, similar to gestures used in sign language, this one is not the actual gesture for “peace” in American Sign Language.
ReplyDeleteInstead, it originated as a way to show “V” for “Victory” during World War II. Later, President Richard M. Nixon famously used it also to mean “victory.” Though Nixon was a pro-war president in the 1960s and ’70s, anti-war activists at the same time co-opted the “V” sign to identify themselves as peace-seekers"
https://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/blog/the-peace-symbol-woodstock-history
Sorry if I'm barraging you but I like the peace sign and think it's innocent if not particularly profound.
ReplyDelete(I just realized that the peace symbol is not the same as the peace sign so my first reply to you is actually not about what you were talking about - but as they're both signs of the hippie movement it might still be worthwhile)
ReplyDeleteI heard from one reliable source that the finger gesture was used by hippies to mock the traditional priestly vestments by turning them upside down, and by another source that the symbol was based off the cross of Satan. Even if it turns out that they're wrong (which I doubt; one of them is a priest), then you'd probably still agree with me that giving the gesture during the Sign of Peace is still an inappropriate thing to do during Mass.
Delete